Let's continue playing catch-up after blanking on this series in December via our first of two YouTube Channel Profiles in the month of February! This (otherwise) monthly series looks at 1-3 YouTube channels (as randomly selected) whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk musicians and/or concerts, and we're dipping way back in the timeline here for videos from a very talented E.U.P. musician at the peak of his eponymous solo career, so here's what you should know!
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mikelibs (http://youtube.com/mikelibs) 
Owner: Former local metal guitarist Mike Libertoski, who is known for Sault Michigan bands like Swayze Train, The Slackjawed Rats, Toast, and Galactic Alignment, and can currently be seen in the Lower Peninsula death metal bands Bleak Life and Living Dissection
Channel Timeline: Launched on October 14th, 2008; Videos uploaded from that day until February 23rd, 2009
Channel Summary: The original YouTube channel for this extremely talented musician, Mike posted 12 videos there in a four month span, most being audio recordings, primarily of original songs attached to "albums" that he worked on in the late 2000s (if these were formally released for sale, I haven't found surviving evidence). The channel also includes three acoustic performance videos & a parody of the ShamWow commercial which is not musical.
Why You Should Watch: This channel is worth a watch for fans of Mike's local music run, especially those who saw and liked his work in the late 2000s, though even with his considerable talent on display here, his abilities and professionalism have noticeably grown in the past 14 years. You can compare via his mlibz channel that he used from 2011-2012 to see how his technical skill evolved, let alone his current output! Note that neither the mikelibs nor mlibz channels feature content from his formal bands at the time, but his current bands are active on Facebook.
Mike Libertoski - Drawn & Quartered: Seven of Mike's audio uploads are original songs, all opening with a title card noting the intended album that the song was featured on, and all but one are taken from "In The Arms Of The Condemned", an instrumental album Mike says came out in August 2008. For a pure showcase of his guitar skills of the era, his nine minutes long track "Drawn & Quartered" will easily show you what Mike was all about at the time, and glimmers of the technicality he'd later use in Galactic Alignment and downstate are definitely on display within the brutal guitar work! Other songs from this album on this channel include "Winds", "Glasgow Smile", "Peine Forte Et Dure", "The Vampire of Sacramento", and "Crucifixion", though I am unsure if the full album was uploaded here.
Eight Days a Week - The Beatles[Mike Libertoski]: Fans of Mike's solo & band work are likely used to him just shredding on the guitar, but he did dabble in singing a bit in the late 2000s, releasing an album with vocals in 2007 called "The Great Movement", from which one song ("My Favourite Mistake") made it to this channel. However, featured here is Mike's vocal & guitar cover of The Beatles' "Eight Days A Week" from October 2008, and it is competently done! You'd hope so musically given his background, and while Mike's vocals are not nearly as rangy as John Lennon's were, he's not out of tune or anything and he keeps the melody going! More covers, albeit instrumental metal guitar covers, can be seen on his mlibz channel.
Mike Libertoski - Folk Jam: Mike's most popular video on this channel is one of his three actual performance videos, where Mike plays what he called "an almost bluegrassish tune (that) I've been working on". Definitely a departure, especially if you're familiar primarily with his current bands, but "In The Arms Of The Condemned" had genre variance, and regardless of sound, this is a fine display of Mike's pure guitar skill while it lasts!
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I hope you guys liked this YouTube Channel Profile, delayed as it may have been! We're back on schedule now for this series, as our next installment will hit the site on or around February 26th as usual, and our next random selection will be Sault Ontario punk band A Dire Setback's official YouTube channel, which has only three music-centric videos, but all are distinct and unique for content, so look for that in a few weeks, and for weekend concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
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