Sault Michigan Metal Video Showcase, Including The First Queensryche Videos!!

It's time for our first local metal video showcase of the month, and for our Yooper readers, this post entirely deals with bands and shows across the river! Today's post includes the latest video from a Kinross hard rock band and some recent archive uploads to tie in with a feature profile on the SMS, but first, here's your first glimpses at a major recent concert!

The first known YouTube videos from Saturday night's Queensryche concert were just posted tonight, and are now available to watch! These come courtesy of YouTube user danykins77, and while I can't confirm that these are from The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino through there, the members' clothes match up with photos that I've seen from Saturday's concert, so I think I have the right dots connected. Three videos have been posted so far by danykins77, including Queensryche's performances of "I Don't Believe In Love" & (as embedded below) "Silent Lucidity", along with one extra one we'll mention in a second, and the quality isn't too bad! The camera angle is close to the action, and the guys sound good, if at the mercy of somewhat loud & distorted audio at points. Solid all around though, so give Queensryche's performance of "Silent Lucidity" a look below, and check out more full songs above!



The other new video from danykins77 is this short clip of Queensryche drummer Scott Rockenfield talking to the crowd, where he talks about the struggles of 2012, works around some lively fans, and introduces current singer Todd La Torre, before playing a few more songs. This sounds like it came before their encore on Saturday, but I'm not positive. You don't see a whole lot of stage banter videos like this, but it's a cool clip all the same, so check out Scott talking to the Soo crowd below, and stay tuned for more local Queensryche videos as they roll in!



Also today, we have the newest video from Kinross hard rockers Banned to check out! Uploaded to Ashley Traynor's YouTube channel last week, this is of their cover of J.J. Cale's "Cocaine" (later popularized by Eric Clapton) at Todd's Tavern in Moran, Michigan on New Year's Eve, and it marks their second straight public video to be filmed by Eric Cairns of Third Cinema Productions rather than Ashley herself. Featuring drummer Don Traynor on lead vocals ("occasional singer" Mike Straw is absent), this video confirms that guitarist Alex Schrovenwever was back with Banned for this show while home from college over the holidays, and it's great to see him back with the guys, even if for just one weekend! This is a well done cover, and Don's vocals suit it well, but I'd like to see some heavier covers filmed again, rather than just general & classic rock from the past few months. Very well filmed too, albeit with overpowering lighting, so give Banned's newest video a look below!

Finally for today, I wanted to mention some recent uploads on our YouTube channel that could use some extra notice. Last week, we profiled defunct Pickford hard rock quartet Absolute in our Defunct Local Band Profile Series, and as I often do with the bands we randomly pick for it, I posted some archive material of theirs on YouTube to share with readers and fans. However, the video I embedded on the profile was their only known original song "Native Tongue", which has been on YouTube since 2011, so the newer YouTube uploads didn't get a spotlight... until now! Last week, I uploaded Absolute's three most viewed 2008-2009 live cover videos from their MySpace page (Theory of a Deadman's "Hate My Life", Sublime's "Santeria", and Godsmack's "Whatever") onto YouTube, alongside three of their four most heard audio files (The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under The Bridge", Ugly Kid Joe's "Everything About You", and Seether's "Fake It"), so click each link to check them out! Note that they had a popular audio demo of "Whatever" too, but I didn't post that last week because a live video of that song went up already.

There's much more Absolute media files that could go on YouTube, but I didn't wanna go into overkill last week, so hopefully we'll get a chance to share those songs there as well down the road! These are nice and widely varied performances from Absolute's heyday, and though the videos are of mixed quality, the audio demos are pretty well done! The members all seem to flow well musically, though Donny Newell's vocals don't always suit lighter material. I've embedded their cover of "Whatever" below, but check out the rest of the files above, and hopefully we'll see the members of Absolute back in a new band in the future!



That's likely all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post likely tomorrow, including some Sault Ontario stuff! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Absolute

A new year is upon us, so it's time for our first Defunct Local Band Profile of 2013! As always, this monthly feature series looks at 1-2 randomly chosen defunct/inactive metal or hard rock bands from the Sault Ste. Marie area, and like in past installments, we're looking at said bands' material, history, notable events, and current whereabouts, along with some analysis on their sound. This month's band had some noticeable success in the Eastern U.P. in the late 2000s, so read on below for our first defunct profile of the new year! (Updated on May 8th, 2013)
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Absolute

Genre: Hard Rock

Hometown: Pickford, Michigan

Members:

Donny Newell (Full Throttle, Monkey's Uncle, NoXcape), vocals/guitar

Ben Huyck (NoXcape, Dust N' Bones, Riot! By Night), guitar

Bill Spence (NoXcape, Riot! By Night), bass

Justin Lawless (NoXcape), drums

Audio/Video: Even with just one surviving online page, there's no shortage of media on Absolute in action, including no less than 13 videos & 6 audio covers on their MySpace page! The songs include covers of everyone from Godsmack & Seether to The Red Hot Chili Peppers & Neil Young, while the videos (mostly from regional live concerts) features a similar diversity, including covers of everyone from The Stone Temple Pilots to Sublime, so check the above links to give them a look! I also posted 3 highly-viewed songs & videos each onto our YouTube channel to help share Absolute there as well, but embedded below is Absolute's (only?) original song "Native Tongue", as filmed at The Bird circa February 2009



Info/Analysis: Absolute were one of the more prominent Eastern U.P. hard rock bands in the late 2000s, hitting numerous concert venues for just over a year between early 2008 & mid-2009. Their covers-heavy sets earned some a solid fanbase in the area, with numerous concerts at regional venues & some military locations, like Camp Grayling & the 1437th MRBC Armory in Sault Michigan. Specific details on their run are minimal, but they disbanded in the summer of 2009, although there have been some reunion rumours since. In recent years, they were succeeded by the similar sounding Riot! By Night & NoXcape, both of which shared at least two common members, but Absolute were arguably the most successful of the three! Their available recordings show a tight & melodic sound that suited their modern hard rock approach, and the guys all have clear talent, from Donny Newell's well suited edgy singing to Ben Huyck's faithful & heavy guitar riffs, but it'd have been nice to see Absolute play some older or more complex material. Hopefully the guys stay active in music in some form in the future, as their Absolute run proves they can do big things!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! So, what band is being profiled in this series next month? Our pattern for cycling between the Twin Saults takes us back to Sault Ontario next month, but through completely random selection, we'll be looking at defunct local grunge trio No Arrow, who were arguably the area's top grunge band in the mid-late 2000s! Look out for that profile on or around February 10th, and stay tuned for previews of this weekend's Sault Ontario metal/hard rock shows tonight or early tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Local Metal Video Showcase!!

Hey guys, let's end those Monday blahs with a new local metal video showcase! Whenever I get a surplus of local metal-relevant videos, I like to group them together like this, and we've got some good ones today, including a cool old recording from a local band, Mike Cliffe's newest video, an interesting cover you wouldn't expect, and this week's classic video, so let's get things going!

If you've been in and around the local scene for a long time, you'll no doubt recognize guitarist Mario Carlucci from his work in bands like Foothill Road, Unkle Festerr, Exodus, Megaton, and his current band Sneaky Pete. Another band he was part of in the late 1980s was Satric, who also featured singer Cyril Morden, bassist Pat Breen, and drummers Mark Kamsol & Pete Von Althen in their lineups. On Saturday, Mario posted an old live audio clip of Satric from a 1989(?) concert at The Union Hall (now Breakaway's Bar & Grill, I think) onto his YouTube channel, and it's of Satric covering Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze"! It's awesome to hear this, hopefully more local musicians post some old archive clips and videos! Satric sound good here, Mario's got the chops to pull off "Purple Haze", Cyril's vocals suit the song well, and the recording quality's pretty good! Kudos to Mario for uploading this, and definitely give this old Satric cover a listen below!



Next is the latest video from Sault Ontario solo artist Mike Cliffe, who's uploaded a time-lapse video of the major construction at Sault College to his YouTube channel, as accompanied by two of his songs! The video itself has no metal relevance, but it's cool to see the construction of the new additions to the Sault College building, as caught on a webcam between March 2010 and last month. Time lapse footage is always interesting, and my old alma mater's looking good! As for the songs, the first one included is "Angel 2", a progressive hard rock instrumental with some catchy sounds and a nice vibe, while the second song is the previously posted "Rainy Day Romp", which was a quality heavier track of it's own with good distorted riffing, and it flows well to fill in the gaps! Good stuff, so check out Mike's new video below to hear some solid instrumental hard rocking and see the evolution of Sault College over the past 17 months!



Thirdly today, here's an interesting cover of a Woods of Ypres classic that I couldn't not share on here! I don't usually share Woods of Ypres covers on here, but in this case, you've gotta see it. So, can you imagine if Woods of Ypres did the soundtrack for a classic Nintendo Entertainment System game? Well, now you can hear the results for yourself, as YouTube user Chris Kelly has made an 8-bit cover of Woods of Ypres' 2002 classic song "A Meeting Place & Time"! Posted onto his YouTube channel on Friday, it's one of many 8-bit renditions of metal songs that Chris has produced. It's well done, and it really sounds like it could be the soundtrack for a forest level of an NES game like Castlevania or something similar! If you wanna hear this interesting 8-bit rendition of "A Meeting Place & Time", check it out below!



And finally, here's this week's classic video! Thought I'd get it out of the way a couple days early, and this week, we'll tie it in with Pickford hard rock quintet NoXcape, who'll rock The Satisfied Frog for two shows this weekend. As you may remember, every member of NoXcape (except guitarist Joey Beairl) played together in 2008 and 2009 as the defunct Pickford quartet Absolute, who had a successful run in the local scene in their heyday! Their MySpace page is loaded with live videos, so it makes perfect sense to share one of them here this week, but which one? I figured the best way to start would be with an original, and they had at least one, which was called "Native Tongue"! Solid hard rocker with some good energy, though the audio quality could be clearer on this video. I can see it on local radio if they made a studio version though, it had lots of promise! This video comes from a February 2009 concert that Absolute played at Golanka's Bar (The Bird), and oddly, the filmer shot the video from the side of the stage, which seems kinda odd, but then you see the dancers in front, so it makes sense. Good video, though hopefully I can find clearer audio of "Native Tongue" eventually!

Posted onto Absolute's MySpace page shortly after the concert, you can see the original video at http://myspace.com/absoluteparty/videos/video/52039115. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Absolute and the original filmer, I just want to share this video with a wider audience like it deserves! So with that said, check out Absolute playing their original "Native Tongue" below, and go see the members' current band NoXcape this weekend at The Frog!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes very soon! Thanks everyone!

Woods of Ypres/Stillbroke Album Updates, And The End Of Absolute?

Good afternoon everyone! Another short post today, but an important one! We have some important updates on a pair of recent new albums from local metal bands, and an update from a Sault Michigan-area band to cap things off. Here we go!

Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold has officially announced that "Woods IV: The Green Album" will be released FRIDAY! (Source at this location.) Nothing specific about when on Friday, like whether Friday is the first shipping day, the first day albums will show up in our mailboxes, or if they'll be in stores that day, but there it is, "The Green Album" comes out on Friday, November 13th! I'd reference the fact that it comes out on Friday the 13th, but that was likely unintentional. I personally can't wait, I love what I've heard so far and can't wait to drink in the full album! Same goes for the bonus disc, saying my pre-order came in soon enough, I'm highly anticipating that as well! When I get my copy, I'll be sure to let everyone know, and expect a review of the album around December 1st!

....Speaking of a review, the first official review of "Woods IV" has been posted online! Adam Wills from Hellbound.ca has reviewed the album, and it's overall a very positive critique! Much is made of the band's evolution from black metal to doom metal, and it only adds to the buildup for the CD! Wills gives it a 9.5 out of 10, and says it's one of his top albums of the year! Read the review for yourself at this location, it's well worth it! The only other "new" bit of news I can give for today is the rest of the song titles to appear on the album! Wills, through his review, has revealed the remaining songs, including "Dirty Window of Opportunity", "Don't Open The Wounds", "Natural Technologies", "Mirror Reflection", "The Long Life in the Limbo Union”, and “Move On! (The Woman Will Always Leave the Man)”! I'm not sure which one "Track 17" from Stereo Soul Studios' website is, cause the final album only has 16 songs, and that one hasn't been unveiled, but we'll soon find out!

Remember, I'm reviewing "The Green Album" and it's bonus disc hopefully around December 1st! And I'll replace the current Ace Frehley-themed SMS banner and logo with "Green Album" inspired images on Saturday, after Ace's concert! And get your pre-orders in while you still can, get all the pre-order details at this location!

While we're on the subject of local metal albums, here's an update on Stillbroke's recently released debut, "Never Enough"! The album can now be purchased in stores! Where, you ask? You can now pick one up at CD Plus in The Cambrian Mall, the Mac's at 12 Second Line West (on the corner of Peoples Road), and at TnT Pawnbrokers on Gore Street! Interesting locations for the CD to be sold at, but great to see it in stores! Remember, each copy costs $10! I'm still waiting for my review copy, sorry for the delay in posting a review, but it will definitely be this month! I highly recommend you guys pick up the album though, it will be well worth your money!

And finally for today, if their MySpace status update is an indication, a Sault Michigan-area band may be breaking up. Pickford hard rockers Absolute, in that status update, have revealed that they will be playing a show at "Dan's Place" in Rudyard on Friday. I believe this is someone's house and not a public concert like normal, so I won't call it as a real "concert", but here's what caught my eye specifically: The update begins with "Last chance to see Absolute live!!!", which basically suggests what it says. I'm hopeful they're not breaking up for good, but even if they do, we still have Riot! By Night to follow (remember, they share 3 members with Absolute.) Cross your fingers, hopefully this won't be the end of Absolute!

That's all for today, but I guarantee I'll have a post tomorrow! Specifically, for my preview of Saturday's Ace Frehley concert, as well as any other news I may have! Stay tuned for that, and more!

Six Local Concert Previews, and a Woods of Ypres update!

As I promised, I have returned with more stuff to talk about! And we'll kick off this post with your local concert previews for this weekend!

There are SIX shows taking place in the area on Friday and Saturday, all double weekend dates at venues in Sault Michigan! We'll go in alphabetical order this time, starting with Pickford Michigan's own Absolute! They will mark their return to the Sault area tomorrow night at 10:00 PM at The Bird! It's nice to see Absolute back around these parts, and The Bird hosting a good metal show again! Now, if you want a taste of the Absolute live show, check out this live video of them performing the Rage Against The Machine classic "Killing In The Name"!

Absolute (live at the Satisfied Frog)


Ok, let's keep the alphabetical order going, with a band known as Jager! Yes, these Sault Michigan locals are back for a pair of weekend dates tomorrow and Saturday as well! But unlike Absolute, they will be playing at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino, and at 9:00 PM! These guys have a pretty good reputation across the river, and it's no wonder from the great songs they have on their Myspace! But don't take my word for it, check out this live video of Jager performing the Nazareth classic "Hair of the Dog" from a show in St. Ignace!

Hair of the dog


And finally, we come to The Satisfied Frog, where fellow local metal band Shift take the stage for a pair of shows on Friday and Saturday night at 10:00 PM! Now, I still don't have any audio or video to share with you guys, but by all accounts I've heard, Shift are a great hard rock band in their own right! Now, if you wanna check out the band in general, head on over to their official Myspace page!

So, that's it for local concert previews for this weekend! If you're gonna be in Sault Michigan tomorrow night or Saturday, you got your pick of the litter for some hard rocking shows! Now, other news I've came across!

If you've recieved an e-mail from Woods of Ypres frontman/Gates of Winter drummer David Gold through Facebook recently, you'll already be aware of what I'm about to talk about! If not, well get yourselves ready for some news from the Woods of Ypres side of things, and guess what? THEY NEED OUR HELP!

In an effort to raise funds for their upcoming CD, Woods of Ypres are now selling official "Woods IV: The Green Album" buttons! Each one is 1 x 2'', four sided and green (as in their album title), and comes with more information about the album! And, this is available to you for the low low price of $5.00, including shipping! There is a limit of just 100 buttons, so get yours while they're still there! If you wanna get a "Woods IV" button, send $5 dollars to:

David Gold - Woods 4/Green
44 Poplar Ave
Sault Ste. Marie, ON
P6B 2W7 CANADA

And remember to include your return address too if you wanna get a button! Check out more photos of the buttons and more at this location! So support local metal and buy a Woods button soon! That's all for now guys, keep it metal!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, Weekend Concert Previews, and more!

Hello all, it's time for your local concert previews for this weekend! But first, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!!!

Pickford Michigan hard rockers Absolute are playing at The Bird in Sault Michigan on February 6th and 7th at 10:00 PM! Nice to see The Bird putting on shows again, I hadn't heard much from that venue in a while! Absolute sound pretty good, check out some of their covers at their Myspace page! Also, Absolute are NOT playing at Dondee Lanes this weekend, just the next band we're gonna talk about will be!

Now, before the local concert previews, I got a little something to clear up. The Sault Michigan hard rock band I've been calling "Jager 4.0" are actually just called Jager. But when their Myspace and it's URL are referred to as "Jager 4.0", it's easy to miss. So my apologies, I've fixed the name throughout the page! Check out Jager too, they got some great sounding stuff on their Myspace as well!

Now that I have that cleared up, HERE's the local concert preview for this weekend! Jager are back this weekend at The Sportsman's Lounge at Dondee Lanes! They will be playing there at 8:00 PM tomorrow night and Saturday night! If you wanna check out a preview of a Jager live show, here's a video of them performing Finger Eleven's "Paralyzer"!

December 15th, 2007


Also, a couple local bands are hitting the road for concerts out of town this weekend! Sault Ontario's own Lion Ride are playing in Toronto at The Bovine Sex Club with Common Dears on Saturday night, followed by a show in London at Call The Office with The Saigon Hookers the next day! Meanwhile, in the Detroit area, Sault Michigan's own Bad Side will take the stage at TNT's Bar in Clinton Township, supporting SkinDeep! Best of luck to both bands on their road trips!

We're not done yet though, I got some more news! First off, the Guttershark/Callahan show on March 9th is definitely CONFIRMED! Callahan updated their concert dates on their Myspace and the show is listed! So for all you hardcore fans, you might wanna check this one out! It will be held at The Oddfellows Hall, and will start at around 7:00 PM that night!

Also, the official poster for the March 11th Carnifex show has been posted on Facebook! What you guys think? A little dark, but it looks nice!

I also posted the Battle of the Bands on March 20th in the concert listings! I've been noticing a few local metal/hard rock band members showing some interest over at the Facebook event page, which is a great sign! Chance for prizes and exposure + good music = a worthwhile show, don't you think? Plus, there's that rock opera too! Sounds like an interesting show!

That's all I got for now, stay tuned for more metal news!