LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Nudge), A New Local Metal Project, And Much More!!

I wasn't expecting to have a second news post today, but due to SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS that just came to my attention, we'll rush another one, but check out more new concerts, videos, and other updates in the post below this one! Now, we have the aforementioned late notice gigs, a Sault Michigan metal band's recent updates, and more assorted news and notes, but first, here's a new local metal project we recently came across!

We have a new local metal project to add to our Sault Ontario band links, that being a new solo metal project named StrykerGC! Led by a veteran local singer/guitarist named Troy Isaac Kulka (who also uses the "Wyatt Erp" alias here and there), he had previously been in a British Columbia rock band named Angel Dust, but has been producing his own solo music since November, launching under the StrykerGC name last month (including Facebook & Reverbnation pages.) While relatively new, StrykerGC are looking to release his recent solo recordings as an album named "Life's A Bitch" on iTunes, and songs towards that goal are now streaming on Reverbnation, so how do they sound? Troy's solo music has elements similar to those of veteran local hard rock artists like Tym Morrison and SweetKenny, harbouring a classic metal sound with blues influences, and a good vocal range, and it will be interesting to see how far StrikerGC goes!

Note as well that Troy is looking to form a full band for this project, so if you're interested to get more details, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post yesterday! One YouTube copy of StrykerGC's song "Black As Night" also exists on Troy's YouTube channel, so give it a look below, and stay tuned for more from this new local band discovery as we hear it!



Next up, we have SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for TONIGHT AND TOMORROW NIGHT, as Marquette, Michigan hard rock quartet Nudge will be rocking The Satisfied Frog in Sault Michigan for two nights this weekend! Apologies for the short notice, these shows were only announced via their Facebook event page on Tuesday, and they slipped our radar until now (thanks to frontman Danzo McCracken for the heads-up!) Last seen at The Frog in February, this weekend's shows are their third & fourth Sault Ste. Marie dates since drummer Eric Schlumpf returned to their lineup, and they do indeed follow Danzo's traditional Wednesday & Thursday acoustic gigs at The Frog, so hopefully they went well! Nudge's entertaining modern hard rock covers always find a receptive audience, and you can rock out with them once again TONIGHT & TOMORROW at 9:00 PM, with 21+ age limits and no announced cover charges in effect. For more details, check the above links, don't miss Nudge's E.U.P. returns tonight or tomorrow, and here's Nudge covering Static-X in Munising!



Staying across the river, local classical metal band Theatre of Night recently overhauled their official website, and there's some interesting new stuff there, so what should you know? Along with an expended slate of online pages (including ones on Twitter, Soundcloud, and Pinterest), they now have an updated blog with recent news, including the revelation of a new original song named "The Killing" that will feature guest vocals from Italian singer Ida Elena DeRazza, and that their first album "Christmas Night" is almost sold out of it's original instrumental CD pressings. Their website doesn't have any brand new material yet that we haven't already heard, but it does include a tab for future tour dates, which has to be encouraging for long time fans! Studio work has been slow for Theatre of Night in the last year, but their talent and originality speaks for itself, and hopefully we hear much more from the Giles brothers, Craig, and Gaby soon, so keep an eye out!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or series name:

• These Sins of Time frontwoman Alexa LeClair is again looking for musicians for her current hard rock project (still unclear whether it's T.S.O.T. or something else), now focusing on a guitarist or bassist. At last word, Sault Michigan's Ethan Twardy was on drums, though it's unclear whether they're looking for an additional guitarist or if Dalton Boissineau left. The aim is to tour and make CDs, but if you're interested, message Alexa via her Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from May 4th!
• Local thrash metal band Pillory have quietly parted ways with guitarist Josh Amendola, as per his move to their former members list on their Facebook page. A public reason was not announced there, but note that Pillory have not made a Facebook post since March. Josh had replaced the late Andres Duchesne in the band last year, but only played with them at a few early 2014 gigs. Hopefully all's amicable, and best of luck to Josh in the future!
• The most recent installment of Local2's bi-weekly music profile video series Tuned with Donna Hopper was posted on May 3rd, and while you can watch it at this link, note that it doesn't focus too much on metal or hard rock bands, instead mainly covering White Pines Collegiate student band The Pine Tones. It does feature a plug of the Alice Cooper show in Sault Michigan next month though!

That's definitely all for today, but we'll see you guys at The Rockstar Bar TONIGHT for the Jack Spades EP release show! Thanks everyone!

Danger Cats Lineup News, The Full Bon Soo Marquee Schedule, And Much More!!

As we continue clearing out backlogged news stories the SMS, this post is full of stuff we've missed over the past week, including the full schedule from Bon Soo's outdoor stage, a lineup change for a rising local band, and much more, so read on below for what you need to know! (Updated on Tuesday at 5:38 PM)

Firstly, here's a lineup confirmation for local all female hard rock band The Danger Cats, as they have indeed parted ways with singer Summer Stevens, a.k.a. Summer Snow-Leopard. According to members Kate Kougar and Paula Panther in recent Facebook e-mails, Summer left for medical reasons, but while I'm not at liberty to go into further details, her departure is 100% amicable. There wasn't a public confirmation of her status until just the last few days (hence the confusion by her absence from band photos), and while she had missed a few dates last fall while out of town, she did return for their X-Mess set at LopLops in December. Disappointing news, and she has a nice voice, but hopefully Summer gets better soon! As you saw on Friday, Kate is now handling most lead vocals for The Danger Cats, though both Paula and bassist Jamie Jaguar do a few songs too at their shows, and after their great reception at The Rockstar Bar that night, hopefully they get similar results this weekend at Docks, so stay tuned for our previews of those shows later this week!

Next up, I wanted to acknowledge the full schedule for the Bon Soo Winter Carnival's Marquee, their outdoor performance stage at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion. I know we're very late for this, but I wanted to share a full copy of the schedule so you guys can see the full performer lineup, as the only public schedules were given out at Bon Soo and weren't posted online. In terms of the days with metal bands, you can see that the only actual bands on the Wednesday were The Suicide Kings & new punk quartet Fist Fighting Stephen Hawking, while Jack Spades' set on the Friday followed the still unknown Foreign A Chord and sets by members of The Salty Mollies. Also, this schedule copy shows that the SooToday press release about The Marquee only listed performers on the last four days, and of them, a plugged set by former Chronic Demonic singer Sabrina Strange did not make the final schedule (unless she performed with someone or under an alias.) For earlier days, you can also sense themes, like many indie/folk bands on the 8th, while the Monday schedule lacked any musical performers.

The Marquee's schedule also didn't show performers Maria Parella or the Davey Dance Company that were on other advertising at Bon Soo, while some of the short-formed names didn't detail the performers a lot (i.e. "EMP" are The Enigmatic Monster Project writing collective, and "Mitch Acoustic Set" was a set by performers Mitchell Nielsen & David Williams.) I appreciate that there were schedules available at Bon Soo, but for next year, Marquee organizers really need to expand their social media presence and get schedules online and in the program (a'la Rotaryfest's advertising for their stages.) Fingers crossed, but give the full schedule a look above!

Finally for today, here's eight assorted shorter news stories from the last while, as we're badly overdue for most of these. Like usual, these items are in alphabetical order by artist or company name:

• These Sins of Time frontwoman Alexa LeClair is looking for a drummer for a rock music project, though it's unclear whether it's to replace Ben Boudreau in T.S.O.T. or for a new band. If you're interested in trying out, message Alexa at this link or via her Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from last Tuesday. She's a very good singer, we'll have to see where this goes!
• Garden of Bedlam's song "Around The Bend" is featured in this new video for the Algoma Autism Foundation, which is a nice surprise for this well done clip! Fittingly co-produced by drummer Derek Turner, the softer song fits the mood, though sections with lyrics aren't included, probably as the original song's not about autism. Note that the video's host doesn't allow external embedding, but give it a look at the above links!
• According to their newest Facebook page post, local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades' upcoming debut EP will be mixed by Cross Dog bassist/prolific local musician Mark Rand! Vocal recordings have just finished, and the tracks will be sent to Mark after some additional tweaking. This marks the second local metal CD that Mark is mixing (after AlgomA's "Reclaimed By The Forest"), and I can't wait to hear how things turn out! Stay tuned for updates!
• Frightlight bassist Mike "Eddie Fright" Gingras was interviewed by SooToday's Donna Hopper for this article posted on Thursday concerning his short film "The Kid Who Made The Face", which will be screened at The Buffalo Niagara Film Festival in April! A local screening in March is planned (alongside a film by AlgomA's Boyd Rendell), while the article plugs the fundraiser show for Mike's short film that took place last summer at The Rosie. Great interview, give it a look above!
• I have switched the link for defunct band management/promotion company New Era Design & Developments in our Other Local Metal Links section to an updated link, as the link we previously had is now "frozen" according to it's hosting company, though the new link is very similar (if not the same) to the old page. Owned by Derek Pearce, the company once worked with Stillbroke, but focused it's early 2010s work on digital media.
• A new setlist from Sault Michigan metal band One Hour Till Dawn (formerly The Eleventh Hour) was posted on their Facebook page on February 15th, and it includes covers of bands like Pierce The Veil, Wolfmother, Atreyu, and The Strokes, among others. Interesting mix, hopefully they can get off the ground where other young Sault Michigan metal bands of recent years have fell short!
• A new video discovery from local goregrind duo Rotopsy is on singer Dylan Taylor's YouTube channel, as uploaded last October, but due to it's non musical-content (including pipe usage), I won't link to it here just in case some readers view it as offensive. If you give it a look, there is some solid bass work in the background from Tyler "Ringsnaps" Gibson though!
• Local hard rock quartet The Suicide Kings have indeed replaced Pillory on the lineup for the Anvil concert on March 15th at The Canadian, following their late notice replacement at the most recent Heavy Thursday at The Rosie. This is disappointing for Pillory fans, but don't miss them at Dank Fest in April, and The Suicide Kings should fit in nicely like they did at last August's Airbourne show!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes this week, along with our last monthly features of February! Thanks everyone!

Blood Shed Productions Updates, Jack Spades' New Second Guitarist, And Much More!!

We're back with some more news today (most of what's left of our recent cache, in fact), including recent feature profile updates, new solo cover discoveries, and a new guitarist addition to a local band, but first, here's some assorted notes from a rising local metal label/studio!

Let's start today with the newest updates from Sault Ontario goregrind label Blood Shed Productions, which have been staying busy after their well received Devil's Night concert last month! Flagship project Crucify The Whore have announced their new full length demo "Welcome To Earth" last week via their own Facebook page, which will likely include their newest song "People These Days", with a winter 2014 release date planned. Recent materials have been a bit more elaborate and liked too, so hopefully this helps continue their growth, along with the label! Other 2014 plans so far include new demos and albums from pornogrind duo Rotopsy, local rapper Chris "Gnostic" Downey", and Strange Coyotes guitarist Chase Wigmore's experimental solo project, with new uploads from all three now on Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel, though the new Rotopsy upload is just a combined upload of their songs from their three-way split disc, with nothing new included in the video.

There were also some reposts of Crucify The Whore videos from the Devil's Night show, after the originals were deleted for unannounced reasons. It sounds like Ringsnaps and company have a busy slate coming up, so stay tuned for updates for what their metal artists have planned next!

Next up, we have a surprise lineup addition for newer local punk/metal band Jack Spades, as they've enlisted Winkstinger's Jesse Cook as a second guitarist, officially making them a quintet. The news was revealed earlier today on the band's Facebook page, and the addition reunites Jesse with his former Operation: Killdozer bandmate Justin Lam. Arguably best known for his work as the lead guitarist of Winkstinger since 2010 (and before then in the mid-2000s fan favourites Soldiers of Misfortune), this is a really good addition that should add to the awesome guitar work at future concerts, including his debut with the band at the Fuckface Unstoppable concert on December 14th, so don't miss the expanded Jack Spades lineup's first show then! Note however that I don't know what this means (if anything) for Winkstinger's active status, but they have offered no public updates since their most recent show at The Oddfellows Hall on May 29th, which was their only live date in the past 16 months. If I hear any confirmation on if Winkstinger are still alive or not, I'll be sure to let you guys know!

Also today, remember on Friday when we mentioned the new lineup additions to the reunited local hard rock band These Sins of Time? Well, after checking some links related to the band, I found some new (to me, at least) videos on frontwoman Alexa LeClair's YouTube channel, including audio postings from her solo EP (featuring Sailor's Tongue frontman Kyle McKey) and some new solo acoustic covers! Two are actually both acapella covers of Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life", one of which was from October of last year, and the other (which is longer and with a closer camera angle) coming from November 1st of this year. However, I've embedded her other October 2012 performance video below due to it's length and guitar inclusion, that being an acoustic cover of Papa Roach's "Lifeline"! All three videos are well performed, and Alexa has a nice voice that should work well for the full band, but I'm curious still to hear how it expands to heavier electric material. Check out her "Lifeline" cover below, and see more at the above links!

Finally for today, here's some new updates and additions to our past Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles, mainly to reflect later results from common performers at last week's Viva La Battle! In our profiles of the Skid Row, Kiss, and Sault College Battles, I added references to new local punk band North West's runner up finish at the newest battle, given that their lineup included Blockade/Nebraska Arms alum Wayne Watkins up front and Terminal's Mike Yakasovich & Greg Callaghan on guitar, all of which equalled or improved on their recent highs! I also replaced the now defunct-Nebraska Arms and the still-to-debut Crawfather with North West when noting performers' later bands on the Skid Row & Sault College Battle profiles. As well, I added notes on The Bear Hunters' victory to the YMCA & Sault Humane Society Battle profiles, given that bassist Justin Lam played in the former with Operation: Killdozer, and the band as a whole competed in the latter, and I also noted on the Humane Society Battle profile that Wishbone bassist Steven Flint competed too in his newer band Punch. Stay tuned soon for more updates to this series' profiles!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for last month's poll results & this month's new poll at the SMS tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Powerslug), A "New" Local Band, And A New Woods of Ypres Video!

It's time for another news post at The Sault Metal Scene, but first, just a reminder that our next post will feature weekend concert previews, including for Tym Morrison's second show in his new Bossy's arrangement and the Frightlight/Merves concert at The Canadian, so watch out for that tomorrow! Right now though, we have some new videos of a local metal relevance, a newly discovered local band, and leading things off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you need to know!

Sault Michigan hard rockers Powerslug will return to The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino on March 2nd & 3rd! The band formerly known as River Witch weren't among last additions to the concert schedule on Kewadin Casino's entertainment page, but it's nice to see them confirmed in these latest additions! With the lack of a band page now, there's no official confirmation yet from Powerslug members, but Kewadin's entertainment page has always been reliable in the past, so don't worry! Barring new dates next month (there is an opening on Kewadin's schedule), this will be Powerslug's first concert weekend at The Rapids Lounge in three months, so if you've missed them recently, circle those dates on your calendar! I expect they'll have start times of around 10:00 PM with no cover charge and 21+ age limits. Check the above links for more details! It's good to see Powerslug back on stage for some hard rocking good times, and hopefully we'll hear more at some point from some source about their next concerts or how they sound! Stay tuned for updates!

Two more quick notes relating to the latest Kewadin schedule updates: Firstly, if you're wondering about the band named Bittermoon that are playing there over the next two months, they're a top 40/country/rock quintet that formed last year. Though they're a talented band, they don't fit in our genre range. Give them a listen though! The other note is that Kewadin's schedule mysteriously removed the announced dates from April onward, which included Monkey's Uncle & Swayze Train shows. This has happened before, and the last time I remember it happening, it wasn't due to concert cancellations, so unless I hear otherwise, these shows are still on, so don't worry!

Next up, here's a new-ish local band I just recently discovered! Well, they actually broke up last month, but they're new to us (and I apologize for missing them until just now!) Named These Sins of Time, they were a hard rock trio influenced by artists like Papa Roach, Hinder, and Metallica. They were fronted by a young local solo artist named Alexa LeClair, who had used the name These Sins of Time in projects dating back to 2009 (like on this MySpace page), but the current incarnation existed only last year. They also featured guitarist Dalton Boissoneau & drummer Mitch Harris, and from what I can tell, they would have played heavier music than in Alexa's solo project, who reportedly released an EP last year which featured production & contributions from prolific local musician Kyle McKey (Full Circle, Stillbroke, etc.) These Sins of Time launched their Facebook & Twitter pages in April, and reportedly played some sort of gig at The Steamy Bean coffeehouse last spring featuring Alexa and Dalton. Posts alluded to recording a demo, playing more gigs, and adding more members last year, but updates stalled after October, and Alexa announced that T.S.O.T. was "no more" last month on the band's Twitter page.

I don't know why These Sins of Time broke up, but I'm surprised I've never heard of them until now! I can't judge the band (no posted material), but Alexa is a really good singer and a nice guitarist, and I'm sure that made a great foundation for the band when they were around! I probably wasn't familiar with her due to her age, but give her stuff a listen, she's someone to watch locally over the next few years! While there's no T.S.O.T. videos online that I know of, Alexa does have a few videos on her YouTube channel, including this video of her acoustic cover (with guitar) of Avenged Sevenfold's "Fiction". The audio quality could be clearer, but she does a good job on this one, so check out Alexa's work below and at the above links, and These Sins of Time are now in our inactive Sault Ontario band links!



And finally for today, here's a brand new Woods of Ypres video from 2010! This comes courtesy of Atlanta-based musician Jordan Owen, who was the former singer in a doom metal band named Incarceri 9. They opened for Woods of Ypres when they headlined at the One Eighty in nearby Stockbridge, Georgia on July 12th, 2010, and when Jordan was transferring files to a new computer, he found video clips that he shot of Woods of Ypres' set at this show, so he posted them onto his YouTube channel in one video on Tuesday! The video opens with text rememberances (set to "Crossing The 45th Parallel") of Woods of Ypres and both their and David Gold's impact on him, along with memories of the Stockbridge concert. The video footage starts 56 seconds in, and includes clips of "The Shams of Optimism", "Crossing The 45th Parallel", and "Your Ontario Town Is A Burial Ground", though nothing is shot in full, and it concludes with a picture of Jordan & David at the concert.

It's a nice video overall, and I like seeing Jordan add his rememberances of David and Woods of Ypres at the beginning! The video quality isn't bad either, but battery life precluded longer clips from what I can tell. It's great to see this online finally, even 18 months after the fact, so kudos to Jordan, and here's his Woods of Ypres video from Georgia in 2010!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and more tomorrow! Thanks everyone!