YouTube Channel Profile Series: JoeNiemi17's Channel & Alex Hemy

Here is our last monthly feature post of the summer months, namely our latest YouTube Channel Profiles! This series looks at 1-3 YouTube channels featuring content at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk bands or concerts, in order to spotlight them for modern day readers and hopefully encourage views and subscriptions. This month's randomly selected channel only had two distinct kinds of videos (4 total that are relevant to the SMS), so I randomly picked a channel with only one surviving video to round things out with, and as such, each channel deals with a local solo musician from each side of the Twin Saults! Here's what you should know!
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JoeNiemi17's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/joeniemi17)
 
Owner: Former Analog Deficiency & Hoist The Sails bassist Joe Niemi

Channel Timeline: Launched on July 14th, 2010; Videos uploaded in October of that year

Channel Summary: Joe's channel features five videos, including two of him in solo bass performances and two videos a major Kewadin Casino concert. His last upload is of a pipe flooding at his then-school, which is his most viewed video, but has no music content.
 
Why You Should Watch: Give this channel a watch to see some of Joe's guitar skill from a decade ago, plus live footage of 10 Years' local set! The last video will primarily concern fans of fail videos or students who remembered the pipe incident. Note that this channel has not visibly been used since 2011, in case that changes your mind on subscribing.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out: 

Analog riff: Joe's main usage of his channel came late in his progressive metal band Analog Deficiency's 2009-2010 life span, and accordingly, one of his two performance videos is of a riff for a planned original song, as filmed to test his new iPod. It sounds promising, and Joe was a solid bassist, though both Analog Deficency and their successors Hoist The Sails struggled to break out of the Sault Michigan market, which hasn't been easy for extreme metal acts in the past decade. Joe's other performance clip is of him covering Lamb of God's "Laid To Rest" (and pretty well, I might add!)

Waste land - 10 years: This channel's two concert videos are from the Sevendust-headlined show at The Dreammakers Theatre at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino on October 18th, 2010, but Joe did not film them or openers Since October & Anew Revolution. Rather, he filmed co-headlining Knoxville, Tennessee hard rock band 10 Years playing a minute of "Shoot It Out", and in his most popular music upload, their biggest hit "Wasteland". The quality and angle aren't bad for these ironically 10 year old videos, and the vertical resolution isn't too bad given where he was in the crowd! See more videos of 10 Years from their 2018 show here with Seether at this link.

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Alex Hemy (http://www.youtube.com/alexsguitarcovers)
 
Owner: Former Ashes To Dust guitarist Alex Hemy

Channel Timeline: Launched on May 20th, 2012; Only surviving video uploaded in April 2020

Channel Summary: Alex created this channel to feature his solo guitar covers, which initially were in a hard rock/classic metal realm before increasingly getting softer, albeit better produced with backing tracks, and even featuring vocals on occasion. Unfortunately, Alex has deleted or privatized all of his old videos, which is a shame, as he is a very talented musician! His only video left is his new cover of "Driving Rain" by Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators (with the original song as backing), and it's well handled and heavier than we were seeing from him in the videos previous to this one! I'd have used the alternate camera angle well before the 3:37 mark though. Hopefully new (or old) covers of Alex's surface down the line!


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 I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! Next month in this series, our random selection has given us a channel that can stand alone, namely defunct local classic metal band Project 421's official channel! Look for that on or around September 26th, and for a new news post tomorrow! Thanks everyone! 

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Analog Deficiency & Steven Flint

Today marks our latest Defunct Local Band Profiles, but with a change for half of them. Originally, we were going to profile mid-2000s Sault Ontario death metal band Devastation of the Heavens second, but when doing their profile, I found a lot more information & media than I'd expected, and it's only fair to give them a full profile to themselves. As a result, I've bumped D.O.T.H. to the April installment of this series as the lone band, and I've randomly picked a new Sault Ontario project to join this month's already-selected Sault Michigan band, in our monthly look at defunct/inactive local metal/hard rock acts. With that said, read on below for all you need to know on this month's randomly selected bands! (Updated on August 21st)
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Analog Deficiency

Genre: Progressive Metal

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Members: (Members not in their last lineup in italics. This information is incomplete. E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you can help fill in any blanks or make any corrections!)

Nathan Switzer (Sir Charge, RamWagon), guitar
Cody Tidwell (Traces), guitar
Cody Reed (RamWagon, The Eleventh Hour, Hoist The Sails), guitar
Joe Niemi (Hoist The Sails), bass
Marcel Grengs (RamWagon, The Highest of Fives, Hoist The Sails), drums

Brian Decker, guitar
T.J. ????? (Deprecor), bass

Info/Analysis: Analog Deficiency were a short lived Sault Michigan alternative metal project that existed from July 2009 through the fall of 2010. Formed by members of a prior cover band, Analog Deficiency had plans to write and record an album during their short run, but I don't believe they ever played live (or even secured a permanent singer.) Public band news slowed to a stop by September 2010, with members focusing on newer band projects in recent years, including most of their last lineup joining both Hoist the Sails and RamWagon. I wish Analog Deficiency had lasted longer than they did, as their posted instrumental demos were very promising! As shown on their two surviving 2010 audio tracks "We're Dealing With A Samsquanch, Boys" & "Lamps Falling From The Sky", the members shown solid skills at technical metal with a clear influence from Meshuggah & similar industrial/djent bands, even throwing some KoRn-esque riffs in for good measure! If anything, these songs are unfinished and can be a bit repetitive (vocals & solos would help), but it's a shame that Analog Deficiency never took off, as the guys had something very good going. Check out "Lamps Falling From The Sky" below, and more at the above links!


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Steven Flint

Genre: Metal/Classic Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Performers: (E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you have any additions or corrections!)

Steven Flint (The Suicide Kings, Wishbone, Limelight), all instruments
Chris Stainthorpe (Silver Dream), guitar
Mike LaRue (Limelight, Silver Dream), bass 

Info/Analysis: Over a year after the credited performers' previous band Silver Dream crashed & burned, that project's drummer Steven Flint launched a short lived solo project in July 2011 featuring him on more instruments, along with input & performances from the other non-vocal members of that band. Steven's solo work only produced one (now deleted) song entitled "Run To You", which was heavier than the performers' 2010 output while still retaining a classic edge, and Steven's vocal range shared deeper & grittier qualities like those of fellow local musician Mike Haggith. Steven's solo work quietly went inactive early the next year, with him & bassist/producer Mike LaRue joining the (also short lived) local cover band Limelight in the spring of 2012. I liked where Steven's solo material was going, but it's great to see him hit even bigger heights with his more recent bands, and even if he doesn't do any imminent new solo work, I'd like to hear "Run To You" again in some form, possibly by The Suicide Kings?

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Next month, as promised at the beginning, we WILL be profiling the mid-2000s Sault Ontario death metal band Devastation of the Heavens on or around April 10th! After finding more information than I'd originally estimated, it's only fair, so watch out for that next month, and for more news this week! Thanks everyone!

Local Metal Video Showcase!!

The news keeps on coming on this Saturday morning, as we have our first local metal video showcase of the month! Granted, it's half new discoveries of old videos, but they came from research for some upcoming feature posts, and have not been featured on the site before. Today, we have some new guitar performances and new song postings by two Sault Ontario grunge bands, so read on below for these new/old videos!

First, we have a new song posting from recently prominent local grunge quartet Haggith! The song is a brand new addition to their upcoming third album "Deuce" (despite not being on last month's posted track listing), and it's entitled "The Story Of...", which is intended to be a prequel to their cover of drummer Mike Haggth's solo track "Leon The Janitor". Uploaded in two versions (by itself & combined with it's sequel) onto their YouTube channel on Wednesday, this features their whole lineup with guitarist Curtis McKenzie on lead vocals. It works as a softer intro to the more aggressive "Leon The Janitor", but I'll hold full thoughts until we review "Deuce". As it's a fuller video with the two songs combined as intended, check out "The Story Of Leon The Janitor" below, and hear more at the links above!



Next up, here's a newly discovered video from former Devastation of the Heavens/Quite Frankly rhythm guitarist Joe DelBasso! We largely haven't heard from Joe musically since Quite Frankly's demise in 2010, but he still actively uses his YouTube channel, though he's based his channel around video gaming footage, playthroughs, and video replies since his initial guitar solo videos went up in late 2009. That said, he did upload one new guitar cover onto his channel in September 2011, and it's a rhythm guitar cover of Metallica's "Fuel"! At least at that point, he still had his guitar chops (as the video title indicates), but like from his 2009 videos, I wish he'd pick up some more lead work and at least try a solo or two. Joe was a good fit in his local bands, and hopefully we'll see him on stage again in the future, but check out his most recent solo cover video below, and if you're a fan of video game playthroughs and random other gaming clips, subscribe to his channel!



Also today, here's more old discoveries of guitar covers from another local musician named Joe (also with a YouTube channel URL featuring the number 17), that being ex-Analog Deficiency/Hoist The Sails bassist Joe Niemi! Though not a frequent sight on stage, Joe's been recently visible in young local extreme metal bands, and like Joe DelBasso, he also uploaded some guitar cover videos to his own YouTube channel in October 2010. The last time we mentioned his channel, it was from his videos of 10 Years' set from the Sevendust show at Kewadin Casino that month, so we missed his two cell phone cover clips, including a cover of Lamb of God's "Laid To Rest" and a video named "Analog Riff", which likely refers to a planned song by Analog Deficiency. The Lamb of God cover is generally good (albeit with some timing flubs), while the original riff video shows promise, and it would have added well to an original song! I'd be curious to see Joe on bass though, given his local band roles, but check out the "Analog Riff" below, and more at the above links!



Finally for today, we'll bookend with another new Sault Ontario grunge band audio upload, this time from defunct Sault Ontario trio No Arrow! An alternate mix of their song "Sikkha" from their unreleased CD "Souls For Sale", it doesn't sound much different from the original version, but it has a longer intro & a rawer sound on a first listen. Featuring their classic lineup (singer/guitarist Dann Pichette, bassist Harley Syrette, and drummer Joe Falco), and uploaded onto Dann's YouTube channel on Thursday, this was one of my favourite No Arrow songs from their heyday, mixing alternative rock with a solid heavy groove & nicely varied singing overtop, so check out the newly available alternate mix of "Sikkha" below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles on the aforementioned Analog Deficiency & a surprise replacement band (I'll explain tomorrow), and of course, more news as it rolls in! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Napalm Death & Empyrean Plague) And Much More!!

Alright, we have some really awesome news to share today, mostly concerning upcoming metal shows, but we have some assorted notes at the end, including some YouTube housekeeping youy guys might like. Now though, let's kick things off with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!!

Hold on to your hats, metalheads, as a HUGE metal show is hitting Sault Ontario on October 15th, headlined by none other than British grindcore legends Napalm Death! You read that right! One of the top ten highest selling death metal bands of all time, Napalm Death have made waves since the 1980s on the backs of influential albums like "Scum" "Fear, Emptiness, Despair", and their latest "Time Waits For No Slave", and you know their brutal and respected sounds will not want to be missed next month! Huge kudos to Rich Moreland and Dismembertainment for bringing them here, this should be their biggest show yet! Four bands have been secured as openers, including two out of town bands, so who's opening for Napalm Death? Toronto death metal band Hallows Die, for one, in their first Sault Ontario stop in five months, following the Farewell To Freeway-headlined Rosie metal night in May! Nice choice, they sounded great from what I heard the first time around, so you won't want to miss them! The other out of town band is Calgary grindcore outfit Wake, who'll fit right in at this show with a hardcore and grind mixture that's guaranteed to melt faces in what I think is their local debut! How's that for an intense trifecta of great out of town death metal?

The two local bands confirmed as openers are melodic death metal quintet The Bear Hunters and grimecore trio Shit Liver, who are probably the best local fits for a show of this style and magnitude, and you know they'll turn some heads in the process! Also, I should note that Oshawa death metal band Strings of Ares had announced their participation in this show on band pages in August, but unless Dismembertainment confirm additional bands, I wouldn't read too far into that (though they'd fit well if added!) With the bands out of the way, what else should you know about this huge metal show? It will be held at The Riuniti Hall on 1324 Great Northern Road (at the corner of 4th Line East, down the road from The Trading Post), which isn't a familiar concert venue, but it has the size needed for a show of this magnitude! Crank Sound Distribution will be on hand to do sound, and it will be an ALL AGES concert, but a bar for 19+ attendees will be open. Doors open at 6:00 PM, and tickets are $20 in advance (ticket details to be announced), or $25 at the door, which certainly isn't steep for this level of bands, including the one and only Napalm Death! For all current details, visit the official Facebook event page!

Now THIS is one hell of a metal concert, Rich has outdone himself once again! There's a chance I might be in Detroit that weekend, but if I'm not, you can guarantee I'll be at The Riuniti Hall on October 15th for what should be one of the biggest metal concerts of the year! There's likely much more to come related to this concert, so stay tuned to the SMS for more details as they're confirmed!

So while Napalm Death stole much of the attention last night, Dismembertainment kept busy announcing another concert yesterday as well, that being THIS THURSDAY's 34th Roosevelt Hotel metal night! Keeping with recent trends for Dismembertainment's Thursday night showcases, there will be an out of town headlining band, and this week, it's North Bay black metal quartet Empyrean Plague! Nice to see them come to town, and if you enjoy folk inspired black metal, you'll be right at home with these Northern Ontario standouts, especially if you're more into black metal than other types! Local opening bands are scheduled for Thursday, but none have been confirmed as of this writing. When they're announced, I'll let you guys know! This show has a 9:00 PM start time, there will be a $3 cover (very affordable), and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Even without knowing the openers yet, this is shaping up to be an awesome concert, and huge props to Rich for booking out of town headliners for the Thursday metal nights in six of the past 7 weeks! Consistent brutal metal shows, gotta love em! Stay tuned for updates on THIS THURSDAY'S Empyrean Plague show as they come in!

Now to some more news, so here's three assorted shorter stories from last few days. As usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or station name:

• I moved Sault Michigan metal quintet Analog Deficiency to our inactive band links yesterday. Featuring Traces guitarists Nathan Switzer & Cody Tidwell in their lineup, Analog Deficiency were last visibly active on September 19th, 2010, which was when they last logged into their MySpace page. They were a promising band with a cool KoRn-inspired sound, though hopefully the members' current projects work out!
• Sault Ontario solo hard rock guitarist Shane "The Shaner" Solomon has posted a new "in progress" original demo named "Underdog" onto his Reverbnation page. Promising slower hard rocker, I like the riffing, and hopefully he expands on this to make a fuller track! Click here for more of The Shaner's original material!
• WLSO: The Sounds of Lake State (the college radio station at Lake Superior State University in Sault Michigan) has launched an official Twitter account! Not a lot of activity there yet, but a recent tweet implied that they're running a Saturday night rock show of some type this semester with a DJ named Aaron as host. If I hear any more details on this and other programming on WLSO, I'll let you know, but tune in today at 90.1 FM!

And finally for today, I wanted to let you guys know about some interesting edits being made to the videos on our official YouTube channel. A few days ago, YouTube unveiled a new feature that allows channel owners to edit their videos after uploading, and I don't mean the title and description. Now, you can adjust the lighting, colour, shakiness, length, and audio of videos after uploading them, and I'll tell you guys right now, this is awesome of them to finally add! Now I can go back and edit all of the videos I've filmed and uploaded that had bad/no lighting, dim/washed out colour, and other odd or non-realistic lighting. I've edited many videos, mostly from concerts, since YouTube unveiled this feature, and now many older videos are brighter & better lit than they once were! This doesn't boost the quality (dark footage doesn't brighten up very cleanly), but this way, many older videos look nicer and more detailed. I plan on using this feature more often, and I do recommend it for you readers with YouTube channels, as who wants to watch a black or washed out video?

To show you guys an example, here's Scofflaw's video for "Love Destroyer" (as originally uploaded to their MySpace page in 2008), and my weekly classic video upload of it from March, which I colour corrected a couple days ago. See what you guys think!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new local band and more news later this week, along with our next YouTube Channel Profile Series (on Garden of Bedlam's channel) on Thursday, and more! Thanks everyone!

Tons Of Updates From Sault Michigan Bands & Concerts!!

Hey Sault Michigan metalheads, this post is completely geared towards you guys! And of course, those of you on the Canadian side who follow those bands and go see them too! We have some Kewadin Festival updates, new songs from a young local band, the possible end or frontman exit of a local hard rock band, and some more assorted updates, but first, some very cool stuff from a band I just recently rediscovered!

Last fall, you may remember that I plugged a new local death metal band named End of Existence, later renamed to In Memorandum, who were fronted by current Elipzis drummer Bob "Orb Hearthstone" Helsten, who you'll recognize for his work in Clownsack, Weed, Chord On Bluez, and most notably, Integrated System of Machines. Well, they honestly slipped me by after an inactive period, but they never broke up, and they're still going strong! Now known as End of Existence again, they launched a new MySpace page and website last month (the old one is still online but inactive) with updated bio information and material! They're now listed as being from Grand Rapids, though they were formed and originally based here, so make sure you guys remember that if you question why they're being covered here! The same original lineup remains now, with guitarist Steve "Sven Gilesten" Giles on guitar (also an ex-I.S.O.M. member) and his brother Greg "Grg Gilesten" Giles on drums. You may recognize both of the Giles brothers from some other Grand Rapids-area bands, notably Steve's work in Flesh For The Beast. At present, End of Existence are searching for a bassist and keyboardist, contact the band on MySpace if you're interested!

Reportedly, End of Existence are working on an 8 song EP for release on August 15th entitled "Sun Is Gone", which was the name of their original demo on their old MySpace page. Their website says that they will "post the songs" on that day, so who knows if "Sun Is Gone" will be sold in any fashion. Sounds like some exciting things are coming up for End of Existence, check out all of the above links to get caught up! And last, but not least, they have a video online! The band have launched an official YouTube channel with a promo video featuring samples of their original songs, including "Inside You", "Deathbed", and "Recurring Dreams", along with photos and video footage of the band and other "things". Sounds good, Orb's clean vocals are being used more aggressively than I remember him doing in I.S.O.M., and the instrumentation is good, but it feels a bit empty. Maybe it's cause they need a full lineup yet, but it sounds good! Check out the End of Existence promo video below!



Next up, some bad news from a recently prominent local hard rock band. Blind Baby frontman Tadd Gravelle posted this on his personal Facebook page on Wednesday: "Blind Baby is no more! Goodbye to frustration and headache, and hello to myself a new day has begun!" A later post on his page that day questioned whether one should move on from doing what one loves to do if they're no longer able to do it without anger and frustration. If you ask me, the two posts sure sound linked, but the latter sounds intentionally open-ended. So it's clear that, at the very least, Blind Baby have parted ways with Tadd, but have the band broken up? He said that the band was "no more", but that could just be a general statement about their presence in his life. For what it's worth, neither the band's Reverbnation or Facebook pages have been recently updated. I'll keep you posted with updates on Blind Baby's status if I hear them, and fingers crossed that they're not ending! It's sad to see Tadd leave the band, he wasn't a bad singer, especially when using a heavier vocal style!

Thirdly today, we have some more Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival updates! Kewadin Casino's Facebook page was asking fans for input and suggestions in the aftermath of the Kewadin Festival, including what people liked and didn't like, and if people would want to see the festival return. I'm not sure how much of an impact people's suggestions will have towards Kewadin events going forward, but why not suggest things? Was there elements you REALLY liked or wanted gone? Would you go to a second festival next year? Click here to voice your opinion! Also, photos from some of the meet and greets from the headlining bands and celebrities have been posted on Kewadin Casino's website! There's photos from the meet and greets with Three Doors Down, the Playboy Playmates, Detroit Lions legends Herman Moore & Billy Sims, Henry Winkler (THREE PAGES, no less!) and, most metal of all, Bret Michaels! Odd that there was no Vince Neil meet and greet, but hey, you take what you can get. Click here for all of the meet and greet photos, and here for the Bret Michaels shots! Good quality, he looks happy to be there, as do the large contingent of female fans in the pictures! I'll have more fallout from the festival as I hear it!

And now, we have new demos from young local progressive metal band Analog Deficiency, led by Monkey's Uncle frontman Henry Switzer's son Nathan on guitar! I gotta say, these guys are really improving, and the new demos are more proof! Production's a little iffy, but the new demos really shine! One's amusingly titled "We're Dealing With A Samsquanch Boys", and the riffing is of a high quality and is very catchy! Instrumentation shines all around, these guys know what they're doing! The solo comes later than it really should have, and it does get repetitive, but it's a very promising demo! The other new song, "Lamps Falling From The Sky" takes a more Korn-like sound like their first few (now removed) demos exhibited, but on a bit faster pace. These guys have really grown from when we first heard them, and once they get a singer, they've got a great base to really make some noise on the concert scene! Check out the new demos at this location, and I'll keep you posted with more information on Analog Deficiency!

And to close today's Sault Michigan-centric post, two quick updates that have passed me by. One is that Nixxon Dixxon have launched a page on Eventful in a contest Eventful is running to find individual local openers for Kiss' next North American tour! Nixxon Dixxon entered to try and become openers for Kiss' Detroit show on the tour, but are just in 121st place with a single demand for them to be the openers. Wanna help Nixxon Dixxon out? Head to their Eventful page today to demand them as Kiss' openers in Detroit! Personally, I thought they were sleepers to win the Kiss Battle of the Bands in December, and they definitely have the goods, so help them out! The other quick note is a show I missed. Local progressive metal band Hammerspace defeated Elipzis and Scofflaw (haven't heard from them in a while!) in a battle of the bands at The Corner Pub Bar & Grill on June 26th! Congratulations to Hammerspace, I bet it was an awesome battle! My apologies on missing that battle, concerts at The Corner Pub are VERY hard to find information about online. Their MySpace page doesn't announce new concerts regularly, so I usually have to rely on individual band announcements for details. Hopefully we'll hear more from Hammerspace and the other competing bands real soon! My source for the battle of the bands updates is a MySpace status post from Hammerspace.

There, I think we're mostly caught up on Sault Michigan metal news and updates now, but rest assured, more is on the horizon! Stay tuned to the SMS TOMORROW for my newest out-of-town bands profiles on Jar. and Thrawsunblat, and more news and updates are to come after that as well! Thanks everyone, I'll be back real soon!

Even More Assorted News From The Last Few Days!!

And the clearing out of my backlogged news desk continues! Firstly, I wanna re-mention something before I get too into new stories: It was sort of buried in my last post, but Nixxon Dixxon ARE playing at Dondee Lanes THIS WEEKEND! It's not plugged on their MySpace page, but band contacts confirmed that they'll be there (thanks to Ernest Beaumont for the info!) 8:00 PM start time on Friday and Saturday, 21+, no announced cover, hopefully each show is a success! More news is on the way today, so here we go!

Hey music fans, you have a new bar to check out for future concerts! It is The Vibe Lounge, and it's not where you'd expect. It's actually located at 232 Goulais Avenue, which was the old location of the Polish-Canadian Hall! This isn't anywhere near downtown, unlike most local bars/concert spots, it's near to Bayview Park and The Hard Times Bar & Grill, if you're looking for an idea of it's locale. I notice that some of the staff at Nite-Life Dance Club have been posting and updating on The Vibe Lounge's Facebook page, so it looks like everything's well handled! Compared to Nite-Life though, The Vibe Lounge seems to have things in common with The Bottom's Up Lounge in tone and atmosphere too, with martinis prominently advertised. Coffee and more casual alcohol are available too! Pictures of The Vibe Lounge that have popped up online so far don't show much of the venue as a whole yet, but it looks nice from what I can see! And as for concerts, the first takes place on Friday when local rockers Stiffler's Mom play at The Vibe Lounge's grand opening party in a special invite-only event! No word on metal shows there yet, but when there is, I'll let you know! But The Vibe Lounge is fully open now, so if you're in the Goulais Avenue/Second Line area, stop by for a drink! To become a fan on Facebook, click here!

Next up, have you noticed that since their inception last year, we have never found online samples of the sound of local hard rockers Riot! By Night? Well, we still don't, but the next best thing is on YouTube! Frontman Ryan Harrison has a YouTube channel featuring five acoustic solo covers! The videos feature his singing and guitar renditions of songs by Evans Blue, Butch Walker, Coheed & Cambria, Matchbox Twenty, and Sister Hazel, and on listening, he's not bad at all! Solid singer, and his guitar skills are good too, though you know me, I'd love to hear some heavier stuff too! Check out Ryan's videos at this location, and if anything else video/audio wise pops up from him or Riot! By Night online, I'll let you know! Remember, you can next see them live in Barbeau next weekend! For now though, here's his acoustic rendition of the Evans Blue song "Over"!



Now here's something that has a "rock" connection of sorts, though it's definitely more offbeat, and I figure this could get mentioned! On Saturday, there will be a city-wide charity car wash involving local high schools! Now why does this get a Sault Metal Scene mention? Well, Sir James Dunn Collegiate & Vocational School are taking part, and will be theming theirs around rock n' roll! It takes place, I believe, in the SJD parking lot from 10:00 AM-4:00 PM, and the car washers will all be decked out in their best hard rock gear! They were hoping for stuff like bandanas, wrist bands, black t-shirts, jeans, that kind of stuff! All proceeds from this car wash will go towards Teen Challenge North, a drug & alcohol rehab program for local teens to help them get their lives in order! There will be trophies for the overall best car wash, highest student participation, most money raised, most cars washed, and best school spirit, and best theme. Hey, as a hard rock/metal fan, I'd give the latter award to the Dunn! If I can give one piece of advice, it's this: Play Rock 101 or some metal/hard rock CDs on a sound system outside, it'd add to the environment! So if your car needs a wash on Saturday, get the most rocking car wash of all at the Dunn and support local charities! Get more info at this location!

Three more shorter news stories for today, let's go through them in alphabetical order by band name:

• A new bulletin post from Sault Michigan metal band Analog Deficiency is hyping the fact that they're looking for a new singer! They're looking for someone who can sing AND scream, so take that into account. If you're interested, or know someone who is, message the band at their official MySpace page! There's also some audio demo clips there, so if you want an indication of their sound before submitting interest for singing, check them out!
• Sault Ontario hard rockers Half Past are asking fans when would be the best time for them to book a possible headlining show! Basically, when would the best time be for you to see them live? Post your ideas at the topic about this at their official Facebook page! Also, the band are working on a fourth original song and have added a handful of new covers to their setlist!
• Local hardcore rockers Out Of The Mouth Of Babes have uploaded a new version of their first original, "Take A Walk With Me", to their MySpace page! The new version features current singer Matt Maccarone in place of their original singer Josh McNally, but otherwise doesn't have much different. Pretty good, it's nice hearing Matt in heavier stuff! Check it out at the links above, and if I can 100% confirm a new OOTMOB show, I'll let you all know!

I think this is mostly it for news I've had backlogged since my tough exam/test stretch! In my next update, I have information relating to a long awaited local album, and how you can get it, kind of! Likely previews of this weekend's Blind Baby and Nixxon Dixxon shows too, so stay tuned for all that!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Ultraviolence), Caveman Morrison Concert Previews, And Much More!

Loaded post today, I've found and heard a lot more stuff worth mentioning for this very snowy Thursday evening! And we'll begin with another LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

At last, we have our first confirmed metal concert in Sault Ontario for 2010, and it comes courtesy of a band we've seen before in these parts! Toronto hard rockers Ultraviolence will return to Coch's Corner for a concert full of "filthy drunk n' roll!" You may remember seeing these guys at Coch's Corner on September 3, at a show that I almost went to, but had prior commitments. This time, they'll be playing there on January 12th, with a given start time of 8:00 PM (I doubt it will start that early though.) Seeing as it's a typical Coch's Corner show, don't expect a cover charge. Very solid band, if you're looking for music to get drunk to, Ultraviolence should do the trick! AC/DC fans will like this band too! Check out some of their songs at their official MySpace page, and as I hear more about this concert, I'll let you guys know!

Next up, there's a pair of metal concerts this weekend, so here's your local concert preview! Local metal band Caveman Morrison return for their first full concert sets since August, when they play two shows tomorrow night and Saturday night at The Algonquin Hotel! But just because they're both at the Algonquin doesn't mean they're both in the same spot. Tomorrow's show will be in the bar DOWNSTAIRS at The Algonquin, while Saturday's show will be UPSTAIRS at The Rockstar Bar, which has quickly been gaining momentum as a concert spot! No cover charges have been announced. These will be the band's first full concerts with new bassist Rick White (also of Frightlight), and they will have merchandise for sale as well (note to self: get a t-shirt!) They'll be playing tons of great metal covers, and maybe some originals too!

Should be a good night, Caveman Morrison always rocked when I saw them in my high school days, and this should be no different! I'll definitely be seeing them Saturday night at The Rockstar Bar, Friday's up in the air, but I guarantee I'll be there on Saturday! It'll be nice to see The Rockstar Bar in person too, it looks like a nice venue! For more details, and to confirm your attendance, click here for tomorrow's concert, and here for Saturday's concert! Still don't have an embeddable video to share on here, but visit this location to see some old Caveman Morrison videos at their official website!

And now we come to more stuff from the Three Days Grace concert on Tuesday! Four more videos from it have been uploaded to YouTube! Two come from YouTube user mdj60, who got clips of "Break" and another shorter clip, which you can check out at this location! The other two are from the floor, and are from the YouTube channel of user taylortrecroce! Audio quality isn't bad here at all, though the camera work is jittery from all the jumping and activity. Check out their clip of the band playing "The Good Life" right here, and check out taylortrecroce's video of 3DG playing "Never Too Late" by clicking here!



Next, do you guys remember that local band Amethyst that I've recently profiled on the SMS? Well, the band's bassist, Chipp Robb, got in contact with me the other day, and he told me a bit more about Amethyst and what he's been up to since the band broke up! Apparently, the band were nominated for (get this) a MuchMusic Video Award back in the day for Best Independent Hard Rock Video! Now that's awesome, though I couldn't find any clips or transcripts from the MMVAs that year. Chipp told me he thinks he's the only band member still active in music, and he's kept busy in a number of bands in the Calgary area, which he moved to back in 1995. He owns a recording studio there, works as a production coordinator, and has played in bands like The Plain Tongued Devils, Desmadre, and a Frank Zappa tribute act! He also seemed happy that someone remembered Amethyst, and now he's interesting in possibly writing up an Amethyst band history, which would be awesome to read! Great to hear, thanks to Chipp for the messages! And remember, check out Amethyst's "Innocent As Hell" album at our official YouTube channel!

And finally for today, three quick news items:

• Sault Michigan metal band Analog Deficiency have announced the addition of drummer Marcel Grengs to their lineup! I remember that the drummer search was part of the reason for their lack of recent activity, so it's great to see! Can't wait to hear more from these guys, they have promise!
• I've heard continuing reports from people and from another recent SooToday article that Kiss tickets are still being sporadically released by The Essar Center! They're not publicizing the release of new tickets at all, so this is an instance where you guys have to be on The Essar Center's website at the right time to test your luck. Last I heard, there were still some available, so head to this location to try and get a ticket if you don't have one already!
• Former Driving Dave Home drummer Steve Brogno (last seen in the Rage Against The Machine tribute band Renegades) is looking to join a new band! He's open to anything except grindcore and country, and he's looking for serious musicians only. Gotta be someone out there in the market for a drummer, they're in short supply locally! If you're interested in getting him for your band, search for Steve Brogno (Sudbury, ON network) on Facebook!

That's all for now, if I don't have any news by Saturday (which is unlikely), I'll see you guys that night for Caveman Morrison at The Rockstar Bar! Stay tuned!