Andy has expanded his range and talents very well in the past two decades, and he's a game interviewee with good answers, so be sure to hear his episode and much more from Sev's Cellar above! That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next and more news when it rolls in! Thanks everyone!
Local hard rockers Half Past have announced the addition of singer Jordan Rains to the band, replacing Luke LeBlanc. Though not a widely known singer in local rock circles, Jordan did try out for Half Past during the Fingerbone days before finally making the band in this latest vocalist search. Surprisingly enough, Jordan is actually one of the tenor singers in a local Christian vocal group named NAClamation, which is interesting in itself! Being a tenor, I'd assume his singing voice will be higher in tone, and combined with Half Past's own mention that he has a "great vocal range", we should be looking at some great singing from Jordan in Half Past when they return to the stage! The news was broken on Half Past's Facebook page only two hours ago. I'm curious to see how Jordan does with Half Past, especially given his vocal style, which seems like it will be at least somewhat different from how both Luke & John Barber sang with the band. The NAClamation recordings don't say much for Jordan's singing on it's own, but the guys in Half Past know exactly what they're doing, and Jordan should work out just fine! Fingers crossed for a return to the stage very soon!
Next up are the long awaited Woods of Ypres tour vlogs! After some delays due to upload failures, the first two parts of their first tour vlog in Sault Ste. Marie are now on frontman David Gold's YouTube channel, so here's what you should know! These utilize more on screen titles to identify songs and video segments than last year's had, but the basic theme is the same: Concert footage, road antics, alcohol consumption, and assorted amusing moments from the tour and related excursions! Part 1 features (among other stuff) some shots of their local rehearsal area, Joel Violette's piano skills, why they went to Canadian Tire, the struggles of getting to The Roosevelt Hotel for their concert here on March 10th, some "dancing" to The Bear Hunters & State of Misery during their sets, a local building for sale that David wanted to purchase, and over four minutes of concert footage from that very show! Part 2 is basically just the continuation of the concert footage, and I assume it will conclude in Part 3 when it's uploaded, along with some likely post-show moments. Yes, the footage captured from Woods of Ypres' actual set was from the filming I was doing on one of the band's camcorders, though I noticed that almost no footage from "Camera 2" was used save for a cheering crowd moment. I wonder why not?
Thirdly today, how's about some new concert footage from a recent major show? Videos that I've seen on YouTube from March 14th's Buckcherry concert at Kewadin Casino have entirely been from their set, with nothing from Papa Roach or local openers Fallen Heroes...until now! Yesterday, YouTube user suffocation2 uploaded this video of Papa Roach playing their hit "Last Resort" from what appears to be their show earlier this month! Even if it's their 2009 show here, it's 100% at Kewadin, so it still fits here! The video quality's really good for this clip, and the audio's not bad either, though it has some staticy portions with the bass here and there. I was a big fan of Papa Roach's in their early "rap metal" days, but frontman Jacoby Shaddix sounds more tired here than I'm used to. I bet you this was later in the set. Still, this is some of the best footage of any band that I've seen recently from major Kewadin hard rock shows, so definitely give it a look below, and if any more videos pop up online from this concert, I'll have them here!
And finally, here's this week's classic video! For the first time, it's not linked to a performer at an upcoming concert, as I'm low on available non-YouTube videos from the bands/artists that I know are playing this weekend, and I want to spread things out. So this week, I decided to upload a video from a prominent local band that we haven't seen on stage in a few months, and that band is Garden of Bedlam! This video comes from their headlining show on February 27th, 2011 at Foggy Notions, and it's of the band covering Pantera's "Fucking Hostile" with guest singer Andy Chillman of Papa Fogals Chair fame! FYI, Papa Fogals Chair is the inactive London metal quintet featuring Garden of Bedlam drummer Derek Turner, and they opened this concert (along with fellow Londoners Pistols At Dawn) in a rare one-off reunion set! Andy joined Erik "Buzz" Boissineau on lead vocals for this Pantera cover, and it's well performed and chaotic, though you can tell that their voices were slightly shot after playing full sets earlier. Plus, there's a lot of dead air afterwards while the band talks and mingles, so look out for that. Still, it looks like it was fun, I wish I could have been at this show!
Papa Fogals Chair (London, ON)
Band Bio: Likening their music to furniture being bashed over your head, P.F.C. rose quickly among the metal scene in London. They released a demo and two albums, 2004's "Face Melter" and their 2006 followup, "Two Faced Is Never Pretty", both of which got some deservedly great reviews and radio airplay. A frequent sight in Southern Ontario at their height, P.F.C. were nominated for a London Music Award in 2004 in the Best Metal/Hardcore category, though after their 2006 peak, the band quietly dissolved. However, reunion shows happened on occasion, usually alongside Derek's new band Garden of Bedlam, including a notable performance at their first concert at Foggy Notions (now Coch's Corner) in 2008. Papa Fogals Chair would later make one-off returns to the live stage at Foggy's in February 2010, and at Mike Bird's stag & doe at The Moose Lodge in May 2013, though plans for future concerts are unknown.
The Sexual Vigilantes (Toronto, ON)
Band Bio: Formed in 2005, The Sexual Vigilantes played a varied style of metal/hard rock, ranging from classic rock inspired songs like "Back In Brown" to more hardcore songs like "Phantom Limb", to even some songs with electronic influences. In fact, some SXVGLNTES songs eventually became Detroit tracks, like "Pyre Driver" and "Kill-O-Rama"! Not ones to take themselves seriously, the band infused a lot of comedy into band discussions, from their many different stage names to various band descriptions and bio information, which you can get tastes of at their various pages! The Sexual Vigilantes were mostly known for their studio output, rarely playing live concerts, and employing guest musicians where needed when they did. The Sexual Vigilantes have not updated their MySpace page since March 2009, and are long since defunct, but check them out at the above links, and maybe they'll turn up again down the road!