Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Skull After Betrayl

With news slow lately, and not wanting to force a post when weekend concert previews are so close that can use extra content if need be, we'll instead get this month's Defunct Local Band Profile up a little early! Our monthly feature post on a local metal, hard rock, or punk band that's no longer active & functioning again gives us a randomly selected group for this month, but like last month, I misjudged the amount of content and media for our next selection, so this month's planned second band (Hoist the Sails) will lead off a joint profile next month. Now, here's what you should know for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile!
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Skull After Betrayl

Genre: Death Metal/Hardcore

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: 

Mike Vincent (Troubled Mind, The Bear Hunters), vocals/guitar
Justin Polutanovich (Borderline Divine), guitar
Adam Brett (Troubled Mind, Despised Eyes), bass/vocals
Anthony D'Agostini (The Dead Kings), drums
  
Audio/Video: Though their Facebook page has since been deleted, six original songs and a cover of Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" survive as demo or live recordings on Skull After Betrayl's Reverbnation and MySpace pages. For videos, frontman Mike Vincent has shared a couple of jam session videos (sans guitarist Justin Polutanovich) on his YouTube channel, while our YouTube channel features a handful of videos from their live heyday, including this video of the guys playing their song "Zombitch" at their last concert in July 2011 at The Rosie!

Info/Analysis: Skull After Betrayl (not "Betrayal", the spelling was intentional) succeeded the defunct Despised Eyes to become a rising sight at local metal concerts upon their debut in early 2011. The band opened for The Dayglo Abortions & Titan's Eve at the former Roosevelt Hotel during their height, and took part in the first annual Swampstravaganza, before suddenly disbanding in July. After 3/4ths of the band briefly regrouped as The Dead Kings with additional members, Skull After Betrayl reunited that October, but accomplished little before disbanding for good in the spring of 2012, with members Mike Vincent & Adam Brett later forming Troubled Mind in 2015. Skull After Betrayl were a work in progress during their run, with the guys never finding a lasting subgenre, and Mike's singing and Adam's bass technique not as refined as they could be, but they showed promise on some big stages, and hopefully everyone stays active musically!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, even if a few days early! This series will return on or around July 10th with inactive Sault Michigan hardcore band Hoist the Sails as promised, but as I'm very certain this time that they don't have enough info or media for a solo profile, we've added a Sault Ontario band to fill things out, and through random selection, we have chosen The 12 Gauge Ready, the popular local ska punk outfit who, despite their successes, have extremely little surviving information online, hence why they'll fit a double profile. Look for this next month, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews next!

Merry Christmas From The Sault Metal Scene!!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you guys got lots of presents and are enjoying the holiday season, and as  one last present for you guys, we have a very seasonal post today full of Christmas surprises and holiday-referencing videos from recent years, including info on a Christmas album you guys should get, a Christmas-draped performance from a couple of years ago, and our last surprise audio uploads for the year, but first, here's this week's classic video (and our final one of 2012!)

Knowing that the last full week of 2012 would fall over Christmas, a seasonal metal video would work here if it was able to find, and we found one, as this is of defunct Sault Ontario metal quartet Fountain of Betrayal covering "The 12 Days of Christmas" at a Case's Music event on December 21st, 2008! We already uploaded one Facebook video of F.O.B.'s set that day onto our YouTube channel (a Beastie Boys cover), but this one fully embraces the Christmas spirit, with the 2008 Case's Battle of the Bands winners putting a hard rock spin on this classic carol! Now, it is differently arranged and shortened, but the members do show their talents for their young ages, including March Into Regression bassist Tyler St. Amour on bass & vocals, his brother/bandmate Travis on drums, and guitarists Chris West and Ryan (last name unknown, any help?) If anything, the shortening of the song doesn't work to it's advantage as it's too obvious for the cuts, but it's well performed, especially knowing that the members were preteens at the time! This was originally uploaded to Facebook by attendee Kelly Godson the day of the show, and you can view the original video at http://facebook.com/photo.php?v=105145970261.

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Fountain of Betrayal and Kelly, I'm just trying to share it with a deserving wider audience! For seasonal local metal, this video should work well, so check it out below, and stay tuned for news on the St. Amour brothers' next band projects when/if I hear of them!

Next up, here's our final surprise Christmas audio uploads of the year, and it's a full CD, that being defunct Sault Michigan metal band Integrated System of Machines' only album "Apocalyptic Vision"! One of the most prominent original metal acts in the area in the mid-late 2000s, I.S.O.M. independently released this album on March 6th, 2008, with it being available at the band's later concerts, as well as online through various sites for a couple years afterward. As best as I can tell, the band's lineup on this album featured Powerslug drummer Bob "Orb Hearthstone" Helsten on vocals, along with Chris Sevens on guitar, J. Rizzo on bass, former Dust N' Bones drummer Bart "Black Trab" Rennels, End of Existence/Theater of Night keyboardist Craig "Tubesock" Harrison, and Rachel Mender on operatic & backing vocals. Some of the lineup information is incomplete, but if you can fill in any blanks, let me know! Little else is publically known on the album through surviving online pages, but it's definitely out of print now, and I don't believe it's even on sale digitally on any active music websites.

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All 10 of these songs deserve a wider audience, especially to introduce I.S.O.M. to newer fans, though partial successors End of Existence's first album does share many sound similarities. I won't individually credit every song from this album on here just to save space, but click here to see each YouTube upload, and of course, you can stream the album through I.S.O.M.'s Reverbnation page. It's a solid quality album of epic death metal, with nice heavy riffs and brutal vocal work (as alluded to in my review of this album), despite some production flaws, so check out the album's title track below, and more at the above links!

We'll close our Christmas Day post with just some light seasonal fare, starting with I.S.O.M. keyboard slayer Craig Harrison's current work, including the classical metal band Theatre of Night, who are hard at work once again on their ever-evolving debut CD "Christmas Night"! Originally released in the fall of 2010, the album has been re-released once already, and while a planned 2012 re-release with new downloadable tracks hasn't came out (from what I've seen), the best is yet to come next year, as they're overhauling the album with new arrangements and material featuring German soprano vocalist Gaby Koss! The first samples with her on vocals came out a couple weeks ago, and you can of course search the SMS using the form in the upper left for detailed coverage of their recent activity and 2013 plans. For today, enjoy the band's most recent video, which features Theater of Night's rendition of "What Child Is This?" with Gaby's very impressive singing, and keep an eye out for more big news from the Theatre of Night camp in the coming months!



Lastly, here's a video from December 27th, 2010, when three local bands descended upon Foggy Notions (now Coch's Corner) for The Nightmare After Christmas Party! Despite numerous pre-show lineup changes and a visit by the police over a noise complaint, the concert was a hit, from RedD Monkey's entertaining headlining set to the impromptu return of Reagle Beagle, but the video we're focusing on is from Frightlight, who added a belated festive spin to their set by having the members & stage decked out in Christmas attire (with a horror flair, of course!) Featuring the band's late 2010-early 2011 lineup (singer Johnny Pints, guitarist Rick Styles, bassist Eddie Fright, and ex-drummer Jeff "The Count" De Rose), this video is of their song "C.H.U.D.", which definitely isn't seasonal, but it's a cool song all the while! Apologies for the quality, I believe I used a borrowed camera that night. Quite possibly the last Christmas themed concert at Foggy's before it's name & owner changes, this was a solid show from what I remember (I still have the band-autographed bloody Santa shirt), and you can catch a glimpse of what went down 2 years ago below!



Once again, merry Christmas from the SMS, and here's to an even better holiday season in 2013! We'll be back to normal news and posts tomorrow, including this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on The Dyadics in the next few days! (Maybe tomorrow, but it depends on personal timing.) That and more are coming though, so stay tuned!

March Into Regression Updates, A New Solo Recording, And This Week's Classic Video!!

Time for some more news on the site, and after a day full of Sault Michigan news and this month's YouTube Channel Profiles from this afternoon (in the post below this one), we have some more overdue news from Sault Ontario to get to! Tonight, we have this week's classic video (overdue, I know, but I wasn't in town half the week) and a new audio upload from a local musician, but first, here's some more big news relating to a recently reunited local metal band!

In case you guys didn't see my late notice post on our Facebook page yesterday, local death metal band March Into Regression made their return to the stage last night at the F.A.T.I.L. Gathering in Laird! As such, it was the band's first concert since their name change from Unleash The Blackened Sky and their first official live show since the Shaw TV-filmed 21st Rosie metal night last June, when they were known as Bring The Misery. It's great to see them back after such a long hiatus, and hopefully they can build on their slow start last summer and show their real potential! As such, they've also been announced as the third band at next Thursday's 47th Roosevelt Hotel metal night, where they'll open for The Valentine's Day Massacre (featuring their former singer Steve Rhodes) and local hardcore quartet Changing Waves. My source is that show's Facebook event page. Nice addition, and I definitely intend to head to The Rosie next Thursday to check out their first Sault Ontario show in over a year! That said, how does their lineup look? Their Facebook page still only lists guitarist Ray Cowan and drummer Travis St. Amour (both holdovers from last year's lineups) as being in their incarnation, but some other recent Facebook postings have indicated other members!

According to a comment on the Facebook event page wall for their next show, the band's new second guitarist is named Christopher Neveau, and I'm not familiar with him musically at all, but hopefully he's got the chops to hang with the rest of the guys in March Into Regression! Former guitarist Dan Souliere (who played at their first show last June before initially leaving) is back in the band as well, though he's now M.I.R.'s bassist, and from what I know, he'll do just fine in that role! Christopher also credited "Josh" and "Jeremy" as band members, but I don't have 100% confirmation if they're in, who they are, or what they play. Bear Hunters guitarist Josh Stephney would make the most sense for the former, given his singing past with Dan and Travis in Bring The Fallen, but I've seen nothing concrete crediting him or anyone named Jeremy as being in March Into Regression. I'll keep you guys posted as I hear more, but I'm not entirely surprised the lineup isn't updated yet, as Unleash The Blackened Sky were slow to announce lineup changes last summer too. Even still, I'm curious to hear how M.I.R. sound after a year's absence and retooling, so stay tuned for updates on their lineup and more as they come in, and don't miss them at The Rosie next Thursday!

Next up, here's a new audio track from ex-Sneaky Pete guitarist Mario Carlucci! Entitled "The Fury", it was uploaded to his YouTube channel earlier today, and it's a solid instrumental composition! Heavier without being too fast, it's got a nice melodic pacing and his talent is well used, though the backing drum track is way over done. It sounds like he put in double the hits than a song of this style needs, but it's nice to see Mario keeping busy while we wait for his next band project, so check out "The Fury" below! (Also, on an ironic note, did anyone notice that this guitar-driven song shares the same name with the old local band The Fury, who had no guitarists? Just thought that was worth mentioning!)



And finally, here's this week's classic video! With LemmaFest and the F.A.T.I.L. Gathering going down this week, it made sense to focus on one of the bands playing at either event for this week, and we actually found ourselves drifting back to March Into Regression again for a connected video this time around (more specifically, drummer Travis St. Amour.) Years before re-entering the local scene, Travis was gaining a strong local name as the drummer for the young local metal band Fountain of Betrayal during their late 2000s run, alongside his brother/sometimes bandmate Tyler (now of Social Suicide) on vocals & bass, and guitarists Chris West and one I can't 100% verify (first name possibly Ryan?) They peaked with a victory at the 2008 Case's Music Battle of the Bands, but this classic video comes from a later set from Fountain of Betrayal at a December 21st, 2008 Case's Music event with other bands formed and linked to Case's Music's Rock Camp. Two videos were filmed during their set by attendee Kelly Godson, and while one was of their cover of "The 12 Days of Christmas" (fitting given when this event took place), this video is of F.O.B. covering The Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)", and for their ages then, it doesn't sound too bad!

Originally posted at http://facebook.com/photo.php?v=105153910261, it's a bit rough around the edges, and the higher tuning makes the song sound jollier than it probably should, but given how young the guys were back in 2008, you can't be too harsh. The guys (especially the St. Amour brothers) have grown a lot as musicians since the Fountain of Betrayal days, but this is still worth checking out for a nice rendition of a hard rock classic, so check it out below, and keep an eye out for Travis & Tyler's current bands!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes shortly, including hopefully some LemmaFest fallout, and this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile later this week! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Lorax & Hands Of Betrayal

It's time once again for our latest Defunct Local Band Profile(s)! After three straight months of profiling one band only for our recent installments, we're returning to the two-band model due to a lack of real information for the first band we randomly chose last month. As always, this series looks at the bio information, material, and other details on one (or in this case, two) local bands who have either disbanded or have been visibly inactive for a full year, so let's begin this month's installment with the profiles below, and let me know if anything's missing or incorrect! (Edited on May 7th, 2013)
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Lorax

Genre: Hardcore/Alternative Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (This information may be incomplete. E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you know of any omissions or errors to their lineup!)

Jeremy Hannah (Constructed Apocalypse), vocals
Mitch Sirie (The Bear Hunters, The Suicide Kings), guitar
Dave Biedermann (Astaticmotion, Eyes Set Fire), guitar
Nathan Bouliane (As It Stands, Stillbroke, The Moves), bass
Sammy Mellon, drums

Info/Analysis: Lorax were a short lived local hardcore band who were active in the summer of 2009 under differing names. Launched in April 2009, they played perhaps their only concert on June 11th of that year under the name Loyalty Is Dead at The Oddfellows Hall as openers for Today, I Caught The Plague, at a show that frontman Jeremy Hannah promoted. They followed that up with lineup & name changes, going by the names It's Just Me and, finally, Lorax through July 2009. Hyping themselves as having "in your face rockable music that will stick in your head for hours", their brief run saw no further concerts take place, though they were advertised to open for Vancouver hardcore band Callahan that August at a pair of later-cancelled gigs. The last real band updates would come to their Facebook group in September 2009, and Lorax are presumed to have went inactive that fall, though most band members remain active in the local music scene, and Jeremy & Nathan have worked together in some music projects since as well. It's hard to critique Lorax, with only a 27 second clip of their song "Uninvited" on their MySpace page to go by, but Jeremy's singing is nice and melodic, and the band have the heaviness down from what we can hear! There's promise in Lorax's lineups, but I wish I had more to go on. Still, check out their lone audio clip below, and check out the members' current projects at the above links!!


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Hands of Betrayal

Genre: Death Metal/Hardcore

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Members: (This band's lineup may be incorrect. E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you have any additions or corrections!)

Keil Kempfert, vocals
Mike Libertoski (Toast, Swayze Train, The Slackjawed Rats), guitar
Jared Lucas (The Slackjawed Rats), bass
Mitchell Leon (The Right Reverends), drums

Info/Analysis: Hands of Betrayal were a short lived death metal project that was active in Sault Michigan in late 2008, launching that August. No biography or real band information was posted on their MySpace page beyond their genre and members' first names, but through some research, I've found that this band was likely a successor of sorts to the defunct local death metal band The Slackjawed Rats, of which members Mike Libertoski & Jared Lucas were also a part. Hands of Betrayal never appeared to take off beyond demo postings, and they last logged into MySpace in January 2009, likely dissolving early that year. I wish I knew more about Hands of Betrayal, but at least their two posted demos ("Demo Incomplete" & "Demo 2") show promise! Neither cross the 95 second barrier in length, but Mike's guitar work is on top technical form, Jared has some good bass lines, and I like the spacey effects added on the second demo! That said, the vocals we get are minimal, and the drums could be clearer, but from the little we get, you can hear the talent within! Check out both demo clips (which I've uploaded into one combined YouTube video due to their length) below!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! That's all for now, but keep an eye out for a new post featuring more David Gold tribute show videos later tonight! Thanks everyone!

Battle Of The Bands Rewind Mini-Series: The 2008 Case's Music Battle Of The Bands

It's time for our second of seven weekly installments in the SMS' Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series! As we're doing every Friday until the Humane Society Battle of the Bands on April 20th, we're taking a look back at a notable Sault Ontario battle of the bands from between 2008 & 2010, and though I know this series isn't 100% comprehensive, e-mail me at robertfigures@hotmail.com if you can help add any missing battles or suggest a change or addition! This week's entry is for a notable battle of the bands through a local music store that received some good media notices, so read on below for all you should know from almost four years ago at this battle! (Updated on February 8th, 2016)

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The 2008 Case's Music Battle Of The Bands (May 25th, 2008)

Background: An annual spring event from at least 2007-2009 under the late Mike Case's ownership of local music store Case's Music, this battle of the bands was only well documented by local news media in 2008. Still, this battle of the bands gave young local bands and musicians (many from the Case's Music Rock Camp) a chance to compete and show off their talents with a wider audience. Nine bands in the elementary & high school divisions gathered at The Canadian Nightclub on May 25th, 2008 to perform one original song and one cover each, with judges grading the bands on musicianship, originality, presentation, and songwriting ability, among other criteria, with one winner selected from each division.

Prizes: $100 and recording time at Green Room Productions went to the winners in both the elementary school division & the high school division, with no publicized awards for the other bands. Winners of the individual awards each won a free Case's Music t-shirt.

Competitors: The lineup included 9 young local bands playing varying genres of music, though which ones specifically took part in each division can be hard to determine through available video footage of this event. This battle of the bands included no less than 5 bands fronted by female singers, including Behind Society, Horizon, Imination, The Soo Country Rollers, and Vitamin X, and all played varying forms of rock, though with some punk & indie influences scattered throughout. The other four bands included hard rock quintet Stillbroke, local indie rock trio Caddy Street Avenue, and young local metal bands Fountain of Betrayal and The Unforgiven. Note that many of the competing bands shared one or two members, an occurrence that wasn't isolated to just this Case's Music event.

Results: Stillbroke took most of the evening's awards, winning first place in the high school division, and seeing band members Jesse Frigault, Nathan Bouliane, and Joseph Kargiannakis take home t-shirts for best singer, bassist, and keyboardist respectively. Fountain of Betrayal won first place in the elementary school division, while the remaining individual awards went to The Unforgiven's Ray Cowan for best guitarist & Caddy Street Avenue's Andrew Dal Cin for best drummer. The remaining seven bands did not receive a publically announced ranking, nor did any other individual performers.

Aftermath: Despite SooToday's praise of the lineup as "the future of the Sault music scene", most of the bands who competed at this battle of the bands didn't survive beyond Case's Music concerts and functions, though a couple of the bands did have some lasting success. Notably, Stillbroke's various lineups became a prominent sight through early 2010 at numerous concerts, including opening for Helix, doing some out of town shows, and releasing their debut EP "Never Enough" in the fall of 2009. After going on a lengthy break & changing their name to Borderline Divine in late 2011, they played three concerts in mid-2012 before going inactive that summer. Caddy Street Avenue had similar success in their indie rock genre, releasing a debut EP "Is This It?" in 2009 among other notable gigs following the battle, including opening for bands like The Brat Attack, before going inactive in early 2011. The remaining bands did not do much locally outside of the Case's Music umbrella that I know of after the battle, and all were likely considered inactive by 2009. I also recall The Unforgiven playing at an outdoor metal show in August 2007 at the Bellevue Park Bandshell, for what that's worth.

Some Notable Performers' Newer Bands (Metal or punk in italics):
Bring The Fallen (Travis St. Amour from Fountain of Betrayal)
Five Oceans (Patrick Dal Cin from Caddy Street Avenue; based out of London)
The Glass Thieves (Adam Fortais, Patrick Dal Cin, and Andrew Dal Cin from London; based out of London)
Joseph Kargi (Joseph Kargiannakis from Stillbroke)
Late & Loud (Josh Hatherley from Behind Society)
Lazer Queen (Josh Hatherley from Behind Society)
March Into Regression (Ray Cowan from The Unforgiven and Tyler & Travis St. Amour from Fountain of Betrayal)
The Outside Lights (Nathan Bouliane, John Armstrong, and Joseph Kargiannakis from Stillbroke)
Run Coyote (Andrew Dal Cin from Caddy Street Avenue; based out of London)
Them (Tyler St. Amour from Fountain of Betrayal) 

Trivia:

• The judges for this battle were veteran local musician & current Case's Music owner Jay Case, prominent local solo artists Shannon Moan & Tracey Hilderly, noted local rock/country singer & drummer Greg Simpson, and former Bud Shamble collaborator Rob Gilmar. Greg Simpson & Jay Case notably had some battle experience of their own the following year at the Kiss Battle of the Bands, though with differing success levels: Greg made the finals with Stiffler's Mom, but Jay's band Huckster didn't make it out of the first round. Jay later served as MC, judge, and co-organizer of the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands in April 2013, echoing his uncle Mike's hosting of this battle.
• Stillbroke used their recording time won at this battle to record their original song "Sick & Tired" at Green Room Productions. The song wouldn't make the cut for their debut EP "Never Enough" the following year, but the included song "No Reason" is very similar in structure. Whatever became of Fountain of Betrayal's recording time isn't publically known.
• Photographs on an expired website from a Case's Music concert circa 2007/2008 show prolific local musician Kyle McKey playing with each band that day, including 5 of the 9 bands from the 2008 Case's Music Battle, likely implying that he worked as an instructor there at one point during the timeframe of this battle. Kyle would later become a full time member of another competing band, Stillbroke, in 2009 & early 2010.
• After Fountain of Betrayal's dissolution, drummer Travis St. Amour kept his good battle of the bands luck going with two battle wins out of three tries with his new death metal band Bring The Fallen in December 2009 & May 2010. They also won the YMCA Battle in March 2009 under the name The Undead Warriors, but Travis hadn't joined the band yet.
• Behind Society drummer Josh Hatherley would see greater battle success in the following years, placing third at the YMCA Battle of the Bands in March 2009 with his then-band The Glass Statues, followed by a close first place finish (and a "Best Ensemble" trophy) with his most recent band Late & Loud at the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands in April 2012, and another finals run with them in April 2013.
• Stillbroke's Jesse Frigault & Sam DeDominicis would later compete at the Kiss Battle of the Bands in December 2009 with Stillbroke's classic lineup (including the aforementioned Kyle McKey and drummer Jenny Hooper), but lightning didn't strike twice for them, as they weren't voted into the finals.
• A couple of bands featuring Stillbroke bassist Nathan Bouliane almost saw action in later battles of the bands at The Grand Theater, those being indie rock quintet The Outside Lights (featuring 3/5ths of Stillbroke's battle lineup) at the YMCA Battle in March 2009 and blues rock quartet The Moves at the Humane Society Battle in April 2012. However, both bands would drop out prior to the respective events.
• Fountain of Betrayal frontman Tyler St. Amour was briefly scheduled to play 2015's VM Radio Battle of the Bands (also at The Canadian) with his newer death metal project Them, but they dropped out for unannounced reasons and were replaced by local metal trio Infamous, though both bands feature Anthony Boudreau on drums.

Videos:
Clips of each band & the award presenations from SooToday (original link here)



Sources/More Information:
Review, photos, and video from SooToday
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Two down, five to go in this mini-series! Hopefully you guys enjoyed this week's look back, and as for next Friday, we'll be looking at the YMCA Battle of the Bands at The Grand Theater from March 2009! A lot of newer local bands (at the time) rocked the stage for this one, and we'll tell you guys all about what happened, where many of the bands and performers are now, and so on this coming Friday! Until then, stay tuned for more news later today, along with our next Defunct Local Band Profile tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Banned & Hollow), A New Local Band, And More News!!

One more news post for your Saturday before I go check out Lion Ride TONIGHT at The Rockstar Bar, and yes, there will be a review of it tomorrow on the site! In what might be our last full news post before the fourth anniversary (two days...), we have some big news to share today, including some updates from Chained Memories, the openers for MONDAY's Titan's Eve concert, and some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, but we'll start with the one connected to a new local band, so here's what you need to know!

Yes, we have a new local band to talk about, all the way from the Kinross/Kincheloe area outside of Sault Michigan! The band is called Banned, and they're a new local hard rock trio that features former TraynWreck guitarist Alex Traynor, his dad Don on drums, and bassist Alex Schrovenwever, with all three sharing vocal duties. Nice to see Alex back out there, and the family connection is cool to see! I like how many Sault Michigan-area bands have family connections, it's actually nice to see families banding together in the name of rock over there! According to descriptions on their new Facebook page (launched around June 8th), they will "make you rock the night away", and have influences ranging from AC/DC, Van Halen, and The Darkness to Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, and Grand Funk Railroad! Interesting mix of styles there, I wonder how they'll sound? We'll have a preview of that in a second, but first, they're making their live debut on July 21st at The Rudyard Township Park in nearby Rudyard, Michigan for a Music In The Park event that evening! They'll have a full 2 hour set for this outdoor concert, which looks to be all ages with a 7:00 PM start time, and there's no announced cover charge. Click here for more details!

But how do Banned sound? Specifically, I'm not sure, but if the videos posted by Alex's sister/Don's daughter Ashley Traynor are any indication, we might get some solid hard rock! She uploaded two videos from a talent show performance from January 15th onto her YouTube channel that month, and they feature Don (on lead vocals and drums), Alex, and bassist (for this set) Steve Jacobus playing 4 cover songs: "Bad Company" by Bad Company, AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" and "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", and Van Halen's version of "You Really Got Me"! Don's vocals are best on the AC/DC covers, getting a nice volume, and Alex has a nice stage presence and some real guitar skill for his age! There may just be something here, so check out 2/3rds of Banned from this January performance in the video below!

The other new concert is extremely intriguing in it's own right, and if you missed this band and it's variants over the past few years, then get excited, as Hollow are coming back! Well, for two shows anyway. Yes, the local metal band featuring former Metal Militia and Carbon Black bandmates are reuniting in August, and that includes guitarist Tym Morrison (now of Caveman Morrison), bassist Dan Beaupre (now of The Southern Fried Band), and former Dicky Swift Band/Buster Cherry bandmates Terry Eaton on guitar & Vinnie Milosevich on drums, all from the classic lineup! However, in lieu of the absent Luigi Miceli (is he still in music?), former Carbon Black frontman Travis Sharpe will sing with Hollow for these reunion shows, which will be awesome to see again! It's been a long while since Travis, Terry, or Vinnie have played locally (to my knowledge at least), and it's great to see them back! The band will reunite for just two shows next month, taking place on August 5th at The Rockstar Bar & August 6th at The Canadian Nightclub, so it's like your usual weekend sets, just at different venues. No word yet on if Hollow will play any of their old bands' originals, but there will be lots of covers in store to bring the metal to local fans once again!

A 10:30 PM start time is estimated for both shows, you must be 19 to attend either, and I'd expect a nominal cover charge of under $5 for both, knowing from past experience. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see Tym, Dan, and company back together after so long (too long), and hopefully lots of metalheads show up to rock out with Hollow for old time's sake! I should be at one (likely at The Canadian), but either works! I'll keep you guys posted, and if the photo I used above isn't of a Hollow lineup, my apologies. I used the best one available that didn't have another band name slapped on it.

Thirdly today, have you been wondering who's opening for Titan's Eve at The Roosevelt Hotel on Monday night? Actually, you may already know, cause the Facebook event page for the show was launched on Wednesday! I know it's kinda late, but I heard the news AFTER my Wednesday news post, and I didn't have much to report for a full news post until today. So, better late than never, here are the openers for Titan's Eve in two nights! One is Sativa Rose, who'll bring their classic metal assault back to The Rosie just four nights after rocking the most recent Thursday metal show! Great to see them back again, they're a welcome sight at any metal concert, and always deliver some shredding good times! The other confirmed opening band is local hardcore quartet Skull After Betrayal, in their first show since opening for The Dayglo Abortions last month! Hopefully their sound continues to improve on Monday night as Mike, Adam. Justin, and Anthony continue to carve out their place in the local scene with their own brand of hardcore and death metal! The only other new item to report (beyond the poster on your right, nice work!) is that there will indeed be a $4 cover charge for this concert, but for this quality of bands, no need to complain!

I'll absolutely be at the concert! It's a great spot to celebrate our 4th anniversary, Titan's Eve kick ass, and we have a contest to wrap up that day as well! There is still time for you guys to enter our contest to win one of two Titan's Eve prize packs featuring their new album "The Divine Equal" and a free band t-shirt, so head to http://www.facebook.com/saultmetalscene to enter by adding your name to our contest status from June 27th. We draw the winners this coming Monday at 5:00 PM, so GET YOUR ENTRIES IN A.S.A.P.!!! For full contest rules, click here, and good luck!

And finally, we come full circle as we go right back to the Kincheloe area to talk about a young local band, this time, Chained Memories! Firstly, the band quietly parted ways with guitarist Jacob Zeeryp (ex-Outshined) after a very brief tenure with the band in May and June. No announcement was ever made on why he left, but he was quietly removed from their lineups on their pages. Disappointing, but hopefully he gets back into a band, his old work in Outshined wasn't bad for Christian hard rock! The other big news is that they've launched a new website, which is fairly barren as of yet, but it has a nice design, and it does confirm that they're looking for extra band members! Specifically, they want a second guitarist and a bassist between the ages of 14 & 18, preferably living in the Sault Michigan area. Contact the band for more details at the above links, cause I'm sure Mike and Ryan could use some talented musicians to help get the band out there soon! Promising guys, from what I've heard, hopefully they can get to the next steps soon! Stay tuned for Chained Memories updates as they come in!

That's all for today, but I will see you guys TONIGHT at The Rockstar Bar for Lion Ride! Thanks everyone!

Dayglo Abortions/Metal Night #20 Review!!

Hey guys, it's time for my review of last night's 20th Roosevelt Hotel metal night, headlined by none other than The Dayglo Abortions! How'd it go? I'll tell you in today's review, so let's not waste any time! First things first though, I want to apologize to Shit Liver, as I regrettably got to The Rosie late and missed their entire set. Everything seemed to go wrong in the 9:00 hour in terms of trying to get there, and I'm really sorry. I'll make it up to you guys though! (Edited on June 18th at 6:44 PM)

So when I got to The Rosie (finally) last night, I was pleased to see a huge attendance (bigger than I've ever seen there), and luckily, tables near the stage were cleared out for the masses. Trust me, that was a good move! With Shit Liver already done, the first band I was able to see were local metal quartet Sativa Rose, who delivered another fun and high energy set of classic metal covers! Though I missed hearing their original "Fall From Grace", their assortment of covers ranging from Megadeth & Pantera to Iron Maiden & Motley Crue were well recieved! Patchcord issues for Adam Veale aside, the band were on fire all set long, especially from the blistering solos provided by Andrew Angelic & Anthony Orazietti! Their big flaw is still in the vocal department, but I did notice that on "Bellows of the Beast" and on their cover of "In My Darkest Hour" that, when given the right song, Adam & Andrew can sing in a fitting way! Also good to see Nik Deubel & Rich Moreland back to sing "Cowboys From Hell" with them, and before I forget, give Rich some huge kudos for booking this concert! Great set from Sativa Rose, hopefully they have some more exciting stuff on the horizon!

Next were newer local metal band Skull After Betrayal, who recently switched from a death metal to a hardcore style. How'd they sound last night though? There's good things there, but there's work to be done. Mike Vincent, though a talented guitarist, needs to shake things up vocally. Most of their songs saw him either talking or yelling in a low fashion. He's honestly more suited for death metal singing, but with practice, he'll get better! Adam Brett's bass work is improving too, but he's gotta play with more strings than we've seen from him. Justin Polutanovich and Anthony D'Agostini were really good though, they're nice fits! Though I missed hearing "One In The Chamber", Skull After Betrayal had lots of originals in store for fans that seemed to go over fairly well, though they'll get better with time. Their set capping cover of Slayer's "Bloodline" was really off timing-wise, but again, this should improve as they play more often. They have promise, they really do, but they just need some fine tuning and live experience, and before you know it, Skull After Betrayal will be rocking it with the best of them!

The last local band of the night was, in their Roosevelt Hotel debut, Frightlight! With all the classic makeup and stage decorations to set the mood, this talented quintet launched into another fun punk/metal set that I've missed over the past couple of months! Now seeing that many of the fans in attendance were Dayglo Abortions fans, you know that they'd be in for some high energy punk, and Frightlight brought it, and the best crowd reaction to that point of the night! My only major complaints for their performance are that Johnny Pints' vocals seemed to deteriorate later into the set (especially on "World War Z") and Rick Styles didn't play anything behind his head, which would have been awesome for this audience! Originals like "C.H.U.D.", "She Screams", and "Dead Town Anywhere" kept the crowd going and got some good pits started, while the Misfits and Fitswitch covers were also nice to hear! Great set from Frightlight, whose punk/metal mix is always bound to cause a horrorific good time, and hopefully they're back on stage again soon!

And finally, in their long awaited return, Canadian punk legends The Dayglo Abortions! Without any critique of their sound, I just want to say that the best and most insane moshpit that I've EVER seen at The Rosie was during their set! Holy shit, they were going at it really hard, and it was quite an atmosphere to be around! I'm admittedly not a Dayglo scholar, but I'm well aware and respectful of their status as punk and crossover thrash legends, and they brought an awesome set last night! The Cretin's riffing was loud and heavy, though his voice didn't stack up as well live as it had on studio albums. Very quiet compared to what I've heard, but he kept us entertained and eager for more! Willy Jak's bass work complimented everything well, and drummer Blind Mark (who really is blind) was impressive as a punk drummer, whether he can see or not! Though I know their lyrical content can be controversial, not a soul at The Rosie cared, as they were rocking too hard for us to pick it apart! So much aggression and attitude, and the band looked happy to be playing for such an animated crowd, so hopefully The Dayglo Abortions come back sooner rather than later! Amazing show and environment!

Again, huge kudos to Rich Moreland at Dismemebertainment for this concert, hopefully his next shows (at The Rosie or otherwise) go over huge like this one! I got photos of all of the bands I saw, so click here for my photo album, or visit our Facebook page! And here are my videos, of Sativa Rose covering Ozzy Osbourne's "Bark At The Moon", Skull After Betrayal's original "Dagger To The Heart", Frightlight's covers of The Misfits' "Halloween" and "We Are 138", and three songs from The Dayglo Abortions!









That's all for now, but I will see you guys at The Rockstar Bar TONIGHT for Garden of Bedlam! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (River Witch), A New Solo Project, And Much More!!

Hey guys, hope last night's Unleash The Archers show was a blast! Today, we have a bunch of scattered news stories, including a lineup switch at an upcoming concert, a lineup change for a newer local band, tons of videos from a recent show, and LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, but first, here's a new local solo project!

Local metal guitarist Andrew Angelic is likely well known locally for his work in bands like Sativa Rose (among many others), but now he's launched a solo project! Andrew opened up a solo MySpace page on Thursday, and despite listing his genres as crunk and pop, you have nothing to fear by listening! The mostly-bare page does have one posted track, untitled at present, and it's really nice! It's basically a slow extended solo piece that flows really nicely, and though it has a softer atmosphere about it, his guitar work really shines, and his talent is clear as clear can be! The audio quality isn't as good though, there's some background fuzz, but it doesn't take away from the track too much. Very nice work, I hope Andrew puts his songwriting skills to continued good use with some more solo (and Sativa Rose) material, and hopefully his solo project grows further from here! Check the above links for more, and yes, he's now in our band links on your left!

Next up, here are those LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!! Remember on Thursday when I mentioned that I missed a couple of concerts at The Cozy Corners Tavern & Grill in nearby Barbeau, Michigan featuring Sault Michigan hard rockers River Witch? Well, I won't miss any more this summer (hopefully), as Cozy Corners' website has an event calendar that lists a bunch more River Witch dates for the next few months! Five dates are announced for River Witch in Barbeau through September, including shows on July 9th, 29th, and 30th, and September 23rd & 24th! All but the July 9th show are weekend sets, with the Friday on the July 9th weekend reserved for another band, Florida duo Case & Davidson. All of these shows have 9:00 PM start times, there's no announced cover charge, and a 21+ age limit is likely. Check the above links for more details! Of course, River Witch's spotty history of Facebook updates means they haven't announced these shows officially, but if the venue says they're on, then that's as good a source as any! Nice to see them back at Cozy Corners, it looks like a nice venue, and their hard rocking sounds will fit in there! Stay tuned for River Witch updates as I hear them, and remember to see them at the end of the month at Kewadin Casino & Lemmafest!

Now to some more cool updates, and first, if you were at The Roosevelt Hotel on Thursday and saw a camcorder & tripod set up across from the stage, were you wondering why? Well, it's because The Bear Hunters filmed their entire set! I'm not sure who did the filming itself, but 10 songs are now posted on the band's official YouTube channel, including their songs "Overthrown", "Condemned", "Bloodthirst", "Casualties of War", "Karma", "Succumb to Eternity", "Dominate", "Collapse The Sun", and "Render This Void", along with their cover of Amon Amarth's "Guardians of Asgaard"! Their encore set without Josh Stephney hasn't been posted (at least not yet), so their additional covers and work-in-progress new original aren't up to watch yet. The quality's nice on these videos, better than my new camera (remember, they used a pro-quality camcorder), though it can be dark, especially when fans crowd near the front of the stage. Audio's nice too, everything comes through really well! Nice to see some more good quality video footage of a band like this, especially with this amount of videos! Because it's one of their newest songs, I'll embed "Render This Void" below, but check out the rest of the posted videos (with hopefully more to come) at the above links!



Now here's a couple of notes relating to Roosevelt Hotel metal nights. First, this completely slipped me by until after their debut last week, but new local death metal band Bring The Misery have parted ways with bassist Kory Derasp and replaced him Tyler St. Amour, who is drummer Travis St. Amour's brother. No explanation was given for Kory's exit, but Tyler was quietly added to Bring The Misery's lineup on their Facebook page. Tyler was indeed on bass on Thursday for their debut, but I still had the old lineup info when I did my review, which has since been edited to fix the mistake. I don't know Kory or Tyler personally, and without hearing about the switch beforehand, you can understand my error, hopefully. That said, best of luck to Kory, and Tyler seems like a good fit with Bring The Misery!

My other note is for the Rosie metal night on June 16th, as there's been a band change. Local hardcore quartet Skull After Betrayal have replaced WinkStinger as the headliners for that night's show. No reason has been given for why WinkStinger dropped out, and Dismembertainment haven't confirmed the switch yet, but I have two reliable sources that should help confirm the news. Skull After Betrayal announced their involvement on their own Facebook page, and Frightlight announced it on their own event page for the show, complete with updated event poster! Looks like a Kevin Powe creation, nice work! It'll be interesting to see how Skull After Betrayal sound with their new genre and material in hand, especially as headliners! Hopefully I can make it out! For more on both of the above stories, check the above links!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes very soon, including our Defunct Local Band Profile on Bad Side later in the week, and much more to come! Thanks everyone!

New Videos From Skull After Betrayal & Mike Cliffe And More News!!

Hey guys, I know I promised the next "Where Are The New Albums?" post today, and that's still on, but it's coming later tonight so I can secure some possible added info on one of the three new additions to the post for this month. So in the meantime, here's a new news post featuring some new videos, a local band breakup with a metal relevance, and a new page for an area concert venue! Let's get this post started!

Skull After Betrayal frontman Mike Vincent has launched his own YouTube channel that now features two jam videos of new original songs! If you've been hoping for some new footage of these guys, then these should work nicely, especially compared to the awful quality audio tracks that are on their MySpace page. These videos feature the band's current lineup (no new singer yet), and regardless, there's no singing from either Mike or Adam Brett, who does backing vocals. Even still, you can hear their sound in these videos transitioning more into hardcore than the death metal sound they employed at their first couple of shows. The songs do sound promising, and with a move away from death metal, it will probably help Skull After Betrayal make a more unique local impression! Adam's bass work still needs improvement though, he's only plucking one string for most of the two posted songs. Click here to check out their new original "Dagger To The Heart", but I'll embed the longest of the two here, so take a look at Skull After Betrayal jamming their song "Enemy" below!



Also for new videos, local solo guitarist Mike Cliffe has posted three new videos onto his YouTube channel that feature new visualizations for three of his newer songs! One is for "Spring Storms", which features some cool rain and sand effects that suit the song, while "Salsa On My Shoes" gets a spacey visualization like you might see on Windows Media Player. Not bad, though if you're seeking heaviness, these songs won't be among the Mike Cliffe songs you'd go for. I'll embed his video for "Wedding Dress/Handsome Boy" here because it's the "rockingest" of the three songs, and it has the coolest video. It was taken from a DVD series called "Animusic" featuring a lot of futurist technological instrument stuff that looks cool, even if it's not synched to the song! Good stuff, nice to hear a well played Frank Zappa cover! Check it out below!



Thirdly today, I wanted to apologize for missing a pair of concerts last weekend. Apparently, Sault Michigan hard rockers River Witch played at The Cozy Corners Tavern & Grill in nearby Barbeau, Michigan last Friday and Saturday. I apologize for missing them, but in all fairness, River Witch didn't promote these shows on their page in any fashion. I hadn't looked there recently because they don't update it often (their last update was in April), but the venue actually did! Cozy Corners now have an internet presence thanks to an official website and a Facebook page that was launched in February! They describe everything well in terms of menu, events, specials, and so forth, and their Facebook page is frequently updated as well! And yes, they do have a history of occasionally booking concerts, it's not just for this past weekend. You may remember that Nixxon Dixxon played there a bit during their heyday, and the calendar on their website lists concerts through the summer that I will elaborate on in our next complete news post! Nice to see Cozy Corners with an online presence, definitely check the pages out, and if you wanna head to Barbeau for some good food, drinks, and music, it's not a far drive!

Oh, and I added Cozy Corners, Dan's Place in Rudyard, and the Facebook page for The Bird to our Sault Michigan concert venue listings, so check them out on your right!

And finally, I wanted to make reference to a band breakup that, though not metal related on the surface, does have a metal connection. On Tuesday, local rock trio Stiffler's Mom announced their amicable breakup after 13 years together. No reason was given, but they didn't close the door on future reunion concerts. Why mention this on the SMS though? Because, if you remember correctly, Stiffler's Mom were once the local metal trio Sin Stereo! In one way or another, Greg Simpson, Michael Davies, and Jon Ferguson have played together since 1997, though their Sin Stereo existence seemed to wrap up by 2006. Locally, they were best known as Stiffler's Mom, and they had numerous high profile concerts from the late 1990s through this spring, including backing up INXS at The Essar Center! Though Stiffler's Mom did have more of a "party rock" style that suited bar weekends really well, their Sin Stereo originals were a frequent sight, as you may have heard at the Kiss Battle of the Bands. Hell, I remember seeing them play live at a dance event at Bawating way back in 2004, and I enjoyed them then too! It'll be odd not seeing Stiffler's Mom around locally, but the memories remain, and you can still check out Sin Stereo's old profile from our GarageBand Profile Mini-Series last year at this location!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our next "Where Are The New Albums?" post tonight, and I will see you guys at The Rosie tonight as well! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Half Past), The Isosceles Project Concert Preview, And Much More!!

One more news post before Victoria Day, and if you're home not camping or vacationing for the weekend, you can enjoy today's slate of news on The Sault Metal Scene, including new songs from a handful of local hard rock acts, some assorted stories from across the river, and a preview of a big metal concert taking place tomorrow night, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

Local hard rockers Half Past are returning to the stage in July! The band will make their long awaited debut with new singer Jordan Rains when they return to The Rockstar Bar on July 23rd for what should be an interesting return show! This will be their first concert appearance in five months, following their return from a lengthy hiatus in February, in what would also be their last concert with then-frontman Luke LeBlanc. Though hinted at without a concrete public date late in a post on their Facebook page last month, they've since quietly posted the show with date on their Reverbnation page, and cause it's publically viewable, it looks official enough to call it. This show has a listed start time of 10:30 PM start time, it is a 19+ show, and a cover charge isn't listed. Check the above links for more details! It's great to see Half Past getting back out there, and with this show and their sets at Hempfest lined up, here's hoping they'll be back in their rightful spot in the scene very soon! And yes, the curiosity about how Jordan will sound with Half Past will be in full force as well, but I have faith he'll do just fine! I should be at their July return, and stay tuned for updates as I hear them!

Now to a big concert preview, as Dismembertainment are bringing you another high quality package of metal tomorrow night at The Roosevelt Hotel! Three out of town bands are making their way here tomorrow, all of which are very familiar with the Soo, including headliners The Isosceles Project! Last seen locally in August at The Canadian Nightclub, this Toronto-based all-instrumental progressive metal trio will be sure to turn heads tomorrow night with their highly proficient and technical sounds! North Bay experimental metal trio Thekillingfield (who also played at that August concert mentioned above) are also scheduled for tomorrow night, with a highly brutal and relentless sound that will surely get us moshing! Toronto hardcore punk band The Endprogram are also on for tomorrow as a late replacement for Orillia metal band Like Animals, who dropped out for unexplained reasons. Also no strangers to Sault Ste. Marie, The Endprogram just headlined at Coch's Corner last month, and their punk-inspired hardcore attack will find lots of fans tomorrow! The local openers are extreme metal quintet WinkStinger, who'll look to unleash a bottle of fury on their fans just two weeks after opening for Fuck The Facts! Check the above links for more on each band playing tomorrow night!

Admission is $4 for this concert, and before you complain about the price, keep in mind that it's just a dollar a band, it's worth the money! Doors open at 9:00 PM with it likely starting not long after, and it's definitely a 19+ event. I should note that, at least as recently as Thursday, The Rosie was increasing security on checking ID, so make sure you have ID cards on you. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! There's no better way to spend Victoria Day on the long weekend then by rocking out with 4 great bands at The Rosie, so I hope to see all you guys there tomorrow night! For a preview, here's The Isosceles Project playing their original "The Factory" from their 2008 live DVD!



Now, we have some new songs from a handful of local hard rock acts, and first, former Browbeat mainman Dutch Vanderploeg's new Training Snakes project has finally posted their first song! Posted on their Reverbnation page earlier this month, it's a solid hard rocker, though the production seems slightly off, and the drums don't sound all that clear. Dutch's voice seems impaired too, possibly due the vocal issues he had that helped cause Browbeat's demise earlier this year. I'd like to hear this song with some better production and possibly with a different singer, but I see a lot of promise with it, and check the above links to hear it! As well, local industrial project Riverin (featuring past & present members of Dirty Virgin) have posted a new song named "Trenches" onto their Reverbnation page! A slower and more deliberate song, Matt Hicks' vocals are getting more aggressive, and it still has some industrial flourishes to set it apart! Parts feel empty, but it has good pacing and would be a good addition to their EP if they opt to include it when it's released! Check the above links to hear "Trenches" and many more songs from Riverin!

Also for new songs, veteran local guitarist Mike Cliffe has three new songs on his Reverbnation page to mention as well! One's called "Cinderella Run", as inspired by my comments on his surprising semifinal run in our March Mayhem tournament, and it's a softer experimental guitar track with a dreamlike quality, though not skimping on some good guitar playing either! Not a whole lot to say on it, Mike's showing his impressive guitar range here! Also posted is a cover of Frank Zappa's songs "Wedding Dress" and "Handsome Cabin Boy", which has a more energetic bouncy pace fitting of a Zappa song like this, though it does go by too quickly! I like it, but if you're looking for heaviness, you'll wanna hear his other new song "Vote No To Elections", which has a hard charging riff, though it seems layered under some higher experimental sounds for much of the song. Pretty good though! Mike's varied work continues to impress, and if you check out his material at the above links, you're bound to find lots of stuff to enjoy, so check his work out at the above links, and watch out for more from him soon!

And finally for tonight, let's close with a trio of shorter stories from the last little while! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• In case you were wondering, Sault Michigan hard rockers Clownsack's new EP "Funny Farm" is indeed on sale at Grooves Music across the river! This is the only place I know of that's physically selling the EP at present, and it goes for $5 American. Thanks to Schloppy for the info, and definitely give it a listen!
• I deleted the defunct Eckerman, Michigan metal quintet Moss (of Eckerman) from our band links, as band member Jason Mills (of Life's Eclipse fame) opted to delete the page due partly to his lack of satisfaction for the material. For archival sake, I did save the posted songs & bio information, just in case, as I didn't want everything lost for good. So if you're wondering where Moss went, now you know!
• Sault Ontario metal band Skull After Betrayal are looking for a full time singer. They're looking for one with a hardcore base, as the band are hoping to transition away from a death metal sound, though growling and clean singing are also being sought in their ideal singer package. If you (or someone you know) are interested, contact frontman Mike Vincent at this location!
  

That's all for tonight, but have a good Victoria Day, stay tuned for my Soo Stories review this week (along with more news), and I'll see you guys at The Rosie tomorrow night1 Thanks everyone!

SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Bear Hunters & That's Chester), Plus Lots Of Additional News!!

Here's a packed news post to close today out, our capping four straight weeks of new updates, with more to come! Today, we have the latest band updates for some upcoming Dismembertainment concerts, Woods of Ypres' latest tour vlog, and a new local band looking to play here, but first, here's some SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!

The next Roosevelt Hotel punk night is TOMORROW NIGHT, once again on short notice, though if you looked quick, you might confuse it for a metal night! Why is that? Well, maybe it's because local death metal bands The Bear Hunters and Skull After Betrayal will BOTH be playing tomorrow! Neither strike me as punk in the slightest, but hey, good music is good music! While The Bear Hunters are no strangers to the stage, this will be Skull of Betrayal's second ever concert, and hopefully they're better prepared to rock out tomorrow! Also joining them tomorrow will be cello/punk trio RedD Monkey, who'll look to rock out with their entertaining mix of classical sounds and aggressive riffs tomorrow night! Apologies for the short notice, but all but one of the punk nights have been announced on a relatively short notice schedule, it's out of my hands. There's no cover charge tomorrow, you must be 19 to enter, and it all starts at 9:30 PM or later! For more details, click here! Sounds like a good show, but I would like to see more "punk" bands on these shows, like Frightlight or bands like that. It's all good though! Stay tuned tomorrow for a more in-depth preview of this show!

Meanwhile, local classic hard rockers That's Chester are taking the stage on short notice this weekend when they hit Docks Riverfront Grill! Upon some further research, I found out that this weekend was originally set up to feature two concerts from That's Chester's Greg Simpson and Ric Datson's country band Bone Yard (as confirmed at this location), but it looks like there's been a band shift, thanks to this Facebook event page! With that said, I don't know what happened to Bone Yard, but hopefully nothing bad happened! It also looks like their previously scheduled shows there next weekend are off now, so maybe they were moved? The band never confirmed that, so I'm treating these as new shows unless I hear otherwise. So if you're a fan, get yourselves ready! They'll be on at 11:00 PM on Friday and Saturday night, there will be a $4 cover charge, and you must be 19 to attend! For more details, visit the above links! Short notice is better than not at all, and That's Chester should put in a fun weekend of rocking tunes, so head out to Docks if you can! Again, I'll have a preview of these shows tomorrow on the SMS, so stay tuned!

Thirdly today, here's some lineup updates for some upcoming Dismembertainment shows! First, the bad news, as it looks like Woods of Ypres will NOT be playing at Foggy Notions on May 13th. I don't know why yet, but the show's no longer listed on Woods of Ypres pages, Dismembertainment's show listings have removed them, and Rich Moreland did confirm the news with me this evening. Why are they out? I don't know, but hopefully nothing bad happened! Hallows Die and local openers WILL STILL BE PLAYING THAT NIGHT, so don't change your plans! Now, for good news, as here's the latest band additions! Local death metal band Bring The Fallen will end a three month hiatus by playing at the Rosie metal night on April 14th, despite earlier claims about taking a break! They were originally listed for this show, then removed, but they're officially back on now as headliners. Great to see them back! As well, the April 28th Rosie metal night will feature hardcore quintet Changing Waves as the opening band, joining State of Misery and a to-be announced band. Good to know, they're very promising! Finally, WinkStinger and Shit Liver will open for Fuck The Facts at The Rosie on May 9th, giving a nice local punch to open for them in their return! Sounds good, check out the above links for more details on all of the above shows and bands!

Next up, here's another band that's looking to play in Sault Ontario this year! I got an e-mail the other day from Rob Heavysege, the frontman of the Winnipeg hardcore band Wear Your Wounds, and he's hoping to bring his band to town in June! The band's hoping to come through Sault Ontario for a concert on Sunday, June 5th, and they'd be bringing fellow Winnipeg hardcore outfit Abstract & The Artist with them on this tour! If you enjoy hardcore and metalcore, you'll probably enjoy both bands, and it'd be cool to have them playing here in June! I sent Rob some promoter info, but just in case you guys want to help or are interested in booking them here yourself, contact the above links and/or send an e-mail to wearyourwounds@gmail.com A.S.A.P.! Both bands are talented, so definitely remember this potential show, and if it gets finalized, I'll have more for you guys when it comes in!

Finally, here's part 2 of the latest Woods of Ypres tour vlog from their Barrie concert! I'd wait for part 3 too, but we need some good Woods of Ypres news after learning they aren't coming home in May. Uploaded to frontman David Gold's YouTube channel yesterday, this starts with 2 minutes of in-car footage, including some duplicate shots from the first part of the vlog, and more rim rolling, before transitioning to the band's final drive to the venue, bringing in the merchandise, and related happenings until the concert footage finally kicks in at 3:12 into the video! We get portions of three songs, good quality ones too with more varied angles, and they now have added captions which list each song's original album as well! The concert footage will likely conclude in part 3, but it hasn't been posted yet. Good stuff, especially if you've been hoping for more live footage of Woods of Ypres on-stage! Check the above links for more, and here's part 2 of the Barrie vlog!



That's all for tonight, but stay tuned tomorrow for weekend concert previews and possibly some additional news! Thanks everyone!