Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Tomgrindy & Beyond The Surface

As you might expect, here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Like past months, this recurring series looks at 1 or 2 defunct or inactive metal/hard rock bands from the Sault Ste. Marie area (as randomly selected) to profile them, their work, and local run for current readers, and like five of the past six months, we're looking at two bands today due to the first selected band not having enough information. We have two very different bands on each side of the border to look at today, so read on below for this month's defunct profiles!
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Tomgrindy

Genre: Goregrind

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members

Jacob Tombari, vocals
Jean-Paul Archambault, vocals
Tyler "Ringsnaps" Gibson (Crucify The Whore), vocals/all instruments

Info/Analysis: One of many grind-influenced acts to have graced the Blood Shed Productions roster since their launch, Tomgrindy came to public attention in the spring of 2013 with numerous free song postings & the sudden release of the "Grindshed" split demo alongside frontman Tyler Gibson's Crucify The Whore project, followed by a self-titled demo in July. Public activity was limited to media releases before the band went on hiatus due to personal issues in August, before breaking up the next month, though their Facebook page is still used to promote other Blood Shed artists. Tomgrindy shared many similarities with Tyler's other grind bands, like controversial imagery & song titles, minimal instrumentation, and pig squeal vocals, but Tyler's guitar & programming abilities are present on their tracks! That said, Tomgrindy will likely be an acquired taste for fans not accustomed to grind or this label, but I applaud their drive & ambition, so check out the first half of their solo demo below, click here for more songs, and follow Tyler's current bands for similar material!


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Beyond the Surface

Genre: Hard Rock

Hometown: Pickford, Michigan

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics)

Eli Reilly (Unleashed), vocals/lead guitar
Blake Mastaw, rhythm guitar
Alec Firack, bass
Isaac Leach, drums
Danielle Petingalo, vocals
Rhiannan Sibald, rhythm guitar

Audio/Video: No media of Beyond The Surface is known to be publically available at present, though a Facebook-only video of the band covering Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" at a high school event existed online during their run. I would assume that Beyond The Surface shared similarities with singer/guitarist Eli Reilly's earlier band Unleashed, but that's just speculation.

Info/Analysis: Comprised of then-Pickford High School students, Beyond the Surface were formed in late 2010, taking first place in a school talent show that December with their original lineup, which stood out by featuring 2 female members. After singer Danielle Petingalo's departure, the band won another talent show in Rudyard in January 2011, and competed in another the next month in Cheboygan. Following a divisive rhythm guitarist switch that March & scattered mid-2011 shows at school events, activity stalled that summer despite optimism for expanded live dates, and after a brief vocalist search that August, the band presumably fell inactive by year's end. Despite the lack of media, winning two talent shows in their first few months together must have been a good sign! Eli had solidly developing guitar skills, and Danielle is a very good singer, so hopefully the band's members stay active in music, and maybe we'll find some media at some point!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! As for next month in this series, we're actually going to look at two bands again, due to the first band that we chose not having enough surviving information (especially after the MySpace layout overhaul.) As a result, we'll be looking at solo projects from both sides of the border, those being courtesy of Hydra's Teeth frontman Brendan Christie and Power Slug drummer/ex-I.S.O.M. frontman Bob Helsten, a.k.a. Orb Hearthstone! Watch out for those on or around March 10th, and stay tuned for more news and notes either tonight or tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Beyond Haven

It's time for our penultimate feature post of September, and as expected, it's this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! As always, this monthly feature looks at a band that is based out of town, but happens to feature one or more past/present Sault Ste. Marie residents in any of their lineups. This month's band isn't the most well known to Saultite audiences, but they have a lot going for them, and they deserve the attention, so read on below for this month's profile, and make sure to check out our latest news post from this afternoon (featuring Buckcherry videos, Haggith videos, and updates on our recent layout edits) below this one! (Updated on November 26th, 2014)
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Beyond Haven (Barrie, Ontario)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; ex-members in italics)

Brian Vain (vocals/rhythm guitar)

Matt Davey (lead guitar)

Jeff Dumais (bass)

Dan Smethurst (drums)

Jason Graham (lead guitar)
Mark Sandy (bass)
Dan DeBiasio (drums)

Official website: http://www.beyondhaven.com
Official MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/beyondhaven
Official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/beyondhaven

Official Reverbnation page: http://www.reverbnation.com/beyondhaven

Official SoundCloud page: http://www.soundcloud.com/beyond-haven

Official SignMeTo page: http://signmeto.roadrunnerrecords.com/artists/beyond-haven-2

Local Info: As far as I know, the only member of Beyond Haven with local ties is former lead guitarist Jason Graham, who was born and raised in Sault Ontario! Online information is in short supply about his local past before moving to Barrie, but through conversations with Frightlight guitarist Rick White, I learned that he played with Jason in local bands back in the day such as Lev-Rage and Small Town Trap, along with other Fitswitch alumni. No media of these bands are posted online that I can tell, but Rick told me that bands he and Jason were in did win some battles of the bands, which is pretty cool, and thanks again to Rick for telling me about Jason's local past!

Band Bio: Beyond Haven formed in February 2007 when childhood friends Brian Vain & Dan DeBiasio joined forces in mid-2007 as a songwriting project before enlisting Jason Grahan & Mark Sandy to complete their full lineup. From then on, they became a steadily growing sight in the Barrie hard rock scene, releasing a self titled demo in June 2008 and their debut full length album "New Era" in May 2009, while opening for major bands like Anvil, Finger Eleven, and State of Shock. After a short breakup in 2010, Brian & Jason relaunched the band later that year, finally returning to the stage in May 2011 with many new shows and recording plans, including a set opening for Finger Eleven, hopes for an upcoming tour run, and the release of their second album "Don't Back Down" in 2013, though Jason quietly left the band in October 2012. Stay tuned to band pages for continued updates as they continue to build their name in the Southern Ontario hard rock scene!

From what I've seen and heard of Beyond Haven, they definitely show a lot of talent and diversity in their hard rocking originals! Their "New Era" CD has a lot of entertaining songs that touch on both the heavy and softer aspects of their sound well, and I like seeing Brian's deeper singing applied with the sound they have on their albums! Sort of a mix of Scott Weiland and Zakk Wylde, if I had to describe it. Their old and current lineups seem to have a lot of chemistry, and Jason contributed well with heavy and melodic riffs, and some nicely played guitar solos, though their songs don't take a lot of huge risks. Songs like "Cautious Mind" & "Unchained" demonstrate their sounds really well, but they do seem like a group that might have been more timely in the 1990s (which isn't a criticism, I love 1990s music!) It's too bad Jason never brought Beyond Haven back home for a concert, but hopefully they continue to bring their grunge influenced hard rock sound to Ontario stages for a long time to come, and definitely give them a look or listen!

For media, both of Beyond Haven's full length albums are available on iTunes at this location for around $10, though I can't confirm if either is available in CD format widely at present. Their first demo is definitely out of print, but their MySpace page has all 4 tracks available to stream, so check the above links for those and more previews of the band's original songs! For videos, there are a handful of Beyond Haven videos floating around YouTube, but the best place to see them is off of frontman Brian Vain's YouTube channel, which features a decent selection of videos from both of their incarnations, including some covers and promo clips. Here's a compilation of their current lineup playing their song "Drive" at a show earlier this year, and check the above links for more on Beyond Haven!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! In our last profile in this series before we update/correct the vast majority of them in November, we'll be looking at Lansing, Michigan metal quintet Genocya (featuring former Sault Michigan resident Matt Cunningham), so look out for just our seventh Sault Michigan-focused profile in this series on or around October 26th! That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews either tomorrow or Friday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Maximum RNR), Late And Loud & Garden Of Bedlam News, And Much More!!

The news keeps on coming, and we've got some big stuff to talk about today! In this post, we have assorted stories from some young local bands, some more "Woods V" reviews, how you can see a recent metal-relevant Shaw TV interview online, and your first glimpse at an upcoming local metal EP, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT that marks some familiar faces' return to the Soo!

Toronto old school hardcore punk quintet Maximum RNR are coming back to Sault Ontario at the end of this month for their third local appearance! The band fronted by former Saultite & ex-Lion Ride bassist Brenton "Diamond Brent Panther" Ellis will hit The Rockstar Bar on June 30th for their first local concert date since their February 2011 headlining gig at the future Coch's Corner, and you know this should shape up to be a huge concert! My source is their official website's concert listings, with this very nice poster for the event also posted on the band's Facebook page. Notably, this will be Maximum RNR's first Sault Ste. Marie stop since Brent's former Detroit & The Labour Of... bandmate (and fellow Saultite) Curtis Faux replaced Davey Dee as their bassist, so if you've missed Brent & Curtis on stage locally in their various projects, keep this June 30th gig in mind, especially as Maximum RNR's current sound will be very familiar to Detroit fans! The openers will be local country/punk favourites The Billy Bastards in their 2012 debut, which will return guitarist John Conway to an opening slot for Maximum RNR, having opened for them with Destroilet last February. It's about time that The Billys returned, as you know their unique and fan friendly sounds will attract lots of notice!

Admission will be $5 for this concert, it will be a 19+ event, and a 10:00 PM-ish start time is likely. For more details, visit the above links! It's great to see Maximum RNR schedule a return to the Soo this month, and hopefully I can make it for this Saturday night show! I missed their last show here due to a cold, but I don't intend on being absent this time around! The Rockstar Bar doesn't tend to have a lot of hardcore-leaning bands, but it's a very nice venue that's familiar to the performers, and hopefully this show is a huge hit! Stay tuned for updates on Maximum RNR's show at the end of the month as they roll in!

Next up, here's some more recent news from local classic metal quartet Late & Loud! In recent days, they've been making more out of their Reverbnation page than some other local bands do, including making some interesting blog posts and uploading some new samples from their upcoming debut demo/EP! This includes 36 second-long samples of 4 tracks and a full copy of their original "Whisper of the Damned", and while I won't give any detailed assessments yet (wait for the full review), the recording quality is better than I expected on first listen! Check the above links to hear the new audio clips (and full song), but when could we possibly see this EP? According to posts late last month on Late & Loud's Reverbnation blog, they're working on a release date for the EP and are looking into an iTunes release, while they're hoping to play a show at The Canadian Nightclub "mid-summer" with an opening band to be announced. If the album is out by then, the first 10 to be made public will be autographed by the band members. It looks like Late & Loud have a lot of stuff in the works for the summer once their little live break wraps up, and hopefully by next month, all of the excitement will be more public for us to take note of! Stay tuned for more Late & Loud news as it comes in, and check out the new audio clips!

Also today, remember last month when the Shaw TV interview piece with local metal standouts Garden of Bedlam ran on Channel 10 for local Shaw Cable customers? Well, it's televised run has ended, but never fear, as Shaw TV Sault Ste. Marie's YouTube channel now features an upload of the 5 minute feature, so you can now check it out at your leisure online! Of course, this was shot at and around their May 12th headlining gig at The Rockstar Bar, and features clips of Garden of Bedlam playing three songs interspersed with a wide range of interview footage addressing many topics relating to the band. The only real new item I have compared to when we originally covered this interview was that this was indeed produced by former local punk singer Christian Lemay, despite the lack of voiceover audio that we're used to from his last metal-relevant interviews for Shaw TV's local branch. I actually have some more local press-related videos to share from the May 12th Garden of Bedlam show to share on the site later in the week, but for now, give their Shaw TV interview a look below!



Fourthly, here's a few more reviews of Woods of Ypres' final recorded album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light"! Well, the first one apparently is more of a "first impression" rather than a critical opinion, but Apoch from the website Apoch's Metal Reviews gave a mixed-positive assessment on first listen of "Woods V", and though he had many faults for the album's mood and similarities to some other artists, he liked the growth Woods of Ypres were showing on this album, and it's interesting to see a writeup on the album without referencing David Gold's passing. Click here to check it out! In February, "Chris" from the website Metal Psalter gave "W5" 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "the perfect goodbye to David Gold", and called each track "a little trek" to the soul, and despite the missing star, he was mostly very complimentary and diverse with his opinions. Nice review, so check it out at this location! Finally, Martjin Welzen from Mass Movement Magazine gave "Woods V" a positive, but brief review in February, calling it a "great" and "pure Woods of Ypres record", while also complimenting the more upbeat sounds and insightful lyrics compared to "Woods IV". Short, but worth checking out, so click here to do so, and stay tuned for more "Woods V" reviews sooner or later!

And finally, here's a few assorted shorter stories from the last little while, all of which revolve around younger high school-age bands from the last year or so. As always, these are in alphabetical order by band or artist name:

• Local musician Aaron Desmoulin is looking for high school-age musicians for a hard rock project he's starting up, possibly to write original songs. He can sing & play bass, he has a room set up to jam in, and he's interested in playing Guns N' Roses or Motley Crue-esque hard rock. If you're at all interested, contact Aaron A.S.A.P. at this location or via his post on Sunday at the Musicians Wanted Facebook group!
  
• I'll likely be moving Pickford hard rock outfit Beyond The Surface to our inactive band links tomorrow due to a year's inactivity. The Sault Michigan-area band featuring Unleashed & Focus alumni haven't been visibly active since a year ago tomorrow, when they uploaded a new photo to their Facebook page. They had promise & some successes at area talent shows, so hopefully they (or their members) pop up again in the near future!
• Apparently, local/North Shore metal quartet Crimson Crusade played a set of some type yesterday at the Ho Shin Sool Martial Arts Centre on Korah Road. Odd on the surface, but I assume one of the band members trains there. From what little I know, it wasn't a publically available "concert", so I didn't call it on here, but hopefully it went well, and check the above links for more on Crimson Crusade, including their current setlist!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and weekend concert previews tonight or early tomorrow, along with this week's classic video and that second archive Woods of Ypres magazine interview! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Bear Hunters), New Videos, And More!!

Hey guys, I have some more local metal news for you all today, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, some new videos, and some assorted Sault Michigan news, so let's get things going tonight!

Local melodic death metal quintet The Bear Hunters have been confirmed as part of the lineup for the first annual Searchmont Music Festival! Yes, the popular area ski resort is throwing their hat into the festival ring with a fundraiser festival scheduled for September 10th inside and outside of the resort, and The Bear Hunters are confirmed for this year! Odd choice of a picture though, as "The Bear Hunters" implies that they're hunting bears, not that a bear is hunting. Full details on the festival are not out yet, but admission will be $10, it looks to be all ages, and the outdoor portion will consist of open mic and acoustic performers, with plugged in bands like The Bear Hunters rocking inside. Music for both stages will run from 12:00 PM to 11:00 PM on the 10th. Other announced performers include solo artists Al Davis, Douglas Cousineau, and Rusty McCarthy, along with local bands Moondance, The Trippy Hippies, The Dirty River Band, and Green Cafe, with more likely to be announced. Most of the acts are new to me, but this should be an entertaining festival, and thanks to The Bear Hunters, some metal will easily be welcomed! Stay tuned for updates at the above links and at the SMS as they come in!

Next up, we have some new videos, and first, local hardcore quartet Changing Waves have their own YouTube channel! Launched in April, I only just found out about it the other day, and yes, there's some concert footage there! One concert video from an undated Roosevelt Hotel performance (metal night on August 4th?) was posted there twice on Thursday, and both are of the band covering System of a Down's "Suite-Pee"! Why was it uploaded twice? Well, the first upload is sideways, possibly due to the original video dimensions, so they corrected it in a later upload, but you can still see the sideways version at this link. Overall though, it's nice quality, and it shows their hardcore take of the S.O.A.D. favourite well, with each member visible, though the camera shakes a bit and the video missed the beginning of the song. Good stuff overall, and it's nice to see more videos of Changing Waves, so check out their "Suite-Pee" cover at the above links and below, and also visit their channel for an interesting acoustic song by band members(?) called "Gimme My Cat"!



The other new videos is courtesy of Brimley hard rockers Half A Man, who are still hard at work on their upcoming debut album! On Thursday, the band uploaded a rough mix of their original song "Drunk" onto their official YouTube channel, and you can check it out below! It sounds good, and it's nice to hear a studio version finally (especially given that this is one of the first Half A Man originals we heard last year), but I'll hold on detailed comments until the album comes out and I get a chance to review it. Also featuring video footage of the band members playing the song individually and shots of their recording computers and equipment, check out "Drunk" below and get ready for the new album!



And finally, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while from Sault Michigan-area bands, in alphabetical order by band name:

• I'll likely be moving Sault Michigan quartet 7/47 (featuring members of Free Refill & The Highest of Fives) to our inactive Sault Michigan band links tomorrow due to inactivity. The Guitar Studio products were last visibly active on August 21st of last year when bassist Jack Slater uploaded videos from a Mackinac City concert onto his YouTube channel. 7/47 had promise, but hopefully the members' current bands remain successful!
• According to their respective Facebook pages, young local rock bands Abstract & Banned competed at a battle of the bands of some type outside of Joe's Bar in Rudyard earlier today. For the life of me, I couldn't find official information on this battle, which is why we didn't plug it here, but keep an eye out in case we hear any fallout! For what it's worth, Banned's Facebook page indicates they didn't win.
• Pickford hard rockers Beyond The Surface have quietly welcomed guitarist Blake Mastaw back to the band, and are also now looking for an official singer again, presumably to replace the long-since departed Danielle Petingalo. Click here if you live in the Pickford area and are interested in singing for Beyond The Surface!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more hopefully tomorrow, and if nothing else, look out for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on Monday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Darwin Project), A New Local Band, And More From Sault Michigan!!

The marathon of news continues today into it's latter stages, as we give you some news from across the river! Today, we focus on Sault Michigan, including the latest news from Beyond The Surface & Life's Eclipse, an intriguing piece of news from Werehold Records, and LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, but first, here's a new local band! (UPDATED: Monday, 8:32 PM)

The new band I've discovered is Chained Memories, a new young metal band from nearby Kincheloe, Michigan! Though they started their MySpace page in December 2009, I've only seen them really active in the past few weeks, so they really flew under the radar in the past year and a half. As far as I can tell, the only current member of the band is former Silent Despair drummer Mike Rynberg, though their Facebook page also credits Outshined frontman Jacob Zeeryp as a band member with an unknown role. The lineup on the band's MySpace page is, as best as I can tell, outdated (so guitarists Brandon Mason & Isaac Suggitt appear to be out,) and they are looking for band members aged 14-17 to fill out their lineup, which would include a keyboard player! Aside from a logo and some hints towards t-shirt designs, there's not a lot to say yet, but hopefully Chained Memories succeeds where Silent Despair failed! Check the above links for more, as well as their Reverbnation page, and I will keep you posted!

Now for those LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, as a prominent Northern Michigan band is returning to Sault Michigan in July! Cheboygan hard rock quartet The Darwin Project will make their first announced local stops of the summer when they hit The Corner Pub Bar & Grill on July 8th and 9th for a weekend set of entertaining music! The news about these new local shows was quietly posted on the band's Facebook page on Thursday thanks to two new Facebook event pages, this one for the Friday show, and this one for the Saturday concert. Both shows have 9:30 PM start times, you must be 21 to attend on either night, and there's no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details! It's always good to see The Darwin Project out and about in Sault Michigan, and their energetic take on radio hard rock should go over well, as it always seems to! Stay tuned for more updates on The Darwin Project's next local stops as I hear them!

Now for some stories related to the recently relaunched Eckerman metal quartet Life's Eclipse, starting with the posting of demos from their upcoming album "Shadow Over Superior"! On Wednesday, the band posted a video onto their record label Werehold Records' YouTube channel that features 30 second samples of every song on the "Shadow Over Superior" album! The tracklisting hasn't changed from what was on their MySpace page, so head there for title previews if you don't pay attention to the screen in audio-based videos like this. 30 seconds is very little to go on to give definitive thoughts to the songs on the album, but these instrumental samples all sound promising, and this should be a quality album when it comes out! Of course, one of the songs (the instrumental "Not Dead, But Dreaming") is posted on their MySpace, so if you want a full taste, check that very cool song out! Now though, give a listen to samples from the whole album, which I'm eager to hear, how about you guys?



Speaking of Werehold Records-related topics, Life's Eclipse frontman/Werehold Records head Jason Mills has a big plan in mind involving an album featuring local bands, so here's what you should know! He's hoping to make up a compilation record featuring local bands to help give them exposure, presumably through release through Werehold Records in the coming months. He's aiming to have bands who want in on the CD to contribute up to two songs for inclusion on the record, which would be professionally pressed and be available to sell at shows and on band pages. Nothing he said to me implied a restriction for which side of the border your band lives on, or if you had to be connected to Werehold Records already to get in on this. I've heard similar rumblings on this side that I won't go into without public word, but Jason's idea sounds very intriguing! Never hurts to get some well needed exposure, and why not do it with other bands who also want the same thing? If this flies, this could be to the benefit of a lot of bands, so definitely shoot Jason a message at werehold@hotmail.com if you or your band would be interested in being on this compilation record!

And finally, here's the latest news on young Pickford hard rockers Beyond The Surface! Firstly, the band appears to have quietly parted ways with guitarist Blake Mastaw, just two months after his addition to the band. No statement has been made as to his exit, but he was removed from the Beyond the Surface's lineup on their Facebook page, reducing them (at least for now) to a three-piece band. I know that when Blake joined, there was a visible uproar from some fans, but I wonder what happened so soon for him to leave? Well, best of luck to him, and of course, if you're a Pickford-area guitarist and want to try out, give the band a shout, you never know! Also, in some of the band's latest updates, they announced that they are looking to play some dates soon, and were open for suggestions. That, and they're apparently playing a set on Tuesday night at the Pickford High School gym, but without a lot of details, I don't know enough to really "call" it on here. Still, best of luck to them, and they are a promising young band! Check the above links for more!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes tomorrow, including (maybe) a book review? Keep your eyes peeled to the SMS! Thanks everyone!

Lots Of Assorted News And Notes From The Last While!!

This is our 25th post of the month already, and at this rate, we could approach last month's post record at this rate! Today's post is largely comprised of older stories that got pushed aside in recent weeks, but is well worth discussing! This includes a cool SMS concept logo, the latest from Lion Ride & Beyond The Surface, some new pages, and kicking things off, a new video! Here's what you need to know!

Veteran local musician Phil Temperao has uploaded a solo song onto his YouTube channel! Unlike the older jam session videos that usually featured him and Dennis Porter, this is a solo song that bears little resemblance to the older Meatplow (or whatever they'll be called next) videos. This is just a song named "Rain" under the project name "Sebastien 6". It features Phil on all instruments save for the lead guitar, which is actually provided by his brother Jose (a.k.a. Jose Wailz), who you may recall as Phil's old Amethyst bandmate! Compared to the more aggressive and industrial tinged songs from the full band, "Rain" is a lighter track that is still hard rocking, and shows off Phil's singing range. The guitar work's solid, but the song can be a bit repetitive, and if you prefer the material from the live videos with Dennis contributing, "Rain" may be slightly underwhelming in tone. It's a solid track though, and it's accompanied with some good shots of Phil and outdoor nature pictures. Recorded at Greentown Digital Studios this year, there's apparently more coming from this solo project, so keep an eye out! Check the above links for more, and here's "Rain"!



Next up, here's some long overdue news on young Pickford hard rockers Beyond The Surface. Firstly, they've announced that lead guitarist Eli Reilly is now be their full time singer going forward in addition to playing guitar, replacing Danielle Petingalo in the band's vocalist position. No reasons have been posted for Danielle's departure, but in all fairness, she hasn't been a credited member of the band since before I heard about them, so it just took a while for official confirmation. I don't know how Eli sounds vocally, but he can't sound too bad! With that said, the band have announced their next live gig, which will be part of a "spring concert" at Pickford High School on May 17th with the school band. I don't know enough about it to call it on the SMS yet as a "public concert", but keep it in mind, especially if you live in Pickford or attend Pickford High! They're a promising young band, and I am curious to hear how they sound in their current incarnation! Stay tuned for more updates at their Facebook page, and I'll try to stay more on top of them in the future!

Thirdly, here's a pair of new Facebook pages from some local metal bands! One isn't really "new", but I only discovered it a few weeks ago, so I gotta mention it. Sault Michigan hard rockers Intrepid (one of the many Guitar Studio rock camp bands) have had a Facebook page since August of 2009, and believe it or not, we've never mentioned it here! The page tells us some interesting details on the band from late 2009-2010, including a number of very brief and often ill-detailed statuses about their next shows, which ranged from local bars to talent shows to the Kewadin Festival! I'd have covered these for sure if I knew about them, but many were ambiguous and only hinted towards potential shows or gigs with no listed venue or date. The page also includes a bunch of live photos, though sadly, no concert video footage. Intrepid haven't updated this page since after a December talent show performance, but if you wanna get caught up on Intrepid, click here! The other news is that Sault Michigan classical metal project Theatre of Night have a Facebook page of their own, and though it only features synched news from their primary Reverbnation page, do check it out, as you'll still find out about their latest news!

Fourthly, do you want some new photos? How's about some new Lion Ride photos? Some professional quality photographs from around the time of their local show earlier this month at The Rockstar Bar are now online, including an extensive slideshow from photographer Jesse Nelson on his blog Family Tree Land! Loads of photos from before and after their concert, including the show itself, are included there, which are great quality but sadly unavailable in high resolution on the page itself. To view in larger and better resolution, click here to go straight to the original Flickr feed, you'll thank me later! Look out for cameos by members of some prominent local bands and a band member's mother in the front row, for example! The other photos will be coming soon from prominent local photographer Curt O'Neil, who's done some outstanding past work with Lion Ride concert pictures! This time around, he just did a formal photo shoot with the band, I think their first of this type with the current lineup. Though the fruits of this labour aren't visible yet, Curt did post one preview picture, and it's on your left, but click here for full resolution! Nice work, I can't wait to see more, so stay tuned for when they come online!

Finally, here's a cool little custom item I've been holding onto for a while! If you know me well, you'll know that I enjoy the art of logos, be they for sports, companies, or whatever, and I try to utilize appropriate designs in SMS artwork, logos, and page layouts. I'm not a professional, but I do what I can. That said, Destroilet drummer Matt Waples, who is a VERY talented graphic designer with Sonigraphix Design Solutions, sent me a concept for a new SMS logo last month based around the one we debuted in December. I thought now was a good time to share his work with you guys, as he deserves all the credit in the world for the work he does! I'm a fan of logo concepts on sites like Icethetics, so why not inject some of that here? If I remember correctly, I told Matt that this looked great, but it felt more like a Japanese action movie logo than a metal website logo, not that that's a bad thing. I find the M a bit fat and the flipped second S makes it look like "SMZ", but that aside, it's a damn good concept, and I appreciate Matt going out of his way to make this on his own free will! What do you guys think of it? Feedback is welcome, especially with the work Matt puts in! Check out his portfolio too at this location, outstanding work on logos and posters, and I added Sonigraphix to our Other Local Metal Links too!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Darwin Project), Lots Of Band Updates, And The End Of SooNews.ca!!

Hey metalheads, here's some more scattered news from the last little while, but first, I want to apologize for missing a pair of shows last weekend. Apparently, Sault Michigan hard rockers Splitshot played at The Bird on Friday and Saturday, and I didn't hear about them until today. While they were announced short notice on Wednesday, they still slipped me by entirely, and I never saw the posted Facebook statuses plugging the shows, so they never got reported here. My deepest apologies go out to Splitshot and their fans, I screwed up, and I hope to be better on my toes for their next shows at The Bird! If it's any help, they'll be at The Rapids Lounge on the April 22nd weekend, so look out for them then! Now, to the news, and we'll start today's post off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

Cheboygan hard rockers The Darwin Project have added another concert onto their local itinerary for next month, as they return to The Savoy Bar & Nightclub on Thursday, April 21st for another night of ripping original music! This (I think) will be their first trip to the Savoy since November, but they have a lot more for us local fans before then, with shows at The Satisfied Frog THIS WEEKEND and a return to The Rapids Lounge next month on the horizon as well! This Savoy show on April 21st will take place at 9:30 PM, there's no announced cover charge, and it should be a 21+ affair. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's good to see The Darwin Project ramping up their local bookings, they're a talented band with lots of solid hard rock tunes, and they have a good local following to go with that! Plus, with the recent release of a new CD, things haven't looked better for them then they do now! Remember this show, and the rest of their upcoming dates, and I'll keep you guys posted if updates come in!

Next up, here's the latest updates from Pickford hard rockers Beyond The Surface, who are one of many younger bands in the Sault Michigan area! Yesterday, they announced the addition of guitarist Blake Mastaw, replacing Rhiannan Sibbald in the band. Blake will now be their rhythm guitarist, with Eli Reilly moving to lead guitar full time. Singer Danielle Petingalo is still shown in band photos, but she's still not a credited band member on their Facebook page, oddly enough. No reason was given on the band's Facebook page as to why Rhiannan left, except for saying "Change happens", which is true, but not really an explanation. I imagine this is something they don't wanna publicize, and judging by the responses on there from fans, there is visible disappointment to the move. Best of luck to Rhiannan though! I don't know how Blake sounds on guitar, but he should do OK, as the band are talented! They recently placed at a talent show at Cheboygan (I didn't have enough concrete info to mention it here), and have recently began the process of writing original material, which sounds promising! For more, check out the above links and this video of Beyond The Surface covering Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" circa January! Not too bad, honestly, hopefully some clearer audio comes out soon!

Thirdly, we'll head back to Ontario for some news, leading off with the latest updates from Woods of Ypres! Firstly, frontman David Gold was interviewed by Jonathan Keane of the metal website Drop-D, and you can check out the full interview at this location! It's a good in-depth interview featuring discussion about the Earache Records signing, their current tour (the Sault's kinda undervalued when mentioned though), the status of "Woods V" (There's a LOT more to do with it than we knew before), what David hopes for the band in the future, and more! Good read, and he's well spoken as always, so give it a look at the above links! As well, there's a few new reviews of "Woods IV: The Green Album" to share, so here's what you should know from there! Tom Valcanis from Metal As Fuck called the album "unreletingly soul destroying", while praising it's doom qualities despite not being an "exciting" CD. Positive review though, click here to read it! One more for today, as Hong Rui from The Heavy Metal Tribune gave "W4" 7.2/10, saying that it may alienate certain doom or black metal fans due to it's genre mixing, but he praised the band's ingenuity and even said this could put "bands like Katatonia to shame", which is quite a statement. Click here to read this review! I have more to share later, so stay tuned over the next few days!

Fourthly, here's some lineup news for a couple of upcoming concerts. Both have hard rock bands, but the new bands aren't metal, so I'm clumping them together. Firstly, a local band named The Night Owl Meme Makers will be the second openers at TONIGHT'S Rebel Spell concert, joining Motion Carried. I have to say, they're not familiar at all, but their sound is certainly unique! Very hard to explain, but they have an accordion and a banjo, so take that for what you will! Check them out at this location, and note that the cover tonight is now just $3 or $2 with a vegan food donation. Remember, that's TONIGHT at 9:00 PM, click here for full details! The other new band addition is actually to Turner Up's shows this weekend, which is unexpected, as we're so used to them rocking out solo! Machines Dream (formerly The Craig West Band) will join Turner Up on Friday and Saturday to open for them at The Rockstar Bar, which should be interesting! In case you don't know, Machines Dream are a very talented progressive rock quartet, and they feature Gates of Winter's Brian Holmes (pictured) as their bassist & keyboardist, so there's some metal notability there! For more details, click here, and head out to one or more of these shows if you can!

And finally, here's some long overdue news on the fate of a prominent local news site. On March 7th, you may have noticed that SooNews.ca's homepage was replaced by a lengthy statement and closure notice. According to the statement, SooNews.ca has officially been succeeded by a new local news site named Local2 (despite being their 3rd news site, LTVNews.com preceding both.) Apparently, SooNews developers Craig Huckerby & Jake Cormier have been working on Local2 for a few years now, and are calling it "the next evolution in local media." The major difference with Local2 compared to SooNews.ca appears to be a greater integration of reader contributions, with a high focus on having the local community contribute to, talk about, and edit the news, even describing it as "Wikipedia, but for local information". You can read the whole press release at this location. I do have to say, Local2's site does have a nice, clean, and easy to navigate design, if a bit plain, and I admire the ambition of it all! I hope it grows to big levels, as it never hurts to have too much local news coverage! No metal articles yet though, but give it time, something should pop up! Check the above links for more, and just for the record, SooNews.ca is no longer active, but the site still exists (sans front page), so click here to navigate all the old features and posts!

That's all for today, but stay tuned around midnight for our latest Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile, as we take a look at Buster Cherry! Oh, and check out our latest Defunct Local Band Profile in the post below this one as well. Stay tuned!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Turner Up, That's Chester, And Shit Liver), A New Local Band, And A New Music Video!!

If there was ever a post on the SMS that could be defined as "packed", then this is it! Today, we have THIRTEEN LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next two months, the long awaited new music video from a local metal band, and kicking things off, a new local band! We have loads of stuff to come in the next few days, including some SMS housekeeping notes, our classic weekly video (don't worry, I haven't forgotten it!), and much more, so stay tuned! Let's kick off today's stacked post with the new local band!

I just came across this band the other day, and they are Beyond The Surface, a hard rock quartet from nearby Pickford, Michigan! Comprised of area high schoolers, the band features Rhiannan Sibbald on lead guitar, Eli Reilly (formerly of Unleashed) on rhythm guitar, bassist Alec Firack, and drummer Isaac Leach. They don't appear to have a singer at present, but 2009 International Idol winner Danielle Petingalo sang with the band at at least one prior gig. Since their inception in December 2010, they have won the"Best Band" award at a Rudyard High School talent show, and according to their most recent Facebook page update, they were auditioning for a talent show in Cheboygan the other weekend. Their influences range from Metallica, Demon Hunter, and Pantera to August Burns Red, Paramore, and Evanescence, which are quite the diverse group of bands! I have no real idea of how they sound as a band (I've found no video), but they seem promising enough for their age if they've won talent show awards. No word on if they're connected at all to Joey Beairl's Guitar Studio rock camp, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some link. I'll keep you guys posted if I hear more on Beyond The Surface, but check all of the above links for more!

Now to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, and we'll go in chronological order for these shows. Firstly, local classic hard rock cover band Turner Up have scheduled 10 more concert dates through March! Guitarist Robert Brown confirmed all of these dates in a new post on their Facebook group, which also includes this weekend's Docks shows and next weekend's Bon Soo 70's/80's night at The Nicolet Tavern that we previously reported. For the new shows, they'll return to The Rockstar Bar on February 18th and 19th, with shows at The Roosevelt Hotel on the 25th and 26th. In March, they have three concert weekends scheduled, including March 4th and 5th at The Nicolet Tavern, March 11th and 12th at The Roosevelt Hotel, and finally, March 18th and 19th at The Rockstar Bar! All shows should have 10:30 PM start times, none have announced cover charges, and in all cases, you must be 19 to enter. Sounds good, it's great to see the bookings rolling in for Turner Up! Stay tuned for updates from this frequently seen live act as it comes in!

Meanwhile, another similar local band returns to the stage for another pair of concerts in March! That band is That's Chester, who will return to Docks Riverfront Grill on March 4th and 5th for a pair of classic hard rock-filled nights of music! The band haven't announced these shows yet on their pages, but Docks' event page on their official website confirms these upcoming dates, so if the venue says they're on, I wouldn't doubt them! I find it odd that they list That's Chester as a dance band in some show listings there and as just a live band in others, I guess it depends who you ask. I assume these have 10:00 PM start times, no cover charge, and 19+ age limits. These and their shows next weekend at Docks are the only confirmed That's Chester dates that I know of on the horizon, so make note of them! They're a talented band of local music veterans, so definitely consider going if you can! I'll keep you posted if I hear more!

Finally for new shows, this is one I'm sure you punk fans have been aware of for a few weeks, but now it graces the SMS thanks to one of the opening bands! Vancouver punk mainstays The Rebel Spell are making their long awaited return to Sault Ontario on March 7th for what should be an entertaining night of music at Foggy Notions! I remember seeing and enjoying The Rebel Spell on Halloween night in 2006 at The Oddfellows Hall when they opened for Propagandhi, so take my word for it, they'll deliver! Two local bands will be opening for them at this show, including popular local punk rockers Free Beer in a rare concert appearance (you can see them THIS WEEKEND at Foggy's too as well) and, for you metalheads, local grimecore rockers Shit Liver! Unless they get added to a Rosie metal night in the interim, this should be their first show since January, and it should open them up to a wider audience given what I expect to be a hard hitting night of punk rock! Seriously, The Rebel Spell are one of my favourite Canadian punk bands, take my word for it, check them out! Free Beer always entertain, and Shit Liver's crusty brand of hardcore will no doubt find some fans! There is no announced cover charge, everything starts at 10:00 PM, and you must be 19 to attend. Click here for more details, and I'll have more if it comes in!

And finally, Woods of Ypres' new music video has FINALLY came out! After filming for it took place with Handshake Inc. and director David Hall this past summer, Decibel Magazine gave the world an exclusive first look at Woods of Ypres official music video for "I Was Buried (In Mount Pleasant Cemetery)", just in time to promote their forthcoming "Woods IV" rerelease! I find the song's a bit long and melancholy for a first single, but it's an epic number, so it works on that basis! The video features the band performing on what looks like the front porch of a house, intermingled with a song-related storyline including frontman David Gold's visit to Mount Pleasant Cemetery, the cliff jump and beard shaving scene that we shown here, and more. I won't give away too much, just watch it! I find that the video is very sunny and bright compared to the song's tone, and the blur effects from the band's performance segments sort of wash out Shane and Joel, but aside from that, the video works well! Good quality work, and it's nice to finally see another Woods of Ypres music video!

You can check out the original Decibel Magazine upload of this video from Viddler user shanemehling at this location, but the video is both unembeddable and private from viewing on other sites. Luckily, YouTube user LucifugeRofocale88 uploaded the music video onto their YouTube channel yesterday, so I can share it with you here! Now, check out Woods of Ypres' new music video for "I Was Buried (In Mount Pleasant Cemetery)"!



That's all for now, but I have much more news to share in the next little while, possibly tonight, so stay tuned! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Phatstick), Sneaky Pete Updates, And Three New Local Videos!!!

Hey there, metalheads! Another exciting post chock full of local metal news today, including three new videos that should interest you all, the first audio samples from a new local band, and starting things off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!!

They're baaaaaaack! St. Catharines metal band Phatstick, featuring Saultites Jason Taillefer and Joe LaVergne, are coming back to Sault Ontario near the end of the month! They'll be back at Foggy Notions on May 28th for what has to be their first local show in at least a couple of years! I can't tell you much else about the show yet, the Facebook event page does not go into detail, but it looks like a done deal! A 10:00 PM start time is listed, and knowing shows at Foggy's, I would expect a cover charge of around $3. After hearing about Jason's solo show here on April 27th, I never would have guessed Phatstick would be back so soon! And you can guaran-damn-tee I'll be there! I'm a fan of Phatstick's, I've never had the chance to see them live before (thank you, drinking age), and this show's over my 21st birthday weekend to boot! I'll keep you guys posted as I here more on this special show, and of course, I recommend heading to Phatstick's official website to check them out!

Next up, the first audio recordings from new local hard rockers Sneaky Pete have been posted online! Recorded on a mounted handheld recording device, the songs are not of any amazing quality, but these are our first glimpses into the Sneaky Pete sound! The band uploaded four audio clips onto their Facebook page, including AC/DC, Velvet Revolver, Kiss, and Neil Young covers! On first listen, I do see some promise, these guys are definitely good musicians and handle the covers pretty well, though I don't know if AC/DC is the best band for them to cover vocally. I like their version of "Cold Gin" especially! I also think the band were too hard on themselves for the recording quality, it's not like we were expecting Stereo Soul-esque production on live covers from a jam session. Pretty good stuff, I can't wait to hear more from Sneaky Pete, hopefully they'll take the live stage before you know it!

The end of today's post will have three new local metal videos! There's been no shortage of new videos lately, has there? The first new video I have today is a performance from Thursday's Derelict-headlined death metal show at Foggy Notions, which I heard went very well by most accounts! I haven't seen video of Derelict, Thekillingfield, or Bring The Fallen yet, but there is video online from Beyond Within's set, courtesy of their official YouTube channel! It's of their performance of their song "Mechanical Infection", and it makes me wish I was there for it even more! Sound is slightly muddled at parts, but I'm impressed, as always! I miss seeing Beyond Within live, can't beat Northern Ontario death metal! Check out the clip below, hopefully there's more from the show floating around!



Secondly for new videos is the clip I promised a few days ago before a bunch of new news stories got bunched in the way. And this is newly posted video footage from Megadeth's set from their March 2007 show with Heaven and Hell and Down at the now-Essar Center! YouTube user exyurock uploaded this just 5 days ago, and he got the year wrong on dating the video, but it still has pretty good audio quality, and not just because Megadeth are an awesome band! The video's far from the stage though. The clip includes Megadeth's performance of "Symphony of Destruction", followed by the very beginning of "Hangar 18", and you can check it out immediately below! Nice to see more video pop up online from this show, I wonder what else is floating around from older shows like this?

Finally for today's update is another new Woods of Ypres live video, courtesy of frontman David Gold's YouTube channel! Amongst some new videos of his vacations to Vietnam and Finland is a new clip from the band's Western Canada tour last August, this time coming from their show in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan! It's mostly of their performance of the song "Crossing The 45th Parallel", but it also features a lighthearted opening "warm-up" segment where David goes...a little bit country? I won't spoil it, just watch it! Oh, and it's pretty good quality. I've always enjoyed this song too, so that helps!



That's all for today, my next post (which in all likelihood will be after I get home tomorrow night) will include news on a local band's return, Bret Michaels' health, what appears to be some local hard rock/metal mention on CBC Radio One, and more! Stay tuned, everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison & Turner Up) And Weekend Concert Previews!!

Ah, the joys of being out of town, you're more likely to miss certain things, and I missed some concerts over the last couple of days to give you guys. But luckily, they haven't happened yet, so there's still time to push the cause and get you all out to them! So here are some (apologetically) short notice LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!! Stay tuned afterwards for the rest of the previews of this weekend's stacked concert lineup!

Firstly, Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison will be back for four more solo sets, the first two of which are taking place THIS WEEKEND! Tym will bring his acoustic solo show to The Nicolet Tavern tomorrow and Saturday night, at a venue I don't think he's played before as a solo artist, though Caveman fans will no doubt remember seeing the full band there in December! Then, he'll be at Coch's Corner for shows next Friday and Saturday as well! Those two shows aren't publically announced, but Tym confirmed them with me via e-mail and asked if I could plug them, so I'm doing just that! This weekend's shows at the Nicolet are posted with 9:30 PM start times, I'd expect next weekend's Coch's Corner shows start at a similar hour. I wouldn't expect a cover charge either, but make sure you're 19! Sorry again about the short notice for these new shows, being away is rough. Confirm your attendance for Tym's Nicolet Tavern shows at this location! If you want to hear some great acoustic hard rock and metal covers and enjoy a cold one, you'll know where to be this weekend! Check out more solo material from Tym Morrison (and some Caveman stuff) at his official website!

The other new shows this weekend, and again, with my apologies for the late warning, come courtesy of local hard rock cover stars Turner Up, who will be back at The Rockstar Bar this weekend themselves! From 10:30 PM onward tomorrow and Saturday, get ready to rock out and dance to some great rock covers, and some heavier stuff later in their set! No cover charge, you must be 19. These should also be good shows, and for the record, these were announced late too, so it's not completely my fault for their late announcement. So if you want to get on the dance floor with one of the area's more prominent local cover bands, The Rockstar Bar is the place to be! Confirm your attendance at the Facebook event page, check out more from Turner Up at this location, and for a preview, here's video of the band covering the Def Leppard classic "Hysteria"!


The rest of the shows this weekend are next, so these are just weekend concert previews, and we'll start with possibly the biggest one of all! TONIGHT, Holy Hell Productions presents Derelict, live at Foggy Notions! The Montreal-based progressive death metal rockers will make their way here on their Northern Shores tour, and will deliver an onslaught of death metal we don't see here nearly enough! Awesome band, they've supported bands like Job For A Cowboy live and have three albums to their credit, all full of unrelenting yet melodic death metal! Joining them are Sudbury's Beyond Within and North Bay's Thekillingfield, both making their first stop in Sault Ste. Marie since their show supporting Cattle Decapitation last March at The Oddfellows Hall! Beyond Within's extreme death metal sound will be quite familiar to local concert goers, themselves a frequent sight here, while Thekillingfield will bring their more experimental style here for just the second time! Rounding out the lineup is the Soo's very own Bring The Fallen, in their first local concert since performing at the Nite-Life portion of Algoma Hope4Haiti! No disrespect to any other local bands, but Bring The Fallen are the absolute best fit to open this concert, what with their awesome death metal sound and all! Click the above links to check out all four bands!

The concert will take place TONIGHT at Foggy Notions with an advertised start time of 10:00 PM. Despite past history for Beyond Within shows in town, this concert will NOT be all ages. Tickets have been adjusted to $7 flat at the door, a dollar cheaper than they were to cost at the door, so there's some good value! It's not often that we get such great value out of one bill at a local concert, it seems rarer and rarer that we get a package show like this with so much heaviness! You guys have gotta hit this, make it a success and encourage more shows like this one! That way, out of town multi band metal concerts can become normal again, not just a one off event. Confirm your attendance at the Facebook event page, and for a preview, here's the music video for Derelict's single "Machete"!

Then tomorrow night, head back to Foggy Notions for the debut live performance from local experimental hard rockers SBD, the new project from No Arrow frontman Dann Pichette and bassist Brad Griffifth! In what is being hyped as "a rare public performance", expect some CD giveaways and lots of unique, hard to categorize music far from the grunge sound that No Arrow brought to the table in the 2000s! Also joining in support is The Fury, the local genre-less band featuring ex-members of Out Of The Mouth Of Babes and D.O.T.H.! 19+, $3 admission, the fun starts at 10:00 PM. This should be a fun concert and one of the most unique shows you'll be likely to see this year, as both bands are hard to categorize, but will no doubt entertain! Personally, it's nice to see Dann back on stage, I really miss No Arrow, and even if this isn't close in sound, it's still been a long time coming! To confirm your attendance for this show, click here, click the above links to check out the bands, and for a video preview, here's the beginning of a jam room clip of SBD playing the song "Rock Paper Scissors"! (Click here to view the rest of the song)



Quick detour to Sault Michigan for the only two local metal concerts there this weekend that I know of, as local hard rockers Blind Baby appear to be returning to the local stage! Well, I'm going by Kewadin Casino's entertainment page for this, as Kewadin is advertising Blind Baby as playing there this weekend at The Rapids Lounge. As best as I can tell, the concerts (taking place tomorrow night and Saturday night) will be at 9:00 PM both nights with no cover charge. But that's as much as I can tell you, as Blind Baby's lone page (on Facebook) is rarely updated so I don't have band confirmation. But, Kewadin Casino's website is valid proof in itself, so I'd say believing it isn't a bad idea! They look like a good band, no idea how they sound, but if you want a band to check out this weekend in Sault Michigan, there's an option! If I hear more on Blind Baby, I'll let you all know!

Finally this weekend is one of the strangest genre clash concerts we're likely to get this year, and the metal band that's taking part will be local punk/metal band Destroilet! Returning to Coch's Corner for their second ever concert, the band chock full of local music veterans will take the stage with two acts you wouldn't expect, both of which come from the rap world! Toronto underground rappers The Hobo Banditos and solo artist Unknown Mizery will make their way up here for this unique hybrid concert, hyped under the name "Hobo Banditos & Unknown Mizery vs. Destroilet"! Does the "vs." imply a collaboration? We'll have to see! The show starts at 10:00 PM on Saturday night, it's also 19+, and will have a $10 cover at the door. I honestly think this show will draw more rap fans than punk fans, but if you go for Destroilet, you're bound to be entertained! Hopefully they'll have some great old school punk and metal to rock the rap fans to the core on Saturday! Click the above links to check out the involved bands, confirm your attendance at this location, and for a preview, here's Destroilet covering the Hank Williams III song "Tennessee Driver" from their debut show from December!



There, all of this weekend's shows are previewed, hopefully you guys can make it to some of them and make them successes! I'll miss them all because I will still be out of town (sadly, I REALLY wanted to see Derelict), but PLEASE go to some shows this weekend! My next update should have that video from the older major local concert I found, possibly some Bret Michaels health updates, and more depending on what I can locate! Stay tuned!

Concert Updates And News On Potential New Shows!

Man, homework SUCKS. My cache of local metal news is piling up, so I basically HAVE to update everyone today or people are gonna be wondering why this story or that info isn't getting plugged! Today's news will revolve around the topic of concerts: We have updates on two potential shows, a new band for one, and major updates on a certain local music festival, so here we go!

We have more info online concerning what to expect for this July's Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival! Firstly, as you can see, they have an official event logo! Looks nice, though the colours scream "fall" more than summer. I'd have changed the brown to a red, but hey, they must have had their reasons! Also, a tentative schedule is now online for it at this location! Aside from the main headliners (Vince Neil, Bret Michaels, Three Doors Down, and Meat Loaf), specific bands have yet to be announced by Kewadin, so we'll have to wait and see! That being said, the schedule says that there will be "Entertainment" (I am 95% sure this means "Live Bands") at 12:00, 2:00, and 4:00 at 1 hour timeslots each day. If you noticed that there's one hour gaps between these sets, they're not dead air, DJ Chef will be on for an hour a piece at 1:00, 3:00, and 5:00 each day! Through more research on DJ Chef, I can tell you that he's a Food Network personality who has the unique ability to spin the turntables AND cook gourmet meals at the same time! Maybe not metal, but that takes obvious talent! Also, it should be noted that the headlining bands are listed as performing from 6:00-10:00 PM. I can't see a band being given four hours to themselves, so if you hear support bands added to that timeslot, don't be surprised!

As for the rest of the daily schedules, the "strolling magician" will be around to do magic tricks from 12:00-3:00, 4:00-7:00, and 8:00-10:00! The NASCAR simulator, Rock Band, birdie golf (I assume that's mini golf?), bumper cars, and mechanical bull will be active from 12:00-4:00, along with carnival food for sale! Registration for the daily eating contests is from 1:00-3:00 each day, I assume the contests themselves are in the same timeframe. Also from 1:00-3:00 are the autograph signings (Remember, Thursday has Playboy Bunnies, Friday has Detroit Lions players, and Saturday has The Fonz!) The bean bag toss tournament is from 1:00-7:00 daily, there's food and merchants throughout the day, and fireworks will conclude each night at 10:00 PM!

In terms of other new updates that I haven't mentioned yet, the festival itself will be held outside Kewadin Casino in the south parking lot & RV park, I believe in a similar location to where the Kiss concert was held. There are NO discounts or deals for tickets beyond the cheaper total rate for a three day pass. That being said, there are no children's rates, so they'll cost the same as adults. Doors (or should I say, gates) open at 11:00 AM daily for the festival, and all contests can be registered for at the registration table. Admission is general, but you'll need your own chair if you want to sit down on one. Coolers and outside beverages are prohibited, those 21+ will be marked at the beer tent, and tickets will be monitored at entry and exit. Kewadin's really pulling out all the stops, this should be one hell of a festival! You can guarantee that I'll keep you posted with updates on this festival, especially where newly announced bands are concerned, particularly of the metal variety! Stay tuned, and click here for complete details so far, and tickets go on sale on FRIDAY!

Next up, it appears that a new band has been announced for an upcoming death metal show! While I still haven't seen local press or a Facebook event page for it, Derelict and Thekillingfield are indeed coming to Foggy Notions on May 6th, and they will have company! The new band on the bill is Sudbury death metal quartet Beyond Within, who should be quite familiar to you local metalheads! Beyond Within have played here numerous times, mostly at The Oddfellows Hall, most recently last March as one of the support acts for Cattle Decapitation (coincidentally, Thekillingfield were also on the bill for that show!) I love Beyond Within, one of the most brutal death metal bands I've seen locally! In fact, one of my first local concert t-shirts was a Beyond Within one! It'll be weird seeing them at a bar though, I'm sure we're all more used to seeing them at The Oddfellows Hall! Trust me, metalheads, you'll love this concert! Check out more from Beyond Within at this location (their involvement in this show is confirmed there), and if I hear more on this concert, I'll be sure to share it with you all!

Now we come to shows that aren't confirmed totally yet, but there's interesting stuff about them to mention. Firstly, remember that possible Doom Cannon metal/hardcore show that may happen on May 18th? Well, the signs pointing to it's confirmedness continue to build, as Doom Cannon's MySpace page lists a May 18th concert in Sault Ontario with the venue being...The Oddfellows Hall. Exactly where I predicted it would be! Now this isn't enough to confirm this show yet, I've learned from past mistakes that often times, a show there can't totally be confirmed by a MySpace concert listing alone, so I will wait for official word from Jasmin Nott (the promoter) before I call this an official show. Time is getting thinner to properly hype it though, hopefully something 100% official pops up soon! In any event, a Doom Cannon-headlined hardcore show at The Oddfellows Hall on May 18th seems more likely than not, so keep it in the back of your head! And keep up to date on this potential show's happenings and news at the official Facebook event page!

And finally for today, here's another potential concert to keep on your radars! Local hardcore band Out Of The Mouth Of Babes (featuring 4/5ths of As It Stands and Matt Maccarone from A Fall From Innocence) have a possible concert listed for May 28th at Foggy Notions on their MySpace page! Little is given, just an 8:00 PM start time and the information that they will be playing with a band named Kingdoms. After a quick Google search, I can tell you that they are a hardcore band from Kitchener, not a bad sound to them! Now for what it's worth, Kingdoms' MySpace page lists a show in Etobicoke for that same day, so it may have been cancelled in the first place. But really, Out Of The Mouth Of Babes have announced a number of shows since their inception that led nowhere, like the show supposedly happening at The Oddfellows Hall this Saturday that's on their MySpace. Either the advertising for it is abysmal, they're really keeping it a secret, or it was called off too. Well, if I hear anything, I'll let you guys know, I just wish they were clearer about their show statuses!

I have lots more coming, likely tomorrow, mostly assorted news that doesn't apply to any specific concert, ranging from a glimpse at how a certain local band sound to a rock themed car wash?! All that and more tomorrow, hopefully, so stay tuned!