Sykotyk Rampage - "Waerlogas Sagas 1: Konfysion Of Fyck" Album Review!!

It's now time for our 185th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and after a two month delay, we are finally looking at local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage's 70th studio album "Waerlogas Saga 1: Konfysion Of Fyck"! Released to their Bandcamp page and major streaming services on September 1st (though backdated a month), this was recorded at their own River Front Recreation Studios once again earlier this year, and they're clearly not resting on their laurels this deep into their run. While not only a very long album (3+ hours in length, necessitating three discs if released physically), it is also a concept album with a companion comic book that is also on sale! Sykotyk Rampage are no stranger to lengthy concept albums (remember "WYRD Radio 2: Kype The Jesus Boots"?), but a 137 page comic book with visual accompaniment is a new one for our reviews, and definitely gives this some extra points!

Sykotyk Rampage are represented here by their current lineup, including singer/drummer Paul Becker and his brother Dirk on vocals & guitar, plus guitarist Shane Kokis and bassist Tony Briglio. "Special apparitions" are also made by their former bassists Dennis Becker (Paul & Dirk's late brother) and Brian Cattapan, though individual song credits for what songs they appear on are not given. "Waerlogas Saga 1" (yes, a sequel is in the works) is on sale on Bandcamp for $70, but this includes the comic book to be shipped to your mailing address, and it's printed on high quality paper at 6.5'' x 10.5'', so keep that in mind! If you just want to hear the songs, the album can be streamed on Bandcamp for free, and is also streamable on Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. You can buy the album alone on mp3 on Amazon for $7.99 and on iTunes for $9.99.

Buying just the comic with no mp3 copy of the album is doable, but the comic (authored by Dirk Becker) is only separately on sale on Lulu for $90, so curious environ-mental suit-wearing fans will probably prefer just paying $70 for everything on Bandcamp. Given the massive length of "Konfysion Of Fyck", augmented by a comic book explaining and depicting the story, I do plan on condensing my thoughts of the album to keep this at a (more) manageable length, and I'll try to do that by focusing on one paragraph or less per chapter (there are nine chapters), with the songs laid out as the story progresses. Now, let's get this marathon album review underway! Just as a quality note re: the comic, the included art appears to be AI generated for the most part, and text often has contrast issues being placed onto the images, so keep all of that in mind. Actual photos of Sykotyk Rampage are included at the back along with credits and the band's biography.

The "Waerlogas Saga" ("waerloga" being Old English for a traitor or liar) is a fantasy epic, told in verse with transcribed song lyrics in the comic. The "sykotyk waerlogas" are the wizard Laup, necromancer Krid, warlock Enahs, and sorcerer Ynot, with duelist Nairb and dwarf Ned (not Sinned) also appearing. One guess as to how the character names were made! A synthesized AI voice is narrating the spoken word sections, which is tipped off by inconsistent and sometimes inaccurate word pronunciations. The narration is not always verbatim to what is printed in the comic, but it's close enough to follow along. Spoken word tracks are depicted with comic pages, whereas the formal songs have printed lyrics on one page and a descriptive image on the other. Nice to see Sykotyk Rampage post lyrics for their songs like this! Many of the tracks are longer than normal to boot, including ten that exceed 6 minutes in length.

A spoken word track named "Chapter 1- Astro-Travelers" sets up the adventure, as the waerlogas prepare to go on a quest to defeat a "cyclops orange demon" and his magma imps with the aid of of the Dead God's Eye. with Ynot's cat left to hold down the tower while they're gone. Chapter 1 has three formal songs, and while the lyrics do link to the comic, they are loose enough in themes and interpretation where you can hear them on their own without issue. Of these, "Konfysion Of Fyck" is a Paul-sung track where he trades off with a woman's spoken word voice where she seems to be longing for him, but his views are more excitable and less wordy. "Well Of Konfysion" has Paul wondering how you get out of the title location, a dimensional portal on the waerlogas' quest. "Astro Travellers" is the first song on the album with Dirk singing lead, and it's basically about how you can make astral projection happen for yourself to travel the cosmos, perhaps to go to Konfysion!

Of the three actual songs in the first chapter, my favourite was "Well Of Konfysion" for its freewheeling crash rock sound that won't be out of place at all for Sykotyk Rampage diehards. The prior track was a little too layered and repetitive by comparison, while the latter did kinda meander after a while despite fitting the spacey vibes of the lyrics. All three are fun for fans of Sykotyk Rampage though, and set the story off well enough!

Chapter 2's lead-off spoken word track ("Chapter 2- Larry The Zombie") has Enahs conjuring Loser Larry Sam (his familiar) in a creative manner, then sending him off to retrieve the Dead God's Eye from the den of Abehs the spider queen. For the four songs here, "Flesh & Blood" has Paul questioning what Larry is made of, and is nicely paced hard rock fare with strong energy. The much slower & bluesier "Larry Sam The Zombie" actually has Dirk singing, and about Larry himself, who doesn't sound much like a warlock's familiar as described. More meandering than I like from this band. "Into The Fyck Blue Yonder" has Paul singing about good experiences that he wants to give and recieve, and while tighter, it's a little spare despite a strong bassline. Lastly, "Charysma Of The Eye" (the shortest song on offer) is a passioned rocker about how fast Dirk fell in love, and it's Dirk's best vocal performance so far despite muffled audio.

"Chapter 3- Spiders Under Your Skin" is the longest one yet, where we learn that Larry has retrieved the Dead God's Eye, but incurred Abehs' wrath as she and her spider minions attack our heroes. Do they survive? In the four songs here, "Spidersweb" is a Paul-led love song with a bouncy riff, great bass from Tony, and a fun jam rock atmosphere, even if it doesn't call to mind the album concept! "Push It" is thematically about pushing yourself to your limits from outside pressure, and I believe Tony is on vocals here given the lower, gruffer tones. Overly long but a solid enough driving rocker! "Suffering" is about what the title suggests, but Paul's singing is very processed & often very hard to make out. Otherwise, a tight enough song instrumentally with good percussion! Lastly here is "Spell Of Dance", which runs for an album-long 11+ minutes. This is sung by Dirk and "Abehs" as she does her dance of death in the story, and Abehs' vocals take this out of any innocuous love song territory. Way too long for my tastes but it wasn't boring or repetitive, and it best fit the story in this chapter!

Now to "Chapter 4- Dead God's Eye", where the waerlogas next encounter He, a one-eyed orange demon who is the dead god in question, reclaiming his missing eye from them and sending them into another dimension inside the God's Eye. Four Paul-sung numbers here, starting with "Covet Me", the chant that He made when first encountered in the story. The song itself has Paul criticizing stupid/people behaviour and how they should want to be him. Too deliberate & spare for me, but well recorded! Next is "He", which is basically He's villain song. Mid-tempo but dark for a Sykotyk Rampage song, it's effective for what it is, and has good guitar work! The song named "Dead God's Eye" (all 10+ minutes of it) is about what happens when you look into the title object. I don't know what to make of the recurring upbeat verse, but this psychedelic rocker is effective otherwise, despite being overly long and really burying the vocals in the mix.

Lastly in this chapter, "Darkness" is about anticipating and fearing something in the dark. An ominously paced track that feels a bit like they heard some Tool songs for inspiration, it still feels sykotyk enough for fans, and Paul's voice does have a touch of dread and emotion to match!

The back half of this marathon album starts with "Chapter 5- Battle To The Well Of Souls", where the waerlogas finally encounter Ned & Nairb in their travels through the God's Eye, but how do their old colleagues factor into the fight to escape and defeat He? A fan favourite Sykotyk Rampage song comes up a couple of times here, so keep that in mind! Just three songs in this chapter (all sung by Paul), starting with "Fight To Hell", about ending up in "rock n' roll Hell", where you can only hear one song on repeat. A little grindy, but the distortion works well, and Paul has decent range! "Wizards' Battle" isn't directly about the story, and talks of processing the reason for life events. Trippy number with heavily layered vocals, so fans of their psychedelic sound will take to it. "Celebration Whiskey" is a pure drinking song, but this isn't as freewheeling and fun as their best ones. It's too deliberately paced, but it's still good!

"Chapter 6- Well Of Souls" has our now six heroes travelling to the title well and encountering the psychopomps and the mysterious sister of He, who they must ask help from to escape from and remove the God's Eye. Three more songs with Paul on vocals here, leading with "Cascade Of Souls", which is more cryptic lyrically, and is about questioning someone's immediate actions. Another trippier number, but with clearer vocals and more ominous overtones, so it has some good qualities! The very metaphorical "Screaming Bridge Of Flesh & Bone" is next, and it's a stronger song for fans of their regular crash punk style with effective guitar. However, I can barely hear what Paul and/or the psychopomps are saying. "Pedal To The Metal" is a straightforward song about loving to drive one's car fast, but the song doesn't have the implied forward motion. It's just a jam rocker not unlike many in the vast SKR catalogue, but it works well!

We next enter "Chapter 7- Sleepy Time Tea", which presents the ongoing story as a book being read by a grandpa to his grandkids, but in-universe, the waerlogas have entered a steampunk realm unfamiliar to them. This chapter only has two songs, the first being "Sleepy Time Tea", but it has nothing to do with the concept of the album, instead being Paul's "love song to you". A too deliberate and spare song for my liking, but the bass is solid, The other song in this chapter is "Steam World", which is actually an instrumental. If it's supposed to be thematic of steampunk, then I'm not sure it really comes across, as it still sounds very sykotyk, if with a grandiose ending. Still a solid (if relatively short) jam that fans who have seem them rock out in The Cave will appreciate! "Chapter 8- Not In Konfysion Anymore" is the longest of the nine AI-narrated chapter tracks on the album, but the story's nowhere near done.

In this chapter, the waerlogas plot their next move to get out of their current location and stop He once and for all, while bringing back Loser Larry Sam the zombie as well as a new ally, a thief named Johnny Timesmith. That character is the basis of the next song, "Johnny Go Go Go", which sounds like an extension of "Johnny B. Goode", but in practice, it's a steady mid-tempo rocker with a trance-like quality, and vague lyrics that don't allude to the story. The chapter's (and album's) last song is "Steam God's War", which is basically an acknowledgement that nuclear war has hit and it's horrible, even ending with a bomb blast. On a musical basis, this ends things strongly with a well building ambiance, effective vamping from Paul behind the mic, and the noisy crash rock that fans have come to expect! "Waerlogas Saga 1" ends with its final (and shortest) narrated track, "Chapter 9- Dream Away Until The End".

The album (and comic book) wrap up with the grandpa from chapter 7 pausing the storytime before putting the grandkids to bed, but the story will resume on another day. Yes, there will be a second "Waerlogas Saga" to come in 2025, so stay tuned if you want to find out how the story wraps up and how Luap, Krid, Enahs, Ynot, Ned, and Nairb's quest continues! With all of that said, what are my final thoughts on Sykotyk Rampage's marathon new concept album and comic book? You certainly can't fault their ambition, and while it is inconsistent, I liked the music here more than on their prior album "69"! The guys weren't reinventing the wheel here, so if you liked their prior albums, you'll have been fine with this one! This is my ninth Sykotyk Rampage album review, and there's not a ton to say for the actual songs that I haven't seen/heard previously, but at their freewheeling jam best, they still deliver the goods!

Songs like "Spidersweb", "Well Of Konfysion", and "Steam God's War" show off SKR at their best, and it'd be neat to see some of these songs learned for live shows if they ever resumed them! Everyone performed well here, with Tony shining on bass multiple times, while Dirk and Shane paired well on riffs for most of the runtime! Of course, I'd like to see the guys rein in some of the slower, more deliberate, and musically spare numbers, and I did miss hearing Dirk's snarl on lead vocals after chapter 3. Regarding the concept, I fully applaud the effort at a fantasy epic, but many songs only linked to the Konfysion arc in a loose thematic sense, if at all, and I don't think Sykotyk Rampage's music really suits a steampunk environment. The AI narrator voice could stand to have either more proofreading or consistent spelling too, as words changed pronunciation multiple times, though Dirk picked a good grandfatherly vocal model for the narration!

The quality of the comic book will vary depending on your acceptance of AI art, but it at least looks good, if somewhat inconsistent from page to page. My biggest issue across album and comic is poor text contrast for the comic itself. Given the chosen backgrounds and font, parts of some sentences were not legible at all, and I would have had them in separate boxes or outlined or something. For a one-man idea (I believe this was all Dirk), it has a lot of variance and imagination, and I'm definitely game to see where "Waerlogas Saga 2" takes the story! Overall, this is a fun (if long) album that Sykotyk Rampage diehards will get into, and while the comic is a fun bonus, it's not essential to enjoy the music with. I hope you guys liked this month's album review at the SMS, but what album are we ending 2024 to look at in December? For the first time since 2022, I may not have an idea going into the end of the year!

Priority for album reviews always goes to new releases, but I believe we're about caught up for new local metal, hard rock, and punk albums. I do have some ideas of unreviewed archival albums to look at, but I won't show my hand yet as I normally like tying in archive album reviews with a musician playing live in the same month, and there should be some notable holiday season concerts to be announced. Stay tuned by year's end in any event, and for more news and notes on the site very soon! Thanks everyone!

Telephone & Address Concert Preview, SweetKenny Album Updates, Rotaryfest Notes, And More!!

With a special Wednesday night concert taking place TONIGHT, I threw a second post together today before we dive into weekend concert previews, so what's on tap? Some assorted recent notes, a few finds and notes relating to the newly released Rotaryfest schedule, and a new album release, but let's kick things off with that mid-week concert preview!

Local acoustic punk/grunge solo project Telephone & Address will return to The Gore Street Cafe TONIGHT as openers for Calgary indie/jazz rock quartet Fox Who Slept The Day Away to close the venue's Fortnight Festival! The Chris Shoust-led local solo act should be in good form with plenty of new and recent originals during this show, with Fox Who Slept The Day Away's soft, psychedelic originals sure to attract a good audience at the laundromat themselves, so give them a listen to see what you think also! This is the closing event for The Gore Street Cafe's Fortnight Festival, a two week sequel of sorts to the early-2016 Fishbowl Festival there, and with this being the only event this time around with a punk or hard rock act, it's great to see one just before the bell! Unless you already have a $25 pass for all Fortnight Festival events, admission is $5 at the door for tonight's ALL AGES event, which will start at 7:00 PM. Check the official Facebook event page & the above links for more details, and here's Telephone & Address live!

Next up, here's the latest from Dafter, Michigan solo hard rock musician Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton, who quietly released his 19th solo album "Gator's Bayou" onto his Bandcamp page on Monday! For the sixth time in his last seven studio album postings, "Gator's Bayou" is yet another instrumental album intended for use as a score in film, TV, or video games, which he says was inspired by 1960s and 1970s adventure films and cartoons. As well, his December 2015 compilation album "Comic Book!" is now available to the general public after previously being exclusive to paid yearly supporters on his Bandcamp page. It features 14 songs from prior SweetKenny albums, plus one exclusive original song ("Myra The Hunter") that isn't on any other release of his. Both are available for $7 via the above links, but can you expect a review of either on the site soon? For the latter, no, as precedence goes to original studio albums

For the former, we're leaning towards April's non-score album "In Your Face" for a review next, which could be as soon as next month, and assuming he continues releasing new albums at his fervent pace, we may only get to "Gator's Bayou" if "In Your Face" is delayed so far where it's not "new" anymore. In any event, check out SweetKenny's newest solo albums above for more of his prolific & varied hard rock originals and scores!

Also, I received my copy of Rotaryfest's program in the mail today (it's not online yet), and there's a few things to take away from it's Stage 1 & Stage 2 schedules that weren't previously online, so what should you know from the Sault Ontario summer festival? Thanks to the inclusion of pictures with most bands in the schedule, we can put faces to some of the newer and online pageless bands (like Jukebox Deluxe), but the most revealing picture of all may be the apparent album cover for Second Stage performers Gnaeus' upcoming debut CD "Meditations"! Though tiny and monochrome (I have a feeling the official cover is in colour), this confirms that the post-punk quartet completely discarded the original "Loomings" cover when they changed the album's name. Nice to see, so stay tuned for more on "Meditations" when announced! The program also confirms that Shaun Antler and Chelsie Parayko are back as the Stage 1 and Stage 2 directors respectively, and for what it's worth, the program makes no reference to the ongoing Stage 2 crowdfunding campaign.

And lastly, I've made the tough decision to stop classifying online pageless classic rock quartet RPM as a hard rock band in our primary SMS coverage. We had covered them as hard rock since their original Rock For Dimes set in 2013 based on reports at the time, but nothing I've seen since credits or describes them in our primary genre ranges (the program lists them as covering classic rock, blues, country, and top 40 pop.) That said, they're a talented band with a fan friendly sound, and be sure to check out Marcel, Dino, Ben, and Rob at Rotaryfest on July 16th at 3:00 PM!

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

• We have changed the link for local music/arts podcast 7L in our "Other Local Metal Links" from it's Soundcloud page to it's Facebook page, as the former is down or deleted. A reason hasn't been announced, but if 7L is done, it's a sudden move, as they had just posted a song by RedD Monkey alum Pete Mozarowski onto Soundcloud two weeks ago. For what it's worth, technical difficulties relating to broken equipment had kept full new episodes from going online since April. Hopefully 7L comes back, as Jordan and Teddy had a great thing going!
• This doesn't bear directly on the local metal scene, but it's worth noting: Former Gates of Winter bandmates Bryan Belleau and Brian Holmes will reunite on stage for the first time since (I believe) 2008 when Bryan and his wife, Fort Nelson, B.C. contemporary singer Melinda play an unplugged show at LopLops Lounge on July 30th, with Brian's local progressive rock band Machines Dream opening! Could there be an on-stage reunion between the two that night? Be there to find out, and click here for full details!
• Remember how we deleted defunct local music store Mister Disc from our "Other Local Metal Links" due to the deletion of it's Facebook page? Well, as it turns out, the Todd Gordon-owned store always had a Facebook group too serving very much the same purposes, including daily song dedications, so they are back with the "new" link! While I'm still not sure why the page was deleted, I apologize for not knowing about the Facebook group before!

That's all for today, but now stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

New SooToday Videos, Plus More Recent Video Uploads!!

The last few days have been relatively quiet on the SMS, but I have an unwritten rule to try and ensure that we don't go three days on the site without a new post, so let's keep that up before I tackle my 27th birthday celebrations! Today's post is devoted to recent video postings from and featuring local artists, so here's what you should know!

We'll start with a pair of (sadly unembeddable) videos from local news website SooToday with metal & punk relevance, starting with the newest episode of Tuned with Donna Hopper, as posted online on Sunday! The second straight episode taken from last month's Motherfuckers-headlined show at The Oddfellows Hall, this one focuses on the Calgary hardcore punk headliners, with Donna interviewing frontman Dan Izzo and bassist Sean Hunter outside of the venue about Calgary's punk scene, their influence on Canadian punk music, their newest material, and what they know about Sault Ste. Marie, as interspersed with performance clips from their set. Not a bad interview, and the guys keep things light before their ferocious set, so give it a look above! The other new SMS-relevant SooToday video covers Darren Emond's Iron Maiden comic book launch at The Rad Zone earlier this month, so what should you know on it?

Darren is interviewed by an uncredited & unheard SooToday reporter about how he got on board with the Iron Maiden comic, his background and artistic endeavours, the reception of the comic so far, and his positive experiences in working with a band he loves, doing what he loves. Featuring some shots of his artwork in between, this gives Darren some nice press, so give it a look above, and pick up your copy of the Iron Maiden comic book A.S.A.P.!

Next up, here's some updates from local alternative/hard rock trio The Din's Facebook page, including reveals that they now have buttons for sale (check out their next concerts to see if they're available), they're now on Snapchat, and yes, that they have new Facebook videos to check out! One video was uploaded on May 17th (apologies for the two week delay) where The Din noted that they, at the time, were close to hitting 300 likes on Facebook. In it, they try and hit 300 likes on their own with a real foot race between band members, and without spoiling who won, they came to the conclusion that they needed our help to hit the milestone. The campaign worked, as they surpassed 300 just 12 hours later, and currently sit at 320! Another video followed last week where guitarist Tammy Hill jokingly came up with an idea for the band's merchandising plans that involves bobbleheads. I'll let you watch it to see what it entails!

Embedded below though is The Din's newest Facebook video, this time just previewing the studio version of "This Potato May Be Used As A Flotation Device" from their forthcoming debut studio album "Give In To The Din", with Tammy manning the controls at the computer. This should serve as a nice teaser as the album sessions slowly march along, so give it a look below, and see much more from The Din above!



Also, here's a video from Boot Hill Crooners/ex-Inner City Surfers guitarist Dave Bahun as part of a big contest that he's entered! A cover of Randy Bachman's new song "Heavy Blues", this comes from a Vintage Guitar Magazine contest where guitarists are challenged to supply guitar tracks in place of Peter Frampton's on the song in a YouTube video. Randy himself will choose the winner on Friday, who will receive a $4,000+ D’Angelico guitar & Supro amplifier, a pre-video endorsement from Randy, and a trip to rock out with him in New York City. If you know Dave's talents, you'll know he handles this blues rocker well, so be sure to check it out below, and best of luck!



Finally for today, dormant local metal quartet Garden of Bedlam are the source of background audio in this new skateboarding demonstration video from local music/skate shop The Rad Zone! Uploaded to their YouTube channel on Sunday, the video showcases three young local skateboarders (among them, Garden of Bedlam drummer Derek Turner's son Dylan), as set to their studio track "New Rain". Solid footage of the kids delivering some quality tricks, and while this doesn't directly indicate new activity from Garden of Bedlam, it's nice to see them featured here! Give it a look below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more updates and this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post this week! Thanks everyone!

Iron Maiden Comic Book Review, New Videos From Grindcore Acts, And More!!

Before we dive into our last weekend concert previews of the month, here's a new news post for your Wednesday, including some assorted recent notes, a new concert video, and some recent coverage of a popular local band, but first, here's a first for the SMS: A comic book review!

As you may remember, local artist Darren Emond launched the Iron Maiden comic book that he did the pencil artwork for at The Rad Zone on Saturday, and I absolutely came to get an autographed copy (this is a scan of mine), so I thought it was fitting to give it a review on here! One of a series of recent comic books from the Rock & Roll Biographies series from Acme Ink, the comic book is basically the Cliffs Notes version of Iron Maiden's band history, from the late 1970s through to the modern day, as nicely illustrated by Darren to a story by Paul Birch that covers most ground from their history. As well, the comic also explores a side-storyline on the band's mascot Eddie The Head and his efforts to protect the band and the titular Iron Maiden herself from evil forces out of the real world. The comic is solely in black & white, but the art pops, especially in the Eddie panels, and while some eras of the band are glossed over a bit in the story (the 1990s, in particular), the comic book is a fun way to explore Iron Maiden's history!

Note as well that Darren's last name is given as "Emmonds" in the credits, but everything else is well done and nicely laid out, with a tribute to late Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister even included. Overall, the Iron Maiden comic book is worth buying for $5 at The Rad Zone (if you can find it in the States, it's $3.50 there), so if you love Iron Maiden and/or comic books, pick up a copy A.S.A.P., and kudos to Darren on a job well done!

Next up, here's the latest from local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver, starting with an overdue note from their SooToday article from May 2nd, which bypassed us in our original write-up on it (my apologies), as Josh, Mike, and Matt will be performing in a Live at Six, Two, Oh. episode on Sunday! This occurs as Shit Liver return east from this latest Canadian tour, but unless there's a late notice show announcement, I don't believe they'll have a local concert this weekend. This should be a fun episode of the local recording studio's video series, so look for it on Sunday or later! Also from Shit Liver, their long awaited episode of Tuned with Donna Hopper went up on SooToday on Saturday, so what should you know on it? Filmed during the Motherfuckers-headlined concert last month, the episode features Donna interviewing all three guys about their move to St. Catharine's, what keeps them going, their work in the bluegrass band Dirtfight, and how they marry their bands' two genres, as set to video footage from both bands' tour dates last month.

Though the episode treads some of the same ground as the original article, it's a solid episode with some brutal clips from the Oddfellows Hall show, but the interview portion is badly drowned out when clips from Dirtfight's Gore Street Cafe show are featured (also, "Shitliver" is spelled without a space in the opening bug.) Still, this is some solid press for Shit Liver, so give the full Tuned episode a look above, and note that SooToday's video host still doesn't permit external video embedding.

Also today, here's some new concert footage from local goregrind solo project Crucify the Whore, as per the Blood Shed Productions YouTube channel yesterday! A 12 minute video with clips from C.T.W.'s set at the Metal Massacre 2 house party show on May 7th, the video captures some ferocious jamming from Tyler, with a receptive audience, but the video is compromised by being letterboxed when it doesn't have to be (it was already widescreen, why not upload it as such?) Give it a look below!



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

• After brief turns as Waterfront Legend & The River Cookhouse, the former Docks Riverfront Grill has again changed names & formats to the HD Sports Grill, as per this SooToday article plugging a recent job fair to hire new employees. Imee Yeun still owns the restaurant and former local concert venue, and it's unclear when the Foster Drive location re-opens, but part of the grill will include a golf simulator. Hopefully this theme and name takes for the long term at the former Docks, and we'll let you know if live bands return with it!
• Local musician Mario Gionet is looking for a singer for his new metal band that he's launched, as per his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from last week. No word on what he's playing in the band (I'm unfamiliar with him), but message Mario at this link or above for more details!
• In this SooToday article from Donna Hopper last week, downtown concert venue The Machine Shop is spotlighted to reflect on it's recent full launch as a public events site, it's upcoming restaurant, and the hiring of LopLops Lounge owner Stephen Alexander as the venue's events promoter (don't worry, he's still bringing bands to LopLops!) The article also serves to avoid confusion with St. Mary's Paper site locations from their development, as the Mill Square owners sold it in January, and it's not The Yard or The Tech either. Informative article, so get more above, and The Machine Shop's new website is now linked in our venue listings!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

Bear Hunters & Banned Concert Previews, Plus The Local Iron Maiden Comic Book Launch!!

Let's finish off this weekend's concert previews today with two Saturday nighters on each side of the border for you guys to take note of, with the former being extended given what all is going on with it, but we also have a preview of a special event going down tomorrow that, while not a concert, has a unique and very clear metal tie, so here's what you should know!

Prolific local metal/punk drummer Johnny Belanger's highly anticipated birthday concert will go down TOMORROW NIGHT at The Oddfellows Hall, with a stacked lineup of local metal and hard rock bands joining forces for the occasion! At least seven bands will take the stage for "Johnny B's #Litfam Birthday Sheezy" tomorrow, which comes in advance of Johnny's 27th birthday next week, and while 100% final timeslots are not confirmed, the official poster lists most of the scheduled bands, including Johnny's death metal band The Bear Hunters (in their first public concert appearance of the year) and his punk/metal quintet Jack Spades, plus reunited extreme metal quartet Winkstinger, modern hard rockers Eclipse, Johnny's hard/pop rock quartet Heavy Head, and new death metal quintet Kaepora Gaebora (who were confirmed on the Facebook event page earlier this month, but were added after the poster was made.) Notably, the latter three bands will be making their Oddfellows Hall debuts tomorrow, so come early to see them!

Now, Johnny noted two weeks ago on the event page that "a band" will be making a "special guest appearance", and while their identity hasn't been leaked, recent postings there strongly indicate that Bear Hunters rhythm guitarist Josh Stephney is coming up from Brampton for the birthday "sheezy." Might we see the full quintet Bear Hunters lineup for the first time since 2014? Does Josh factor into the guest band in some form, perhaps via a one-off band reunion? I don't know for certain, but be at The Oddfellows Hall TOMORROW to find out! Though the poster lists a 7:00 PM start time for bands, the event page credits 6:00 PM as the start for this show, which will have $5 admission, be ALL AGES, and will also have a barbecue on site for the birthday festivities (though what form and price isn't established that I've seen.) This is shaping up to be a fun concert for local metal and punk fans, with many familiar faces to be seen, and with a guest band that fans will apparently not want to miss, so don't miss out tomorrow night, and here's The Bear Hunters' full lineup live a few years back!

Lastly for this weekend (barring a super-late notice concert announcement), classic/hard rock trio Banned will return to their hometown of Kinross, Michigan for a headlining show TOMORROW NIGHT at The Orioles Club inside of the Kinross Township Hall! The Traynors and Wayne will play their only public show of the weekend tomorrow at 4916 West Curtis Avenue in their first date at this venue since November, and while I can't confirm if there's a special event tied to this concert, it appears to be similar in scope to their debut there. In any event, an early 7:00 PM start time is in effect, and there are no announced age limits or cover charges. Banned's talented and often heavy sets should get a good reception at The Orioles Club tomorrow, so keep Banned's hometown show in mind for your plans, and here's Banned live!

Finally today, remember how Saulite and artist Darren Emond recently signed on to provide the artwork for an upcoming Iron Maiden comic book? Well, the comic book is complete and ready for release, and it will see it's local launch TOMORROW at The Rad Zone! As per their Facebook page, Darren will be on hand at the Wellington Square Mall store tomorrow, with copies on sale for $5, while personal Facebook postings indicate that for $10, he will autograph your copy and also draw a sketch of Iron Maiden's mascot Eddie the Head for you, so keep both options in mind! Proceeds will help get Darren to next month's Niagara Falls Comic-Con to promote his new graphic novel "Giiwedanon" with local author Darin Corbiere. Some of Darren's other works will be on display as well, and he will be at The Rad Zone from 11:00 AM until 5:00 PM. A handful of preview shots for the comic are floating around online, with this link confirming that the storyline is a partial biography of Eddie, while also outlining the birth of the Iron Maiden herself.

As a comic book fan who recently enjoyed some Free Comic Book Day events in the Detroit area, I definitely plan on being at The Rad Zone tomorrow to get a copy of the Iron Maiden comic book, and it must be a thrill for Darren to see this released, let alone after working with a legendary metal band! A review would indeed follow on the site too after I get my copy, so keep an eye out for that, and don't miss Darren's comic book launch tomorrow! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more this weekend! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Griphook), New Videos, And More!!

I hope everyone's having a great day! For today's post, we're touching on a recent news article with a unique metal tie, a pair of new videos referencing two local acts, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a veteran cover band's long awaited return to the stage!

Local hard rock cover quartet Griphook will return to the stage on Saturday, January 23rd for a headlining concert at The Rockstar Bar! After a six month stage hiatus (apparently to focus on learning new material), this talented veteran band will finally unveil the fruits of their recent labour for fans next Saturday, in what will be their first show of 2016, their first of any type since Rotaryfest last year, and their first at The Rockstar Bar since 2014! Remember, Griphook are the band featuring ex-100 Gran frontman Joel Syrette, ex-Bigsuit guitarist Brian Oja, ex-Hollow bassist Dan Beaupre, and ex-Gsis Murphy drummer Anthony Fabiano, and all have the chops for heavier material, so don't bypass them next weekend! And yes, this is a one nighter, no word on who's playing at the venue next Friday. There's a 10:00 PM start time for this concert, you must be 19 or older to attend, and there's no announced cover charge (but have cash on hand just in case.) For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

Griphook's recent break was a little worrisome given the lack of online updates, but it's great to have the guys back at last, and hopefully 2016 is a much busier year (publically, at least) than we saw last year! Stay tuned for more from Griphook as it comes in, and don't miss their return to the stage next weekend at The Rockstar Bar!

Next up, here's the first ever music video from local goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore! Set to a new song from their upcoming CD "The Beautiful Sounds of Nature", this was uploaded to label Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel yesterday. The song's title is what it is (and comes with the territory for C.T.W.), but the video itself isn't badly put together, featuring clips from live performances, some in-studio work, and various outside antics & camaraderie. It's short, but worth watching if you love some local goregrind, so check it out below!



Also, here's a new video of local skateboarders featuring The Pixo Control's "Scratch" as the backing audio! Uploaded by YouTube user Hooksane15 on Tuesday, this is more of a skateboarding video than anything else (compiling street footage from last year as a montage), but I thought I'd acknowledge it as it's a locally filmed and edited video, featuring boarders who you may recognize from the Tidal Records skate team, and "Scratch" fits the theme well! Give it a look below!

Finally for today, here's an overdue look at a recent SooToday article on a local artist who recently got a high profile gig with a major metal band! Last week, Wawa native and ex-Sault resident Darren Emond was interviewed for an article by SooToday's David Helwig which reveals that Darren was recently selected to draw the artwork in a forthcoming Iron Maiden comic book that will be published for their upcoming Book of Souls World Tour! I won't spoil the article proper, but it highlights the personal struggles that Darren dealt with in recent years, his path to becoming an artist, his artistic influences, and how he got the gig to work on an Iron Maiden comic (sketches of which are featured with the article.) This is an in-depth piece that nicely explores Darren's career trajectory, and if you're familiar with his art, you'll know he's a talent, as the sketches show! I don't personally know Darren, but he has a bright future ahead, so check out his SooToday article at the above links, and best of luck on the release!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for much more news and notes in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

"Yooper Bars" Book Review!!

Hey guys, here's a special feature post to help add to the recent stretch of posts, and it's our fourth ever book review at The Sault Metal Scene, that being of "Yooper Bars"! Described as "a travel guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula bars", it was written by Randy and Kevin Kluck, published by the Whiskey River Publishing Company in Sault Michigan, and released on December 22nd, 2011 after an 8 month journey of most of the U.P.'s bars, taverns, and pubs, many of which serve as concert venues. Clocking in at 234 pages long, the book costs $20 and can be bought online at this location and at various local storefronts, including (but not limited to) the Barnes & Noble bookstore at Lake Superior State University, but the store locator on the book's website is not updated. Given the nature of this book (it's a travel guide, not a narrative story or recollection), this will be a shorter book review than our past ones, and I'll try as I usually do to not give away anything too in-depth, as I want to encourage sales of the book. With that said, let's begin this review!

"Yooper Bars" is broken up into three sections based on geography, starting with the Eastern U.P. (anywhere east of Newberry), and then going west through the Central U.P. (between Gwinn & Gould City), ending with the Western U.P. (everywhere west of Negaunee), adding up to 109 bars in total. Each bar is given an equal space of two pages to be profiled on, with the first page of each including a short biography of the bar in question, ground rules and amenities there, the bar's address & phone number, and a check off box to denote which Yooper bars you've been to. The second page of each generally features fun facts and bits of knowledge on the bar, ranging from popular drinks & historical background notes to celebrity sightings & favourite jokes, along with recommendations from bar regulars. Both pages for each bar also feature scattered photos of the bar, it's staff, and it's patrons, including some occasional shots of live performers, food, and special events. This formula helps give each bar equal time and importance in the book, with the familiar layout helping connect everything and making it easier to read and follow.

In terms of "local" bars, the book covers 28 bars in Chippewa County (mainly in Sault Michigan and De Tour Village), 3 bars in Newberry/Luce County, and 9 bars in Mackinac County (mostly in Cedarville & Hessel), though Gould City and Curtis are counted in the Central U.P. section. Notable Sault Michigan hard rock concert venues like The Bird, The Satisfied Frog, and The Corner Pub are among the covered bars, along with Eastern U.P. concert spots like The Cozy Corners Tavern, Timmy Lee's Pub, and Dan's Place, among numerous others. In terms of metal/hard rock references, there are a few photos of hard rock performers in the Eastern U.P. section, including Half A Man, ex-Splitshot drummer Tony Hubbard, Scofflaw, and former Detroit Red Wings star Darren McCarty's hard rock band Grinder, and there's some interesting celebrity sightings of some rock legends to take note of!

The other chapters are laid out very similarly to the Eastern U.P. section, and as someone who doesn't travel west through the U.P. often, I can't reliably comment on those bars beyond what I've read, but they definitely intrigue me in many ways! A number of bars in cities like Marquette, Menominee, Ishpeming, Munising, and Escanaba are featured, and you're bound to have heard of many of them from your own travels or band associations, and yes, one featured tavern is the Gay Bar in Gay, Michigan! Notably, local favourites Nudge pop up in the section on Rookie's Sports Bar in Negaunee, and they join notable Yooper bands like Slave to Gravity among the later thirds of the book. Of course, whether any given bar in "Yooper Bars" lives up to the praise it receives from the authors is subjective depending on the reader and their own experiences, but if you go in with an open mind and expect the best, you'll learn a lot in advance of your own U.P. bar hopping!

Overall, I would recommend "Yooper Bars" to anyone who loves bars and concert venues in the Soo area and/or the Upper Peninsula! It lays out a ton of quality information and previews on each featured bar, and any novice to the 21+ scene or uncharted waters should find this book invaluable in their barhopping! That said, there are a few things I'd correct, including the book's size, which doesn't help the clarity or context of some photos, though the Yooper Bars Facebook page features many of the photos in larger versions. As well, given it's 2011 release, some entries are now slightly dated (i.e. Bullwinkle's Bar & Grill is now Todd's Tavern), but it's still mostly accurate from what I can tell. Most disappointing of all is that "Yooper Bars" isn't entirely comprehensive, omitting local bars like the one at Dondee Lanes and the bars at the Kewadin Casino branches, but I won't pass judgment as to why they're not in the book. It'd be nice to see a later pressing with added bars and updated references down the road, and maybe in a larger size, but other than that, I can't complain!

Definitely pick up "Yooper Bars" at the above links, and hopefully if you have a copy, you can begin your own journey throughout the U.P. to explore their bars and taverns, just like Randy & Kevin did, and kudos to them for their journey across all of these bars last year! Thanks everyone, and stay tuned for more news and notes this week!

"Soo Stories: A Rock N' Roll Scrapbook" Review!!

Finally, it's time for our 3rd ever book review at The Sault Metal Scene! This time, we're taking a long overdue look at "Soo Stories: A Rock N' Roll Scrapbook", the second book from Wawa author Duane Roy, and the follow up to his earlier book "Castle Stories", about concerts at Castle Farms in Charlevoix. In "Soo Stories", Duane talks about his memories at concerts at the former Sault Memorial Gardens, the hockey arena and concert venue that existed from 1949-2006. Published by Alloway's Printing & Publishing in Blind River, and lasting 270 pages, the book was released in March 2011, and can be bought at The Rad Zone in the Wellington Square Mall locally for $25, or from this location through PayPal. The price jumps to $28 for American customers and $35 for international customers. I'll try to keep things concise but well termed in this review, and remember, I'm not a professional literary critic, I'm just calling the book as I see it, so you guys can form your own opinions without anything being given away. Now, let's begin this review!

After a brief warning for the occasional tall tale, politically incorrect statement, and lack of hockey stories, Duane begins with an introduction outlining some early concert memories of his, or more accurately, big shows at the Gardens that he missed (Triumph, in particular.) He also mentioned the feelings concertgoers had at the time concerning the Sault, while emphasizing that heading here was a break from small town monotony. Duane shares seven concert stories from the Gardens in the book from concerts between 1986 and 1995, starting with Michigan's own Ted Nugent's headlining concert here on July 19th, 1986. After an interesting story as to how he actually saw Ted in person 6 years prior, Duane talks about how he convinced his mother to let him go see the Nuge in Sault Ste. Marie, and the excitement of the coming show which was dampened when he found out that openers White Wolf had unexpectedly cancelled (we find out why right from their singer too in the book.) He noted that the Gardens weren't as impressive as he remembered, and that less than 1,000 people were in attendance. Duane also emphasized how loud the show was, but his excitement and enjoyment of it is very clear! I won't give away the concert itself, but let's just say Ted rocked and Duane sure let us know about it!

The next story took place the next month, as Canadian rock legend Kim Mitchell headlined at the Gardens on August 12th, 1986. Heading to the concert with his friend Gord in a red Volkswagen Beetle, the show itself didn't have the outward bells and whistles of the Ted Nugent show, but there did appear to be more women in attendance. Then P.E.I. arena rockers Haywire opened the show and they learned why. Not his thing, be he praised their talented guitarist! Duane praised Kim's set highly as well, particularly for his guitar skills and some of the old Max Webster covers, but he seemed to enjoy the Ted Nugent show a bit more, at least from what I read. The third show he hit was headlined by Canadian rock legend Tom Cochrane & his band Red Rider on August 18th the following year. Despite some teasing from his friends, he made it to the Soo for the show, though he did stand out a bit. While he didn't think too highly of openers Glass Tiger, he really enjoyed Tom and Red Rider and their chemistry together, especially during "Lunatic Fringe". Shorter story, but worth a look, including the talk of the trip to and from town for that concert!

Fourth of Duane's stories was when he went to see Canadian metal legends Helix at The Memorial Gardens on December 2nd, 1987. Despite being a school night, the show worked as a Christmas present! After some discussion of the trip on the Greyhound bus to the Soo and his tale of how a friend bought some "acid paper" and got ripped off, he discussed the show, which began with an opening set by London metal quintet Syre. He praised their set and energy, but left most of the comments to Syre and Helix members, who detailed their memories of this show (and the set at The Eastgate afterwards) well! Haywire opened this show again, which didn't seem like an ideal fit, but Duane again spoke highly of their guitarist. Duane highly enjoyed Helix's set and all of their classic songs, while also integrating some quotes from frontman Brian Vollmer about the tour this show was a part of. He also added some amusing notes about the reaction to all the students at his high school who saw Helix by staff at the school, so don't miss this story, as it's one of the better ones!

Fifth was his story of when Niagara Falls rockers Honeymoon Suite headlined at the Gardens on July 17th, 1988. Duane equated them to a Canadian version of Bon Jovi, and he and his friends were eager to go, after some planning. This time, they were on the floor amidst many girls to enjoy the proceedings, though Haywire's opening set (again) still didn't win Duane or his friends over. Duane enjoyed their set and how surprisingly heavy and rowdy it could get. Short rememberances of the concert itself, but Duane did detail their stay at a local hotel before and after, and the amusement they got from the owners!

The penultimate of his own stories was when Alice Cooper headlined at the Sault Memorial Gardens on New Years Day in 1990. As a huge Alice fan, he was eager for this show, and he and his buddies braved a bad snowstorm for the trip to the Soo! Los Angeles hard rock legends Great White opened the show, which he enjoyed (and was suprised at the loudness of), before Alice Cooper headlined. I won't detail his on stage theatrics, Duane will do a better job than I, but he delivered a great performance full of classics and newer hits, and the fans ate it up! Sounds like it was worth driving through a storm! Duane closes his stories with one about seeing Kingston rockers The Tragically Hip at the Gardens on Valentines Day in 1995. After asking for the day off from freezing work at a Sawmill in Dubreuilville, he and the gang had some drinks before heading to the Gardens to catch The Hip. He noted the lack of enthusiasm from the crowd (the band noticed that too), which could be blamed on obscure or brand new songs during the set. The show was definitely his least favourite of the seven, finding it boring, and not even admitting to being there when friends discussed it, although he did see The Hip again when they came here in 2007.

After his stories wrapped up, Duane focused the next part of the book on "your stories", as submitted by fans and band members who saw or played at Memorial Gardens concerts. Though contacting bands didn't prove universally fruitful, he did compile some nice stories! Local author George Case was first, offering his memories of seeing Beatles tribute band Beatlemania in 1981 and 1982. He enjoyed them and their faithfulness to the Beatles and 1960s culture, while adding his own reflections of The Beatles themselves, and hearing the Ted Nugent show from outside of the Gardens.

Then, we got a story from former Bad Side guitarist Jason Mapes, also well known as a former DJ at 99.5 Yes FM & 97.9 Classic Rock: The Bear. Jason offered some very long rememberances of Gardens shows. After mentioning his own memories interviewing numerous bands for the Sault Area High School newspaper (which he edited and got press credentials through back then), he detailed some of his more memorable instances interviewing bands and musicians who played here. He highly praised his times interviewing Loverboy and Bryan Adams in 1982, especially for Bryan's sense of humour, while his 1985 interview with April Wine on their initial farewell tour had lots of tension in the room. He interviewed Honeymoon Suite at this same show, but admittedly didn't have much to ask as it was very impromptu. He also detailed getting accosted by The Headpins' manager in 1983 and the aftermath before mentioning his love for their openers, Helix, who he praised for being a real blue collar band and very gracious and kind, even playing despite Brian Vollmer having the flu during their local show in 1987!

For 1990s shows, he mentioned interviewing The Tragically Hip and pressuring them over playing in the Sault despite earlier criticisms of our city, the poor reception of The Black Crowes' local concert, and the impact that the American Yes FM played in Roch Voisine's planned concert here, due to the lack of Canadian content laws which ensured that Canadian acts like Roch Voisine would get airplay. Jason blamed Yes FM's local success on our side for the 1990s dropoff in touring Canadian bands playing there, but overall, his stories (and included photos, many of him with the artists) were really nice, and it's cool to get tales from someone more than just a concertgoer!

The only other major story featured in this section comes from Streetheart guitarist (and Saultite) Jeff Neill, whose stories weren't as detailed, more summing up his experiences at the Gardens before going a bit into his own musical career with bands like Shama and later, Streetheart. He definitely seemed to enjoy the Gardens shows of the 1970s, but I was kinda hoping for more detail about a few of them. Following that section, we get some old pictures starting with many from the 1970s and before of many older acts' newspaper advertisements (many being country), before a number of photos, ticket stubs, newspaper clippings, and other items from Ted Nugent's 1984 local show are featured. After that, Duane included a story from Triumph frontman Rik Emmett (as transcribed from a recording of his 2001 solo show at the Club Princess) where he found out about a story that a fan was telling people that wasn't true. I won't spoil it here, but it's pretty good! Duane also included some photos, ticket stubs, and a newspaper review here as well. Following this, Duane gives a short history of the Sault Memorial Gardens from it's groundbreaking in 1946, detailing the building's history until it's demolition in 2006, along with many historical photos of the arena.

After that, we get some scattered photos, newspaper clippings, and tickets from different decades at the arena. The 1970s gives us memorabilia from shows from bands like Rush, Triumph, and April Wine, while the 1980s features stuff mostly from shows Duane wasn't at, including shows featuring Prism, Nazareth, and The Headpins. One article in this section explores a proposal to ban minors under the age of 13 from Gardens concerts, amazingly. That's worth a read on it's own, though the pages were oddly placed in the wrong order. It's followed by a few 1990s concert photos and articles, including from shows featuring The Jeff Healey Band and The Black Crowes, but you can tell the 1990s weren't nearly as strong for shows as earlier decades, with the 2000s not represented at all (not that much happened by then.) Duane closes with fond memories of the Sault Memorial Gardens, and while he knew it wouldn't have a rich legacy compared to bigger venues, and that the sound and experience lacked in some respects, it's an arena and concert spot with some nice memories and he still misses it today.

So what are my thoughts on "Soo Stories"? Well, once again, Duane provides some very well written and remembered memories of the concerts at the Sault Memorial Gardens over the 9 years that featured shows he hit there! Like with "Castle Stories", he's honest about what he saw, yet respectful, and you can tell these are some fond memories from his youth! Local concertgoers will no doubt have a larger connection to this book than "Castle Stories" due to the local connection, especially if you were around for the shows Duane talks about, although fans of any era will likely see merit in it. I will say that "Soo Stories" is a bit wider ranging in appeal for music lovers, as unlike in "Castle Stories", Duane saw headlining shows here that didn't necessarily fall into the "metal" genre, like with The Tragically Hip and Tom Cochrane. Plus, with the high amount of non-rock concerts from the early and later days of the arena, "Soo Stories" definitely varies more in appeal, so if you look at it on a completely non-local basis, metalheads would probably prefer "Castle Stories", though metal's talked about a lot in both.

As a local fan, even though I was much too young to see the better concerts there in the 1990s, I definitely feel more of a connection to "Soo Stories" than "Castle Stories". I was only ever at the Gardens for hockey games or floor shows, but I did feel sort of transported there at times when reading the book. The added stories, though less compared to "Castle Stories", were nice and gave more angles on the Gardens' concert experience. I find that Castle Farms probably has more of a nostalgic appeal than the Gardens for music fans, but the love is clear for both venues! My main fault with "Castle Stories" was with the photo quality, and while they look clearer here, some are a bit smaller than they probably deserved. Overall though, Duane gives us a great time capsule look at the Sault Memorial Gardens concert experience, and fans of the era, "Castle Stories", or music in general should definitely pick it up! Who knows, maybe down the road, we'll get a book of Essar Center stories next! Motley Crue, Heaven & Hell, Three Days Grace, Jackyl, Kiss... if it happens, the new arena's off to a good start!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for lots more news hopefully tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

"Going Underground: A Brief History Of Punk Rock In Small Town Canada" Review!!

It's now time for our second ever book review at The Sault Metal Scene! After delays from school and other such commitments, I've now been able to sit down and give a thorough read to a book I've had for a while now, and though not metal-centric, is very interesting! The book in question is "Going Underground: A Brief History Of Punk Rock In Small Town Canada", which was written by local photographer Paolo Colasacco and released through Paolo Paolo Media on January 22nd! Printed at Friesens Press, the book features writings from his concert experiences, with the included photos being taken at local concerts, events, and photo shoots from the 1980s through the early 2000s. The book details the stories and images Paolo has about the local music scene (mostly punk, though metal is discussed) during that time period, and clocks in at 408 pages long. "Going Underground" costs $30, and can be purchased at The Rad Zone in their Hole In The Wall section, or you can buy it online via PayPal for $45 ($48 international) at this location. Remember, I'm NOT a professional reviewer by any means, and have no formal experience in literary criticism, so make note of that in case you have critical comments.

I also was neither alive or old enough to experience the events chronicled in the book, so if I make any mistakes or don't add something, I apologize. I admit I'm not the ideal person to review it, but I figured I should give this era and work the attention it deserves, and tell you guys what you should know before you buy it. I'll try to keep comments on each story to a minimum to encourage you to actually buy & read the book as well. With that said, let's begin this review!

The book officially starts with a six and-a-half page story on the "first wave" of the local punk scene in the 1980s, along with Paolo's beginnings as a photographer. He goes into detail about how his love for photography blossomed, his first experiences in getting prints done, and eventually led to how he developed an appreciation of Rush, who friends of his covered in a late 1970s local band named Reefer, leading to some of his earliest band photography. He eventually discussed his experiences surrounding the rise of the local New Wave/punk band The Reggulars, whose hybrid sound wasn't anything you'd hear on the radio, and which quickly gained steam in local music circles. Their rise to playing gigs at the former Centennial Lanes (the old GLOW Nightclub's in that site now) is also followed, which seemed to signal other bands to play there. After brief discussion of slang terms (including calling metalheads "Gorrocks" at the time), Paolo talked about the images and clothing taken on in the early punk years, which was widely diverse depending on the person. He then discussed his first experiences with concert photography and the settings used to get good quality shots, along with his continued evolution as a photographer led to him creating and underground newspaper named "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!", including it's one-off metal parody that didn't work as an insult.

Paolo also added details on it's transformation after being sold, and briefly becoming Zombie A-Go-Go, which had a following but alsowas more restrictive and had issues with fighting in the crowds. This led into his eventual move to London to study other fields, and the nice re-connection he had with some old band acquaintances that I won't spoil here. The rest of the chapter is basically photos and related captions of the early bands, musicians, and concerts of the time, including such bands as The Reggulars, The Vox, Waldo Pepper & The Shakes, and Final Option, among others. The photos, though entirely black and white, are nice and large, and in good quality despite the age and nature of how many were taken. All of the right-hand pages after the included stories has one of Paolo's photos, while the left-hand pages include captions, credits of which band or musician was included & where, and assorted comments relating to their lineups, releases, shows, debuts, and so forth. Though I can't speak for the accuracy of the captions given that I wasn't alive yet, Paolo does give great detail on these photos, even saying what song was being played in certain shots, which is very interesting! The bands here aren't necessarily all punk, but the chapter gives a good insight into the birth of this scene, and the path it would take, and the photos guide everything really well!

The "second wave" is basically Chapter 2 of the book, which details the punk rock shows of the 1990s, where things get more aggressive and hard hitting compared to the early Centennial Lanes shows. Paolo's story for this chapter is only three and a half pages long, and it starts with Paolo's return to the Sault to study graphic design. He talks about meeting a local guitarist named Jeff Nisbet of the punk band The Spigots, and the rush of a revived punk scene he felt when he first saw them live. Paolo discusses how the "second wave" took place at The Windsor Park Hotel on Queen Street (now Algoma University housing), which had few issues despite it's location and motif. He praised the environment of the Windsor Park Hotel for concerts, as well as the advancement of the bands, who had more structure and professionalism compared to the 1908s bands he followed. This helped lead out-of-town bands like The Ripcordz to shows in the Soo, a development rarely seen from Centennial Lanes bands. Paolo would ten discuss the merchandice factor of this run of local bands, including The Spigots' recording sessions, and how they almost ended in disaster. He wrapped up with discussion of his new photo techniques of the time, the improved crowd environment and how they factored into his pictures, his work as a teacher at Sault College, and the Windsor Park Hotel's end as a concert venue.

Bands included in the photos from the second wave include The Spigots, Room 206, The Kite Eating Maples, The Sugarspun Sisters, and more, as you'd expect! These photos are better in multiple ways from the 1980s shots, in both photo quality (newer cameras) and the concert environments, which were larger, had more energetic looking and sounding bands, and had more diverse angles of the crowd and venue! Lots of shots of rowdy and passionate fans rocking out with some very talented punk bands of the time, including a couple with current members of The Inner City Surfers! The 1980s photos were cool, but the 1990s ones made me REALLY wish I could experience the second wave!

The "third wave" is the last and shortest chapter in the book, with it's story only taking up one page. Paolo discusses how the now vacant Club Princess became an active local concert venue for shows in the early 2000s, and it's different environment compared to the earlier discussed venues. He mentions the newer wave of bands and fans and how they were different in approach and age (19+ now) compared to the 1980s and 1990s, and how fans responded to shows there strikes a chord similar to how some are treated at current shows. He also talked about the decline of the punk scene in this wave, with similar sounding bands and shrinking crowd numbers, and closed the story with his nostalgia and rememberances of past waves and their connection to the scene as it then stood. His photos include shots of early 2000s bands like Blend, Suckerpunch, and The Late Night Weirdos, closing with pictures from The Spigots' last ever show. Very nice photos once again, and though the crowds look lively, there's something missing compared to the energy you could detect from photos in the second wave. Best quality photos of the book though, which benefited from newer equipment. The promo photos are great too, though they take up a larger ratio of the photos than they did in the earlier waves.

Paolo closes with two pages of personal reflections on the scene and punk music, including his hope that newer musicians and fans will use "Going Underground" as a do-it-yourself manual to help make an exciting music scene like he experienced locally. I don't know if it will be an instigator for such a revival, but what I do know is that this is a great book and a great time capsule to the local scene's past! You can tell Paolo had a deep appreciation for local music, local bands and musicians, and the punk scene at it's heights! Sure, he wasn't around the metal side of things much, but I give him kudos for mentioning the scene as it existed back then, and I'm sure bands that crossed the metal line played at The Windsor Park & Club Princess at the time! Reading this book, I developed interest in checking out a bunch of these bands, which is a sign that something's working! A few of the included bands have material posted online (Room 206 even have a MySpace page), but many don't have songs or videos that I've seen. Paolo or someone with the right connections should make a "Going Underground" CD about the punk scene, featuring the bands included in the book, I think it'd be successful!

I have some points to stress the book though. Much of the book's layout strikes me as wasted space, as the left hand caption pages are almost entirely blank save for words on the bottom and (sometimes) top. I would have put the captions and comments above & below the photos to save space. I think at least 100 pages could have been shaved if he'd done that. I figure colour photos would have been a good addition if Paolo had them for later shots, but I imagine all black and white would save costs. I also expected to see a wider expanse of bands in the included photographs, with only about 16 getting credited sections in the table of contents. Some names are misspelled as well, like Jeff Nisbet, Dave Bahun, and Brad Lacell, but hey, mistakes happen to us all. The thing that disappointed me the most is the lack of stories. Only about 13 and a half pages of the book feature Paolo's stories on the scene, which seems very small, especially given the fact that portions of a longer Centennial Lanes story were posted by him onto The Internet Archive in 2005, click here to see them (and more photos.) I was hoping to read the missing parts of that story in this book, which suggests that he might have had longer stories about the scene in mind at one point, but the photo heavy nature of it works too!

Still, this is a very entertaining time capsule look at the local punk scene from it's infancy to it's quiet later period, and Paolo offers many well written thoughts and observations from this time period! His photos are great and he helps give a voice and insight into a scene that many newer music fans locally don't know a lot about! Metal isn't the focus, but you'll definitely find connections and references that will get your mind going. I hope this book will encourage fans to get in touch with bands of the past, the musicians that still perform nowadays, how the scene once was, and how we can connect it to the scene of today. Very entertaining book, pick it up today!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news tomorrow, and yes, my review of "Soo Stories" by Duane Roy is coming up hopefully this week as well! Thanks everyone!