After a slight delay, here's this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we again take a look at a randomly selected YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk musicians/concerts! This month, we drew a channel from a prominent veteran local band who have been hard at work in the 2020s, so here's what you should know!
Owner: Likely Bone Yard 225 singer/drummer and local graphic designer/event organizer Greg Simpson
Channel Timeline:Launched on June 5th, 2024; Videos posted from the following month through January 2025
Channel Summary: Though active locally since their 2009 beginnings as a country cover band, Bone Yard only launched their own YouTube channel in 2024, coinciding with their expansion into original songwriting as a southern/hard rock trio. Their channel includes three lyric videos for their three released studio tracks so far, a brief clip from the 2024 Dragonfly Run featuring their music, and a teaser for a radio interview.
Why You Should Watch: "Boneheads" will likely be mostly interested in this channel for the YouTube copies (with lyrics!) of their original songs, as the Dragonfly Run video features one of those songs again and the interview teaser obviously doesn't have the full recording. While the guys haven't visibly updated this channel in over a year, your local 225 are far more active for posting and sharing videos on their Facebook page, and (recent break acknowledged) are still active, so hopefully we see some more YouTube activity and original music when the time is right!
Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
Dragonfly Run: Bone Yard 225 are well known for their charitable involvement in Sault Ste. Marie, including performing at and promoting the annual Dragonfly Run (née Ride For ARCH), which made its debut at its current Grand Gardens homebase in August 2024. In their second upload to YouTube, the band shared this video of motorcycle riders hitting the road from the Grand Gardens to kick off that year's proper rally, with their debut original song "F.A.F.O." as backing music. complete with on-screen text to thank all involved. Kudos to Greg, Kerry, the rest of the band, and all staff and volunteers for supporting the hospice for so long!
Gypsy Spell Lyric Video: The three studio original songs posted here include the aforementioned "F.A.F.O." and "The F Word" (originally named "Fuck!"), but the most popular and longest of the three is "Gypsy Spell" from January 2025. Another lyric video, this features a slideshow of live photos, fans, logos, and promotional images, with the song being about being seduced by a woman under the titular spell. As on the other songs here, Greg is joined by guitarist Alex D'Ettore and bassist Warren Reville. I'll hold comment on this song proper pending our review of Bone Yard's album-in-progress, but fans of "the dirty three" will enjoy the danceable hard rock on offer!
Bone Yard 225 on the "Smart as Trees" Podcast on theborderline.ca radio!!! Wed Jan 29th @ 12 noon!: The title of this video does a lot of the explaining on its own, but this 67 seconds-long teaser (their last YouTube upload to date) features a slideshow of photos relating to Bone Yard's appearance on local internet radio station The Borderline, where they were interviewed by Adrian Vilaca for an episode of Smart As Trees. The band used "F.A.F.O." as backing music again, but spoken word studio bumpers that Greg, Alex, and Warren recorded at the time are also layered in. This was an informative 40-minute interview that outlines their then-current status and future aims well, if with some adult language, so give it a listen on demand above!
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, our latest randomly selected channel is that of Woodward Avenue Studios, the locally based recording studio owned and utilized by members of Convergence, so look for that on or around May 26th, and stay tuned for more news and this month's CD review soon! Thanks everyone!
It's finally time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as again shine a light on a YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk concerts/artists, as randomly chosen from our YouTube subscriptions! This month's selection takes us to Sault Michigan (well, by way of the Lower Peninsula) for a look at a prominent local musician's YouTube output from the late 2000s through the ensuing decade, so here's what you should know!
Channel Timeline:Launched on February 11th, 2008; Videos uploaded from April 2010 through September 2020
Channel Summary: A personal use channel, Craig noted in the description that, as he is "a composer, singer, songwriter, adventurer, etc..., my channel has a bit of weird variety". Most of his 34 videos include in-studio performances, either jams/rehearsals with bandmates or solo performances on keyboard and sometimes vocals. Craig's channel also includes two live concert videos (one of him on stage, one of the mosh pit at a 3 Inches Of Blood show in Detroit), some studio samplers and introductions for Theatre Of Night, and non-musical videos ranging from a comedic rap song to outdoor sports-centric to a timelapse drawing of a zombie to one featuring corrections officers from over 25 years ago.
Why You Should Watch: This channel will primarily be of interest to fans of Craig's 2010s work in Theatre Of Night, giving a bit of a behind the scenes look that is especially notable, as not all of their official content and pages from this era is still online in 2026. The existence of an even rarer I.S.O.M. live video shouldn't be overlooked either! The rest of the videos will have a mixed appeal for most, but Craig wasn't lying about this channel having "a weird variety"! For more recent official Theatre of Night videos, visit that band's active YouTube channel and their social media accounts.
Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
Integrated System Of Machines- I.S.O.M. live: While outviewed by the aforementioned rap song and corrections video, Craig's most popular video otherwise is also his first, which sees his old local epic metal band Integrated System Of Machines playing their self-titled song on the Ozzfest Stage at the annual Carnival Of Chaos Festival in Stanton (four hours south of the Soo) on June 27th, 2009. Joining many other bands as openers for Taproot that day, their exact lineup here isn't 100% obvious, but it is good seeing Craig and singer Bob "Orb Hearthstone" Helsten on stage again, and while the video is shaky, you can't be too harsh for an almost 17 year old concert video, and it sounds good for its age. Strong charging song with a catchy chorus and good aggression without getting too extreme! Yes, that does appear to be Craig's future Theatre of Night bandmate Rachel Mender on backing vocals.
Darkness Falls Within: A good array of solo performance videos by Craig made their way to his channel, mostly of him on the keys (though Dust N' Bones fans won't want to bypass his singing on some clips), while some of these have extraneous video filters added in post-production. Despite being the primary leader of Theatre Of Night, you don't often see videos that really show off his keyboard skills, and this April 2014 performance of their original "Darkness Falls Within" is as good as any for that. The filter is completely unnecessary, but this is a fine showcase of their epic symphonic qualities with a dark ambiance, so if you're not familiar with their non-Christmas material, this is a good introduction! Hear the full version at this link.
Late night jam session with Theatre of Night and Flesh for the Beast members: In his final channel uploads aside from a shred video in 2020, Craig Harrison posted videos from an April 2018 jam session featuring Theatre Of Night bandmates Steve Giles (guitar) and Erik Sales (drums) plus guest musicians from their friends in Grand Rapids death metal band Flesh For The Beast, who Steve was an alum of. Both videos (including this 13 seconds-long one) feature different F.F.T.B. members on bass, one presumably being Craig Riley, but Craig H. didn't specify names in the descriptions. There are some odd reflections, as if Craig H. was filming behind glass or plastic, but the performances here are sound, and it'd be neat to see Theatre of Night do more with Flesh Of The Beast, live or in studio! Just a shame that Erik was largely obscured behind that pole from this vantage point.
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will be back on or around April 26th, while our next monthly feature post will be our next "Where Are The New Albums?" post tentatively scheduled for Thursday, pending how weekend concert previews are blocked. That's all for now, but look for more on the SMS this week! Thanks everyone!
It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, as we again look at YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk artists/concerts! As usual, we randomly select channels profiled in this series, but as our first pick just had one album uploaded, I limited things to two songs from it and added a second channel with minimal current content to round things out. Both are actually YouTube Music channels from bands who have released studio material on streaming platforms, so here's what you should know from them!
Owner: If anyone, a member of local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback, though this is an auto-generated channel to facilitate their material being hosted on YouTube Music
Channel Timeline:Launched on March 28th, 2020; All videos posted on that date
Channel Summary: A Dire Setback arrived on the YouTube Music platform (and on other major streaming services) with their self-titled album in March 2020, and these nine songs remain their only finished and released examples of studio material.
Why You Should Watch: If you're a fan of A Dire Setback, especially from their late 2010s peak as a live act, then you should appreciate this album and its energetic modern punk rock attack! Of course, the guys had massive misfortune in timing when this came out, as the long-planned release date was just two weeks after the first pandemic lockdown began. As such, the album release party at LopLops was cancelled, the rollout of CD copies was slowed down, and they have only played occasional live dates since the restrictions eased up. If the album got lost in the real world shuffle at the time, why not stream it now? For actual and official videos of theirs, check out A Dire Setback's own YouTube channel.
Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
A Dire Setback: The first and most popular song/video on this album/channel is A.D.S.' self-titled song, and as on the rest of the album, they're represented here by Chris Nielsen (from Mike Haggith's Big Finish Band) on vocals & guitar, Matt Quinn on bass, and Nick Kainula (ex-State Of Misery) on drums. A highlight on the album for me, this song benefits from a familiar riff, clear production, and well contrasted melodic yet rough edged vocals from Chris and Matt, but I do find that the ending stretch is way too drawn out.
Faded: Of my favourite songs from "A Dire Setback", I wanted to highlight "Faded" as it is among the least streamed songs from this album on YouTube Music, and it deserves more love than that. While short and lacking a real bridge, it is among Chris' best showcases of his improving vocal range, and it has a fast and proficiently played pace, so it understandably goes over well in concert! Hopefully we see the guys back at it in 2026!
Owner: If anyone, a member of local metal duo Hollow Sky, but this channel is also auto-generated to facilitate the band's music being available on YouTube Music
Channel Timeline:Launched on December 2nd, 2023; Videos uploaded from that day through May of last year
Channel Summary: The current extreme metal project from Uncanny Valley alum Adam Fahrer alongside singer Liam Tallon, Hollow Sky (no relation) have released three singles to major streaming platforms to date, including YouTube Music, where you can hear them playing "The Spiral", "To Die For", and most popularly of all, "Burn Away". This technically sound metal track with some nu metal-inspired vocals is a strong showcase of what this young group brings to the table, but you'll get promising djent-influenced metal across all three of their studio songs so far, and hopefully 2026 is a big year for them! Be advised that YouTube Music attributes eleven white noise/sleep aid tracks by an artist named "Fluffy Duffy" as featuring Hollow Sky, and they were uploaded to the band's channel despite being completely unrelated.
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! This series will return on or around March 26th, but stay tuned next for this month's album review! Thanks everyone!
nullMild change of plans for our first YouTube Channel Profile of 2026, as I had originally randomly selectedMike Haggith's YouTube channel, only to belatedly realize that I already profiled it 4+ years ago. I think the updated channel URL threw me off. While this channel was already covered, definitely give it a watch and/or subscribe, as Mike has posted 50 new videos there since we spotlighted it in 2021, and it's still actively used! With that said, I picked an alphabetically close YouTube channel who we definitely have not profiled before to replace it, and it gives us another local guitarist named Mike, so here's what you should know on it!
Owner: Local classic, funk, jazz, and hard rock guitarist Mike Cliffe, also known as the host of the Audiofumes podcast
Channel Timeline:Launched on February 22nd, 2009; Videos uploaded from that day through last fall
Channel Summary: A personal use channel, Mike has uploaded over 100 videos over the past 17 years, mostly originals songs and on-camera solo performances, though a handful of covers and outside artists heard on Audiofumes have also turned up here, as have videos related directly to the podcast, from host segments to behind the scenes content. Half of Mike's videos from the past three years have been live footage at downtown outdoor concerts, particularly ones involving local indie rock band Jupiter Marvelous.
Why You Should Watch: While Mike isn't known for live performances or paid album releases, and has been more sporadic in terms of posting his own original music in the 2020s, this channel is full of strong and varied music from a talented guitarist who as always deserved more attention, and this includes for Audiofumes, which was an active podcast with an international reach before podcasting got as big as it now! You can hear more music from Mike, including material that predates and/or was not uploaded on YouTube, via his Reverbnation page and Audiofumes episodes.
Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
Bad Regime: One to collaborate with musicians local and from afar, Mike did both on this July 2010 original song named "Bad Regime", where he (on guitar and bass) was joined by ex-Soundcheck/Flat Stanley drummer Glen Thomas and Swedish vocalist Karin Beckerus, who fronted the alternative/electronic band Out Of Quebec. Featuring some trippy post-production effects with the accompanying slideshow, this is a tight hard rock number with very Cardigans-esque vocals, and Glen gets to let loose moreso than you may see from him in live cover bands, with Mike shining with some solid guitar work too! This is just the tip of the iceberg re: Mike's own original music though, and Karin turned up multiple times over the years on Audiofumes episodes.
Opening Riff to The Wizard - Uriah Heep: The most popular music-related video on Mike's channel is this April 2016 acoustic rendition of the riff from Uriah Heep's "The Wizard", which he previously recorded a full studio cover of in 2011 with a non-local backing band named The Ducks. The 97 second video features Mike introducing the song and how his guitar is tuned and set up, followed by him playing the riff. While a well received cover by most, Mike did get a critical comment over how tight the camera is, obscuring how he plays the riff to an extent, but you see enough of his right hand to get an idea. Well performed for sure, and he comes off well on camera, but don't bypass the full cover! If you're curious, Mike's most viewed video demonstrates the Enlightenment E17 desktop shell.
Rock Funk Fusion (collab): For an actual full-song performance on video, it was hard to pass up this February 2020 video that sees Mike playing three separate guitar tracks and bass separately before being combined in post-production for an original funk rock "collaboration". If one of the videos features someone else playing, they're not credited and you can't see their face, but the videos were all shot in the same location. Good stuff that shows off what Mike can do in a funkier and more carefree setting, and he was ahead of the curve in doing a video like this just a month before the first pandemic lockdown began!
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return for two randomly selected channels on or around February 26th, as the first one only has one album upload, so I picked a channel with videos from only one concert to round things out with. As such, we're looking at local punk trio A Dire Setback's YouTube Music channel and YouTube user Chris Bardawill's channel (featuring videos from an Obessesion concert in 2021). Stay tuned for all that then, and for more news and notes on the site this week, plus this month's CD review! Thanks everyone!
After a slight delay due to the holiday long weekend and some sad losses, here is our final monthly feature post of 2025, namely this month's YouTube Channel Profile! As usual, this series looks at randomly selected YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk artists/concerts, and as the first selected channel only has one video period, I added a second channel with minimal content to round things out. As such, we're splitting things betwen the Twin Saults today, so here's what you should know from both channels!
Owner: YouTube user Kelly Cristina, a.k.a. kekeitba, who I believe is based out of Brazil
Channel Timeline:Launched on October 23rd, 2008; Only video uploaded on July 16th, 2014
Channel Summary: Kelly's only upload is a lyric video for defunct local blackened doom metal band Woods Of Ypres' song "Shards Of Love (Hurt Forever)", which led off their 2009 CD "Woods IV: The Green Album". While this is seemingly a redundant upload compared to fuller and more official copies of "Woods 4" elsewhere on YouTube and other services, note that the on-screen lyrics are in Portuguese, helping translate this post-breakup doom metal song for native speakers. There are a handful of Brazilian immigrants in the area, so note the translated lyrics if they are of use, and the song alone is a solid first sampling of their late-era doom sound!
Owner: Sault Michigan hard rock guitarist Chris Hubbard, known from past local bands like Nixxon Dixxon, Splitshot, Trail's End, Hubbard, 415E, and Rhythm & Brews
Channel Timeline:Launched on May 19th, 2011; Videos uploaded from February 2016 to October 2024
Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for Chris' solo output (and branded for his eponymous Hubbard solo project), only four videos would make their way here, two being in-studio performance clips and one featuring his own build of the time machine part of the DeLorean from the Back To The Future movies. Chris' last video to date is a "Shorts" upload where he was promoting a 5150 Frankenstrat guitar body for sale, though I don't know if he successfully sold it in the past year or not.
Why You Should Watch: Despite his crystal clear talents on guitar, Chris' post-Nixxon Dixxon bands only posted videos to social media very scarcely, so if you want to see him actually shredding on camera, the two videos here are some of the surprisingly few ways to do so! Chris hasn't been super active locally as a live musician in recent months, but hopefully he surface again when the time is right, including revisiting his solo original material! The B.T.T.F. time machine video is a neat sampler of what Chris was working on, but it is a 15 second "part 1", and the teased next part did not follow .
Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
Chris Hubbard Light Up The Sky - Van Halen Cover. Drums, Bass, Guitar ~EVH: Well known as a die-hard fan of Van Halen, Chris' first video here saw him cover "Light Up The Sky" (a deep cut from "Van Halen II") in studio. The instrumental cover saw Chris play guitar, bass, and drums at his home studio via stationary cameras, but he did not film himself playing the bass tracks. Chris absolutely nails this song on all fronts, supplemented by having the right EVH gear, and while I'd have framed his camera a little better, Roth-era Van Halen fans will absolutely appreciate the performance quality and musicianship here!
Messing around with Ernie Ball Music Man EVH Guitar ~ Chris Hubbard: Chris' most popular video (with over 147,000 views at press time), this 11 minute+ jam video from March 2016 was allegedly filmed with no warm-up shortly after he woke up that day. Keep that in mind when you watch this very skilled performance, both on a technical basis (look at his gear!) and for replicating Eddie Van Halen's tone and musical style, and viewers raved about how much they liked it in the comments. Chris is an excellent guitarist, one of the best in the E.U.P., and hopefully we see him back at it before long!
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! We're leading off 2026 in this series in a big way, as our latest randomly selected YouTube channel will be that of prolific local/Barrie musician Mike Haggith! There will be a lot to cover, so look for that on or around January 26th, and stay tuned for New Year's Eve concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!
Bone Yard 225 (http://youtube.com/boneyard225)
