Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Brendan Christie & Orb

It's the 10th of the month, so it's now time once again for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! As always, this monthly feature series takes a look at one or two defunct or inactive metal/hard rock projects from the Twin Saults and surrounding areas, in order to profile them and their work for current readers and fans, and like all previous installments, the bands were randomly selected. This month's post features two artists for the fourth straight month (due to the first not having much surviving information), but these are both two talented inactive solo projects from each side of the border, so read on below for this month's profiles!
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Brendan Christie

Genre: Thrash Metal

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members:

Brendan Christie (The Hydra's Teeth, Late & Loud), all instruments

Info/Analysis: After leaving his brief 2008 position as Stillbroke's bassist, talented local musician Brendan Christie launched a solo metal project circa July 2009, where he began work on original guitar-heavy material that was at one point supposed to be featured on a debut solo album named "The Clock Is Ticking". Original compositions continued to be posted & deleted from his MySpace page through 2011, though less so as his band work became more successful, and his last postings there in late 2012 were to promote his current band The Hydra's Teeth. Though his Late & Loud tenure was better known, Brendan first entered the SMS' general radar for his impressive guitar talents in 2009, and it's a shame most of his solo material isn't public anymore! His videos (though largely classical renditions) show his skills nicely, and his only remaining full song "Set Fire To Freedom" has a heavy & dramatic feel that wouldn't be out of place live, so give his older solo work a listen above, and here's Brendan's "bet you can't play this" original video!


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Orb

Genre: Metal/Easy Listening

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Members:

Bob "Orb Hearthstone" Helsten (Power Slug, I.S.O.M.), all instruments

Info/Analysis: Launched during his tenures as End of Existence's frontman & Elipzis' drummer, prolific local musician Bob Helsten launched his own solo project in January 2011 as an outlet for his lighter original material, releasing two songs to his MySpace page ("Final Day" & "Dawn of a Dying Day", with only the latter containing harsh vocals.) Updates did not follow there, but in April 2012, a solo version of the End of Existence song "12-21-12" was posted on YouTube as part of Werehold Records' second Friday the 13th posting event, and while his solo project has likely been defunct since, you can currently see him live as Power Slug's drummer. Orb described this project as sounding like "a dark & gloomy autumn day", which does make sense, as his full solo songs retain a slower & lighter instrumental feel, though the vocals remain reminscent of his metal singing work. Though I prefer his I.S.O.M. and E.O.E. past, Orb's solo material is an interesting & pleasant change of pace, so give his songs a listen above, and here's "Dawn of a Dying Day"!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Now, what's in store for April's installment? Believe it or not, we'll be looking at two bands again for a fifth straight month, as the first band we randomly chose don't have enough surviving information (or lasted long enough.) Also, because we're straddling the end and beginning of our current & next 1-1-1-1-1 schedules for each side of the border's bands, we'll be looking at two Sault Ontario bands next month for the first time since 2010. With that said, I've randomly chosen 2009 metal band (and Winkstinger predecessors) Operation: Killdozer & 2004 hard rock quartet Batteries Not Included (featuring future Free Beer members), so watch out for those profiles around April 10th, and stay tuned for more news soon! Thanks everyone!

New Videos, Inactive Sault Ontario Bands, And Miguel Gauthier Updates!!

Today's post mostly clears up some recent news and updates that have been waiting for a free moment to plug on here, so what's on tap? All relating to the Sault Ontario area, we have a recent solo cover video upload, a 2 year old video find of a local hardcore performance, and notes on some likely inactive local hard rock projects, but first, here's some info on what a prominent local music personality has been doing in the early 2010s!

Are you curious to know what former local producer and MBM frontman Miguel Gauthier has been up to since moving from the Soo to Los Angeles, California in October 2010? Well, we can find out in a recent SooToday article by Donna Hopper featuring interview comments and reflections on his local and more recent work! The article was actually posted last week, my apologies for it being lost in the shuffle until now. We touched on his move at the time, but in the article, we learn that Miguel chose to relocate to a bigger city with more opportunities 3 years ago, taking Stereo Soul Studios with him, but he has flourished since the move! Though nothing directly ties to metal of his recent output, he's done fashion photography & film work, music production & mixing, and work as a sound engineer for numerous TV and film projects (even on Dexter!), most recently winning a Best Fashion award at the La Jolla Fashion Film Festival for his short "Lovers Game". It sounds like Miguel's found his groove in California, and though his exceptional production is missed for local bands, it's great to see a Saultite doing so well with his career, and I wish him continued success!

Remember, when operating Stereo Soul Studios locally in the late 2000s, Miguel produced albums for bands like Woods of Ypres, Garden of Bedlam, Gates of Winter, and Stillbroke, along with doing studio work with As It Stands, Sense of Truth, and many other local bands. He's never forgotten his local output (even fondly looking back on his Gates of Winter work in the SooToday article), and many of his local projects are still on Stereo Soul Studios' website, so check everything out there, and read the full SooToday article at this link!

Next up, here's notes on two local metal/hard rock acts that we're now listing as inactive on our band links. One is the solo project of Hydra's Teeth/ex-Late & Loud guitarist Brendan Christie, who had maintained and recorded some very promising solo originals in the late 2000s, including planning at least one album. However, his band work has arguably been his focus in recent years, and there hasn't been any dedicated solo updates that I've seen since (at the latest) last fall, with his last MySpace page uploads being Hydra's Teeth demos. Brendan's solo work was really solid, and a nice precursor to Late & Loud, so hopefully he revisits that work in the future! The other likely inactive band is Durera (formerly The Diego Experience), the CASS Cafe-launched hard rock sextet that had been sporadically active since 2008. They last made a band-related update to their Facebook group in June of last year, and that (plus singer Keegan Gjos moving to Sudbury soon) leads me to think that they've also fallen inactive.

Durera had talent (as their Diego Experience-era videos on guitarist A.J. Biron's YouTube channel indicated), but they had room to grow from some earlier and younger sets in their CASS Cafe run. Hopefully the guys stay active in music, and best of luck to Mike, Keegan, A.J., Brent, Ben, and Ty in the future! Stay tuned for more notes on inactive and broken up bands as I hear them!

We'll close today with some new video finds, starting with a newly discovered clip of defunct local hardcore quartet Changing Waves! This comes from the Smeltzer reunion show at The Oddfellows Hall on August 12th, 2011 that they were among the openers for, and it was uploaded to YouTube by attendee Kate Fantham the very next day. You'd think this would have been on the site by now, but she actually forgot which band this was, so it's just labelled by the show's name on YouTube. Luckily, only two bands that night featured a singer who didn't play an instrument, so it was easy to figure out who they were! Featuring Changing Waves' classic & final lineup, I can't place the song off hand, but I don't think it was on their free demo. Kate likely filmed this on a cell phone camera (hence the dimensions), and the quality isn't great, with dark lighting, very staticy audio, and a 19 second audio cut-out 1:17 in. Still, Changing Waves do sound heavy from what I remember, and the crowd's definitely into it, so check out this new video discovery below!



Finally for today, Ashes To Dust guitarist Alex Hemy uploaded another solo performance video onto his YouTube channel on Wednesday, and it's a cover of 3 Doors Down's "Be Like That"! Like his Eagles cover from earlier this month (which is now unlisted for unknown reasons), this utilitzes multiple camera angles with Alex singing and playing guitar, and I think his clean vocals work better here, with his tone and pacing fitting this song better! Sure, it's not a heavy song, but we know Alex's track record, and he has the talent, so check out his newest solo cover video below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Airbourne preview and more news this weekend! Thanks everyone!

Destroilet Updates, New Videos, And More Assorted News!!

We're back with more news on this Friday afternoon, so what's on deck? Today, we have a new video from a local guitarist, more archive album uploads, and much more assorted news & notes, but first, here's the latest updates from a band we haven't seen on the stage in way too long, so here's what you need to know!

Local old school hardcore quintet Destroilet are continuing their somewhat quiet activity with some encouraging new band updates, including the confirmation that they are working on a new album! Online pages are still updated only scatteredly, but drummer Matt Waples has been keeping fans up to date on his personal Facebook page to the recording plans, which will apparently lead to a 12 track full length album (including reworked versions of the songs from their 2011 EP), with a planned proper CD release concert around Christmas, which is something that last year's EP never got. Their MySpace page briefly had some unfinished demos of these tracks in recent days (including the previously previewed "Eternal Fire" and a cover of The Ducky Boys' "Cross To Bear", among others), though they've since been taken down. I'm cautiously optimistic about these Destroilet updates, and hopefully we'll finally see them fully back and active before you know it! I don't know exactly why they haven't played live in over 20 months, but if this helps speed up Destroilet's return, I'm all ears, so stay tuned for more band updates as they roll in!

Next up, local solo artist and Haggith drummer Mike Haggith posted two more of his old solo albums onto his YouTube channel yesterday to stream for free! Uploaded as single files of the whole album in one video, they're of Mike's 37th & 38th solo albums "The Curse Was The Cure" and "I Hate My Life & I Want To Die", so click the above links to check them out! Both were released through the former Rotten Records in mid-2009 before Mike moved to Sault Ste. Marie, so while they're not overly familiar to Saultites, there's still some solid stuff there! I have yet to hear either in full, but there's some varied hard rock and alternative material in both albums, as you've hopefully come to expect from his local work. I've embedded the longer of the two albums ("The Curse Was The Cure") below to check out, but visit the above links for more, buy them at this location if you like what you hear, and stay tuned hopefully for more uploads of Mike's back catalog!



Also in the realm of new videos is the latest solo guitar cover from Ashes to Dust guitarist Alex Hemy, who posted this clip of him covering Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" onto his YouTube channel yesterday! He knows the song pretty well, but his playing sounds a bit reserved compared to the original recording, and there's a lot of stretches in the original song with minimal to no guitar work, so I wouldn't say it's the best song to showcase Alex's skills with. Very good though, so give it a look below!



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 or company name:

• Former Late & Loud guitarist Brendan Christie is looking for a drummer for his new local metal project, implying that Josh Hatherley is not in this new band. Having double kick experience is a must, and liking or being influenced by hair metal and bands like Iron Maiden, Dokken, and Skull Fist would help as well. If you're at all interested in trying out, message Brendan at this location or find his post from yesterday on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group!
• Don't sound the bell for Dismembertainment's death yet! Owner Rich Moreland posted on their Facebook page today to let fans know that he's working on ways to possibly put on local metal concerts in the Soo despite his move to Alberta last month, and he may also get into concert promotion out west as well. I'm curious to see how Dismembertainment could put on shows from afar like this, but if I hear anything positive or negative on their future, I'll let you guys know!
• Though not local anymore, Energy Rock Radio is back! The online hard rock/metal station (which was based out of Sault Ontario from 2008-2011) had been shut down since January, with owner Ryan Kaarlela hosting some radio shows in the interim out of his current British Columbia home base, but a new Facebook page has been launched with more updates to come, so check the above links for updates, and click here to stream the new Energy Rock Radio!

 That's all for today, but stay tuned for hopefully more news and updates this weekend, and I hope to see you guys at the Zombie Walk (or at least the afterparty!) Thanks everyone!

CASS Cafe Metal Video Showcase (Part 3)

It's now time for our third of four CASS Cafe metal video showcases! After two solidly entertaining installments on Friday & Sunday, we've got a few more videos from Central Algoma Secondary School's student concert series to share, including a solo performance and three sets from collections of local musicians (including some familiar faces), so check these out below!

First, we'll head back to Durera guitarist A.J. Biron's YouTube channel for these next videos, which come from CASS Cafe sets circa December 2009, and the first one features three future members of For All That Is Lost (guitarist Brook Moreau, ex-guitarist Allen Piche, and drummer Kameron Nicholson) covering Lamb of God's "Laid To Rest"! For this performance, they were joined by fellow CASS alum Nathan Hache on vocals (I have no idea if he has any other band experience), and though his growling is patchy, he has the right aggression for the cover. The F.A.T.I.L. guys sound pretty good, though the song started a bit rough. Interesting rendition, but imagine how they'd sound now covering "Laid To Rest"? Check out this performance below, and free Randy Blythe!



The other video from A.J.'s channel that we're sharing today features five notable musicians covering Megadeth's "Peace Sells"! The performers here include Allen once again (this time on drums) alongside future F.A.T.I.L. bandmate Tyler Sperry on vocals, Christopher Neveau (now of local death metal band March Into Regression) & A.J. on guitar, and Column Ruins bassist Travis Garside, but unlike the above video, this isn't of the highest musical quality. The video description mentions that the guys only practiced this the day before, and it sounds like it, with a number of flubs & timing issues, plus monotone singing (Tyler should have growled here), but the guitar isn't bad! This definitely does not capture these guys at their best, but there is some good stuff here & there, so if you want to check it out, do so below!



Finally, we have a pair of linked videos that are actually on two YouTube channels, those being the ones for CASS alumni Ben Kemp-Reynolds (of The Lust Boys & various local bands) and Ken Coventry, but there's no difference in the quality between the two. The first of these videos is of Benny Blitz himself joined by drummer Mike Christie (he of the drum solo we shared on Sunday) and bassist Will Hurley (likely a relation to Brent & Ty from Durera) for a joke-inspired "metal riffing extravaganza" named "The Andy Song". The lighting's poor (aside from the strobe effects), the audio's muffled occasionally, and the camera angle is odd, but this May 2008 CASS Cafe performance isn't bad, and there's a great liberal use of galloping guitar riffs throughout, so check out "The Andy Song" below!



The other video from this May 2008 CASS Cafe performance is a Metallica medley by just Ben & Mike (though Will introduced them and helped on vocals & bass briefly at different points.) Here, they played portions of "The Four Horsemen", "Motorbreath", "Fade To Black", and "Orion" (at least), and they seemed to know the different parts well, though it'd have been nice to have had Will on bass for more of the medley. The same camera issues from "The Andy Song" apply here as well, but if you can get past those, you'll find some solid Metallica jamming, so check out this video below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned later today for this weekend's metal/hard rock concert previews, including the Sewer Swampstravaganza's return, and much more! And yes, our last CASS Cafe video post is coming soon as well, hopefully over the weekend! Thanks everyone!

CASS Cafe Metal Video Showcase (Part 2)

It's time for our second CASS Cafe metal video showcase at the SMS, and leading from our first installment on Friday, we have another selection of metal and hard rock performances from the Desbarats high school's student concert series to share with the world, now that we're covering that area on the site! On Friday, we looked at three bands and one solo performance, but today, we have two collections of young local artists and two solo performers, so read on below to check out this latest video post!

We'll start with two videos with many common links: Both feature four musicians (two from local metal band Crimson Crusade, including guitarist Devon Lucier) covering a known metal song at a CASS Cafe event, as uploaded to ex-Diego Experience/Vendetta guitarist A.J. Biron's YouTube channel, so let's look at these first in chronological order! The first is an instrumental cover of Lamb of God's "Blood of the Scribe" from a CASS Cafe event circa December 2009, featuring Devon and his Crimson Crusade bandmate Riley Marshall alongside For All That Is Lost drummer Kameron Nicholson & former guitarist Allen Piche. The performance is solid, but it is a bit rough around the edges, and vocals would have helped complete the cover. Still, it's a cool look at the guys before their bands took off locally, so check it out below!



The other video of this vein that we're sharing today comes from a CASS Cafe event a few months after the above video, where Devon handled vocals and rhythm guitar on an April 2010 cover of Metallica's "Seek & Destroy"! Here, he was joined by Crimson Crusade bandmate Robert Crossley on drums, alongside this video's uploader A.J. Biron on lead guitar, and Column Ruins alum Travis Garside on bass in this unnamed quartet. This is a respectable cover in it's own right, with decent vocals and nice work on the guitar solo, and they definitely know the song well! The brighter lighting is a plus too, but check out this Metallica cover below!



Lastly for the videos from A.J.'s channel that we're sharing today is this November 2008 drum solo by former CASS student & Bruce Mines native Mike Christie! He'll factor in to some more CASS Cafe videos we're sharing later in the week, but here, he delivers a solid drum solo that factors in some fun audience participation early on, though the camera work is jittery, and a fallen microphone makes the bass a bit hard to hear. Mike's definitely a talented drummer, so check out this solo of his below, and stay tuned for more videos from A.J.'s channel this week!



The final videos today are the oldest hard rock-relevant CASS Cafe videos that I have for you guys, and they come from Thessalon solo musician (and Sault native) Darren MacDonald, who some of you may be familiar with! He fronted local punk bands The Shibby Pharmones & Mayadevi (the latter alongside future Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle) in the mid-2000s before moving to Thessalon in 2006, where he's played in both solo projects and in Mayadevi successor bands like Ashoka At The Show. His solo work has some bright moments, so give his music a listen at the above links! While attending Central Algoma Secondary School, Darren performed at CASS Cafe events, and some of his 2007-2008 solo sets were filmed by YouTube user Ken Coventry for his YouTube channel. Alongside Mayadevi & Ashoka At The Show videos, and numerous other assorted CASS videos (including a Kim Mitchell cover, two metal videos we're sharing later this week, and more), Ken uploaded four solo acoustic performances by Darren at CASS Cafe gigs, including two Nirvana covers!

Three of the videos come from a December 2007 set where he covered the Nirvana songs "Something In The Way" & "Pennyroyal Tea" along with the Thrice song "Trust", while the latter is a surprising cover of Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time" the following year, so click the above links to check out each video! Darren definitely shows some skill and love for the latter three songs, and he has an effective singing voice, while the Britney Spears cover shows a good sense of humour! These are some nice early glimpses at Darren's musical work, so check out his cover of "Something In The Way" below, and much more from his various projects at the above links!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for our third of at least four CASS Cafe metal video showcases later in the week, likely on Wednesday! And yes, we have more news on the horizon, including a preview of TOMORROW'S 3 Inches of Blood concert, so stay tuned for all of that! Thanks everyone!

News From Brendan Christie, Free Refill, Hollow, And John Mignacca!!

Here's some assorted news and notes for your Saturday, including some cool video finds online relating to a local drummer and a Sault Michigan band, some new material from a local solo artist, and leading things off, a concert relocation, so here's what you need to know!

Veteran local metal band Hollow will still have two shows over their one weekend reunion next week, and they won't have to go too far for a new spot for the Saturday concert! The band announced on the Facebook event page yesterday that their concert originally scheduled for August 6th (one week from today) has been moved from The Canadian Nightclub to Bossy's Pub & Grub, which is just seconds down the road. A move for the Saturday show was necessitated due to the flooding at The Canadian two weeks ago, but it's nice to see that they found a conveniently close new spot! We haven't talked much about Bossy's here, but since changing their name from Smack Daddy's Bar & Grill earlier this year, they've gotten more into concert booking, bringing bands like Redundant and Asylum Country there to rock Bossy's on weekends. Add Hollow to the list for this coming Saturday! No other changes have been reported, though the cover charge could be different, as I don't know what cover Bossy's usually has, if any. Get more details at the official Facebook event page! Nice spot for the moved show, but if that date doesn't work for you, remember that Hollow will still be at The Rockstar Bar on Friday night! I hope to be at the show at Bossy's (more convenient for me time and location-wise), and hopefully you guys can also come out for the big reunion shows! Check the above links for more!

Next up, Late & Loud guitarist Brendan Christie has posted three new solo instrumental songs onto his solo project's MySpace page! Unlike the softer "Foot Of This Hill", these are heavier leaning, so here's what you should know! One is called "The March", and it's a slow metal song that does feel like a march is in progress, with some nice driving rhythms and melodies mixed in! It could probably be built on more for a fuller song, but it's very promising! Also new to his page is part 1 of a solo song named "Quantum Mechanix", which is just 69 seconds long, but gives us a cool look at a slower cymbal-heavy metal number! I definitely wanna see where it leads, cause it starts well enough, but there's not a lot to go on with it yet. The other new song is a rough draft called "Shining Down", which feels the most like a complete song of the three, with nice tempo and heaviness changes, and a great guitar solo section! Brendan has some real talent, and it'd be interesting to see him package some of these songs into Late & Loud originals after they returned from their hiatus! Check the above links to give his newest original songs (and more) a listen!

We'll close today with videos, and first, here's some older videos I just came across yesterday of Sault Michigan hard rockers Free Refill! With a summer gig finally popping up for them at the Sugar Island Music Festival, I did some researching to see if they had anything else new online, and I found some videos on their website I'd never seen before! These are actually from the band's set at the annual Sidewalk Sales in Sault Michigan from August 2009, and though they've been on YouTube since shortly afterwards (courtesy of user amourdete's YouTube channel), I've only just seen them now! The videos all feature their former five-piece lineup (including ex-guitarist Tyler Wall), and they're of Free Refill covering Pearl Jam's "Even Flow", AC/DC's "Back In Black", and The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army". The band do a good job overall, though Mary Gilbert's vocals sound forced on "Back In Black". The video quality is odd... it looks clear, but there's odd "purple dot" pixelization that I can't really describe, but the audio works! Nice videos, and it's good to finally see them, as Free Refill footage isn't readily available online. Check the above links for more of these videos, and here's the band's cover of "Even Flow" from 2009's Sidewalk Sales!



And finally, here's a random recent video find featuring As It Stands drummer John Mignacca! This video comes courtesy of the YouTube channel of Dave Hunter, frontman of the local pop punk band For July & owner of idioRECORDS, the former label home of John's old band Out Of The Mouth Of Babes. The video, which was uploaded on Monday, is of John playing a pretty cool drum solo on For July's own drumkit, and it shows John's talents well! They should have him do solos at As It Stands shows more often! However, the video has lots of swearing despite it's 64 second length, so if you're easily offended, take note. Worth a look though to see John laying out a solid drum solo, so check the video out below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes very soon, including my preview of Monday's Alcoholic White Trash show and much more! Thanks everyone!

A Major Concert Update, Some New Videos, And More!!

Well guys, this was a slow weekend for local metal news, wasn't it? All the better to work on some SMS 4th anniversary stuff, which will all be revealed on July 4th, in exactly three weeks! All that will be revealed in due course though, as we have real honest to god news to get to for this Monday! Today, we have some assorted stories from the last little while, new videos from Woods of Ypres & End of Existence, and to start things off, some major short notice news for an upcoming concert!

If you thought the lineup was final for Thursday's 20th Roosevelt Hotel metal night, think again, as a huge band has been confirmed as the new out of town headliners! Victoria, British Columbia punk/thrash quartet The Dayglo Abortions have been officially announced to headline this concert! How's that for a late coup? No strangers to Sault Ste. Marie, this controversial (yet very entertaining) band blurs the punk and metal lines in many of their songs, and have been going strong as a Canadian punk institution since 1979! It's about time they come back, and I can finally check them out in person, so definitely come out for The Dayglo Abortions on Thursday! The previously announced local lineup for Thursday (Skull After Betrayal, Frightlight, and Sativa Rose) is still intact, just likely with an earlier start time and condensed set times, so you won't miss any bands with the late addition! However, this concert will now cost $5, but seriously, it's The Dayglo Abortions, they're worth the money! A 9:00 PM start time is now announced, and as is usual for The Rosie, you must be 19 to attend. For more details, check out Dismembertainment's Facebook page and Frightlight's event page!

I was planning to go on Thursday anyway, but with punk/thrash legends like THIS headlining, now it's a can't miss concert! Stay tuned for updates through Thursday if they come in!

Next up, here's a handful of new videos from Woods of Ypres, who have now finished their "Pain & Piss" tour! Over the past few hours, frontman David Gold has uploaded four new videos from their concert in Saint Paul, Minnesota on May 14th onto his YouTube channel, so here's what you should know! Unlike the awesome quality video of "Falling Apart" from Rusty Nuts Productions, these likely are from the band's own cameras. Three are of full song performances, of their songs "The Sea Of Immeasurable Loss", "By The Time You Read This (I Will Already Be Dead)", and surprisingly enough, "The Sun Was In My Eyes: Part I"! The quality's nice, with solid audio, nice camera angles, about what you'd expect for official band video uploads! The other is of their condensed version of "Halves & Quarters", which sounds good, but the camera's focused early on the "slow" mosh pit going on during the song! You don't see that often with a slower heavy song, and it actually works well enough! I find the three videos end rather abruptly though, like they had to end as soon as the song did. Great stuff all around, check everything out at the above links, and stay tuned for more Woods of Ypres stories very soon! Because it's the longest of the four new videos, here's "The Sun Was In My Eyes: Part I" from Saint Paul!



Thirdly today, here's a brand new song from End of Existence! The Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids epic metal quartet have re-emerged from almost two months of limited news to give us a new original song named "Taken", which you can now stream at their YouTube channel! The song doesn't feature keyboardist Craig Harrison, but video comments indicate he'll be on a later version with an attached music video. Solid song though already, though I noticed a disparity between the instrumentation and Orb Hearthstone's vocals. Orb's in typical growl/clean chorus mode, and he's as good as we've ever heard, but the actual song seems very un-death metal, and comes across as more melodic hard rock. Catchy though, it's well played, and Steve Giles has some nice riffing and soloing to let us hear, though the fadeout at the end seems sudden. Not bad at all, give it a look below, and stay tuned for more End of Existence news as it comes in!



And finally, here's three assorted smaller stories from the last few days, in alphabetical order by band name:

• Late & Loud guitarist Brendan Christie has finally posted a new solo song on his solo project's MySpace page! Easily his first new song since last year, it's called "The Foot Of The Hill", and it's an instrumental song with more of a bluegrass feel than we're used to. Well played and recorded though, nice to see his solo stuff back! Check out the new song (and more) at the above links!
  
• I have removed the defunct local band Chillum from our band links, as the link I had for them (the YouTube channel for "Dingers Production") doesn't really count as a band page. I don't even know if a former Chillum member owns the channel, though it does feature 6 live videos from a pre-2007 show. Still, check the channel out, Chillum had promise, and there's some assorted metal-relevant videos there, one with Andrew Angelic from Sativa Rose! Anyone have any real details on Chillum though?
• Sault Ontario hard rockers Late & Loud (who are still on hiatus) announced on their Facebook page that they have a music video on the way, along with "the lost episode", likely an allusion to "episodes" of assorted band happenings on their YouTube channel. Interesting, especially the music video news, I wonder how it will look? Stay tuned for more Late & Loud news, including some new live videos!
  

That's all for now, but we WILL have more news sooner than three days coming up, and yes, my sadly delayed "Soo Stories" review is coming too, so keep an eye out! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Band And More Assorted Updates!!

As promised, it's time for some more local metal news and updates that have came up during the weekend when I couldn't update the SMS, or have popped up since it's came back! I still have about one or two more posts left before that material is cleared out though, so let's not waste any time! Let's begin this news and updates post with a new local band! And yes, the new poll's up, VOTE TODAY! Full results from last month's poll and a rundown of the current poll are coming later today!

The new band is Riverin, a new local industrial hard rock project from local musicians Matt Clement and Matt Hicks, who you'll likely best recognize as half of the original Dirty Virgin lineup! You may also recognize both Matts as ex-Silver Dream members, and you might remember Matt Hicks from his work as the drummer in T.H.E.I.D and MY ID too! However, don't expect stuff similar to their past bodies of work with Riverin, this is actually really original compared to other local bands! While Matt and Matt pool their influences into their material, they're also incorporating a lot of other types of music into their songs, including piano tracks, a synthesizer, and even some orchestral pieces! The band have three songs posted on their MySpace page, with Matt Clement on guitars and Matt Hicks on vocals and drums, though they are looking to add members. Definitely original stuff compared to what we usually hear, the songs have sort of a Nine Inch Nails vibe, and they have some nice beats and melodies that have sort of a trance like effect moreso that still manages to be heavy! Vocals take a bit of time to get used to though, they don't immediately work with the tone of the songs. "A Calm Wind" is particularly notable for the effects used and glimpses into what original sounds we could be in for!

Though launched late last year, Riverin took a while to publicly announce anything band-related besides their name, but it's nice to see the Matts moving forward with this project to a point where we all can see & hear! They have promise, and are apparently working on an E.P. for an eventual local release, so that'll be worth checking out! See what you think, click here to visit their MySpace page, or check out their (under construction) Facebook group!

Next up, we have more Woods of Ypres updates! I told you I had more coming, and here they are! Firstly, the fourth installment of bassist Shane Madden's tour diary on Decibel Magazine's website was posted online on Monday, detailing the band's tour dates from Austin, Texas through New York City! Another good, well written read, detailing the shows they played as they entered the latter half of their American concert stretch! Read it to check out discussions of a guy reportedly "pissed" at the band in Austin, the Soviet Cold War-themed venue they played, why they couldn't get drunk in and around their Georgia concert, the positive vibes of their Philadelphia concert and the van break-in in New York, and much more! Another really good read, click here to check it out, and stay tuned for the final installment detailing their remaining Northeastern and Canadian shows! Also on the Woods of Ypres docket, Natalie Zed of Hellbound.ca posted a review of Woods of Ypres' Toronto concert at this location, and she gives a lot of deserved focus to the opening bands, where many reviews I've seen don't tend to. She almost spends as much time talking about past Woods of Ypres experiences and tour history as she does the actual show, but her review is well written and detailed in discussing how they performed, and they brought it by her account! Click here to read her review! Stay tuned for more Woods of Ypres updates as they come in!

And now, we come to some updates from local hard rockers Browbeat, who have a couple of new developments to share that came up over the weekend! For one, the band have announced the return of original bassist Tiffany Emmerson! Great to see her back, she was a good element to the band way back, though it doesn't look like a Chris Smith return is in the works, so it won't be a complete reunion, but a new drummer has apparently been chosen, but hasn't been announced yet. I'll keep you posted on that development! Also, the band have launched an official YouTube channel as well! Presumably the work of frontman Dutch Vanderploeg, it currently features two videos, one of which a slideshow video for their song "Narrow Mind" featuring the band's brief lineup that featured Rich Moreland and Sean See in the photos. Very good song, but the video I'm embedding here is a live performance clip from the band's last show, at their only show under the Social Play name in January, which is a cover of Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction", as filmed by Shelly McKie! Shaky camera work, but good quality, and it's a great performance, though the vocals sound kinda off. Check it out below, and more from Browbeat at the above links!



Finally today, here's some overdue updates from Sault Ontario guitar standout Brendan Christie! Brendan's been busy in recent months working on songs for his upcoming debut solo album, and has been making some nice edits to his MySpace page recently as well! There haven't been any brand new songs posted there, but check out what he has on there, cause his guitar work is VERY impressive! His blog on MySpace has also been a good source of updates for his solo project, but according to his newest post on July 11th, he's finally getting a band going! It's called Herityk, and he said that their MySpace page will be up soon! Great to hear, I've always thought since I found him online that he'd be an excellent addition to a metal band, I'll keep you posted on any Herityk developments! And finally for updates on Brendan, he posted a new video onto his YouTube channel on July 6th! It's a live demo performance of the solo on his original song "Epitaph For A Dying World", and it sound great, he's shredding some awesome notes and melodies, even if we only get 36 seconds of video! I wonder how the full song will sound? Check out the video below, and more from Brendan at the above links!



That's all for now, but stay tuned later tonight where we FINALLY go over the results of last month's poll and discuss this month's poll! The poll is launched, so VOTE TODAY!!! Stay tuned for lots of poll-related goodness, and updates on that Subsistance show, later tonight!

A Concert Cancellation, A New Local Band, And Much More!!

Greetings everyone! I have some more local metal news to share with everyone on this fine Wednesday evening! Mostly assorted news that's piled up lately, but we're kicking things off in style with a new local metal band and a concert cancellation. So here's what you need to know!

(EDIT: 4:32 PM): According to a posting on The Canadian Nightclub's Facebook group by Mary Lou Johnson, the planned performance by Burlington's 2112: A Tribute To Rush has been cancelled. No reason as to why was given, but to be fair, the band never announced the show on their website. In their place tomorrow night will be DJ Beetle, so if that's your thing, head on out! According to the same posting, Mary Lou mentioned that a Bon Jovi tribute band would be playing at The Canadian next weekend. I will research which band it is and will plug the show in my next post if I can verify which band. Stay tuned! Shame that 2112 cancelled, but they do a good job covering Rush, hopefully they will come here for a show one day in the near future!

Next up, I have discovered a new local metal band! They are called Hammerspace, they are a progressive metal band from Sault Michigan, and I just came across their MySpace page in some Google crawling I conducted earlier today! They launched their page on April 26th of this year, though depending when they wrote their description, may have been together since January. These guys have played live at least once, rocking out at The Corner Pub Bar & Grill on May 6th, and believe me, if I'd have known about Hammerspace then, I'd have alerted you guys to the show! The band consists of singer Logan Reed, guitarists Justin Smith & John Bergeron (creator of the local psychedelic/trance project Immortal Danish), former Burn The Day bassist Tim Padoba, and Bent Rollercoaster drummer Paul Burns! Nice to see them getting back into the local scene!

Hammerspace have no videos online that I've seen, but lucky us, they have audio! Click here to check out four live songs from a practice session in April! My assessment of them is: Not bad, the songs have a nice groove, though Logan definitely sounds better when he's using angrier harsher singing than with his cleaner singing voice. I imagine it'll be better to judge Hammerspace though when they get better audio samples, or more live shows booked, but they have obvious promise! I can't wait to hear more, and when I do, you'll find out here!

Thirdly today is some updates from local music store Case's Music, which has been a well known source of musical instruments and lessons for many years! Owner Mike Case handed over ownership of Case's Music to his nephew Jay Case and his wife Carrie Suriano, who will be renovating the Spring Street-based building this summer prior to a grand re-opening in September! Local music fans will be sure to recognize Jay from his work in numerous local bands, including Bigsuit, The Chris Belsito Band, The Wild Turkeys, and Big Wheel & The Spokes, so he's definitely got the music genes in him, and should do very well as the new "Case" of Case's Music! So to all you musicians out there, things are in good hands over at Case's Music! Sad to see Mike retire though, he was an ardent supporter of young local musicians, it was apparent each year with the Case's Music Battle of the Bands he put on, which helped give some young local bands their first exposure, including 2008 high school division winners Stillbroke! Also of note, Jay will be bringing many new musicians with him for the re-opening as additional teachers at Case's Music, mostly bandmates of his, including Crank Sound Distribution's George Ravlich (himself a veteran of some local metal/hard rock bands) as a bass instructor! Check out SooToday's article on the Case's Music ownership change by clicking here!

Before we close with some assorted quick stories, here's a new video I found online from local metal guitarist/solo artist Brendan Christie! It's an acoustic performance of the first movement of a new classical piece he wrote called "Ode To Darkness", and I have to say, I like it! It has kind of an ominous melody that would fit well in a metal song if he chose to go that route with it! I've always been impressed with Brendan's talent, this is just another example of the things he can do on his guitar that set him apart! Check it out below, and visit his YouTube channel for more videos from him, or his MySpace page for audio samples and more!



Finally for today, three more random stories from my news pile, in order by band name:

• SooToday has been running a weekly feature called "Friday Hot Shot" since April, which features a locally relevant photo of some type taken by Donna Hopper. This past Friday, it featured a photo of Lion Ride guitarist Marky Lion from their concert on May 22nd at The Canadian Nightclub! Curious that there was no review of the show posted too, but I'll take what we can get! Check out the great photo by clicking here!
• My apologies for the lateness of this, I don't know how it slipped me by! A new local band named Nocturnal Majesty (out of Sault Ontario) are looking for a drummer who would like to play for them! Kory Derasp from the band stresses that anyone interested must be a serious drummer. Their old drummer left for family reasons. If you're interested in trying out for this position in Nocturnal Majesty, contact Kory Derasp at this location! Just to note, they practice on Mondays and Tuesdays. Sorry for the late posting of this, Kory!!
  
• The announcements of bands playing the Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival has been incredibly slow, hopefully they announce a full lineup soon! Regardless, I have found another confirmed band! Boston rock band StilrizE will be back for the festival, playing on July 23rd as one of the support bands for Three Doors Down, along with Finding Clyde and many others! You may recognize StilrizE as one of the bands who backed up Papa Roach last November at Kewadin! I don't think StilrizE are really "metal", but seeing as they're part of the festival, they should get mentioned! More about the festival as it comes in!

That's all for now, I will have much more in the next few days! Friday is likely for a new post, I have an announcement to make on Friday concerning the SMS' 3rd anniversary, so keep an eye out for it, because I need your help concerning it! Stay tuned!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Lion Ride & Riot! By Night), Assorted News, And A New Summer Concert Festival?!

Happy Easter Monday! It took a bit of searching, but I cobbled together enough stories for a packed new post on The Sault Metal Scene! Today, I have some new songs from a pair of local metal solo projects, some fallout from Garden of Bedlam's latest show, a new local concert festival, and leading off, three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!

Lion Ride are coming back home! Yes, the local metal band will be back at The Canadian Nightclub on May 22nd, returning to the venue of their heartbreaking one-point loss at the Kiss Battle of the Bands! This time, they'll be front and center, headlining with opening bands to be announced. No cover charge has been announced yet, but the concert has a listed start time of 10:00 PM on May 22nd! On the Facebook event page, the band are hyping new songs to be played, so there's all the more reason to go! You can guarantee I'll be there, this should be one hell of a concert! It's been too long since Lion Ride were here, I know there will be a great crowd for them! As I hear more about this show, and of course, who'll be playing bass for them, I'll have it here! Click here for more info and songs from Lion Ride! (Also, what happened to the Garden of Bedlam-parodying poster for the show? That was funny!)

The other new concerts on the horizon are in the Sault Michigan area, with locals Riot! By Night hitting the road, slightly, for two shows I'd call local, and one that's a bit further out. They'll be heading to Rudyard and Barbeau, both of which are just outside of the Soo, for two shows later this month! They'll be at Dan's Place in Rudyard on April 17th (I thought that was someone's house in earlier RBN/Absolute shows there before, stupid me!), while they'll be at The Cozy Corners Bar & Grill in Barbeau (Nixxon Dixxon have played there before too) on April 30th! Finally, they'll be at Timmy Lee's in St. Ignace on May 8th, which is slightly too far for me to call "local", but keep that show in mind! Now none of these shows have a listed cover charge, but all are said to start at 9:00 PM on their official MySpace page, so you know a rough time to head out for them! Nice to see them expanding their reach, here's hoping for much more from them in the future! I'll keep you posted if I hear anything more!

Now we'll stay in Michigan for this very intriguing story that I came across on Kewadin Casino's website! Did you know that Kewadin Casino is celebrating it's 25th anniversary this year? Yeah, it opened way back in the fall of 1985, and in honour of the milestone, the casino is planning a three day summer music festival! Entitled "Kewadin Casino's 25th Anniversary Summer Festival", it's scheduled for July 22-24th, and will feature local and non-local bands, with apparent "national entertainers" headlining each night. It also lists stuff like "food eating contests", and more things that could go over pretty well! For as much info as they've announced so far, click here! Now there are no confirmed bands yet, but I feel comfortable mentioning this festival here because Kewadin Casino has a good track record for including hard rock and metal bands for shows at their various venues within, so I figure there'll be at least one metal band! This all sounds very ambitious and promising, but the prospect exists that this can become an annual event if it's successful! As always, I'll keep you posted!

Two more stories, and we're back in Sault Ontario for them. Firstly, Donna Hopper from SooToday has a review and photo album from this past Friday's Garden of Bedlam concert at The Canadian Nightclub! Entitled "Farewell Garden of Bedam. For now", it tells us stuff we've mostly heard already, and surprisingly lacks any mention of Half Past's set, but as always, the photos are top notch! I really like this shot of Buzz in silhouette, but there's a bunch of others at this location, so check them out! My neck still hurts from the show, it was an awesome local sendoff prior to their album recording sessions, but they'll be back! Oh yeah, check out their official website!

And finally, there's some new solo material online from a pair of Sault Ontario metal acts! Local guitarist Brendan Christie has a new song posted on his MySpace page, entitled "Into Oblivion", which is slower but the guitars are still heavy and there's some nice solo work! The piano adds to the song a lot, I don't know if that's Brendan's playing, but it's really good! The other new stuff comes from By The Gods, the solo project from Lorax guitarist Mitch Sirie! He uploaded two new demos, "Swept Away" and "The Only Road I've Ever Known" onto By The Gods' MySpace page, and I'm really impressed! Check out "Swept Away" especially, it's over 11 minutes of really good instrumental metal! I'd love to see Mitch get some other musicians together and make By The Gods a full band, at least I'd like to see it! Click on the links above to check out the songs!

That's all for now, expect a preview of Sykotyk Rampage's concert on Wednesday tomorrow at some point, along with my review of "Apocalyptic Vision" by Integrated System of Machines later in the week, and more!

Another Local Metal Video Showcase!!!

Hey guys, it's video time at the SMS! Lots of new local metal-related videos to share today, thanks to some new uploads on YouTube! News will come tomorrow, but now, it's movie time, get your popcorn! Oh, and VOTE IN THE NEW SMS POLL!

We'll start with a new live video from locals Lion Ride! This comes from frontman Mikey Lion's YouTube channel, and it's a performance from their show on Wednesday in Burlington at The Red Rooster with The Saigon Hookers! Now do you notice that Diamond Brent Panther and Marco Lion are missing? Let me explain. You probably heard that Brent left the band, but Marco sadly had to miss this gig. Carmine Romano from The Saigon Hookers is filling in on bass for this tour stretch, and their frontman Tommy Smokes joined on guitar for this song. As Tommy only knows his band's stuff, Lion Ride covered The Saigon Hookers song "She Blows My Mind"! To my knowledge, the rest of the songs had Lion Ride as a four piece. Doesn't sound bad, it has good energy, reminds me of Lion Ride's own originals! I'm not too familiar with The Saigon Hookers, but this sounds really good, I'll have to check them out! And of course, you guys can check it out below!



Next up, while we wait for a new show announcement from local punk/metal band Destroilet, fans can be tided over with this new video that surfaced from their debut performance from this past December at the Detroit CD release concert at Coch's Corner! It's a cover of the song "Evil God Hater" by Fist Magnet, themselves a classic local band! This was just uploaded yesterday on the band's YouTube channel. The video could be better, it was filmed from pretty far behind the crowd, you get a better angle of the backs of everyone's heads then the band (You can make me out pretty easily, my long hair stands out.) Only 90 seconds, I don't think it's the full song, but it sounds good! The sound redeems the video, it sounds really clear! Heavy with a punk sensibility to it, Mike Hull sounds really aggressive vocally, and the guitar's really good too! Check it out for yourself!



Thirdly, we have a new commercial from local hard rockers Stillbroke for their first EP, "Never Enough"! This was uploaded onto Stillbroke's YouTube channel on Thursday. Here's the commercial's synopsis: Frontman Jesse Frigault smashes an old piano with a sledgehammer, with their song "Wash It Away" playing in the background! I think in ways, this symbolizes Stillbroke's musical approach, smashing an old instrument they wouldn't use in favor of their own style! Plus, if you're a fan of the heavier stuff, seeing Jesse destroy the piano is cool! The video ends with info on how to pick up "Never Enough" and a picture of the band's current lineup! I think the video works, what do you think? See for yourself, especially if you like Stillbroke and hate pianos!



Next, here's a type of video we don't see often in the local metal scene: An autograph signing! Sault Michigan fans will still likely remember the Pop Evil benefit concert at Kewadin Casino from February 27th, and as it turns out, the show was preceded by a meet and greet/autograph session! I believe this was in Kewadin Casino itself, but don't quote me, I wasn't there. The video primarily focuses on Evans Blue frontman Dan Chandler signing an autograph for one of the younger fans (Never too early to rock!) The video was uploaded by YouTube user KrisJamieson09, who also uploaded the "A Step Back" performance from the Sault show. This clip's only 25 seconds long, but it's cool to see a different side of a performing band from a local show for a change! Autograph signings should happen more often for major local shows like this, don't you think? Take a look!



The final two videos tonight come from a pair of local metal guitarists! Well, I say two videos because I'm only embedding two here, they have plenty more on their respective YouTube accounts! Firstly, we come to local metal guitarist Brendan Christie, whose solo work has impressed me in the past! He has a YouTube channel of his own now, previously his videos had been hosted on the next guitarist I'm mentioning's account. Compared to what we typically hear from Brendan on MySpace, most of his YouTube performances take a more classical bent, showing off his talent a lot! Never hurts to be diverse! Two of the videos I've seen before, three I haven't, and I'm still impressed! If he's not in a local band yet, he should be! Here's the coolest one he has uploaded so far, a 64 second free-style tapping solo! Thumbs up from me!



And finally, we come to a friend of Brendan's, and fellow local guitarist, Jonathan Tiberi (a.k.a. The Last Warrior of Rock!) You may recognize Jonathan as the guitarist for the local metal band Losing Ground, and for his own solo work, which you can check out on MySpace! Like Brendan, he has some good guitar skills, and hopefully we'll see more of it to come! He has lots of videos on his YouTube channel, ranging from his own performance videos, to videos where he talks to the YouTube audience, to some different clips like some Rock Band 2 gameplay and cooking videos, and more! Of the videos where he plays guitar, they're mostly covers, some acoustic, some electric, including a "Name That Riff" video, and even some bass stuff! He's good, though I'd like to see more original stuff on YouTube too. There's some originals, including one of Losing Ground, but let's see some more! I'll show you guys one of his covers, here's his version of "Wooden Cross" by Witchcraft!



Hope you guys enjoy these videos, there's more to come! And yes, there's news coming too, including photos from a big recent show, a local band's drummer search, and more! Stay tuned!

Battle Of The Bands, Woods Of Ypres, Shift, And Brendan Christie Updates!

Hey guys, more news to share with everyone today, and let us begin with this: Attention local bands and band members! Here's what you need to know so far about the Battle of the Bands next month!

Erin Lemke from The Algoma University Students' Union has revealed more details about the Battle of the Bands to take place at The Speakeasy on December 1st, which is two weeks from tomorrow! First of all, how can you enter your band? Well, as I said yesterday, your band must be locally based and have some recorded material. The band entrance fee is $100, which does sound steep, but it's to ensure bands will participate and not pull out. Besides, it's for United Way charities, and this could be a big opportunity, so I guess it depends on if you have the cash and are willing to pay it. Fees won't have to be paid until after the final bands are chosen.

There are only spots open for SEVEN bands, so get your entries in while you can! To enter your band for consideration for the battle, e-mail Erin at elemke@algomau.ca this information: Your band's name, the names of the band members, contact information (including at least one e-mail address & phone number), your genre of music, an internet link to check out your music/videos, length of time playing together, whether you're a local band or not, any potential sound requirements, if you're prepared to pay the entrance fee, and why you want to enter the battle!

The battle will take place December 1st at 7:00 PM, with entered bands to show up early for set up. Tickets will be $7 for Algoma University students with a student card, and $10 for anyone else. No word yet on prizes or if the battle's all ages or not, I'll keep you guys posted! Also, judge Dustin Jones pulled out due to concert obligations with The Rising Tide, a replacement is to be announced. Get full details as they come in for this battle at this location, and remember to e-mail elemke@algomau.ca for questions and battle entries! Band announcements may come by this weekend, and I've seen interest from Bring The Fallen & Dirty Virgin members on Facebook, which is a potentially good sign!

Next up, more updates from Woods of Ypres, concerning their new release, Woods IV: The Green Album! A pair of online stores are now selling the album, and lucky for those of you that didn't pre-order, not only is it cheaper there than the initial pre-orders were, but it also includes the special bonus disc! And thanks to these online sellers, I can now confirm that the bonus disc is......."Slaughter of the Seoul", the new album from South Korean death metal band Necramyth, who Woods frontman David Gold drummed for during the recording of the album! I assumed it'd be an album of Woods of Ypres live tracks or a compilation of some sort, but this works, it's a good freebie! I likely won't review it in December (it isn't technically a "local" album), but Necramyth are brutal as hell, and death metal fans won't want to ignore them! Also, "Slaughter of the Seoul" and "The Green Album" share more than just similar album art, the online sales sites state that Necramyth's new album "actually tied into the 'The Green Album' conceptually and artistically." So there you go!

Now that the cat's out of the bag in terms of the bonus disc, here's how you can buy the album online if you haven't already! Visit here to buy the album from Century Media Records, and here to buy it from The End Records! From The End Records, it's $15.99, but it's just $14.11 right now from Century Media, so that might be your best option to getting "The Green Album", but either way, you're saving cash! More details on the CD's release to come, including likely more reviews, when it will be available in Sault-area stores, and my thoughts on the album before my official review on December 1st! And before anyone asks, I AM NOT linking to torrents of it, if any are online. Support the band and actually BUY the album, for god's sake!

And finally, two quick updates from some local metal performers. First, have you noticed a lack of news from Sault Michigan hard rockers Shift this month? Well, there's a very good reason for that! Shift frontwoman Amy Beairl and husband/guitarist Joey are expecting another baby, which is due in March! So the band are currently on hiatus, but hope to be back to play Pigfest in Ishpeming next June! They have mentioned this on their MySpace page, so there's my source. Congratulations to Amy and Joey on the upcoming arrival! Also, Sault Ontario solo artist Brendan Christie has uploaded some new songs to his official MySpace page! Check out the newest ones at this location, the new songs are the ones with the lowest viewcount. I'm really digging "Road To Insanity", I can't wait to hear what's up Brendan's sleeve next!

That's all for today! What's coming up on The Sault Metal Scene? Well, there will be a new poll (and results of the current poll) at some point Wednesday, as well as more upcoming news on the Battle of the Bands, "The Green Album", and a likely review of this Saturday's Tym Morrison concert! Stay tuned for more!