Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Constructed Apocalypse

It's time for our next Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile, and third-last feature post of March 2012! In our 34th profiled band in this series, we're looking at another notable band from out of town who featured a Sault Ontario/Michigan resident in their past or present lineups, and you may remember this one well from some recent all ages shows in the area! Now, I don't have as much on this band's past lineups and details as some other recent profiled bands in this series, so please let me know if you can fill in any blanks! For now, enjoy this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! (Updated on November 26th, 2014)
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Constructed Apocalypse (Windsor, Ontario)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; members not in their last full lineup in italics. This lineup information is incomplete. E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you have any additions or corrections!)

Vince Donaghey (vocals/ex-bass)
Roberto Gasparin (guitar)
"Moose Knuckle" (bass)
Sean Furlong (drums)

Steve Giroux (vocals)
Jeremy Hannah (vocals)
Matt Shearer (vocals)

Spencer ???? (guitar)
Josh ???? (bass)

Official MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/constructedapocalypse
Official MySpace page (original): http://www.myspace.com/destructivepattern

Local Info: Only one Saultite has been in Constructed Apocalyse's lineups, that being local musician and concert promoter Jeremy Hannah. Currently well known for fronting the acoustic indie band The North Shore and for running his live music company Pure Sonic Audio, Jeremy might be best known in local music circles for his mid-late 2000s run as a local concert promoter with Big Voiced Records, including shows that Constructed Apocalypse has played on. Jeremy has also gained local notice as a singer and guitarist with bands here and in Ottawa like Ocean View, but he has sang more aggressive metal material in bands like March Into Regression, Lorax, and the band that preceded it, Constructed Apocalypse!

Band Bio: Formerly known as Destructive Pattern and Emphasis on Khrysis, Constructed Apocalypse were a hardcore band from Windsor, Ontario that were active between 2003 and 2010 under varying lineups, with only drummer Sean Furlong participating in each incarnation. Details on their runs under their old names are sparse, but they evolved from a jam band to a serious touring band with original songs, and were seen in Sault Ontario at The Oddfellows Hall on at least two occasions. Playing an experimental death metal style, Constructed Apocalypse opened for bands like Dead & Divine and Today I Caught The Plague during their late 2000s peak, among other local and Southern Ontario dates. Jeremy Hannah's run with the band isn't well documented, but he sang with them from at least 2008-early 2009, including on at least one local show, before being replaced by Matt Shearer. Constructed Apocalypse quietly went inactive in early 2010, with Sean and bassist Moose Knuckle launching the popular hardcore band Burn The Path as their next musical project, which has since splintered off into active Southern Ontario bands like Beastmode and Reasons Lost.

There isn't a lot of full band material to judge Constructed Apocalypse with, but from what I do have, I sense some good talent! They had a solid developing death metal sound with some nice riffing and some good effective drumming from Sean Furlong, but the recordings available online aren't of the highest quality. The originals I've heard need more vocals, guitar solos, and more of a technical element than their bios lead you to believe, but they were definitely on the right track! Their only posted song with vocals ("Venereal Disease") is a good step, but Steve Giroux's singing is too loud in the mix. I'm also curious to hear how they'd have sounded with Jeremy on vocals, especially given his more-hardcore singing style. From what I've heard, I can say that Constructed Apocalypse were a talented young band, but Burn The Path and the bands that succeeded them have advanced their sound and talent levels even higher in my opinion!

For media, there's two demos of Constructed Apocalypse on their MySpace page, but drummer Sean Furlong's YouTube channel has the most band material, including 4 live instrumental jam videos from mid-2009 and a lot of solo performance videos, mostly of Sean drumming their original tracks. Here's their original song "Eradication", but see and hear much more from Constructed Apocalypse at the above links!


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There we go, hopefully you guys liked this month's profile! Next month, we're likely looking at our first solo project in this series in 10 months, that being the Southern Ontario black metal project Winters of Silence, fronted by current Sault College student Ryan DeWinter! Look out for our next profile in this series between April 23rd and 29th, so keep an eye out, and stay tuned for a new news post later today! Thanks everyone!

Weekend Concert Previews, Some New "Old" Local Albums Online, And A Bit More!

Hey everyone, hope you're enjoying your Friday so far! So for today's post, there's previews of this weekend's four metal concerts in Sault Michigan, new uploads of two more local hard rock albums (one out of print, one never printed), the local presence in a notable Ontario band, and three tinier news stories. But let's begin with your local concert previews for this weekend!

Thanks once again for Ernest Beaumont AND the Facebook page for The Dondee for helping to confirm this: Sault Michigan hard rockers Nixxon Dixxon will be playing at Dondee Lanes TONIGHT AND TOMORROW NIGHT! Ignore the lack of these shows being listed on the band's MySpace page, they are definitely there this weekend for a pair of awesome shows! No cover charge is announced, you likely must be 21, and both concerts start at around 8:00 PM. That's about all I know, but most Nixxon Dixxon concerts follow the same template, so don't expect too much different! Should be some fun shows, they're only getting bigger and better from here! Check out some more information and material from these guys at this location, and for a preview, here's a clip of the band covering the Alice In Chains classic "Man In The Box" from their Halloween show in St. Ignace last year!



The other concerts this weekend, take them with a bit of a grain of salt, but Kewadin Casino would not lie to me! Sault Michigan hard rockers Blind Baby will apparently be playing there at The Rapids Lounge this weekend! Same nights and general times as Nixxon Dixxon, no cover, 21+, all that. Note that the band has NOT confirmed these shows on band pages, these come straight from the entertainment page on Kewadin Casino's website, which is valid proof! Now I can't tell you a whole lot about Blind Baby, I do know that drummer Ivan Schliska also plays in the local hard rock band Scofflaw, and their images on their Facebook page do point to a band of a heavier nature, but that's about all I can reasonably determine. No audio or video to speak of yet, but I know they do play covers, if that's a help! But I'll give them this: Unlike certain Kewadin Casino performing bands like Rainbow and Gary's Driving, Blind Baby do have a page, even if it is limited, so I at least have something to go by! So head on out to The Rapids Lounge to check out Blind Baby if you want to, I'll keep you posted if I hear anything more on these guys!

Now here's some intriguing band member news that has a local connection, though it's not a local band. Do you remember the Windsor death metal band Constructed Apocalypse (formerly Emphasis on Khrysis)? Well, you may remember seeing them as recently as June 2009 at The Oddfellows Hall with Today I Caught The Plague, as well as from backing up Dead and Divine at the same venue under their old name! Well, the band have replaced former frontman Steve Giroux with.....Sault Ontario's own Jeremy Hannah! You'll no doubt recognize him as a frequent area concert promoter (including Constructed Apocalypse shows), but also from his singing work in local bands like Lorax and Armistice! Looks like the addition of Jeremy to Constructed Apocalypse is relatively recent, my best guess is March? Well, in any event, MySpace confirms Jeremy's involvement, click here for proof! Maybe they'll come back up here for a show if this pans out?

Now for three smaller news stories, in alphabetical order by band name:

• The Canadian Nightclub have launched their own Facebook event page for next Saturday's Crued concert (that's the Motley Crue tribute band!) There, it confirms that the show will cost $5 in advance or $8 at the door, there's some special alcohol deals for the concert, and there will be a contest for the craziest hair/mullet! This show is expected to sell out, so get your ticket TODAY, and confirm your attendance at the link above!
• A new band has announced their involvement for the Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival! The band is Finding Clyde, an indie rock band from Essexville, Michigan, and their MySpace page specifically says they're playing with Three Doors Down on the Friday, July 23rd portion of the event. Not metal, but it's part of the festival, so it warrants mentioning here! As I hear more, you'll know from me!
• In Lion Ride recording news, the band's Facebook page hyped that this week was the final week of pre-production for the album at Toronto's BWC Studios! They officially hit the studio on Tuesday to lay down four new tracks that will, quote, "punch you in the vagina", unquote. Gotta love a band with a sense of humour! Check the above links to keep up to date on the progress of Lion Ride's next disc!

And finally for today, I have uploaded two more local hard rock albums in their entirety to The Sault Metal Scene's YouTube channel! One is "Waiting For Lightning", the 2003 debut album from inactive hard rockers Aftersight! This was widely available back in the mid-2000s, but I haven't seen it for sale in quite some time, and the last time I even saw a physical copy was when they distributed copies at the Sick Jams for Sick Kids benefit at The Grand Theater in December 2008! Good album, radio-friendly hard rock, it deserves more local attention, so why not put it online? The other is "Souls For Sale", the still yet-to-be-released debut album from local grunge band No Arrow! Recorded from 2007-2009, a release date for it is not in the cards at all, mainly due to problems I won't publicize. The recording's finished, the artwork is made up, but the CD has never been officially released. Hopefully it will be in the future, but in the meantime, you can contact the band if you want the album for free in mp3 format! Contact them at their MySpace page if you're interested! I know they had a good reputation and fan base in their heyday, so hopefully there's interested people out there! And thanks to frontman Dann Pichette for both sending me the album and greenlighting me to upload it to YouTube as well! Gotta get this stuff out there, it needs to be heard!

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED IN EITHER OF THESE ALBUM UPLOADS!!! Neither album is for sale or in stock at a local store (except for a possible used Aftersight CD at The Rad Zone), and I want these songs to get the exposure they deserve, so fans can check them out and enjoy this music! I share no ill will or bad intentions by uploading these! So if you want to check out Aftersight and/or No Arrow's albums, head to The Sault Metal Scene's YouTube channel! I'll link you to the first song on both, so here's "Wide Open Sky" by Aftersight and "Genocyde Revealing Pt. 1" by No Arrow! Remember, YouTube has the remainder of both albums! (And yes, I WILL REVIEW THESE IN THE COMING MONTHS ON THE SMS!)





That's all for now, stay tuned for more news, updates, previews, reviews, and anything else local and metal related, right here at The Sault Metal Scene! Keep it metal!