Two Recent Interviews With Heavy Lies The Crown!!

Remember how St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown had been interviewed for a podcast in March, only to get lost in our backlog despite me mentioning it in posts? Yeah, well they actually have another one from early 2023 that I didn't know about, so let's take some time today to finally address them! The new-to-me interview (I don't even think H.L.T.C. posted about it) is even earlier still, premiering as a Facebook live-stream on January 26th, and it was conducted via Zoom by Dustin Noell of Ghost Media Entertainment, a promotional agency based out of Missouri, with co-hosting duties by his young daughter Zelda, believe it or not. Heavy Lies The Crown are represented here by singer Brandon West and guitarist Ted Olson, and I do recommend that you crank the volume on your device while watching the interview, as Brandon & Ted are very quiet compared to Dustin & Zelda in the live-stream.

In the 59 minutes-long interview, Brandon & Ted talk about how their current lineup came together (including complications at some venues given drummer Jaxon Massaway not even being 19 yet), playing music for the passion vs. the money, their evolution from jamming to actually being a real band, their upcoming album and planned heavier material as of January, working with David Dominguez on mixing some older material, plans to play more shows in 2023, their favourite songs to play live, the inspirations of various songs of theirs, how they came up with the Heavy Lies The Crown name, their favourite (and most disturbing) movies, the band that they'd most like to play with, issues playing live when most of their shows are 5 hours away, their upcoming concerts & label aspirations, and much more. Zelda asks a few questions too, and Brandon's daughter even makes a cameo.

Fun interview with a casual atmosphere that benefits from Brandon & Ted knowing Dustin already (he clearly has Michigan ties and even notes plans to move back there for work reasons), and the addition of Dustin's daughter Zelda for the whole interview helps keep things light and approachable! How many metal band interviews feature bits about stuffed animals and Arby's, after all? Not many scoops to note beyond plans that may have already began rolling out (I am behind on recent Heavy Lies The Crown news), but give their Ghost Media Entertainment interview a watch below!

As for the interview from March 13th that I did know about, that one was actually an audio interview done for a podcast, namely Dark Side Of The Scene, which is hosted out of Indiana by To My Dismay frontman Brandon Wright and his co-host Ed Corella. This podcast (whose episodes are cross-posted to their YouTube channel) is themed around touring musicians and the ups & downs that they go through with bandmates, promoters, and venues, and given that H.L.T.C. travel downstate for the vast majority of their concerts, they should have stories to tell! In their 92 minute episode (the fourth ever for Dark Side Of The Scene), they talk to the whole band except Ted, now including guitarist Christian Thanasiu, bassist Christian Cook, and drummer Jaxon Massaway. The interview begins about 4 minutes in with plugs for their recent studio work and how things have been going for recording the material.

Diving into the themes of the podcast moreso, Heavy Lies The Crown next discussed how there's nowhere for them to play in the Eastern Upper Peninsula (they have gotten offers to play in Sault Ontario but various issues keep them from coming across), and how they have to commute downstate for almost all of their gigs. They also discuss how there isn't a massive scene for metal bands in St. Ignace and/or the E.U.P., but they do praise local musicians in general and how kind people are up here. The band do talk up the opportunities that they've had in the Lower Peninsula, but they are candid (if always polite) about their negative experiences from tour runs and the shows that they've played, which will be especially interesting if you were at these concerts. H.L.T.C. next discuss their lineup, how close apart they live, and exactly what led to Nathan, Danny, and Cale leaving last year, before going into experiences recording in studio.

After some more casual discussion about life in the E.U.P. and whatnot, they address the Heavy Lies The Crown name and how it is also being used by an existing death metal band from Indiana (I'm surprised that the two have coexisted for this long), before addressing their then-current merchandise, the genre that they consider themselves to be, and more assorted topics before playing "God's Butter" on air. Another solid interview, if often very respectful without taking any overtly direct shots at the bad experiences that they've had on the road, let alone their being an outlier in the E.U.P. in terms of contemporary original extreme metal bands. Check their Dark Side Of The Scene interview below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more from Heavy Lies The Crown and other local bands on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

9 Times Dark - "Vicissitude" EP Review!!

It's now time for our 140th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and this month, we're taking a look at new local punk solo project 9 Times Dark's debut EP "Vicissitude"! Independently released to major streaming/download platforms on August 26th, this EP was recorded last year at Relentless Audio with producer Ryan McLaughlin, who also mixed As It Stands' "The Lost Tapes" EP. 9 Times Dark are solely (I believe) represented by local musician Christopher Raginskis, though if I am missing anything re: the album's personnel, note that 9 Times Dark don't have a dedicated band page outside of album sale locations. Speaking of which, this handy CDBaby link lists most of the official services hosting "Vicissitude", but it can also be heard on Relentless Audio's YouTube channel for free, and if you want downloadable mp3 copies, Amazon has it for $5.94. With 6 songs running for about 15 minutes, let's kick off our latest CD review!

If you noticed the relatively short run-time for 6 tracks, there's a reason for that, as half of them are sub-75 second bridging tracks, two being functionally instrumental. "Vicissitude" opens with the shortest of all namely "Frequencies", which just has the sounds of Chris (I assume) getting into & starting a vehicle, and fiddling with the FM radio dial, complete with many frequencies being quickly scanned. Not much to it, but I think he did record original song fragments to play on the "stations". This song leads right into the first proper song "Funeral Home", which definitely has a horror punk vibe to it in both lyrical themes and Chris' somewhat deeper singing voice, which has a bit of a Mike Ness quality to it. This contrasts with an upbeat modern punk vibe, which is cleanly produced and they play off each other well! Strong music all around, and this is a good way to sample 9 Times Dark early!

Third on the EP is "Celebration Of Life" (I'm noticing a theme), which is another short bridging track. Here, you get sampled dialogue of an angry woman, a vocal choir, and some processed effects over top of everything, and the woman helps segue directly into the next full song, "Last Date". The longest song on offer, this makes more good use of music contrasting with the words being sung, as this is seemingly an folksier acoustic number, but Christopher's lyrics & vocals (which remind me of Paul Kuhr from Novembers Doom in this setting) are much more sinister and downbeat. Not badly handled, I can easily picture this in a live-setting as a drinking song of sorts, but based on my musical tastes, I do prefer the more upbeat & rocking opener. The penultimate song is the last short bridging track, fittingly titled "The Bridge", but this one is a real song while it lasts.

If you liked "Last Date", this feels like a continuation of it in tone, with more of the downbeat low-register singing from Chris and a moody, dark tone. Again, not much of a song (barely longer than "Frequencies", but it fits where the EP has went. "Vicissitude" closes with "The Director", which brings things to a close on a punk trajectory (and you can probably guess that this isn't a movie director.) Musically, this really reminds me of Social Distortion, with less of the horror punk side despite the lyrical subject matter. While it's well performed and produced, and definitely full of interesting details you don't often hear in other punk lyrics, the song's pacing is a little flat compared to "Funeral Home", especially in the vocal levels. Not a bad song though! Fittingly, it closes with more FM radio dial fiddling as Chris arrives at his destination, bringing the EP full circle.

So, what are my final thoughts on 9 Times Dark's first EP? While it's very short, it's an interesting first foray that shows some relatively unique inspirations for the area! I believe Christopher took a lot of the funeral home lyrics from personal experience, and that definitely gives these songs their own flavour, and it helps to hear them together to see the story being told. The EP is lean, with only 3½ songs, but they showcase a good musical range, from gritty straight-forward punk rock to slow and downbeat numbers, and given the inspirations on offer, 9 Times Dark immediately have their own sound and place in the local scene. The production was very good, perhaps too clean given the music and lyrics on offer, and Chris is a solid musician, but I do want to hear more from 9 Times Dark in more ways than one, from this being a short EP, to the possibility of expanding beyond a solo studio project.

If you like Social Distortion-style punk bands, and/or some uniquely dark imagery in your punk rock, give "Vicissitude" a listen at the above links, and hopefully we hear more from Christopher and/or this project in 2021! I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, but what are we reviewing in March? I have an idea of what I'm looking at, and while it will likely be another new album, I'm not going to immediately state the name yet, as the album in question hasn't been publically announced by the act in question at press time. Stay tuned for updates, and for a weekend concert preview post on the site tomorrow, now that some shows are back! Thanks everyone!

A New Music Video, Updates From A New Studio, And Much More!!

(Updated at 8:53 PM) I have a new news post for you guys to check out on this Saturday morning, including some big updates from a fast rising local recording studio, a slideshow from a familiar band, and leading off, a new music video from a long awaited local album. Here's what you should know! (This post originally plugged an advertised Sunday matinee from Tym Morrison tomorrow at Reggie's Place, but that concert was postponed earlier today. Stay tuned for news on the rescheduling!)

Here's the newest single and music video from local Celtic punk quintet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide's still-forthcoming new album! Abruptly teased on their Facebook page on Monday in their first post there in almost 9 months, the video premiered on label Tidal Records' YouTube channel the next day, and it's for their new song "No Control". Uniquely, the video is entirely seen on an old school CRT TV, complete with visual quality mimicking how it may have looked on that equipment. The video proper is a slightly slow motion clip of the entire band walking outside in the woods, and it fits the song well enough, though the audio doesn't seem to be synched 100% with the video (Dustin's singing is an easy way to tell.) I'll hold comments on the song proper for now, pending our presumed review of their new CD, but give the video a watch below!

Next up, here's some topics related to a new-ish local recording studio that recently launched, namely Relentless Audio! You may have seen discussion about this studio on social media in recent months, but this studio has actually existed since April 2018, so what should you know about them? Relentless Audio is headed by veteran local punk musician Ryan McLaughlin, who you may recognize from the emo-era As It Stands and Fist Fighting Stephen Hawking, among other projects. Ryan has recorded a number of audio demos through there, though visibly more to showcase his production, and much of his pre-2020 work was with acts not from the Soo, but he definitely has talent in mixing and producing regardless of artist locale! Ryan was writing under the band name Great West Falls last year, complete with guest vocals from the Nevada-based David Valles, but only their single "Better Than This" is still up (the other went down with their old Soundcloud page.)

If Great West Falls are still active and launch a social media/band page, they would easily fit our coverage, solid upbeat hard rock sound there! After months of sporadic updates, Relentless Audio resurfaced in July to announce that they were working on material with local musician Christopher Raginskis, later revealed to be under the project name 9 Times Dark, and their debut EP, entitled "Vicissitude", came out on August 26th! This completely flew under the radar (9 Times Dark's only online presence is via postings of the album), but click here for relevant links to every major online service hosting the EP. Musically speaking, 9 Times Dark are a punk act with a bit of a dark edge, and if they had a proper band page, I'd absolutely add them to our band links too! As such, this album is absolutely in the cards for an early 2021 review on the SMS, and it's great to see Chris finally get a band going after all these years! Give the opening song a listen below!

There is one more big local album project that Ryan is working on with some old friends of his, but we'll keep that for an upcoming post. In any event, Relentless Audio are now linked on the SMS, and hopefully Ryan keeps up the great work! We'll close today with a new slideshow video all about local punk trio Redundant! Drummer Rick White posted this to his YouTube channel on Wednesday, and it features photos of him, Justin, and Andrew on stage and having fun on & off stage, including some familiar local and out-of-town faces along the way, as set to "All By Myself" from their 2018 debut EP. Despite playing on the studio recording, former bassist James White is only sparingly featured here. Fun trip down memory lane even still, so give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Stiffler's Mom & Havadder), That's Chester/Tommy Preview, And More!!

Let's keep the news coming on this Tuesday night, so what lies within today's post? New recent concert videos, our preview of a major stage production/concert featuring a popular veteran band, and first, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Havadder will apparently return to The Rockstar Bar on Saturday, November 21st for one night only! The unusually early notice is due to The Rockstar Bar's Martin Fiser announcing the show on the venue's Facebook group yesterday, which was nice of him, and we'll touch on one more new confirmation in a second from there! This will be Havadder's first show there in a month, and comes fresh off of the band's Studio 10 Halloween party, while it's presumably a one nighter due to the Rockstar Republic club nights on Fridays. Hopefully Jason, Jamie, Travis, and Scott knock it out of the park in three weekends' time, so keep this one in mind at around 10:00 PM that night, with no announced cover charge and a 19+ age limit. See the above links for more details, and don't miss Havadder's fan favourite & often heavy covers on the 21st!

Next up, Martin's other new Rockstar Bar concert confirmations also include the return of local hard rock cover/party trio Stiffler's Mom to The Algonquin Hotel's upstairs venue on Saturday, November 28th! This will be their first announced concert at The Rockstar Bar in over two months, and their first anywhere since their Canadian Nightclub shows over the October 15th weekend. Greg, Michael, and Jon always put on a fun and entertaining show, so be there on the last Saturday of the month to partake in their own often heavy covers! yes, this is a one-nighter too, but rather than the Rockstar Republic, Friday the 27th will see the return of Vancouver psychobilly band Big John Bates & The Voodoo Dollz (who you may remember from opening for White Cowbell Oklahoma in the Soo), so keep that in mind if you're into that genre! Like with the Havadder show, expect a 10:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no announced cover. Check the above links for more details!

Also today, here's our preview of a long awaited live musical production featuring a familiar classic/hard rock cover band's big contribution, as That's Chester will be the house band for Shot In The Dark Productions' version of The Who's rock opera Tommy, which begins a four night run at The Machine Shop at Mill Square TOMORROW NIGHT! An ambitious production of The Who's classic rock opera, these shows (tomorrow's gala benefit and regular shows on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday; Friday's an off day) will feature an all-local cast, including That's Chester's Greg Simpson as narrator, actor/singer Steven Hewgill in the title role, and familiar faces like Valerie Powley & Noah Morden among the cast. If you count these as concerts, these will mark That's Chester's first shows since their Rotaryfest set in July (which previewed the Tommy production.) Featuring classic songs like "Pinball Wizard" and "I'm Free", general admission for Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday's productions are available for $35 (adults) or $30 (students & seniors), while student rush tickets at the door will be $20.

Seats are limited, so get your tickets A.S.A.P. at the Community Theatre Box Office at the Station Mall or at the door if possible! Note as well that tomorrow's opening night is a gala benefit for the Canadian Mental Health Association, as Tommy deals with mental illness in it's story, with cocktails, food, a silent auction, and more. As such, tickets are $60, and are available through producer Marion Widgett only at this link. I'll be very curious to hear how this local version of Tommy does, and hopefully there's huge crowds each night to encourage more musicals like this from Shot In The Dark! Check the above links for details (or here & here), and here's a preview!



Finally for today, here's some videos from the annual Halloween Party at The Algonquin Pub, courtesy of local funk/hard rock quartet The Elements' tribute set of Sublime covers with guest saxophonist Josh Norling! Uploaded to the band's YouTube channel over the last few days, the videos include their cover of Sublime's "Wrong Way" by itself, this video featuring their versions of "Badfish" and "5446 That's My Number/Ball & Chain", and as embedded below, a 19 minute-long video from the concert! Here, you will see The Elements covering Sublime's "Saw Red" (with an unidentified guest singer doing the Gwen Stefani parts), "Same In The End", and a song whose name I didn't catch, though Rob Speers credited it as an early B-side, and later indicated that it'd be on their debut CD "G20", which is news to me. It sounds reminiscent of Sublime's "Thanx" at points, for what it's worth.

Featuring a better look at the guys' costumes, the videos are good quality, but a lot of dead air after their set is left in on the video below, and the stationary camera angle is way too high. The Elements sound good though, and Josh fits in well to give these ska punk classics the necessary horn section! Give everything a look above & below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for much more as the week rolls along! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Turner Up), A New Contest, Videos, And More!!

After another day's break to let news gather, I have lots of stuff to get to today! In this post, we have our latest classic local video, a new hard rock cover from a local musician, news on a recent book release, and a contest that we're running, but first, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!

Turner Up are back on the concert stage this weekend! The local classic hard rockers return to The Nicolet Tavern on Friday and Saturday night for a pair of entertaining nights of music! Apologies for the short notice, these were only just announced yesterday. Convenient timing though, as the Friday show coincides with guitarist Len Ward's birthday, so if you're out that day, wish him happy birthday! There is no cover charge for either night this weekend, both concerts have listed 9:30 PM start times, and you must be 19 to enter. For more details. visit the official Facebook event page! But that's not all, as they'll be back at The Nic on February 11th (no word on the 12th yet) for a Bon Soo-connected event! That night is 70s & 80s Night and Turner Up are the house band, with a planned costume contest as well for attendees dressed like their favourite rock stars! Sounds like fun, it's great to see them back with Bon Soo again, I'm fairly certain the band did a Bon Soo event last year as well! Same house rules should apply, but just in case, make sure you have a button. For more details on this special concert, check your official Bon Soo programs in this week's issue of Sault This Week! Stay tuned for more Turner Up news as it comes in!

Next up, here's a special announcement: We're running a contest! How would you guys like a $20 gift card for The Rad Zone at Wellington Square Mall? Len Ward from The Rad Zone (and Turner Up) graciously donated a $20 gift card for me to give away in a SMS contest, and you can use it to pick up any of the great items they have there, be it music, moves, games, skate products, clothes, books, or anything! I'm opening this contest up to you guys, the loyal SMS fans and readers, and I'm going to run this similarly to The Rad Zone's giveaway contests, as they seem to work well! Here's how you can win: Head to The Sault Metal Scene's Facebook page and post your name as a comment in reply to our posting about the contest. One entry per person, you must post your name for it to be a valid entry, and entries on other postings on our Facebook page won't be accepted. You'll have until 8:00 PM on February 2nd to enter (one week), and then I will randomly select one name from the eligible entries to win the gift card! So enter today at this location, cause I know someone out there could really use $20 at a great store like The Rad Zone! ENTER TODAY, you have one week!!

One more Rad Zone related note, as when I last stopped in, I finally picked up a copy of "Going Underground: A Brief History Of Punk Rock In Small Town Canada"! That's the book on the local punk scene in Sault Ontario that Paolo Colasacco launched and held a signing for on Saturday. I couldn't make the signing, but I have a copy, so here's some additional info on it for you guys! Released by Paolo Paolo Media and printed by Friesens Press, the book is 408 pages long, and takes a mostly photographic journey through the punk scene in Sault Ontario from 1985-2000. Each "wave" of the scene (roughly the late 80s, early 90s, and late 90s each) has loads of photos from concerts, photo shoots, and related events, along with some stories Paolo has from the scene from each time period. There are metal mentions, and though the book is primarily punk based, there's a lot of quality stuff in the book and a lot of bands I'd personally like to learn more about! I won't go into detail with my thoughts yet, as I want to formally review it in the near future, but it is worth checking out! Even if you were too young to be a part of the scene, why not educate yourself? It's at The Rad Zone in their Hole In The Wall book section for $30, pick it up today!

We'll close today with two videos, and first, here's a new hard rock cover from local musician Curtis J. McKenzie! We've profiled his work on here in the past, largely from his band projects like 20 Pack Of Marshmallows and Restricted Illusions, but since last year's last major updates, he's since moved to Wawa, where he continues to work as a solo artist. The old Restricted Illusions page was even taken down and now just links to his solo page, so I removed it from our band links. His solo work isn't very heavy, as we tended to get that more from his now-inactive local bands, but one of his newest videos has a local metal connection, as it's a Guns N' Roses cover! As a tribute to the band and to an unidentified person he cares for a lot, he recorded a solo cover of "So Fine" and uploaded it to his YouTube channel yesterday! That, if you guys aren't sure, was one of the few GNR songs sung by Duff McKagan, and Curtis does a good job with it, though his range is a bit high compared to what we're used to from the original. Check it out below, and for more from Curtis' solo and band projects, check the above links!



And finally, here is this week's classic video! Keeping with past trends, I am tying in this week's video with performers from an upcoming concert, and in this case, it's three of them! Those three are Bring The Fallen guitarist Dan Souliere & Bear Hunters members Nik Deubel and Justin Lam, all of whom are performing on FRIDAY at The Oddfellows Hall! As some of you may know, Dan, Nik, and Justin were all members of a defunct local black metal band named Dark Salvation, who were active in late 2007 and early 2008. A then short-haired Nik handled guitar, but Dan and Justin's instruments are no different. The lineup was rounded out by former Caedis Omnis singer Kevin Calder (you may recognize him as local wrestler Kevyn Kross) and backup vocalist Sam Mitchell, who filmed this video but doesn't contribute to the performance. Aside from Woods of Ypres, black metal is a genre we don't see a lot of local bands playing, so this was refreshing to see upon their inception. Unfortunately, their lineup was never publically completed before their demise, but this video shows some promise! It features 4/5ths of their lineup covering Dimmu Borgir's "Puritania" at a jam session from January 2008, and though they are playing along with the original audio track, they do a good if unrefined job! Kevin's got solid black metal vocals too, it's a wonder he hasn't popped up in another band since!

This was filmed by Sam Mitchell and uploaded onto her Facebook page in January 2008. The original link is at http://facebook.com/video/video.php?v=20195923496, and Sam deserves ALL CREDIT for this video! She did all the work, all I did was upload it to YouTube to expand it's audience! So check out our new classic video below, and we'll have another one in the middle of next week!



That's all for tonight, but stay tuned for more local metal news and notes soon, including weekend concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!