YouTube Channel Profile Series: Nathan S

After a mild delay due to family commitments, here is this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we're again spotlighting a YouTube channel (randomly selected as ever) whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk bands/concerts, in order to showcase the channel's uploads for current readers! Today's channel takes us back to the mid-2010s for one of the more familiar, if not that long lived, of the timely explosion of 1-2 man bands in Sault Ontario, with a cameo from a timely band reunion, so here's what you should know!

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nathan s (http://youtube.com/channel/UChwG1p_eVz_bQjN2ckXCYVw)

Owner: Former Lion Ride bassist and Fuller/Bad Back drummer Nathan Sauve, a.k.a. "Naythang Sauvege"

Channel Timeline: Launched on September 27th, 2011; Videos uploaded from May 2014 until August 2015

Channel Summary: Despite previously uploading seven videos of his hardcore/grunge duo Bad Back opening for Biipiigwan at The Moose Lodge on his sauvij channel in November 2013, Nathan opted to instead post future Bad Back videos on a separate personal YouTube channel that he created in 2011, which had no videos of its own beforehand. Nathan uploaded 19 videos to this channel, including eleven from live concerts (all but one featuring Bad Back), and seven from jam sessions. Nathan's only upload not related to a local band is a video of his dog.
 
Why You Should Watch: This is a must watch channel if you liked and enjoyed Bad Back during their 2013-2015 local run, and you get a nice cross section of their minimalist punk & grunge originals throughout the different settings! The lone non-Bad Back concert video is also very notable given who's in it, while the video of Nathan's dog will appeal to dog lovers! Remember, this channel doesn't include 2013 content, which was put on Nathan's prior channel before he opted to focus on this one, but new videos continued for about as long as Bad Back was a going concern.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

bad back uncut jam june 17 2014 official video: Nathan's first five uploads here are all jam session recordings from mid-2014, featuring him and singer/guitarist Jamie Vincent (also formerly of Fuller). Two are of them playing their own original songs "Girl, Do You Wanna?" & "Number One Hit Single", but the other three are all 50+ minute off-the-floor videos of them playing original songs and covers intermixed with amusing camaraderie, start-and-stop performances, and in-the-moment live mishaps. The channel's most viewed video of these is this jam from June 17th, 2014. It'd be a fool's errand to link to every single song attempted in the three longform videos, but Nathan loosely notes the songs and bands tackled, with some tantalizingly irreverent captions in between. Strong recording quality and enthusiasm across the board, these are a fun watch to see the guys letting loose (also, gotta love the band poster wall!)

bad back - two tongues at the new a july 15: Three different Bad Back shows were filmed for Nathan's second channel, including a private house party in their jam space via this 36 minute video, but the other two are from public events at downtown nightclubs. One was when they opened for The Archaics at The New American Pub in July 2014, where they were filmed covering NOFX's "Linoleum" and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "American Girl", as well as playing their originals "Shirt Tucker", "Drum My Way Home", and as featured here, "Two Tongues". Despite muffled vocals, Jamie & Nathan deliver strongly with nice audio quality on these hard hitting songs, but the overhead camera angle will not be for all tastes. It has grown on me, but be advised that none of Bad Back's videos on this channel go with a straight-ahead view from the floor.

Detroit Reunion Show December 23rd 2014: While two more jam session videos followed in 2015, Bad Back's last filmed public concert here was when they opened for the one-off reunion of local/Toronto hardcore punk quartet Detroit at The Algonquin Pub in December 2014. Six videos were shot for Nathan's channel that night, including four Bad Back originals & a cover of Hole's "Violet", but featured here is 5½ minutes of Detroit playing the last bit of "Blue Collar", "Lord, Beer Me Strength", "Fortress" (with Destroilet bassist Adam Larocque on guest vocals), and the beginning of "Shithouse Ratt". Remember, Detroit originals were very short, hence why so much was crammed in this one video. Featuring Slumshine/These Magnificent Tentacles frontman Brenton Ellis, ex-Maximum RNR guitarist Curtis Faux, Cross Dog bassist Mark Rand, and Inner City Surfers drummer Mikey Hawdon, this side-stage video captures another unique high angle, and they tore through their fast paced originals with ease! Note that the Bad Back videos from this event were shot on the opposite side.

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, we're looking at multiple channels due to our first randomly selected channel only having one SMS-fitting video, As such, we'll be looking at the YouTube channels of Paul Stanghetta (featuring an Apocalypse Afterparty video) and NassieHysteria (featuring a dozen Treble Charger lyric videos). Look for all of this on or around September 26th, and for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

Two More Recaps Of Metal Morpheus Episodes On The Borderline!!

We've fallen very behind on recapping episodes of Metal Morpheus on local internet radio station The Borderline, so let's dive into some more back catalog episodes! I was originally going to look at episode #17 from October 24th, which was all about local metal bands, including a few from Sault Michigan, but that episode was quietly taken down for unannounced reasons and re-aired as last night's episode with a heavily altered track listing. I have no idea why Josh overhauled it like this, but we will look at it on the site when we catch up to December in the timeline! Instead, let's stay chronological with the October 31st episode, which began a new theme for the series, as host Josh Amendola is starting to spotlight metal bands from around the world with country-specific episodes, weekly local bands aside! Rather than starting with prominent national scenes, it looks like he's going in alphabetical order.

Josh started this theme with a 64 minute episode all about metal bands from Afghanistan, and if you've ever seen Sam Dunn's excellent documentary Global Metal, you'll know about the cultural differences and persecution that metal bands can have in the Middle East, so it's nice to see Josh putting a deserved spotlight on bands from that region! The first half of the episode is entirely devoted to the same band, namely Kabul-based atmospheric black metal band Almach, who get four songs played on air, including "Battle of Tours" (1:00),  "Dream Elegy" (10:00), "Sons of Umayya" (19:20), and "Kandahar" (25:45). The second half starts with New Jersey-based Afghani death metal project Strains of Bellum with their 2020 songs "Alive" (35:20) and "Children of Isis" (40:35), before closing the themed portion of the episode with masked groove/progressive metal band District Unknown.

That band is heard via two songs of their own, namely "64" (44:50) and "Portraits" (52:40), before Josh acknowledges the loss of two local soldiers from the Soo fighting in the war in Afghanistan. Nice of him to pay respect in this way! He wraps things up with that week's local pick, namely hard rock guitarist Tym Morrison's non-album original song "Mystical" (1:00:35), so picked due to its Middle Eastern themes. Solid episode to take us through three promising metal bands whose Afghani roots definitely impacted their music, and I especially liked Strains of Bellum, so give the whole thing a listen above! As for the following episode on November 7th, the 67 run time belies the fact that it's topic (music from Albania) doesn't really have a huge recorded metal output, but Josh does make up for that by starting the episode with a historical lesson on Albanian music and its cultural origins.

Kudos to him for sticking with alphabetical order despite the obvious challenges for certain countries, but he clearly has his limits, given that some countries were skipped before his Austria episode on Nocvember 28th (was there not enough bands from Australia? Parkway Drive would fit!). Unlike the vast majority of recent episodes, a song list is not given on the episode's page, but the first song played is by Albanian progressive death metal band Gverr, entitled "Fail Philosophy" (4:15), followed by speed metal band Thunder Way's song "The Order Executors" (9:50). Black metal band Nihil (not Nile, different band) follow with their entire 2014 EP "Nën thundrën e dhunës", featuring the songs "The Majestic Word of Darkness" (16:30), "The Dark Side of Lust" (19:50), and "Macabre Ruins" (22:55), though Josh doesn't credit any of those songs by name. Death metal solo project Ethernil are played next via the song "Age of Awakening" (26:50).

The first half of the episode ends with the ambient/black metal project Cryptorsatan via their song "Hymn Ov Sathanaa (Weapons Ov Death)" (31:25), while Josh jumps back to death metal to end the Albanian portion of the episode with the band Aten's "I Call Upon Thy Name" (37:40). Possibly as a consequence of a lack of Albanian metal songs, Josh spotlights five acts with local talent to end the episode, starting with his old extreme metal band Winkstinger, via an Alan Wells-era live recording of their original song "Sadist" (44:45) from 2011, though Josh doesn't credit then-rhythm guitarist Jason Ladouceur by name in the intro. Josh does allude to recording an album that was never put out during his stint with the band, but I never heard pray tell of that outside of this episode. The deleted October 24th local-only episode aside, the first ever Sault Michigan band on Metal Morpheus is next!

Specifically, Josh went with alt-metal trio Weed via their 2007 song "4:20" (50:55), but I think he got his wires crossed keeping all these band bios straight, as he credits Papa Fogals Chair's Andy Chillman as being in the band (they were definitely from Sault Michigan, featuring ex-Clownsack bandmates). Josh next plays a song by defunct local punk band Proposition 86, namely "Scapegoat" (55:40) from their self-titled 1998 cassette tape, though I'm surprised he never mentioned that their drummer was late Woods of Ypres founder David Gold! Soo native Jeff Nisbet's old Kitchener-based solo project is next via the instrumental "The Juice" (1:00:55), and the episode ends with inactive local/Toronto hardcore punk quartet Detroit with their quick original "Spiritual Warfare" (1:04:30), specifically the "Brace For Impact" re-recording from 2009. Well, that was a lot to take in, but this was also an entertaining episode!

While the Albanian bands are definitely more obscure as a rule with not a lot of back story to draw from, I applaud Josh for trying to put the spotlight on the ones that he could, and it will be interesting to see what he can wring out of other perhaps unlikely countries! Just needs to pin down correct details moreso, especially on some of the local bands. Listen to both of these episodes at the above links, and stay tuned for more from Metal Morpheus as the month rolls along, including the next live episode this Sunday at 9:00 PM on The Borderline! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: themarkylion & Buzz Ineau's Channels

It's now time for our last monthly feature post of the first quarter of 2021, namely this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series looks at 1-3 YouTube channels (two this month) that were randomly selected from our YouTube subscriptions of channels with at least half of their content devoted to local metal, hard rock, and punk musicians/concerts.As the first channel we randomly drew only had one actual locally based project in it's two uploads, I picked one with two distinct video kinds to fill things out, but both have familiar faces to many fans from their local work that you can check out through their channels! Here's what you should know!

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themarkylion's Channel (http://youtube.com/themarkylion)

Owner: Prolific local punk musician Mark Rand (a.k.a. Marky Lion), who previously performed as a guitarist and bassist with local bands like Bin Hawdon & The Taliband, Bondar, DDPBB, Detroit, Fuller, hackthemodem, and Lion Ride (among many others), as well as a few bands in his current Southern Ontario homebase, most notably his current hardcore punk trio Cross Dog.

Channel Timeline: Launched on February 9th, 2008; Only videos posted in December 2009 & September 2010

Channel Summary: A personal use channel that hasn't been visibly updated in over a decade, Mark only posted two videos here from two different projects, and despite utilizing his Lion Ride moniker in his username, that band isn't one of them. One is a slideshow for his song "Question" from his 2010-2011 Southern Ontario-originated solo project (credited here to M.R.B., as in "Mark Rand Band"), which fans of his music should definitely enjoy! Featured here is Mark's upload of his local hardcore punk supergroup Detroit's minute-long 2009 original "Darth Vader" from their "Brace For Impact" EP, also featuring then-Lion Ride bandmates Brent Ellis & Mikey Hawdon on vocals and drums, plus fellow Saultite guitarist Curtis Faux. Blistering and explosive track for genre fans while it lasts, but you'll have to seek the rest of the EP out elsewhere on YouTube.

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Buzz Ineau (http://youtube.com/channel/UCRvcsVp2Fh0PSzemTFTsYjA)

Owner: Local alternative & hard rock singer/guitarist Erik "Buzz" Boissineau, best known locally for fronting bands like Barfly, Changing Lanes, Garden of Bedlam, and The Guitar Gangsters, as well as Toronto's Midnight Traffic.

Channel Timeline: Launched on May 2nd, 2020; Videos posted from July of last year through earlier this month

Channel Summary: Launched during the pandemic when he couldn't play live, Buzz has dedicated his channel to acoustic covers, presently including two solo performances from this month and two featuring his Guitar Gangsters bandmate Tiffany Stocco on second guitar from last summer.
 
Why You Should Watch: If you want to see current musical work from Buzz (and Tiffany), even in unplugged at-home form, this is the best spot to do so, and Buzz even got some MCTV airtime from these covers, so they're finding an audience! This is a rare case in this series where the channel we randomly picked is still very much in active use, so look for more videos here soon!

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

Nine Inch Nails (cover) “Hurt”: The most viewed video on Buzz's channel is of he and Tiffany covering Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" this past August, joining their preceding cover of The White Buffalo & The Forest Rangers’ “Come Join the Murder” (as seen on Sons of Anarchy). Buzz & Tiff handle "Hurt" well in this format, and Buzz does use his vocal range more than Trent did!

John Lennon (cover) “Imagine”: When Buzz resumed posting on his YouTube channel earlier this month, he did so via two solo acoustic covers of more emotional classics. His newest rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" has gotten more attention, but we just talked about it on the site 11 days ago, so let's shine a light on his less-viewed cover of "Imagine" by one of my mom's favourite musicians, John Lennon. Solidly effective cover that makes great use of Buzz's vocal range, despite it's sharply high camera angle, so fans of his dormant band work will want to see what he's up to here!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around April 26th when we look at a single randomly selected channel, namely YouTube user metalmaster666's channel, featuring a handful of mid-2000s hard rock performances at Dunnplugged-related events! Watch for that then, and for a new news post of some kind in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

Detroit - "Let The Hammers Fly" EP Review!!

Due to the immense slowdown in news as of late, and the unlikelihood of a major new album release this month, I'm posting our 137th monthly CD review on The Sault Metal Scene today, and we're finally looking at defunct local/Toronto hardcore punk/crossover thrash quartet Detroit's debut EP "Let The Hammers Fly"! The album artwork pictured is a recreation based on a low-res photo of one of the physical copies, I will update this if I find a scan of the actual liner. Independently released on December 27th, 2008 at their live concert debut at The Oddfellows Hall, this EP features Detroit's classic (and very familiar) lineup, including current Slumshine frontman Brenton Ellis on vocals, his old Labour Of.../Maximum RNR bandmate Curtis Faux (recently of White Cowbell Oklahoma) on guitar, and Brent's then-Lion Ride bandmates Mark Rand (now of Cross Dog) on bass and Mikey Hawdon (The Inner City Surfers, The Fairmounts, and his uke, et al.) on drums.

A lot of the finer details on "Let The Hammers Fly" have been lost in the sands of time, including it's original price, but the album had a limited print run and was largely succeeded by Detroit's second & final album "Brace For Impact" in 2009, which featured re-recordings of 5 songs from their debut. Not having done so in the follow-up's review in 2010, I will compare those 5 songs to their revisions here. Each song name below is linked to the copy uploaded on our YouTube channel. Featuring 11 tracks running for a blistering 16 minutes in total length, let's let the titular hammers fly!

The opening song is "Blue Collar", which was also re-recorded as the second track on "Brace For Impact" Kicking off with Mikey's very familiar seven-hit drum intro (which you'll hear on all but two songs here), this 97 seconds-long delivers an assault of hardcore-tinged thrash with a solid groove to the riff and a great bass line during the bridge. The gang vocals on "I'll sleep when I'm dead!" are effective, and Brent's underrated screaming ability is put to strong use! Comparing to the 2009 re-recording, it's near identical structurally (aside from an extra yell at the end). but it is a little faster, and the production is noticeably better, with less of a tinny sound and more oomph. That makes the re-recording optimal, but this definitely kicks off the first EP on a high and heavy note! Second is "Lord Beer Me Strength", which has more of a punk tinge to Curtis' guitar work, and it's paced more like a punk song, even down to clean vocals in the chorus!

Needless to say, these leave a false impression, as it feels like the song will run longer with a traditional structure, but it ends after just 74 seconds. Solidly done while it lasts, but given Detroit's punk pedigree, this felt like an unfinished song. Next is "St. Christopher", which later turned up as song #6 on "Brace For Impact". Atypically opening with a simple four-hit intro from Mikey and religious-tinged shouting from Brent, everyone jumps into a hardcore frenzy after, and this song returns Detroit to their crossover thrash wheelhouse, including strong pounding guitar work and aggressive & speedy drumming throughout it's 85 seconds length, so this is an early highlight! Production aside, the 2009 re-recording has a more distorted intro, but is otherwise functionally identical. Fourth up is "On Madness Reared", another song to be re-recorded on "Brace For Impact". Musically, this delivers more of the same hardcore/thrash hybrid fury in a short form factor.

The almost surf-inspired guitar licks and vocal tradeoffs from Brent to his bandmate are very catchy, and everything works so well for genre fans, but I was wishing this would have lasted longer than 86 seconds! The 2009 version is played slightly faster, but it's otherwise no different structurally. That's followed by "Circle Of Thieves", which makes great use of Mikey's rapid fire drumming, but this song is mostly driven by the vocals, which are relentless and increasingly sound strained & nasal. The music proper isn't bad, but before it can really get going, it ends after 55 seconds (and there's shorter ahead!) Not my favourite song on the album, especially as it didn't even feel half finished. Next is "Forward To Death", whose title was slightly changed to "Foreword To Death" when re-recorded for "Brace For Impact". The longest song on offer (at a diffuse 2:37), and the last of 2 songs without their standard drum intro, the opening 45 seconds or so are much slower and more serious in tone.

Once things start to pump up in aggression, the song shares more in common with punk, almost like if Billy Talent had a little  more screaming (if that's a fair comparison to make.) This is a good showcase for Brent's clean vocals, and it lets the guys stretch their legs on something less in-your-face, with Curtis and Mark trading off well throughout! I like Detroit faster and heavier, but this works well as a musical showcase! The 2009 re-recording drops the quiet "1-2-3-4" count-off entirely, but is otherwise identical beyond the improved production. Track #7 is "Shithouse Ratt", which oddly starts with a fakeout of their usual song intro before kicking things off as you'd expect. The verse has some of Detroit's quickest and most aggressive music yet, but the melodic chorus/bridge does give fans of that side a little something. A lot was packed into 101 seconds here despite an abrupt ending, and this is a solid track with strong musicianship while it lasts!

Song #8 is "Random Eyes", which opens with steady drums and stop-start riffing before the full band kicks into gear, and this is a very hardcore-friendly song when Brent's vocals are in play! The gang vocals are somewhat overdone here, but the aggressive music is well done for this song's brief 72 second length! Not a lot else to say, songs this quick in a short time period can blend together. Next up is "KilloRama", a 93 second ripper with Brent's screaming vocals strained almost to Alexisonfire-meets-black metal levels, if you can picture that! Curtis gets to have some fun on guitar with this one, and the chaotic nature is appreciated, but I think this one is too vocally dictated, and it's easy to lose track of the music as a result. Not a bad song, but not well weighted. The penultimate song is "Spiritual Autopsy", which is the last of 5 songs re-recorded on "Brace For Impact", though I'm surprised it's not called "Let The Hammers Fly" given that the album name is in the lyrics multiple times.

More of a thrash metal-inspired song, this is easily one of my favouites on the EP, with a nicely paced yet attacking structure, a good balance of Brent's harsh verses with some clean singing, and strongly aggressive bass work from Mark in particular. The 104 seconds just speeds right by on this very solid track, though again, I wish it was longer! As for the 2009 re-recording, it's a few seconds faster but is otherwise the same song before the production upgrade. The EP closes with it's shortest track, the 54 seconds-long "T-Minus" (with a name like that, I'm surprised it wasn't at the start!) This song is a solid excuse to fire on all cylinders one last time, and it fits well with the heaviest of earlier tracks on the disc, but when Brent announces that "we explode", there's nowhere to go from the level they were already at, so the anticlimactic nature wasn't to my liking. Diehard fans will like the brutal note to end on, however!

So, what are my belated final thoughts on Detroit's debut EP? Overall, if you want an explosive blast of crossover thrash metal, this will do the trick! An album with such short & often fundamentally similar songs by design is hard to critique song-by-song, but Detroit knew exactly what they were doing, and they were able to craft memorable and aggressive hardcore punk tunes that were sure to get a mosh pit going wherever they played. Brent's vocals could be strained at times, but he had some very solid screaming on offer, and Curtis' strong riffs, Mark's well seasoned low end bass work, and Mikey's dependably hard hitting drums all came together nicely! My favourite songs included "St. Christopher", and "Spiritual Autopsy", but no song is bad, and despite seeing almost half of the songs re-recorded just a year later, the EP doesn't sound bad even in 2020, just a little tinny in comparison. My main quibbles are with some songs being too short, mainly if it felt like it ended too soon for comfort.

In production quality alone "Brace For Impact" was Detroit's best CD, but it only has 4 original songs, so fans will not want to overlook the hardcore fury of "Let The Hammers Fly"! It's a shame that Detroit broke up in 2010, so early for a band with such promise, though as we know, the guys had busy musical schedules locally and in Southern Ontario, and still do today. Give "Let The Hammers Fly" a listen at the above links, and I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, albeit earlier than normal! Next month in this series, I can't predict what will be reviewed or when, but of course, our next "Where Are The New Albums?" post on December 2nd may offer clues, and if any musicians play live locally next month that I can tie something in with, that would be worthy of precedent. It will not be of a Treble Charger, Inner City Surfers, or Chase Wigmore album, due to our 6 month anti-bias buffer. Stay tuned in any event, and for more news by Monday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Din), Sault Michigan Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

For our second weekend concert preview post (barring any super-late notice concert announcements), we're touching on two big shows going down in the Sault Michigan area tomorrow, but to round things out, we also have some assorted recent updates, and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for Sault Ontario later this year, so here's what you should know!

Local alternative hard rock trio The Din will headline a launch party for their long awaited debut CD "Give In To The Din" on Friday, August 12th at the auditorium at The Tech! After months of anticipation, their debut studio album will finally go on sale at this show taking place at the former St. Mary's College, which may seem like an unusual spot for the release, but remember that The Din previously played there at the Sky's The Limit benefit show, so they have experience there. Local post punk/garage rock quartet Gnaeus will make their Tech debut as openers on August 12th, with their friends at Tidal Records apparently providing some promotional support as well, and they should provide excellent support for the release show! This ALL AGES event will have admission via $5 ticket purchases, which you can get at the venue's box office and/or members of both bands (and presumably at the door), while there is a group rate of $15 for a group of 5. In any event, as this is being held in the auditorium, there is assigned seating, so get yours early for the best seat!

Doors will open at 6:45 PM for this concert, and while there will be albums and other Din merchandise on sale, the band has yet to elaborate on prices for the CD. With a full two months of promotion and hype ahead, this should be a huge show for The Din as they launch their CD, and with Gnaeus in tow as well, fans won't want to miss out on the action! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned as updates roll in!

Next up, here's this weekend's known Sault Michigan-area concert previews, starting with the local debut of Detroit-based Kiss tribute band Detroit Rock City when they headline at The Soo Theater TOMORROW NIGHT during the venue's Raise The Roof Summer Concert Series! Our first hard rock concert preview there in many years, Detroit Rock City are the second of five bands (and only heavier act) playing at the Ashmun Street theater during this concert series, where The Soo Theater, in association with Moloney's Alley, are putting all proceeds towards reviving the theater as a year-round events & concert venue. Obviously, these are big stakes, so hopefully all of the series' concerts were/are huge hits to help get The Soo Theater in full for both historical and entertainment reasons! As for Detroit Rock City themselves, they'll bring an authentic stge show and sound that Kiss fans will surely enjoy, so if you want to enjoy the next best thing to Gene and company, be at The Soo Theater tomorrow night!

Admission for this and all other Raise the Roof series events is $15, and while advance ticket sales are no longer available online, you can still apparently buy tickets locally at the theatre or at Moloney's Alley for this and the other shows in the series, which lean toward Michigan indie and folk acts. Sadly, this is a 21+ event, but doors open at 7:00 PM tomorrow. This should be a fun concert for fans of Kiss and Soo Theater restoration supporters, so don't miss the action, and here's Detroit Rock City live last year!

Also for weekend concert previews, local hard/blues rock quartet Project 906 will return to Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley TOMORROW NIGHT! This one-nighter is the band's first show there since last year's Bay Mills Bands Together fundraiser, and first anywhere since their trip to Strongs two weeks ago. The Ten Kings successors have been on a strong streak in recent months, and I'm sure they'll have another big night of hard hitting covers in store for fans tomorrow in Brimley, so keep this show in mind for after the Detroit Rock City show in the Soo! And remember, Project 906 will be back there for another one-nighter next month on July 16th. There's a 10:00 PM start time for this 21+ show, which has no announced cover charge. Curiously, there's two Facebook event pages, so click here & here for full details, and here's Project 906 live at Pickles!



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

• New local death metal quintet Kaepora Gaebora have been added as the final opening band for the Foam-headlined concert at The New American Pub on June 19th, as per the official Facebook event page earlier this week. Solid choices to kick off this show, so don't miss them, Twistory, and Foam a The New A one week from Sunday!
• We have moved local punk/classic rock trio Leaked to our inactive band links due to a year's inactivity. Featuring The Din's Tammy Hill on guitar, Leaked played a handful of Korah Collegiate events in mid-2015, but haven't updated their Facebook (and only online) page since sharing a concert video on June 6th of last year. Leaked were a talented rising band, and hopefully we see them again at some point, but don't miss Tammy with The Din!
• According to personal Facebook postings, local classic metal quintet Project 421 played their set at last weekend's Redneck Rock Bash 2 sans frontman Curtis McKenzie due to illness. As a result, the band played with guitarist Blair Burch on lead vocals for most songs (a'la their original gigs), but Tym Morrison, Mourning Wood's Terry Eaton, and ex-Amethyst drummer Phil Temperao all provided guest vocals for at least one song each. While it's disappointing that Curt had to miss the show, this would be a nice surprise for attendees, and hopefully someone got some videos!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!