Two New Woods Of Ypres-Centric Interviews From Metal Health!!

Single topic post today for this long weekend, as we're discussing some new interviews relating to a very prominent and dearly missed local metal band that popped up online in the last week. Here's what you should know!

Woods of Ypres fans will want to take notice, as two important figures in the local black/doom metal band's history were recently interviewed on the YouTube interview series Metal Health! Hosted by musician & stand-up comedian Robbie Stevenson (who is based out of Southern Ontario), he is self-described as "a schizophrenic recovering drug addict", and you can expect discussions in that realm alongside music discussion in his interviews with metal musicians and fans. Huge kudos to friend and long-time reader Mike Boychuk for letting me know about Metal Health, and he was actually interviewed by Robbie in this episode, which does include references to the local scene (the AlgomA shirt should give that away!) The two newest episodes relate to Woods of Ypres, starting with last week's interview with ex-drummer Evan Madden, who was behind the kit in their Sault Ste. Marie-based doom era from 2008-2011.

Readers will recall Evan from Woods' last three local dates, "Woods IV: The Green Album", and the "You Were The Light" sessions that led to the "Home" single & the unreleased EP that will allegedly be part of Earache Records' "Woods V" reissue (source here). As for the Metal Health episode, Robbie instantly proves his fandom by showing off his physical copies of "Woods IV" and "Home", so we're in good hands in this regard. The interview starts with Robbie and a now bald Evan discussing how he joined Woods of Ypres in 2008, their Gates of Winter-infused sextet lineup at the time (Robbie saw that lineup live in Toronto), Evan's current music projects like Drones For Queens, a memorable story from touring with Woods, how he heard about & reacted to frontman David Gold's death in December 2011, and his favourite bands. The audio quality on Evan's camera is somewhat abrasive, but this is a good interview that keeps things light!

Robbie has good questions, and while he still feels somewhat new to interviewing, he does come across as honest and as a true fan. His asides about his own mental health issues and personal experiences add a genuine touch, even if they sometimes veer off topic. Give Evan's interview a watch at this link or above! The second interview is embedded below, and it is actually with David's mother Esther Gold (a.k.a. Mama Gold) who has been heavily active with Woods of Ypres' fan community since his passing, as any member of the band's fan club Facebook group will know, and who accepted Woods' Juno Award in 2013 on David's behalf (as seen here). After elaborating on his Woods fandom, Robbie starts by talking to Esther about what music David listened to, his early experiences discovering music, switching from sports to music, and learning the drums, his teaching aspirations and ESL teaching stint in South Korea (including his joining Necramyth there.)

Afterwards, Esther reflects on learning about David's death (I admire her composure and candor), and she acknowledged that Woods of Ypres were planning a European tour in 2012, followed by David planning to return to teaching overseas in Dubai, and even to record a Nick Cave-inspired solo album. That's followed by Robbie and Esther discussing "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" and it's musical and personal impact, especially with fans contacting her to say how much Woods of Ypres and their music has affected them, and how she has became a mother figure for many fans in the past decade. This interview had less finite questions, but that was a good call, as Robbie let Esther reminisce about her son and what he brought to the world, and it's extremely clear that she loves and misses David, and I'm sure she has many more great stories to tell about his life and music than one 28 minute interview could contain. Really good interview, so give it a watch below, and see much more from Metal Health above!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

More New Videos & Fallout From The David Gold Memorial Concerts!!

As promised, we've got even more coverage and fallout from the David Gold memorial concerts this past weekend today, including new videos from both the Sault Ste. Marie and Torotno shows and a review from one of them, so read on below for all of the newest stuff from that very special weekend!

We'll start with new videos from the Ypres Metal Fest at The Canadian Nightclub from this past Saturday, starting with two from YouTube user LauraLeeLouise's channel! Laura was among the lucky few to attend both the local & Toronto tribute shows in Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold's memory, and of her five videos from the two concerts, a couple of them are from Saturday night in the Soo, starting with this one from Woods of Ypres' members Joel Violette & Rae Amitay's set! Though the video is incomplete, Laura shot the last song from the Woods' alumni's set that night, where Rae sung "A Meeting Place & Time" with Joel on the keyboard, and I'm extremely glad that someone filmed this song, even if only the first part! Rae completely surprised me this weekend with her singing ability, and she and Joel definitely turned this black metal epic into a touching ballad with success! Fitting how it ended their set locally too, seeing as it was the last song Woods of Ypres ever played at a local concert last March. I'm stil curious to hear the full performance again, but kudos to Laura for filming this, and check it out below!



The other video that Laura filmed at the Ypres Metal Fest on Saturday was from local metal standouts Garden of Bedlam's set, though not of their Woods of Ypres cover. Instead, she filmed a brief snippet of the end of their original song "Torment" from a side stage angle, and though the band are on form, Laura's camera handles heavier music worse than softer material, and it sounds very staticy. Good video quality though, so check out this new Garden of Bedlam video below, and stay tuned for more from her videos at the end of this post!



The rest of the new videos from the Ypres Metal Fest are from Gypsy Chief Goliath guitarist Sean Hamilton's YouTube channel, and he posted four videos from the Windsor stoner metal band's set this past Saturday! All are from a mounted camera behind the stage to the band's left, and only drummer Adam Saitti is well lit, but these are interesting videos from a unique angle! The videos are of Gypsy Chief Goliath's Woods of Ypres cover "Suicide Cargoload (Drag That Weight)" and their original songs "Elephant" (preceded by their set opening jam), "The Return", and "St. Coven's Tavern", so click the above links to check them out! These sound good and show off their sludgy metal skills well, though the audio quality isn't perfect, and a tinny washed out sound is sometimes noticeable. Still, these are solid new videos, so check them out at the above links, and because of it's length, check out Gypsy Chief Goliath playing "Elephant" (and jamming prior to it) in the Sault below!



The rest of the news today comes from the David Gold memorial concert/"Woods V" CD release show in Toronto last week, which has seen a lot of videos and photos lately! Laura Wiebe from Exclaim.ca reviewed the Toronto event for an article on Monday which you can read at this location. Concise but well written, and it echoes many of David's own messages, so give it a look at the above links! As for new videos, one comes from the same channel that posted the Woods alumni's "Shards of Love" cover in the Soo yesterday, and it's of Gypsy Chief Goliath playing "Suicide Cargoload" in Toronto, so click here to check it out! Slight audio distortion, but the video quality's nice! Also, YouTube user ImpaledBman got 8 videos from the Toronto show, featuring most of the bands, though Gypsy Chief Goliath, Hallows Die, Empyrean Plague, Sixes & Sevens, and the Bolero members aren't featured. Decent video quality, though there is some blur and shakiness issues. Still, these are solid for extra Toronto videos, so click here to see them! The other new Toronto videos come from the aforementioned Laura Lee Louise's YouTube channel, and they include nice quality videos from Gypsy Chief Goliath & Musk Ox's sets, and also, video of a very special guest's speech that night!

Though video of this is already online via the 77 minute video of all of the Toronto Woods of Ypres covers, I wanted to give it special emphasis now that it's online by itself, as this is David Gold's mom Esther's speech to fans at the Toronto tribute show last week! She got lots of time to talk about her love for her children and how her family is adjusting without David, along with giving thanks to Woods of Ypres supporters & David's friends and the organizers & bands at the memorial concert. She also took time to emphasize that we should all find true love and someone to love, connecting David's beliefs to that sentiment, and you can tell how genuine it was in Esther's voice. She also added hopes to make the Toronto memorial show an annual event (possibly outdoors next year around David's birthday), and you guys should definitely check this video out below! From what I know, Esther's sounds like a great mother and ambassador for her son's music, and kudos to her for her eloquent speech and thoughts! Check out the video below, and much more from Toronto at the above links!



That's all for now, but stay tuned either tonight or early tomorrow for weekend concert previews! Thanks everyone!