LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison) & A Farewell To MySpace Band Links On The SMS!!

Today's post is devoted to two topics: LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (one on SHORT NOTICE) from one musician over the coming months, and a big change to our defunct local band links on the site, so here's what you should know on this Saturday morning!

Local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will return to Misty's Fifties for matinee concerts TODAY and every two weeks into June! Apologies for the short notice on TODAY'S concert, we only heard about it earlier today via Tym sharing a Facebook event page covering the dates earlier this week. Of course, Tym debuted at the 658 Second Line West bar/restaurant back in December, and played sporadically there ever since, though a planned Wednesday nighter on Valentine's Day was quietly cancelled for unannounced reasons. Clearly, that wasn't a bad sign for Tym's relationship with Misty's, as he'll be back for more acoustic hard and classic rock favourites TODAY at 4:00 PM and then on these Saturdays to come: March 2nd, 16th, and 30th, April 13th & 27th, May 11th & 25th, and June 8th & 22nd. All of these shows are presumed 19+ events with no cover.

For the record, two of these gigs could tie in to holiday plans, as the March 16th show is the day before St. Patrick's Day (as it's a Sunday this year, many nightclubs may have events on the 16th instead), while the March 30th show is on the Easter long weekend. Tym is no stranger to weekly or bi-weekly events at the same venue like this, so don't miss out on all of the unplugged action starting TODAY at 4:00! Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tym live last year!

Next up, in advance of a big change that I'm making to the band links on the SMS, I'm starting by making a big one for an opposite reason. Since the SMS began in 2007, a big source for band pages for research and linking purposes was MySpace, as anyone around the local music scene in the 2000s will be well aware, but it (for all intents & purposes) died a slow and painful death starting with its forced redesign in 2010, which deleted all blog posts & biographies from accounts. I kept certain bands linked from MySpace on the basis of their hosted music/videos and pictures for history and information, if not necessity, as MySpace may still have been this band's fullest/only presence online. Eventually, a botched server migration forced all music on hosted accounts to be unplayable, and photos hosted there have slowly winnowed away too, leaving just captions with nothing viewable. Even the MySpace home page seems to have not been updated since 2022.

MySpace was very important to the SMS originally, and a lot of internet-using readers from the 2000s will have fond memories of it for personal use and for band pages, but unless intentionally looking up old bands, current usage of it died in 2010 and just got worse and worse (Destroilet did try to work around the 2010 redesign but they were a rare exception), with then-current and new bands looking to Facebook and elsewhere for their social media promotion. Quite frankly, linking old local bands via MySpace pages in 2023 is nearly useless, so I've decided to remove the remaining bands from our links that are only here because they didn't have surviving pages elsewhere and I clung to MySpace for this long. As such, these local bands are no longer linked on the SMS: 2wo Man Baand, A Fall From Innocence, Bring The Fallen, Despised Eyes, Foothill Road, Free Beer, Infrastrate, The Last Warrior Of Rock, Nebraska Arms, The Pisstanks, Renderware, ...

...Route 69, Smeltzer, and Stealing Kisses. From Sault Michigan & the E.U.P., I have also deleted 7/47, Absolute, Analog Deficiency, Clownsack, Condemned, Hands Of Betrayal, Lower S.E.S., Nixxon Dixxon, The Pick-Me-Ups, Shift, and Twisted Manikin. Just to be clear, some of these bands did have activity into the 2010s on now-deleted social media accounts or without launching new ones (i.e. Clownsack's 2011 CD "Funny Farm", Bring The Fallen's 2013 reunion concert & EP, Free Beer's return as Sarah's Valley, and Foothill Road's pandemic-era original song), but unless I have missed something, none of these bands have an extant social media presence elsewhere that has content worth linking to in 2024 for research/historical purposes. If I find something that I forgot about or didn't see before, or if one of these bands decides to reunite, I will absolutely re-link the band(s) in question.

Still, deleting these pages cleans up our links a good amount, and we'll fill them back up in no time, so stay tuned for more on that in the near future! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Free Refill

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, where we once again shine a spotlight on a local band of the past, in other to promote their run and media to modern day readers! For the first time in 2024, we're heading to Michigan for this month's randomly selected band, and while they heyday was over a decade ago, they will be familiar to many E.U.P. readers from their run at the turn of the 2010s. With all of that said, here's what you should know on them!

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Free Refill

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Genre: Hard Rock

Lineup:

Mary Gilbert, vocals
Devin Anderson (Avocadsquad, 415E), guitar
Tyler Wall (7/47), guitar
Betsy Lehman, bass
Mike Pascoe (The Highest Of Fives), drums

Audio/Video: A covers-only band, Free Refill's MySpace page once indicated that they covered bands like Queen, Motley Crue, Green Day, Blink-182, Metallica, Skid Row, and Kiss. Between videos being deleted/made private and the degradation of MySpace over the past 12+ years, the only verifiable live videos that I can find in 2024 of Free Refill come from YouTube user amourdete's channel, featuring their original five-piece lineup at an outdoor gig for the annual Sidewalk Sales in Sault Ste. Marie in August 2009, where they covered AC/DC's "Back In Black", The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army", and as embedded below, Pearl Jam's "Even Flow". The quality is not spectacular, but it's good to have these around!

Info/Analysis: Launching in 2007 among then middle/high school students, Free Refill were among the better known acts in the crop of teenage rock bands that emerged in the E.U.P. in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Updates and official posts from the first half of their run are in short supply nowadays (thank you, MySpace), but you may recall seeing them at The Sugar Island Music Festival, Kewadin Casino's 25th anniversary festival in 2010, and at numerous community and school events, including at least two battles of the bands. Their lineup remained relatively stable throughout their run, aside from guitarist Tyler Wall's departure in late 2009, reducing Free Refill to a quartet. The band's last public postings were about their second place finish at a talent show at Sault Area High School in February 2012, and Free Refill quietly dissolved that summer, with multiple band members leaving the area for college.

Between the three extant videos and my recollections of Free Refill's local run, I can say that they were an entertaining band with a good range of covers and well developing musical skills, especially for their ages! Picking songs that really suited Mary's vocal range seemed to be a recurring point, but given members (especially Devin) have been up to musically downstate in the past decade, Free Refill was a good starting point that showcased some rising talent to an appreciative local audience!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! We'll head north to Sault Ontario for our next installment of this series, when our next randomly selected band will be 2015-2016 & 2022 death metal band Kaepora Gaebora, a.k.a. Exploring Detritus! Look for that on or around March 10th, and for more on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Alex Traynor & Tym Morrison), Plus A Band Breakup!!

Well, our regular news posting schedule was thrown slightly for a loop this week, as we have SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to tackle from not one, but TWO artists who are playing shows TOMORROW... MORNING?! You read that right, so here's what you should know, plus some more new shows from one artist in question! Yes, Graves and Faps fans, those shows are coming, I apologize for the continued delay!

Local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will play a special matinee concert TOMORROW MORNING at...the Duty Free Store?! Apologies for the short notice (and for missing one he played today as well), these shows were only announced via their Facebook event page this morning. While a concert at the 127 Huron Street store at the International Bridge plaza may seem wildly odd, this isn't new for Tym, as he played at least one more (publically unadvertised) show there this past weekend. Why? Well, the Duty Free Store has been hosting Duty Free Celebration Days to coincide with Canada Day and Independence Day, with the first two taking place on Friday and Monday, with Tym returning to headline today and TOMORROW. Well, this time out, Tym is advertising the shows on social media publically rather than through solely his personal accounts, so if you can head to the International Bridge, you can see his acoustic hard rock covers there! Expect refreshments, giveaways, and draws on both days for the occasion among other family friendly frills.

For what it's worth, Tym is not advertised by name on the Duty Free Store's Facebook page, but he has more than confirmed his involvement elsewhere. Given the cross-border outreach and with this being as close to the border as you can get for a show without actually entering the States, this may have some extra perks going for it! TOMORROW'S (and today's) concerts have special early start times of 11:00 AM, and there are no cover charges or age limits, but remember, this is a store, not a nightclub. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details! While we're on the subject, we may as well cover Tym's other shows this weekend (and this month) rather than redundantly go through his announcements tomorrow. As such, his long-term Gliss Restaurant arrangement will continue with matinee concerts THIS FRIDAY & SATURDAY, as well as July 12th & 13th, 19th & 20th, and 26th & 27th! Apologies again for the short notice on this weekend's shows, we held them from last week's previews due to post size concerns.

At press time, Tym hadn't publically announced any other shows elsewhere, but if you'll recall, his shows at Pointe Des Chesnes and The Old Stone House last week never got a public confirmation either (for what it's worth, the Old Stone House show was on Canada Day and was definitely open to the public, so I apologize for not covering it here despite the lack of promotion.) In any event, the Gliss shows (FRIDAY & SATURDAY included) are 6:00 PM matinees with no announced age limit or cover as usual. Click here for more details, and here's Tym live a few years back!

Also taking place TOMORROW MORNING is the return of Kinross/Mount Pleasant solo hard rock musician Alex Traynor to Sault Michigan, as he'll play a special Independence Day matinee concert at Biggby Coffee! Again, I apologize for the short notice, the venue only announced this show via their Facebook event page yesterday, while Alex has not publically confirmed it that I am aware of. This will be the first local concert from the former Banned frontman (more on that in a second) since May, also at Biggby Coffee, and while it's unclear if this will be another "play for tips & coffee" setup for Alex, the Ashmun Street coffee shop will celebrate the Fourth of July by knocking $1 off of all drink prices during Alex's set, which will be at an even earlier start time of 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM. Very unusual to see two hard rock shows on one day at this kind of hour, but hey, if you're a Yooper, you probably have the day off, so why not enjoy some live music?

Alex's talented covers and (maybe) originals should be more than welcomed back up north TOMORROW, so don't miss his latest solo return then! Of course, this is an ALL AGES event with no cover charge. See above for more details, and here's Alex live at Biggby Coffee! I am aware that there's a brand new video of him on their Facebook page, but due to Facebook video streaming issues at press time, I will hold that for a future post when the bugs are worked out. If this video doesn't load for you, it's not my fault, #facebookdown is trending on Twitter for a reason.

Finally for today, we have a related band breakup to announce here, as Kinross classic/hard rock trio Banned have officially ended their active run, as per a post by Alex on their Facebook page on Monday. A reason for their disbandment was not announced, but Banned had been unusually quiet since their last shows in Sault Ste. Marie & Grand Marais back in March, and his solo career has been more and more of his focus as it is. Of course, Alex's move to Mount Pleasant in late 2017 may be a factor, as the 3 hour drive from here to there can't have been getting any easier to manage, but Banned did make it work for well over a year. Launched in 2011, and continually featuring Alex and his dad Don in their various lineups, Banned became a favourite sight at Eastern U.P. venues and community events with their varied and often heavy selection of covers, even with some early original material, while they weren't afraid to hit the road for shows out west or even in the Lower Peninsula.

While I didn't agree with their late-period marketing that solely focused on Alex, and their brief country phase was tricky to maneuver on a metal/hard rock-centric site, Banned were always a reliable and talented source of live music in the region! It'll be odd not seeing them at the Sugar Island Music Festival this year in particular, but after 8 years, I think Banned have done all they can, and now's a good time to see how far Alex can go as a solo artist. Best of luck to him, Don, Wayne, and other former band members in the future! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more weekend concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Meet The (Inactive) Local Punk Bands!! Part 6

It's now time for our 6th (and maybe second-last?) post to roll in defunct/inactive local punk bands with surviving online pages into our band links on the SMS! Sourcing mainly from MySpace now, it's sadly incredibly hard to search for local bands on there now due to last year's layout overhauls, and with biography information and bands' hometowns no longer listed, it makes the search a lot more difficult. We have enough bands there that I can verify their local ties to for at least one more installment after today, but I can't guarantee an 8th or not yet. Now, here's four more inactive punk bands from Sault Ste. Marie to formally add to our site links, in alphabetical order!

We'll start with A Fall From Innocence, an emo/pop-punk band that attained some notability in the Sault area in the mid-2000s! Active from roughly 2003-2007, their only full cited lineup online featured singer Larry Babic (later of Backroom Concept), guitarists Matt Durette and Jeff King, bassist Waylon Bougie (who's since manned some solo projects), and drummer Marc Santos (Fuller), while the band also featured Stay Seventeen singer Matt Maccarone and current Northwest frontman Wayne Watkins in other incarnations, possibly among other artists. A.F.F.I. released two CDs ("The Breathing Method" in March 2005, and a self-titled CD in February 2006), and would tour Canada in support of both discs, open for bands like The Planet Smashers, and appear at popular local concerts like the 2005 Heatwave Festival, before quietly breaking up by the following year. While I'll admit that emo punk isn't my favourite of punk subgenre, you can sense a strong talent and chemistry with A Fall From Innocence's MySpace tracks, which had strong songwriting and melodic sensibilities!

I imagine they made some fans in their tour runs, and if you listen close to some songs, Larry might have some screaming vocals too! It'd be nice to get a hold of their albums, and while I don't know of any videos of A Fall From Innocence, check them out at their Bandspace, MySpace, and PureVolume pages to hear their public original material!

Next is the popular late 2000s ska-punk band Free Beer (also known for short stretches as M.O.B. and Sarah's Valley), who fans should be familiar with from a number of big local concerts of their own! Their lineup featured singer (and Shaw TV correspondent) Christian Lemay alongside current Habitat Shuffle guitarist Dustin Goodall, and local metal band alums Ryan Gray & Keith Gagnon on bass & drums, though Stefan Zaharuk played bass for Free Beer at one point early in their run as well. During their original run as Free Beer, the band opened for the likes of The Rebel Spell, Broadcast Zero, and The Flatliners at numerous local venues between 2007 & 2009, as well as placing third at the 2008 Skid Row Battle of the Bands. Free Beer changed their name to M.O.B. in 2010, though the band didn't last terribly long under that name, and played only the occasional one-off gig before reuniting as Sarah's Valley last year, which itself was also a short lived run, and they broke up for good last summer.

I don't recall Free Beer ever putting out an album, but they had entertaining originals and covers all the same! As heard on their MySpace & Soundcloud pages, they could deftly take on both Chili Peppers-esque funk rock on originals like "My Reality" and more reggae influenced material like on "Come With Me", and their sound and fun stage show definitely helped them get a strong following! It'd be cool to see the guys turn up again under any name down the road, but give them a look at the above links, on Reverbnation, and on Christian's YouTube channel, which has a fair amount of Free Beer concert & jam videos from their heyday, including this mid-2008 video from the old O'Aces! Hear more above!



Also, we're adding defunct mid-1990s punk band Room 206 to our links! One of the few pre-2000 punk bands from the Soo with a posthumous online page (via MySpace), there isn't a lot of surviving information on them, but they were a well recieved band that were among the roster of bands that frequented the Windsor Park Hotel during that venue's heyday, as vividly depicted in Paolo Colascco's book "Going Underground", which is on the local punk scene. At the time of their feature in the book, Room 206's lineup featured singer/guitarist Mike Yorke, current Role Models frontman Brad Lacell on bass, and Mike's future Totally Confused bandmate Al Watson (later of Startlefish) on drums. I know that I'm missing members, as their MySpace photo shows a quartet lineup (and I seem to recall Brad's longtime bandmate Dave Bahun once being in Room 206 too), but I can't verify much else. Let me know if you can fill in any blanks!

Though long since inactive, Room 206 had a successful run in the local punk scene, apparently recorded some sort of album named "2 Innies & An Outie", and their song "Good Enough" even found their way onto the "Punk: The Next Generation" compilation CD alongside fellow locals The Spigots. Room 206 had a good skate punk sound with fitting vocals, very good riffs and hooks, and a nice explosive sound that must have gotten a good reception live, and you can check that out for yourself via this YouTube video of themr covering Fugazi's "Waiting Room" at the former Club Princess in February 1995! Muffled audio and patchy video, but look at that crowd! Check out much more from Room 206 via their MySpace page!
 


Finally for this punk band feature is Smeltzer, who were among the most prominent young alternative/punk bands in the Sault area in the mid-2000s! Their lineup featured both "songwriters" of the new local band The Apocalypse Afterparty, those being singer/guitarist Steve "Knuckles" Mozarowski and The Fury's Paul "Pauliford" Stanghetta on bass, while Steve's former RedD Monkey bandmate Kevin "Kevo" Overton (also formerly of Gates of Winter) rounded out their lineup on drums. Active from roughly 2006-2008, Smeltzer opened for notable bands like Propagandhi and Means at assorted concerts during their run (including a sizeable amount at The Oddfellows Hall), and though they've been broken up for 6 or so years now, the guys did reunite for a one-off headlining show in 2011, and Steve has been known to cover Smeltzer songs like "The Jock Song" both with RedD Monkey and in solo gigs. An album release named "Dropping the S-Bomb" was also teased on MySpace, but I can't confirm if it came out or not. I actually can't find a video of Smeltzer from their run, but how'd they sound?

Sound wise, I'd compare Smeltzer to a more grungy 1990s-alternative variant of Steve & Kevin's later RedD Monkey sound, and with the lack of cello, not as original, but effective in itself! I remember enjoying Smeltzer at local all ages show when I was a teenager, and their darker essence served them well, though of course, turns with a dress at live gigs did offset that a bit! Nice to hear Kevin's drumming again too, he was a local standout before he moved from the area. Check out Smeltzer above, and follow The Apocalypse Afterparty for Steve & Paul's newest material!

I hope you guys liked this newest defunct punk band feature! The only thing I can guarantee for our 7th (and maybe final?) of these introductory posts for older punk bands is that Bin Hawdon & The Taliband WILL finally be a part! Anything else is up in the air, mainly due to the awful MySpace layout changes last year, but keep an eye out regardless in the coming weeks, and stay tuned for this month's new poll and the results of last month's poll tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

New Year's Eve Concert Previews, Plus More Updates!!

Hey guys, this might be our last full news post of 2012, and while I had intended for it to be half focused on New Year's Eve metal/hard rock concert previews, one of the announced shows has been cancelled, that being Turner Up's planned return gig at Gusto's Bar & Grill tomorrow night. A reason was not announced, beyond the band saying "Cancelled sorry." on the Facebook event page, but no matter why, it's disappointing all around! It'd have been a pricier gig, but Turner Up have been missed in recent months, and hopefully they and Gusto's will be back next year! That said, we have one other heavier New Year's show to preview, plus news on a potentially intriguing new Bon Soo event, a new video, and more news, so read on below for what you need to know!

In what's likely the last hard rock concert of 2012 in the Sault Ste. Marie area, Kinross hard rockers Banned will return to Todd's Tavern in nearby Moran, Michigan TOMORROW NIGHT to end the year on a high note and ring in 2013! This marks the second straight year that they've played a New Year's Eve gig in the area, and Todd's Tavern has been a decently active venue for them in 2012, so hopefully they rock the house with their covers & originals! Note that guitarist Alex Schrovenwever is home for the holidays, but I have not definitively heard one way or the other on if he'll be back with Banned tomorrow (I'll let you know if I find out!) Aside from the New Year's setting and likely partying associated with it, everything seems fairly normal for this show, with Banned on at around 8:00 PM tomorrow, a 21+ age limit, and no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the band's Facebook page!

If you're looking for a hard rocking way to end 2012, head down to Moran (50 minutes from the Soo, 15 minutes from St. Ignace) to enjoy the Traynors and company as they deliver some diverse and entertaining live music! For a preview, here's Banned covering The Rockets' "Oh Well" this summer!



Next up, here's some information on a potentially intriguing new event that could have some metal/hard rock representation! As announced on SooToday two weeks ago, the annual Bon Soo Winter Carnival in Sault Ontario has joined forces with The Public Relations & Event Management Program to create a new performance area for this year's 50th anniversary, and it's entitled The Marquee. It's planned to be a platform for locals in the arts, culture, and performance communities to perform live in Bellevue Park during this year's carnival. Partially funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage, Bon Soo's currently looking for local artists, performers, and entertainers to perform at The Marquee this year between February 2nd and 10th, and with no announced restrictions on who could perform, this could open the door for metal and hard rock bands to at least apply! If you're interested in applying to perform at Bon Soo's Marquee this year (or in volunteering), e-mail snow@bonsoo.on.ca and visit the above links for more information!

This has a lot of potential, especially to further integrate local artistic and musical talent into the festival! Since the yearly battles of the bands dried up, there has been a need for more local music, and maybe this will be a way back in for many of the area's talent in that field, metal or not! I'd recommend looking in to applying to play at The Marquee in February, as you never know what could happen!

Thirdly today, here's the latest video from the hard rock cover trio from Superior Heights Collegiate performances that we featured a lot of on the site earlier this year! Featuring guitarists/bassists Liam Seymour (Sailor's Tongue) & Adam Gualtieri alongside a still unknown drummer, this is this band's first posted video since April, and it's a cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" as filmed on Halloween (hence the Hulk Hogan & hippie costumes.) Though the video is in black & white for some reason, it's well edited, and despite not being a heavy song, the guys show good talent, with Liam's vocal range up to the task compared to the original! Check out their newest video below, and see more of Adam & Liam's covers at this location!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as always, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• In my e-mail conversation with 415E/Highest of Fives drummer Devin Anderson last week, he mentioned that Free Refill might come back in the summer for some shows. The band initially went inactive in the spring following half the band's move from the area for college, but according to a tweet on The Highest of Fives' Twitter page, Free Refill may have played at a school assembly on May 18th (though I can't 100% confirm that.) Fingers crossed that we haven't seen the last of them though!
• Also in Highest of Fives-related updates, they have revealed on their Twitter page that their home recording studio is called The Beat Lab Studio, while there have been tweets there as well alluding to their "summer tour". It'd be awesome to see them, Free Refill, AND 415E gigging this summer, as the Sault Michigan scene could use the extra bands, but I'll keep you posted if we hear anything definite!
• According to a Musicians Wanted Facebook group posting on December 17th, veteran local drummer Glen Thomas has added Wishbone/Flat Stanley bandmate/guitarist Tony Kajnar to his Mourning Glory project, and they're looking at playing live cover-centric shows in 2013, with covered bands including Porcupine Tree & Friction Plane. This could potentially shift the project from it's heavier leaning originals, but anything different and talented would be an asset locally, so message Glen at this location, and keep an eye out!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for our look back at an up and down year in the local scene, so what happened in 2012? Our year in review post will be up tomorrow, so stay tuned! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Album Release, More Inactive Bands, And More News!!

A post a day must keep the doctor away, as our recent posting schedule is working fairly well! In today's news post, we have some assorted news stories from the last little while, and no less than three notes on likely inactive local hard rock bands, but first, we'll start with some big news from a local band, and if you've missed new album releases in the past year, you'll wanna hear about this, so read on below for all that you need to know!

For the first time since "Woods V", a new Sault Ontario hard rock/metal album has been released, and it's "Dragon Joy Ride", the debut album from local grunge quartet Haggith! Keeping with their latest release date announcements, it was officially launched for digital download via their brand new Bandcamp page at midnight today (no word yet on a possible Reverbnation release, a'la drummer Mike Haggith's solo work.) Physical copies on CD and cassette (yes, cassette) have also been made up, but all are available for the low and very reasonable prise of $5, so picking up a physical copy wouldn't be a bad idea, especially for the same price as the digital copies! CDs & cassettes can be bought from band members directly or on Facebook, and presumably at their next live concerts, but if you just want the mp3s, click here! You may also notice the new album cover, which the band was debating changing in the past week, and I will admit to liking the new design better! Haggith have also uploaded a new Facebook photo album featuring the compilation of the album's CD copies and liner notes, along with assorted other recent photos, so check the above links to give it a look!

After the recent lineup concerns and turmoil, I'm very glad to see Haggith get "Dragon Joy Ride" out and available for fans to pick up! They've been quick off the draw since their debut, and hopefully this is just the next step in a successful run in the area! With that in mind, I'd like to announce that "Dragon Joy Ride" will be our 40th monthly CD review at the SMS this month, and we will review it by Halloween (hopefully earlier), so keep an eye out for it in the coming weeks, and pick up "Dragon Joy Ride" at the above links!

Next up, I've got some more bands to reluctantly bump into our inactive band listings, the first being Sault Ontario hard rock band Half Past. While not at a year's inactivity yet (they were last visibly active in February after their brief advertisement for a Late & Loud concert), they have offered no formal band updates since, with two of their final three members now active in newer primary bands like Skeyes of Seven & Frightlight. Nothing else I've heard since indicates that they're active at present, but if I'm wrong, I'll happily retract any assumptions! Half Past had been a talented sight locally since their 2008 formation as Fingerbone, but they didn't really take off until they became Half Past the following year, where they played a number of notable concerts from late 2009 through mid-2010, including debuting three original songs & briefly launching plans for a debut album. Later activity was more sporadic & dotted with a couple lineup changes, with the band last playing live almost a year ago. It is disappointing to see Half Past fade into inactivity, as they were an entertaining hard rock band whenever they were seen on the local stage!

I enjoyed all of Half Past's incarnations, with all three of their singers providing their own sound and style that furthered them as a local band, and the originals that Half Past played with ex-frontman Luke LeBlanc were really catchy in their own right! It is a shame that their last show ended on a down note, but I don't wanna rehash what happened, as they had so many positive concerts to look back on. Best of luck to Jordan, Alain, Chris, Arthur, and all of their other ex-members in the future, and maybe Half Past will pop up again down the road!

Another band that we're now counting as inactive on the SMS is young Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Free Refill. Last seen at a talent show at Sault Area High School in February (where they placed second), official updates have not followed since, but online postings are indicating that they're likely done. According to some online research, members Betsy Lehman & Mike Pascoe have both moved out of town for college following their graduation (former guitarist Tyler Wall did the same after graduating himself), and guitarist Devin Anderson had referred to the talent show in February as their "last talent show" on his personal Facebook page, so all of this might be the closest we get to an official confirmation of their breakup. Free Refill had been a frequent sight at local events and festivals since their 2007 inception (including the Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Festival & a number of Sugar Island Festival appearances), and while not commonly seen during the school year, they were very visible in the summer seasons with their diverse hard rock covers.

Free Refill had talent for their age, and they improved rapidly to add to the impressive roster of female-fronted hard rock bands across the river by the early 2010s! Maybe we'll see them or the members down the road, but best of luck to Mary, Devin, Betsy, Mike, and Tyler in the future, and hopefully they'll all stay active in music in some form!

And finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while (including one more inactive band note), and as always, these are in alphabetical order by band, series, or event name:

• I'll likely be moving Bear Hunters guitarist Mitch Sirie's solo project April Eyes to our inactive band links next week due to a year's inactivity, having last updated their MySpace page on October 13th, 2011. Previously named Animas & By The Gods, Mitch had worked on April Eyes material off and on since at least 2009, but he's worked on other bands more frequently lately, including the yet-revealed Sorrow Fields. Mitch's solo work has a lot of plusses, so hopefully he revisits April Eyes or something similar in the future!
• In some minor updates to our Defunct Local Band Profiles, I edited our profile of The White Knights to replace Caveman Morrison with Fitswitch when mentioning drummer Rick White's other band work (as he was with Fitswitch longer.) Stay tuned for more updates to our feature profiles in the coming weeks!
• The Halloween Party at The Algonquin Pub on October 27th (featuring Frightlight & others) will be one of three stops on a Halloween Pub Crawl from Sudbury promoters KC Events & Promotions that night, also featuring stops at Madison's Pub & The Canadian, plus The Rockstar Bar (upstairs from The Algonquin.) This costs $25, and will ensure no cover charges at any venues, along with free food & drink specials, so if you're up for some pub crawling along with your metal & punk, click here for details!

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

Battle Of The Bands Rewind Mini-Series: The Skid Row Battle Of The Bands

Hey guys, it's time to launch a new mini-series at the SMS, as for the next seven Fridays, we're flashing back to some of the notable battles of the bands in Sault Ontario between 2008 and 2010! What's the background of them? What was at stake? Who competed, and where are they now? I hope to answer those questions for at least 7 weeks leading up to the April 20th Humane Society Battle, and though I know this isn't comprehensive, e-mail me at robertfigures@hotmail.com if you can fill in any blanks for any missing battles in either of the Twin Saults, or if you have any corrections or additions! I'm formatting the posts in this series differently then how our monthly features tend to look, including more videos and less personal reflections (out of fairness, as I wasn't at all of these events), and it took a bit of tinkering to look right, but hopefully you guys enjoy this first entry! Let's flash back almost 4 years to kick off this mini-series, so here's what you need to know/remember! (Updated on February 8th, 2016)
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The Skid Row Battle of the Bands (April 26th, 2008)

Background: The Algoma University Student Union & The Superior Community Skatepark Association joined forces to host a battle of the bands at The Speak Easy at Algoma University on April 26th, 2008. All proceeds from the battle went to construction of Sault Ontario's permanent skate park at The John Rhodes Community Center. Each band would get to perform 3 songs, with judges picking three bands to play in the final round, where each act played two more songs before the prizes were handed out. Musical ability, stage presence, originality, and crowd reaction were among the criteria being voted on by the judges, and Crank Sound Distribution handled sound at the event.

Prizes: Originally, just cash, with $500 going to first place, $250 to second place, and $125 for third place. However, an added prize for the first place band was added two weeks before the battle, that being an opening slot at a major headlining concert at Runway Park on June 28th of that year, which was to have been headlined by Skid Row, the Tracii Guns-led version of L.A. Guns, and Enuff Z'Nuff. That added prize was thanks to Hitman Productions, who were promoting the Skid Row concert.

Competitors: The lineup included 7 bands playing a wide array of styles. Punk was the most prominent style of music at this battle, including indie punk quartet The Blockade (in their only show under this name that I can confirm), hard hitting punk rockers The Scary Uncles, and popular ska punk outfit Free Beer. Only two metal/hard rock bands were on the lineup, including debuting hard rock quartet Sense of Truth and extreme metal duo Sue Inside. The lineup for this battle was rounded out by indie rock quartet Terminal and Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band Sikamikanico.

Results: Four bands (rather than three) were picked for the final round, those being The Blockade, Free Beer, The Scary Uncles, and Sense of Truth. In the end, Sense of Truth made the most of their local concert debut, claiming the $500 first place purse and an opening slot at the Skid Row concert. The Scary Uncles took home $250 for second place, with Free Beer winning $125 for third place, and The Blockade finishing in fourth place. Rankings for the remaining three bands were not publicized.

Aftermath: The Skid Row concert was cancelled on June 25th (just three days before it was to take place) after sponsors dropped out. Despite this, Sense of Truth rode the momentum of their victory to numerous high profile concerts over the following years, including opening for bands like Econoline Crush & The Trews, and recording material towards an unreleased debut EP in 2010, though they broke up after a lengthy inactive period in the fall of 2011. The Scary Uncles & Free Beer also maintained their successes through the late 2000s, playing numerous notable punk concerts in the area, and recording their own original material. Free Beer changed their name to M.O.B. in 2010 before going inactive (save for one-off sets) before briefly returning in full under the name Sarah's Valley in mid-2013, while The Scary Uncles' increasingly sporadic concerts continued until they disbanded in December 2010. Sikamikanico & Terminal continued to play a number of headlining gigs in the Sault area through the summer of 2008, after which both bands quietly went inactive. The Blockade do not appear to have played any other gigs under that name following this battle, though 3/4ths of the band rocked local venues as Talk Shit through 2009, and the bands may have been connected. Finally, Sue Inside relocated to Oil Springs, Ontario the following summer, and remained sporadically active in that area with varied material through the spring of 2012.

Some Notable Performers' Newer Bands (Metal or punk bands in italics):
Id Iota (Christian Lemay & Dustin Goodall from Free Beer)
Jack Spades (Jesse Cook from Sikamikanico)
Northwest (Wayne Watkins from The Blockade and Mike Yakasovich & Greg Callaghan from Terminal)
Redundant (Justin Langlois from The Scary Uncles)
Skeyes of Seven (Cory Murchison from Sense of Truth)
The Small Town Rivals (Wayne Watkins from The Blockade)
Talk Shit (Marc Lafrance, Ian Robinson, and Adam Sauve from The Blockade)
The Thrill Junkies (Justin Langlois from The Scary Uncles) 
The Wild Iris (Steve Myers from Sense of Truth)
Winkstinger (Jesse Cook from Sikamikanico)

Trivia:

• The judges for this battle were veteran local guitarist Keith Conway, Hitman Productions owner Stephane Guindon, and Speak Easy manager Tony Boniferro. Keith himself saw some battle of the bands success as a performer the following year, when his band Blues Harvest made the finals of the Kiss Battle of the Bands in December 2009.
• Around 220 fans were in attendance for this battle, with over $1,600 raised towards the Sault Ontario skate park, which was successfully opened to the public the following summer.
• Despite not being able to open for Skid Row like was hoped, Sense of Truth made the most of it by playing a concert on June 28th anyway at The Canadian Nightclub with fellow local hard rock band Driving Dave Home, who were to have played the Skid Row concert as well. Driving Dave Home guitarist Ron Baxter joined Sense of Truth himself the following year.
• Sense of Truth followed up their win at this battle with a run to the Kiss Battle of the Bands Finals on December 2nd, 2009, where they lost to Garden of Bedlam. Their lineup was noticeably different than during their Skid Row Battle win, with frontman Cory Murchison now on vocals only, the aforementioned Ron Baxter on rhythm guitar, and Curtis Beauchamp (ex-Fitswitch) on bass in place of Patric Belanger, who left Sense of Truth in late 2008.
• Two other bands from this battle competed in similar later events. Sue Inside competed in another 7 band battle held by the YMCA in March 2009 at The Grand Theater, but results repeated themselves, as Sue Inside did not make the top 4. Also, the relaunched Free Beer (then named Sarah's Valley) competed at the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands in April 2013, but they finished third in their semifinal match, and did not make the finals.
• Despite their fourth place finish, The Blockade's Wayne Watkins & Adam Sauve would see greater battle success in the coming years in their later band Nebraska Arms, who finished 2nd at the Sault College/Scotties Tournament Battle in February 2010, as well as making the Kiss Battle finals in December 2009
• The Scary Uncles almost got a chance to build on their success at this battle the following year, when they were slated to be a part of the Algoma University Battle of the Bands in December 2010, which was also held at The Speak Easy, but they had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts. Despite that, they were later chosen to open for The Inner City Surfers at their show there on December 22nd, 2010, which was one of the first place prizes at that battle already.
• Sikamikanico drummer Jesse Cook had far greater battle success as a lead guitarist with his later metal bands Operation: Killdozer and Winkstinger, who finished fourth at the 2009 YMCA Battle and in first place the 2012 Battle For The Blood respectively. These join earlier successes that he had with Soldiers of Misfortune, who he won at least one battle with.
• Sikamikanico bassist Alex White almost returned to a local battle of the bands at the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands on April 20th with his later indie rock trio Cowboys & Indians, but they dropped out after he couldn't make the event.
• Sense of Truth guitarist Steve Myers returned to a local battle of the bands at The Rockstar Bar in April 2013 with his current indie/jazz rock quartet The Pesto Shirts (now named The Wild Iris), who rode a wild card berth to a third place finish in the final round.
• Three performers at this battle (The Blockade's Wayne Watkins and Terminal's Mike Yakasovich & Greg Callaghan) saw greater collective success at Viva La Battle at The Canadian Nightclub on November 13th, 2013, where they finished in second place with their new indie/punk quintet Northwest.
• Battle of the bands action returned to The Speak Easy on March 5th, 2015 when the venue hosted their own battle event. Like the Skid Row Battle, this event featured 7 acts and cash prizes for winners, but 2015's Speak Easy Battle was a fan voted affair, and no one that competed in 2008 was on the lineup seven years later.

Videos:
Clips of each band from SooToday's YouTube channel
Sense of Truth's set from frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel
Sense of Truth video from SooToday's YouTube channel





Sources/More Information:
Pre-battle coverage by SooToday
SooToday review & photos by Donna Hopper
Superior Community Skatepark Association post-battle coverage
Battle photos by Curt O'Neil
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I hope you guys liked this first entry in our new SMS mini-series! Our next entry in the series will be next Friday (March 9th), when we look at the 2008 Case's Music Battle of the Bands from May 2008, which wasn't the only battle held by this popular local music store, but it's the only one well documented online that we can cover equally in this series at the moment. Stay tuned for that next week, and much more news over the weekend! Thanks everyone!

This Weekend's Sault Michigan Concert Previews, Including The Sugar Island Festival!!

Finally, we complete our trifecta of weekend concert preview posts, as we focus on the hard rock and metal shows in Sault Michigan this weekend! This weekend, we have a couple bands (one local, one with locals) playing weekend sets, but first, we'll start with this year's Sugar Island Music Festival, so here's what you need to know!

Yes, this year marks the 11th annual Sugar Island Music Festival, a yearly music festival featuring local talent of varying genres convening at nearby Sugar Island for a family friendly weekend of entertainment! There's activities like kids games, crafts, dancing, campfires, vendors, and much more, so click here for all festival details! Music-wise, there's entertainment from today through Sunday, so let's start with TODAY's lineup, where two young local hard rock bands will grace the stage! The highest slotted is the returning hard rock quartet Free Refill, who play their first show of the summer after a months-long hiatus to rock Sugar Island with their brand of covers! It's nice to see Free Refill back, hopefully they tear it up in their return! They're on at 7:00 PM tonight, with new local hard rock trio Banned immediately before them at 6:00 PM. They've been keeping busy with bookings since their debut, and hopefully they have a great set this evening as well! The rest of today's lineup includes classic rockers The Hixx at 9:00 PM with Joe Schutz & Top of the Hill before them at 8:00 PM. Another band named The Highest of Fives has been added recently as openers at 5:00 PM, who I believe share some other members of Free Refill, but I'm not positive enough to call anything definitively.

For full lineup details, click here! Admission is $6 or $10 for a full weekend pass (there is no two day pass), but children under 10 years old are free. Camping has it's own costs, so click here for details on that front. Sounds like a good lineup of bands, hopefully lots of people head down to Sugar Island tonight! For a preview, here's some brand new video footage of Banned from last month's Music In The Park show in Rudyard! Uploaded by YouTube user Pacoheadley 3 weeks ago, these are of Banned covering Golden Earring's "Twilight Zone" & Bob Seger's "Turn The Page", and the band sound good on them, though I have a hunch they'd do better at the Metallica version of "Turn The Page", especially with no saxophone. The audio's good, but the video is shot very far away with no zoom, so it's not that great for a view of the band. Worth checking out though, so check the above links for more from Banned, and here's their cover of "Twilight Zone"!



As for tomorrow's schedule, there is just one verifiable hard rock band, as Free Refill will return for a set at 6:00 PM! Nice to see, cause they'll add some needed heaviness to tomorrow's lineup! The rest of the schedule includes headliners The Schutz Family Band at 8:00 PM, with The Hixx returning at 7:00 PM. Before Free Refill, there's solo artist Joel Choate at 5:00 PM, an indie band from Hillsdale, Michigan named AllArms at 4:00 PM, Gentleman George Snider and Friends at 3:00 PM, Rollie Mayer and Friends at 2:00 PM, Stockholm Slim at 1:00 PM, and two hours of open mic performers before the bands at 11:00 AM. Again, check the above links for full schedule details, and once again, tickets are $6 for Saturday, $10 for the full weekend, and free for kids under 10. Sounds like a good time, even if it's lacking in metal tomorrow! We do have Free Refill though, who will be sure to put on a great set! For a preview, here's Free Refill covering Metallica's "Enter Sandman" at last year's Sugar Island Music Festival!



As for Sunday, there are no metal bands (at least that I can prove), but the bands include The Schutz Family Band, Lise White & Friends, No Strings Attached, Gentleman George Snider and Friends, Rollie Mayer & Friends, The Knucklelickers, a five-piece act named Rudy, Jen, Bob, Evelyn, and Dave, and Stockholm Slim in descending order from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The same ticket rules apply for Sunday as well. Hopefully this year's Sugar Island Music Festival is a success, and if I hear anything concerning fallout from it (especially concerning the hard rock bands), you'll hear it all here! Best of luck to another successful festival!

Now to the shows in Sault Michigan itself that I know about, and first, new Muskegon-based hard rock quintet RedStone Riot will make their live concert debut TONIGHT & tomorrow night at The Corner Pub Bar & Grill! This is the new band from former Elipzis members Rachel Kiger, Ryan Harrison, and Wally David, which formed this summer after Rachel & Ryan's full time relocation from the Soo to Muskegon. With Elipzis guitarist Chris Webster not involved, their lineup is rounded out by two guitarists: Wally's old One Past Mars bandmate Tony Hulings, and a yet-unidentified guitarist who was in the Muskegon band Tracing Yesterday. I've heard very good things about RedStone Riot since their formation, though whether their sets will have Elipzis songs, new originals, covers, or some combination of the above isn't known yet. So RedStone Riot will be at The Corner Pub tonight & tomorrow night at around 10:00 PM, with no announced cover charge and a 21+ age limit. For more details, visit this location! Sounds like a great weekend for their debut, and hopefully RedStone Riot can make some real waves in Western Michigan and beyond! No material of theirs is out to preview them with, but of course, search for Elipzis on YouTube to hear some old performances from the past year!

And finally for this weekend, local hard rock quintet Splitshot are scheduled to rock The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino this weekend! The local band featuring half of the old Nixxon Dixxon lineup and family members are set to deliver a weekend of hard rocking covers to their fans this weekend, at least I think they still are! Their Facebook page hasn't been touched in over three weeks, but this is something I sadly have came to expect from a few Sault Michigan bands with sporadically updated pages. But with Kewadin's own entertainment page keeping us up to date, they must be on, though if I hear anything to the contrary, I'll let you guys know! Their concerts TONIGHT & Saturday night have no cover charge, a 21+ age limit, and a likely 9:00 PM-ish start time. Check the above links for more details! Splitshot are still an enigma in many respects, especially with no posted media, but hopefully they'll rock the house this weekend, as I imagine they will! Stay tuned for more from Splitshot if it comes in!

That's all for concert previews this week! Three posts worth, that's definitely unlike us, but hey, the more concerts, the better! Should be a quieter weekend next week though. Stay tuned later today for more news and notes from the local scene, including a newly discovered posthumous page for a local band! Thanks everyone, and enjoy the Sugar Island Festival!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Mares Of Thrace), Sykotyk Rampage's SIX New Albums, And More!!

Alright, we have a ton of news to get to for this Friday morning, including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, no less than SIX upcoming albums from a local band, a few cool notes from Sativa Rose, updates on next weekend's Sugar Island Music Festival, and another local entry into the Staind guitar solo contest! Let's get this post started!

Dismembertainment have done it again, as another high quality package of metal bands is coming to The Roosevelt Hotel, only the show is THIS MONDAY! Oddly short notice, but metal knows no limits! The headlining band on Monday is Calgary experimental hardcore band Mares of Thrace, notable for featuring just two band members, both female! They're brutal though, very sludgy and different, you'll definitely find Mares of Thrace worth attending for! Milwaukee punk/metal hybrid quartet Enabler will join in as openers, with a fast and furious extreme attack that will be sure to unleash the fury in the pits on Monday! Adding to the diversity of this show, Calgary classic metal quartet Stinger will also rock The Rosie as an opening band, and if you enjoy bands like Sanktuary and Black Moor, Stinger will be right up your alley! Very heavy and melodic, they'll definitely be worth showing up early for! A local opening band is possible for Monday as well, but as of right now, none have been confirmed. Admission for this show is $5, you must be 19 to attend, and doors open at 9:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Now this is a quality lineup of metal bands, nice job Rich! As for the late notice, you guys have to get the word out A.S.A.P. to ensure a huge and lively crowd on Monday! I hope to be there, and stay tuned to the SMS for more details as they come in!

Next up, you know how local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" band Sykotyk Rampage have been working on releasing their next two albums since late last year? Well, add four more to the pile, as the prolific & unique quartet now have SIX albums planned for a local release! Joining the two "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of..." albums, the newly announced releases are titled "Bucket of Ham", "Karrs", "Space", and "Zombies", and are (in order) the band's 26th-29th albums! Click the above links for Sykotyk Rampage's discography entries on each, or click here for the full discography as well. They've sure been busy this year, haven't they? Wow! So what can we determine about these to-be-released albums? For one, the song titles mostly return to an irreverent and humorous nature that we saw in some of the band's earlier albums. Their last album "Bella Disgusta" was more serious with love themes, but I welcome some edgier material! Of the four, only "Space" seems to be a concept album (which the band has done multiple times in the past), though "Zombies" has the running theme about not being zombie related, despite the title & track listing. The albums have 12-14 songs each, and they all appear to be in the 50 minute+ range. Check the above links for more details!

Now, when can we expect these albums? I have a hunch it will be sooner than later (this includes the "Genius Mushrooms" albums), but when they do come out, expect to be able to purchase them through the band's Reverbnation and Soundclick pages, and maybe other sites, though it's all unconfirmed as of right now. If any of these come out by the 31st, we'll absolutely review one of them this month, but which one? Way too soon to tell. If they don't come out quickly, we'll mention them in all in September's "Where Are The New Albums?" post, but again, it's too soon to tell. Stay tuned, crash fans, I should have more updates on the new albums shortly!

Thirdly today, here's some interesting notes from local classic metal quintet Sativa Rose! While their first shows with new frontwoman Marisa Valois have yet to be announced, we can get a preview of their full possible setlist thanks to Grooveshark (an awesome music streaming site), where drummer Alex Palmer has made up a playlist of all the songs they can play in concert! 28 songs are posted, many of which we've heard live, though "No Remorse" by Metallica isn't featured. Is it no longer in their sets? Lots of great metal and hard rock songs here though, but there is a couple "different" additions, like Elvis Presley & Cyndi Lauper covers?! If anyone can pull those off, it'd be Sativa Rose! I'm really interested in hearing their Nirvana & Misfits covers though, sounds like they'd do well on those! However, the most interesting feature may be the presence of three live demos of Sativa Rose's original songs! Yes, you can now hear nice quality live versions of "Fall From Grace", "Bellows of the Beast", and their newest song "Deliver Us" there, though all three are instrumental (likely recorded before Marisa joined.) Definitely check those out at this location, along with the original versions of all the covers in their setlist, cause they have a lot of great material in store for when they return to the stage!

Fourthly today, here's the latest news from this year's Sugar Island Music Festival, going down next weekend at nearby Sugar Island, Michigan! The full schedule has been released, and if you were hoping for more hard rock bands, you're out of luck. However, we'll still get three hard rock sets, just like last year! As we previously predicted, the hardest rocking day of the festival will be Friday, August 12th, as Kinross hard rock trio Banned & Sault Michigan quintet Free Refill (returning from last year) will open the festival entertainment at 6:00 PM & 7:00 PM respectively next Friday! The headliners will be classic rockers The Hixx at 9:00 PM and a band named Joe Schutz & Top Of The Hill at 8:00 PM. Less metal than opening night last year, but two talented young bands will set the tone nicely! Plus, for you Free Refill fans, they'll be on at 6:00 PM on Saturday, August 13th as well, so they're playing twice at this year's festival! For reference, Free Refill are playing before The Hixx again & headliners The Schutz Family Band. The rest of the acts (including those on Sunday) appear to be more country-inclined, but there is two hours of open mic on Saturday at 11:00 AM, so who knows what could happen then! Click here for all current schedule details on the Sugar Island Festival, and I'll keep you all posted!

And finally, another local guitarist has entered the Staind Guitar Solo Showdown! We've already featured Half Past guitarist Alain Fletcher's entry, but now Sneaky Pete guitarist Mario Carlucci has entered the fray with his own guitar solo for Staind's new single "Not Again"! Under the handle "Mojo Man", Mario's called his solo "bluesy with guts solo 2", and it's definitely a bluesier take on a solo than Alain offered! It's just as good though, he's playing this one with some real feeling, and hopefully he can get some high votes as well! Two very nice entries now, I wonder if any more local guitarists will join in? Click here to check out Mario's entry (25 seconds into the clip), and remember that the more listens Mario gets, the more likely he could be picked as the winner, or at least an honourable mention! The actual winner, if you recall, is chosen by judges, not a fan vote, but the more views, the better! If Alain or Mario win, their solo will appear on the iTunes deluxe version, plus they'll win a Mike Mushok signature guitar, a $1,000 Guitar Center gift card, a one month Tab-Pro subscription to Ultimate-Guitar.com, and an autographed copy of Staind's new album (which is also the runner ups' prize.) Let's support local talent and give their solos some well needed hits!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for some more news this weekend (I hope), but if not, I'll see you guys Saturday night at Bossy's Pub & Grub for the Hollow reunion! 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!