Creepshow/Frightlight Concert Preview, A Band Breakup, And Much More!!

Sorry for the delay, but here's our latest news post! Today, we're previewing a big and unique concert TONIGHT, showcasing a new video from a recent anti-bullying concert, reporting on a band breakup and related notes, and refreshing memories of a three year old metal band interview, so read on below to get caught up on everything!

Local metal/punk bands Frightlight & Sykotyk Rampage will rock The Roosevelt Hotel TONIGHT as support for a crowd-pleasing blend of punk and rockabilly! Postponed from it's original August 29th date, tonight's show will be headlined by Toronto quartet The Creepshow and Montreal trio The Hellbound Hepcats, who are both returning to the Soo for tonight's concert. The Creepshow's female-fronted country/punk/hellbilly blend & The Hellbound Hepcats' more traditional rockabilly sound should attract another sizeable crowd to The Rosie tonight, so if they're your thing, don't miss out! As for the heavier local bands, James White (a.k.a. Mr. Slim Cadaver) will return to the guest bassist position in lieu of the absent Eddie Fright for Frightlight's horror punk/metal set tonight, while Sykotyk Rampage will open the festivities with their improvised crash music, perhaps including songs from their newest albums, so don't come late! Admission is $10 in advance (through either promoter/Frightlight frontman Johnny Pints or The Rad Zone in the Wellington Square Mall), but the price jumps to $15 at the door. This is definitely a 19+ show, and Sykotyk Rampage are on first at 9:45 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

If you love punk, psychobilly, and a dash of metal, you'll wanna be at The Rosie TONIGHT! The Creepshow are definitely local favourites, and the rest of the bands have their own local followings, so if you can swing a concert on a Monday night, don't miss this one! Get your advance tickets A.S.A.P. before they're gone, and for a preview, here's Frightlight (with Slim on bass) playing "Dead Town Anywhere" earlier this year!



Next up, here's a video from Saturday night's Walk & Rock Against Bullying in Sault Michigan, courtesy of Munising metal quartet Infathom! Uploaded to YouTube by attendee Brendan Fitzgerald yesterday, this is one of three videos he shot at the event outside of City Hall, including one video of Chump Change's Terry Talentino and his sons covering an Imagine Dragons song, and another video of their guitarist Kory Garland and his daughter playing an acoustic song together, and it's nice seeing the family connections on them for sure! The Infathom video is of them covering Avenged Sevenfold's "Afterlife" (albeit cut off at the end), and the audio quality is pretty good, but it was filmed on that vertical cell phone camera angle for some reason, and part of the video focuses on a little girl dancing in the audience, so keep that in mind. Infathom sound really good, and Dillion Semasky's vocals hold up well, so definitely check out their performance below, and I'll let you know if I hear of any more videos from the Walk To Rock in the next while!

Also, here's some of the latest from Sault Ontario label/studio Blood Shed Productions! For one, it's been officially confirmed that "Tomgrindy is dead", as per a post on their Facebook page on Thursday. A reason for the local goregrind trio's breakup wasn't announced, but it likely stems from the past month's posts about not hearing from co-singer/band namesake Jacob Tombari, so I take it they either still haven't heard from him, or he left the project. Though similar in many ways to member Ringsnaps Gibson's other goregrind projects, their added vocals and fuller sound did help them in their demo releases, so best of luck to both Ringsnaps, Jacob, and Jean-Paul in the future! Don't worry though, Ringsnaps is still hard at work on new music for his fellow Blood Shed artists, with their next demo release planned to be a split demo between his medical grindcore project Malignant Neoplasm, collaborator Austin McCrae's solo act Brutaly Fatal, and the band formerly known as Spitneck, and we'll have more on them in an upcoming post, so stay tuned!

Finally, here's an old local interview that I recently rediscovered when cleaning around my place, that being defunct local death metal quintet Bring The Fallen's interview with the Sault Youth Association's former newspaper The Fresh Magazine from the fall of 2010! This was among the prizes that they won at the Downtown Showdown battle of the bands at The Oddfellows Hall that May, and the included photo was part of what was likely their last formal photo shoot before breaking up the following spring. The interview features questions from a Fresh Magazine contributor and answers from a B.T.F. member (both uncredited), and it features discussion of their battle of the bands success, future label and touring plans, how they see the future of the local metal scene, dynamics in the band, their (least) favourite local venue, their influences, and more, so check out the full interview on your left or at this link! Very solid interview with good (if brief) discussion of their music and work together, and it's interesting to note that at the time of this interview, Bring The Fallen still had aspirations of forming their own label and touring Western Canada in mid-2011, but they broke up before any of that could happen.

I miss The Fresh Magazine and it's interesting freelance articles and open nature, but this article is a good late glimpse at Bring The Fallen on top of their game before their mixed quality last gigs (July's reunion at Oddzfest aside, that was great closure!) Check it out above, and stay tuned when we hear more about the members' past and future local music work!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news soon, including last month's poll results & this month's newest poll on Wednesday! Thanks everyone!

Sault Michigan Weekend Concert Previews, A New Half Past Video, And More!!

As promised, here's my Sault Michigan concert previews for this weekend! I only know of 4 shows by 2 bands of a heavier genre across the river this weekend, but with the amount of concerts this weekend, I thought it'd be best to split them up to not go into overkill. To fill things out, I have a new video from a local band and some more shorter news stories at the end, so stay tuned for those! Now, here's what you need to know for your Sault Michigan hard rock concertgoing this weekend!

Pickford hard rock quintet NoXcape will return to The Satisfied Frog this weekend for two heavy nights of covers! This will be the band's second set of shows with Donny Newell on vocals, and first since officially confirming him as an official band member, so old fans of Absolute will sure want to take note of that! Should be some solid shows this weekend, NoXcape have obvious talent from the members' past bands, so definitely check them out on Friday or Saturday night! There does not appear to be a cover charge either night, you must be 21 to attend, and both shows have 10:00 PM start times. For more details, visit NoXcape's Facebook page to see both nights' respective event pages! Don't miss NoXcape at The Frog this weekend for some great hard rock covers, and for a taste of what to expect, check out Absolute videos and audio clips at this location, seeing as both bands are almost identical!

Also this weekend, hard rockers Monkey's Uncle are scheduled to return to The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino once again! That said, while they're listed as playing at Kewadin on Friday & Saturday night on both their MySpace page and on Kewadin Casino's entertainment page, I should note that singer/guitarist Donny Newell is also booked for this weekend with NoXcape at The Frog, so what's happening with Monkey's Uncle's shows? Chances are they'll just play as a three piece, seeing as they did that frequently without issue before Donny joined, but even if that's incorrect, Monkey's Uncle pages don't get updated frequently enough for anything official to be stated. So with that said, I assume they're still playing this weekend, but if I hear different, I'll let you know! This weekend's shows should have 9:00 PM start times, there's no cover charge, and you must be 21 to attend. Check the above links for more details! Should be good no matter what lineup is playing, so make note of Monkey's Uncle's likely shows this weekend at Kewadin! For a preview, here's Monkey's Uncle covering Nickelback's "Figured You Out" circa 2008 in St. Ignace!



Now to some news, and first, here's a new YouTube video of Sault Ontario hard rock quartet Half Past in action! It's sort of half new and half not though, as we've seen this video before, just not in this state. As you may remember, five videos of Half Past's set at Hempfest this year were uploaded onto their Facebook page shortly afterwards, one of which was a cover of the Silverchair instrumental "Madman". Drummer Chris Thompson took the original video, applied some effects and an intro to it, and uploaded it to his YouTube channel this morning, but how does it look now? It's now zoomed in more to focus on the band, and the colour is grayscaled, with varying effects also put on to invert colours, make everything blue, and make the video rotate and swirl around a bit. Doesn't look too bad, and I think this kind of editing works better for an instrumental than a song with vocals, so good choice on Chris' part! Check out this new version of Half Past's Silverchair cover below, and stay tuned for more Half Past news as I hear it!



And finally, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while. As usual, these are in alphabetical order by band, venue, or publication name:

• Still curious as to how The Canadian Nightclub looks following the July flood and the seven-week-long renovations? YouTube user Jesse Souliere has you covered thanks to this video from one of the opening week dance parties that the Pim Street bar held this month! It's filled with techno music and dance party lighting, but it's a taste of what it now looks like on the interior. Promising, but we'll have to see how it looks for concerts! Stay tuned!
  
• I've replaced the link for local newspaper The Fresh Magazine in our Other Local Band Links due to the fact that their website is currently offline. Don't know why, but I'll assume the domain name wasn't renewed. The Fresh Magazine lives on though, so keep an eye out for their next issues! Their new link on the SMS is for their Facebook group.
• Newly reunited death metal quintet State of Misery have launched a new band page on the Canadian music website BandMix! Nothing "new" is posted there, but it does say that the band are releasing a demo "this year." Time will tell, but fingers crossed! Check the above links for more, and also check out Mike Cliffe & Neno Jovanovic's BandMix profiles!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our next poll on Sunday and more news as we hear it! Thanks everyone, and go see Thekillingfield and/or Late & Loud TONIGHT!

SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Turner Up), Caveman Morrison Preview, And Fresh Magazine News!!

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates since Sunday, but we have hit a slow patch for news and updates. I expect fall to regress from the summer peak we often see, so don't worry, I haven't abandoned the SMS! I do promise to you guys that I will have a new post every three days or sooner, as long as I can get to a computer, and I have some stuff today! I don't normally do it this early, but we'll have weekend concert previews today rather than Thursday or Friday just to make sure this post covers it in the event not enough new stories come in by then. That, and news on the new issue of The Fresh Magazine, is on the way, but first, here's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!! (Updated: Wednesday, 9:48 PM)

Were you Turner Up fans wondering if they'd have a show this weekend? Well, they do, two in fact, with some more short notice bookings THIS WEEKEND at The Canadian Nightclub! I apologize for not having these earlier, the Saturday show was only announced Tuesday night, and the Friday show was confirmed on bassist Jeff Gray's Facebook page. As is custom for Turner Up shows, you must be 19 to enter, and both shows start at 10:00 PM on Saturday. The Canadian tends to have a cover charge of around $3, so make sure you have cash. For more details, visit the above links and the Facebook event page! Should be more fun shows from Turner Up, so if you have nothing planned for this weekend, you know where to head to enjoy some classic hard rock covers and some drinks! And if this is too short notice for you, they'll be at The Nicolet Tavern next weekend, so make note! For a video preview, check out this clip of Turner Up covering Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Wanna Be" at this location!

The other known metal concert this weekend is also the first of the month of October, as local metal cover trio Caveman Morrison return to The Rockstar Bar for a single show on Friday night! Expect to hear lots of great covers of your favourite metal and non-metal bands alike! The new lineup sound great, they'll be sure to impress on Friday! Like most of their shows, Caveman Morrison are on at 10:00 PM, you must be 19 to enter, and there is NO COVER CHARGE! For more details on this show, check the above links and the official Facebook event page. This will definitely be a good show, so I recommend you guys head out and see what Caveman Morrison have to offer on Friday! They have songs for everyone, but enough heavy tunes to get heads banging! And if you miss them Friday, they'll be at The Vibe Lounge next weekend, so you'll get a chance to see them! For a video preview, here's Caveman Morrison covering Ozzy Osbourne's "I Don't Know" at a show two weeks ago at Foggy Notions!



Third today, here's what you should know that is metal-relevant in the new issue of The Fresh Magazine! Yes, the fall issue of the FREE local youth-oriented newspaper is now available at numerous local outlets, having been sent out last week, and I finally have a copy to tell you guys what to look for! I'd say visit their website to check the PDF version too, but the site's currently down. The big news is that Downtown Showdown Battle of the Bands winners Bring The Fallen have finally gotten their interview and cover feature in this issue! I thought we'd get the band itself on the front cover and a more in-depth interview, but hey, you take what you can get. I also find it curious that the interviewed band member(s) don't get name credit in the issue, but it's still a good read! The band talk about their battles of the bands successes, what they're looking for out of labels, their thoughts on the local metal scene and it's future, band dynamics, local concert venues, and much more!

It's concise but informative, and though I won't give too much away, I will point out two things. One, the band finally acknowledged the whereabouts of their dormant first EP, saying it's waiting to be mastered. And two, they were kind enough to plug me and my work with the SMS in the interview, which was extremely nice of them! But in all fairness, I don't deserve half as much credit as the bands do. Nice article, you can find it on page 20 of the fall issue of The Fresh Magazine!

The other local metal-related story in the new issue is actually one that I wrote. I was asked if I'd like to submit a freelance article for inclusion in the fall issue, and I gladly accepted, so I decided to write one titled "Local Metal Bands To Watch For This Fall". I didn't want to copy content from the SMS, so I decided to give capsule looks at five bands who looked to have exciting things on the local horizon in the fall. I picked Garden of Bedlam, Gates of Winter, Lion Ride, Sense of Truth, and Sault Michigan's Nixxon Dixxon. I won't spoil anything, but I do want to note a few things in case people find a discrepancy or error in the article. I had a character limit, so things are rather concise. Plus, this was written in July, so parts of it are admittedly outdated, notably the inclusion of the now broken up Nixxon Dixxon. I had NO idea they'd be disbanding when I wrote this, and they were riding high on the success of their Kewadin Festival appearance, so it made perfect sense at the time to include them. It was fun writing this article, hopefully you guys enjoy it! My piece is conveniently on page 19, right behind the Bring The Fallen interview, so make sure to check both out by getting the new issue of The Fresh Magazine while they're available! Remember, they're FREE, and full of many great articles!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more local metal news and updates by Saturday, hopefully sooner! I wanna get another post in before September wraps up, but who knows. I'll be back real soon!

Updates From Woods Of Ypres, Jason Mapes, And The Fresh Magazine!!

Hey guys, I have lots more updates to share today in the local metal scene, including new songs, videos, a tour blog, new band pages, and an open letter! Lots of stuff to get to, so let's not waste any time!

We'll start with updates from local doom/black metal quartet Woods of Ypres, as their North American tour continues through the American Southwest! Bassist Shane Madden has uploaded his second tour diary onto Decibel Magazine's website, which details the band's tour dates between Calgary and San Jose! Like on Shane's first posting, the diary mostly deals with the road trip itself and not the individual shows, including the scenic mountain drives, post-show parties, the surprising ease of crossing the American border, the fall-out of a cancelled Los Angeles show, and much more! Good read, interesting seeing how a tour unfolds for an independent band like Woods of Ypres! Click here to check it out! Also new on the Woods of Ypres front: New concert videos! YouTube user caraface has uploaded three new videos from the band's show last night at The Nightmare in Dallas onto their YouTube channel! Nice camera angle, you get a good view of the entire band, though it could stand to be a bit closer. Interesting choice of giving the video sepia toned colour, makes it look older! Audio's not bad either! There's uploads of "Suicide Cargoload (Drag That Weight)" & "Halves & Quarters" and Everything I Touch Turns To Gold (Then To Coal)", but I'm embedding the video of Woods performing "By The Time You Read This (I Will Already Be Dead)" below, check it out, and click here for more!



Next up, Bad Side guitarist Jason Mapes has launched a new Reverbnation page featuring a brand new original demo! The page has lots of information on his new solo project, including band members, profile information, the revelation that his album is scheduled to come out this fall, his Kiss cover video, and of course, that new demo! Entitled "Love Again", it's an acoustic demo where he shows off some good guitar skills and a nice soft singing voice, definitely better suited here than on his cover of "I Was Made For Lovin' You". Not bad, though I'd love to hear heavier than this! Check out more of Jason's solo stuff at the links above! Also to note: Bad Side drummer Jonah Brockman also has a few solo pages of his own for his solo projects! Though not metal, I though that was worth mentioning, click his name to check out some of his own solo material!

And finally, the new issue of The Fresh Magazine is now out at numerous local establishments and online at this location, absolutely free! Lots of stuff this week to interest youths in Sault Ontario, and there's a few things that should interest metalheads! Len Ward from Turner Up & The Rad Zone's newest installment of "Len's Corner" is in this issue, with a playlist of what he's spinning on The Rad Zone's stereo (good selections!) and there's a one page photo collage of shots from the Downtown Showdown Battle of the Bands from May 28th, which is captioned on the cover as well. I hope that isn't the culmination of the promised photo shoots and cover features for the winning bands, cause the prize claims sounded misleading if this is all we get. Aside from that, it's a great issue with lots of interesting articles and pieces, but one in particular struck me that I feel I should mention on here. It's an "Open Letter to Rock 101" by freelance contributor Patrick Webb, the former guitarist of local hard rockers Infrastrate (Does anyone have a copy of their CD that I could get for an SMS review?!) Anyway, Patrick penned this open letter to address his criticisms of our only locally based rock radio station, which boil down to what he feels is a repetitive out-dated playlist of songs, which is helping contribute to an isolated feeling that many youths in Sault Ontario have. I won't detail everything he's criticizing, but it's a well written article, and you can read it by clicking here and scrolling to page 22. Now after reading this, I felt compelled to offer my own take on Patrick's open letter, but read his piece first!

Now I listen to Rock 101 a lot, and personally, it's my absolute favourite local FM radio station. I hate very little of what they air. That being said, I do agree that Rock 101's playlist does get repetitive, and I think it's worse than it could be because the vast majority of Rock 101's schedule is just normal DJ rotation, with only 9 hours a week set aside for special programs, like "Eddie Trunk Rocks" & "Flashback". Those air different stuff, but they're only on weekends. If Rock 101 just had constant 30 minute rock blocks 24/7, it'd be even worse than is claimed. It's not just newer artists and lesser known songs either like Patrick suggests, I could easily add Canadian bands to the list. Local bands on normal rotation would be a help too. I don't know if Rock 101 knows of these criticisms, and it's not just Patrick that has them, but I will submit this: The stuff that Rock 101 does air is good stuff. Repetitive, maybe. Same selection of bands, maybe, but it's not horrible. Rock 101's playlist rotation DOES need to be punched up, but at least they know stuff that a general rock fan would like, even if it's not the most current list or the best selection for a diehard fan of some bands. Myself, I'd love to hear Iron Maiden in normal rotation, but only weekend programs ever air them. That's one of many examples you could offer. But is Rock 101 really a contributing factor to isolation of the youth? I don't know if I'd give it that much credit, it's just a radio station, and if a young Saultite doesn't find it a relevant musical window, I'd hope they'd put a CD in or listen to their mp3 player rather than use it as fuel for a reason to leave town.

Rock 101 is still my favourite local FM station, and unless the unlikely day comes where a new local one pops up, it always will be. I admit that no station is perfect, but Rock 101 has the best odds for good music locally, especially with The Bear's local departure. But where Patrick says that Rock 101 is the "only viable option" in his open letter, I will openly and respectfully say he is incorrect. We pick up three other rock stations locally from the Mackinac Bridge area, including Real Rock 105.1, KLT: The Rock Station, and the new Mackinac City feed of Classic Rock: The Bear. All pick up locally on a good radio and all air different stuff than Rock 101. Real Rock in particular seems to be the best example of what Patrick's looking for. Add WLSO: The Sounds of Lake State to the list too if you know when a metal block airs. I do hope Patrick's opinions get addressed by Rock 101, and I respect his opinions on the situation even though not everything I agree with. I still listen to Rock 101, but like many listeners, there are things I'd like to see adjusted too. Maybe with time, we'll have to see!

That's all for today, but I have lots more news on the horizon! Tomorrow will be solely for weekend concert previews, my GarageBand Profile on Mike Cliffe will be on Friday, and at some point during or after, I have much more news to get to! Stay tuned for all that, and more!