Defunct Local Band Profile Series: The Eleventh Hour

As usual for the 10th of a month, here's our latest Defunct Local Band Profile on the site! This monthly feature spotlights one or two local bands (one this month) that, while no longer a publically functioning act, deserves a look back at their run and accomplishments! Once again, this month's band was randomly selected, and with Sault Michigan in our rotation for the first time in 2018, here's what you should know on this month's pick!
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The Eleventh Hour

Genre: Hardcore/Metal/Punk

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics. Note that Sean Hanson was credited as their "mascot and cowbell player" back in 2012, but I don't believe he was a formal band member as such.)

Sean Roush (Chained Memories), vocals
Josh North, guitar/formerly bass
Joseph Farrish, bass
Joseph North (7/47), drums

Gus Burgos, harsh vocals
Cathy Burgos, clean vocals/keyboard
Zach Howe, clean vocals
Cody Reed (Hoist The Sails, Analog Deficiency), guitar 
Matt Randazzo, bass 
Alex Boyer, bass

Audio/Video: Material on the their now-deleted first Facebook page included short song samples and vocal demos by Sean Roush, and teasers at an eventual all-original set with songs like "The Weeping Angels". After relaunching in late 2013, The Eleventh Hour announced plans to record an EP named "Eyes of the Wretched", which would have featured a song named "I Have A Voice" (lyrics even made its way to their new Facebook page), as well as later teasing a softer, punk-based cover selection in 2014 ranging from All Time Low to Paramore to Wolfmother . That said, only two songs tied to this band are known to be public nowadays: a vocal/piano selection by ex-singer Cathy Burgos from November 2013, and this scratchy but solid instrumental guitar demo by Josh North from earlier that year!



Info/Analysis: Launching under the Angelic Genocide name in February 2012 (eventually adopting their best known name that fall), The Eleventh Hour were one of the more recent ventures into extreme metal from young Sault Michigan-area performers, with brothers Josh & Joe North the only constant members. A live concert debut was never publically confirmed, and much of their later updates reflected personnel and name changes, with their lineup fluctuating from 4-6 members at varying points. The band briefly became Changing You For Better Days in early 2013, and eventually changed their name to One Hour Till Dawn in early 2014 to coincide with their shift in genre, before settling on When All Fell Silent that July. The last name was ironically apt, as no public updates followed, with the band itself falling silent for good by year's end. With only solo clips surviving from The Eleventh Hour's run, it's hard to comment on the band as a whole, but they had talented musicians and strong ambitions, and it's a shame they could never get far off the ground in the early 2010s!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, we'll return to Sault Ontario for our next randomly selected profile, and for April 2018, we'll be looking at defunct local classic/hard rock quartet (and Soundcheck predecessors) Mourning Wood! Look for that at this time next month, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Banned), The End Of Dismembertainment, And More!!

We're back with a new news post on this Tuesday morning, but of course, remember to never forget the tragic events 11 years ago today, and please pay your respects for the sacrifices that have been made for our freedoms if you can! On the SMS front, we have news on a new Sault Michigan metal band's new name & latest lineup news, the likely end of a local concert promoting agency, and a new video from a notable Eastern U.P. hard rock band (along with a strangely high amount of talk relating to Sault Michigan-area musicians named Alex), but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this coming weekend across the river and updates relating to their lineup, so here's what you need to know!

Kinross hard rockers Banned will return to the stage THIS SATURDAY at Todd's Tavern in nearby Moran, Michigan! One weekend after a packed weekend in Gould City and at the Sault Riverview Music Festival (more on that in a bit), the Traynors & company will rock the former Bullwinkle's on Saturday night (yes, the date is 100% confirmed this time) for what should be an entertaining night of hard rock covers & originals! Admission should be free with a 21+ age limit, and an oddly early start time of 8:00 PM is advertised on their Facebook page. Todd's Tavern is quickly becoming a favourite stop for Banned's widely varying Eastern U.P. gigs, so take a drive down to Moran (20 minutes from St. Ignace, an hour from the Soo) on Saturday to rock out! Also in Banned news, I can confirm why guitarist Alex Schrovenwever was absent from their Rock Till You Drop battle set last month, as it looks like he moved to Marquette for college last month, as per postings on his personal Facebook page. I don't know what this means for his Banned status, but he is still listed in their lineup, and enough local bands have stayed active with a member out of town for an extended period for us to not assume the worst. Best of luck to Alex in Marquette though, and hopefully we'll see him back on stage with Banned sooner or later!

With that said, Alex Schrovenwever was definitely absent for Banned's Sault Riverview Music Festival sets this past weekend, but they kept at it to rock City Hall as part of this new local music festival, and we have video footage of Banned in action during their set on Friday night! This is of most of their still-local members (singer Mike Straw is absent) playing a brand new original song named "Cocaine Riot", as filmed by Ashley Traynor and uploaded to her YouTube channel on Sunday, but how does it look & sound? It has a nice classic hard rock sound, and it's melody & groove are better to me than on their other available originals, but it's not a shredding metal track. Lead guitarist Alex Traynor provides vocals here and uses them to maximum effectiveness with some extra grit & nicely ranged falsetto parts late, and everything comes out well here! You can tell it's later in the day though by the brightness of the video, and some extra lighting would have been nice, as well as the crowd reaction after the song ended. Check out Banned's newest original below, and go check them out in Moran on Saturday night!



Next up, I wanted to note on here (if you guys hadn't already heard) that Sault Ontario concert promoting agency Dismembertainment is more or less defunct now. The company ran by local promoter/guitarist Rich Moreland hasn't put on a show since May, and while I won't go into major details on what's happened since, Rich left town this past weekend for work opportunities in Alberta. He's of course well known for booking all kinds of metal & punk concerts in Sault Ontario since bringing Behemoth here in 2005, featuring notable bands like Kittie, The Dayglo Abortions, Napalm Death, Cattle Decapitation, Novembers Doom, Fuck The Facts, Wolven Ancestry, and Beyond Within, just to name a few. In the last couple years, he ramped up on bookings, including starting the Roosevelt Hotel metal nights in November 2010 & promoting 37 installments of that series, formally launching Dismembertainment in March 2011, briefly owning what's now Coch's Corner under the Feedback name late last year, and helping organize the massive Ypres Metal Fest in memory of the late David Gold this past April. Also, you're bound to remember him as a musician too, including a notable stint as a guitarist in Time of Ruin in the late 2000s, and many guest vocal appearances with assorted local bands.

It is disappointing to see Rich move, as he did wonders for the scene in the 7 years that he promoted local concerts! I know the response and turnout for some could be hit & miss, but he went above and beyond to give us tons of brutal metal concerts, and a Dismembertainment/Rich-promoted concert tended to be the heaviest event going down on any given week! I know I'm grateful for all he's done, and hopefully more locals can pick up the slack to ensure more major bands stop here for more than just sleep. That said, I hope Alberta works out for him, as Rich is a nice guy and has the talent & drive to go far if he has the opportunities available for him, so best of luck to him out west, and hopefully this won't be the last we'll hear from him in metal!

Finally for today, here's the latest updates from the new Sault Michigan hardcore band Angelic Genocide... or, what used to be them. Last week, they changed their name to The Eleventh Hour (Lamb of God reference?), and though a reason wasn't announced for the change, they did refer to the Angelic Genocide name as their "last idea at a band name", for what that's worth. I actually like the new name better, so hopefully it sticks for them, and hopefully they'll update their logos & Facebook page URL soon to match it! Also in recent news, The Eleventh Hour appear to have quietly parted ways with bassist Alex Boyer, as per his removal from their lineup on Facebook. Again, a reason for this hasn't been announced, but Alex does still list himself as a band member (on vocals, no less) on his personal Facebook page, though that might be an old posting to begin with. Still, if he is indeed gone, best of luck to Alex in the future! The Eleventh Hour do list the bass spot as vacant now, so if you live in the Sault Michigan area, it's worth giving the guys a shout if you wanna try out, so visit the above links! Finally for Eleventh Hour updates, the band indicated on Wednesday that they're working on a new original song named "The Weeping Angels", so stay tuned for updates on that and more from The Eleventh Hour as it all comes in!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes shortly, including some news on upcoming album releases, hopefully our "Yooper Bars" book review, weekend concert previews, and more! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Hardcore Band, Buckcherry Concert Videos, And Hoist The Sails Lineup News!!

News is still slow to a point right now locally, but I've came up with a lot of updates from Sault Michigan lately, so that's the focus of today's news post! For the record, I've heard of nothing relating to metal & hard rock concerts in the area this weekend, though who knows what unannounced gigs could possibly be going on across the river tonight or tomorrow. In this post, we have lineup updates for a young local band, some videos from a recent major concert, and leading off, a brand new local band, so here's what you need to know!

We have a new band to add to the SMS links today, and they're a new Sault Michigan hardcore outfit named Angelic Genocide. Launched in February, they appear to be a younger band like some of the other recent harder edged acts across the river, and they feature a large lineup of six different musicians! Currently, they feature former Chained Memories frontman Sean Roush on lead vocals, clean singer Cathy Burgos, guitarists Cody Reed (Hoist The Sails, ex-Analog Deficiency) & Josh North, bassist Alex Boyer, and former 7/47 drummer Joe North (Josh's brother?), while Gus Burgos (Cathy's brother?) & Matt Randazzo were in the band's original lineup on vocals & bass respectively before Sean & Alex joined. As well, Sean Hanson is credited as being the band's mascot & cowbell player, but I don't believe he's an official performing member of Angelic Genocide. Since their Facebook page was created in April, the band has posted a bunch of band logos and song samples, including some vocal covers by Sean Roush of Suicide Silence & Hands songs (there's more on his personal page's video album) and a drum & bass sample, so check the above links to hear the new media! Other recent updates include a flirtation with entering a talent show earlier this summer, listing Asking Alexandria, Silverstein, and Miss May I as influences, and news that they would be focusing on originals full time as of August 10th, but check the above links for all you need to know!

There's a lot of unknowns with Angelic Genocide so far, but the members I'm familiar with have talent, and Sean Roush is a solid hardcore screamer (Chained Memories would have benefited if he'd stayed there!) I hope Angelic Genocide can make some local inroads, as a lot of the harsher Sault Michigan bands of late seem to have struggled in gaining footing in the scene, so I wish nothing but the best for them, and I'm curious to hear their originals and future plans! Check out Angelic Genocide at the above links, and they're now in our Sault Michigan band links!

Next up, we FINALLY have some videos from Monday night's Buckcherry/Fuel concert at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino to share on here! I wonder why there was such a delay to even get one from the show? None of these are of Fuel or local openers The London Gentlemen, but we have three Buckcherry videos to share, starting with this video of the Los Angeles hard rockers playing their single "Crazy Bitch" (with a bit of a surprise "freak out") on Monday night! Uploaded by YouTube user hoopy31 yesterday, the quality's pretty good (sans people's heads in the way), but why couldn't hoopy31 have filmed beyond part of Josh Todd's on-stage banter! Now, if you were curious, Josh's singing is hit and miss like I had heard from their show here last year, and with the higher quality, it's more noticeable (especially on higher ranged parts), but he and the band have good energy, and if you like Buckcherry, this video won't come amiss, so check it out below!



The other videos come from YouTube user Steve Ponch (who filmed a video from Ace Frehley's show here in 2009 as well), as he uploaded videos of Buckcherry playing their songs "Lit Up" and part of "It's A Party" on Wednesday! These are of much worse video quality than hoopy31's video, with muffled audio & a very strange & hard to explain colour filter on the camera, that almost looks like a sideways anaglyph 3D attempt. Is this intentional, and if not, what happened? Like on the "Crazy Bitch" video, Josh Todd's singing is patchy, but he does seem to have a good handle on talking to the crowd, and the performances are alright for what they are! I'm not a huge Buckcherry fan, but the attendees seemed to enjoy everything, and that's what matters! As it's the full song, here's "Lit Up", but check the above links for more!



Finally for today, here's some lineup news concerning another young local metal band, that being Hoist The Sails! Formal band updates haven't came since April, but at some point this summer, the band updated their lineup on their Facebook page, and a lot has changed in a short time. To start with, the band has brought back guitarist Nathan Switzer after briefly leaving Hoist The Sails in the spring (good to see him back!), while fellow guitarist Mitch Goetz has moved to the bass & clean vocalist position to replace Joe Niemi (who we already knew left) & Travis Theel respectively. Travis' exit is new to me, but hopefully everything was amicable, and best of luck to him in the future! Mitch is familiar locally for his singing & bass work in bands like Intrepid, so this should be a natural fit for him going forward in their new quintet lineup! Finally for the changes, Hoist The Sails have enlisted Angelic Genocide guitarist Cody Reed to replace Mitch on the second guitar, reuniting him with his former Analog Deficiency bandmates Nathan Switzer & drummer Marcel Grengs. Cody should be a solid addition to Hoist The Sails, and hopefully this new lineup can find success in the coming months locally, as like I mentioned above, hardcore/death metal bands in Sault Michigan lately need to gain some ground. Stay tuned for more from Hoist The Sails as it comes in!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news this weekend, and the results of last month's poll and our newest poll tomorrow! Thanks everyone!