A day early, but here's this month's YouTube Channel Profile, our monthly spotlight of a randomly selected YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk artists/concerts! This month's pick gives us some prominent extreme metal content from the local scene eight years back, so here's what you should know!
Channel Timeline:Launched on April 11th, 2013; Videos posted from May 31st of that year until June 8th, 2014
Channel Summary:The official YouTube channel for Boyd's inactive film production company, it's contents are primarily devoted to local musicians (mostly metal ones) that were active in 2013, which he either worked with or hosted shows featuring. While primarily of live concert footage, uploaded videos also include two interviews, a jam session clip of a private BeeFMouTH reunion, and teaser commercials for two AlgomA concerts. Why You Should Watch:Local metal fans will be most interested in 62nd Chamber Productions' channel, and it captures a lot of the highlights of the scene from eight years ago! Hard to believe it's been that long since these were filmed. However, the channel has not been visibly used since 2014, preceding 62nd Chamber's website being taken down in 2016. As well, the channel does not include 62nd Chamber's short film work from the early 2010s, most notably their short film "The Last Strand".
Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
GIWAKWA - Iron Lung --- from a LXII bootleg currently in production: The first concert video here is of inactive local death/doom metal quartet Giwakwa playing their original song "Iron Lung" when they opened for Sleep When You're Dead at The Oddfellows Hall in May 2013. The video title hints that this was from a "bootleg currently in production", but whatever that was alluding to never got publically released. Despite a green post-production filter and a low frame-rate, this video captures Josh, Chris, Nolan, and Chris at their usual brutality during this brief run, and hopefully the personal teasers about a Giwakwa reunion of some kind do come to fruition!
Sabrina Strange interviews The Bear Hunters: The most popular videos on 62nd Chamber Prouctions' channel are two interviews conducted by late local metal musician Sabrina Pelchat (a.k.a. Sabrina Strange), specifically with AlgomA and (as featured here) The Bear Hunters, a video which garnered over 1,200 views. Posted in October 2013 in advance of their set at The Big Loonie Bus Show, Sabrina asks the band (minus Josh) about their musical influences, songwriting, album release plans, experiences on the road, among other topics, before closing with a jam room performance of their song "Servitude". Both the interview and song are well done, despite some abrupt cuts, and this is a must-watch for Bear Hunters fans! Note that Sabrina's first public interview (with The Cretin from The Dayglo Abortions) was not posted on this channel, and has since been taken down anyway.
DESTROILET live @ Bark at the Loon I: Four videos on the 62nd Chamber channel come from The Big Loonie Bus Show, a special one-off concert held at La Cucina (underneath Bucci's Place) in Echo Bay by AlgomA's promotion company Oh! Right Arm Promotions, with a bus being rented to get fans unable/unwilling to take the 40 minute drive there and back. With the exception of AlgomA (presumably as band members were the ones manning the camera), every band was filmed across multiple songs, including The Bear Hunters, Crimson Crusade, mystery act Telephone & Address, and as featured here, hardcore punk quintet Destroilet, whose black & white video captures 37 minutes of their usual fury. It's always been hard for me to identify individual songs in Destroilet sets, but lots of familiar originals and covers can be seen here, and everyone puts in a blistering performance!
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, our random selection has given us YouTube user skam705's channel, featuring dozens of local punk concert videos from the early-mid 2000s and the old (705)VideoMagazine. That should be a good one, so look for it on or around June 26th, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site by month's end! Thanks everyone!
It feels like too long since our last post without concert previews or monthly feature content, so let's tackle some recent stories and postings on this Tuesday evening! Here, we have some assorted shorter topics, the latest from a prominent solo project, and leading off, here's some new video postings from a pair of local doom metal acts!
We'll start with 40 minutes of live concert action, courtesy of the return set from local doom/sludge metal trio AlgomA at the Dopethrone concert at The New American Pub last week! Appearing to capture their entire set, the video is entitled "Seven Old Favourites", reflecting their set's inclusion of only prior originals from their catalogue. In order, the video features Kevin, Boyd, and Jamie playing "Tertiary Syphillis", "Fell Down A Well", and "Bedsores" from their "Reclaimed By The Forest" EP, before tackling "Electric Fence" from their split with Chronobot, the yet-unreleased "The Longest Swim" & "Brazen Bull", and finally, "Failed Stunt Fatality" from their split with Hooded Menace. Allegedly filmed by "I've Seen Worse Moving Pictures", the video was heavily filtered in post-production, so what we get here is monochrome, high contrast footage complete with simulated CRT scan-lines and song titles.
While not a stationary camera, the angle filmed here is often too high, and the filtering is mostly to Jamie's visual detriment, but the music is crystal clear and will definitely appeal to fans of AlgomA's slow, doomy, and deliberate onslaught! No word on when "The Longest Swim" & "Brazen Bull" will get studio releases, but these will do for now, and AlgomA haven't lost a step after their 19 month stage absence! Give their set from last week a look below, and go to individual songs via the links above!
Next up, here's a new/old video of inactive doom/death metal band Giwakwa from a jam session back in November 2012! This appears to have been uploaded to the band's YouTube channel at the time, but after 6½ years, Chris finally made it public for fans to check out. Just as a referesher, Giwakwa were the band featuring Bring The Fallen, Lead The Dead, and Fitswitch alumni that was primarily active from mid-2012 through mid-2013, and this video features guitarist Chris Page, drummer Chris Thompson, and then-bassist Nolan Rainville, with original singer Josh Stephney not present for this recording. Audio quality on this original song named "Smoker" can be fairly scratchy here, but this is a solid jam that helps capture more of their doomier side, and you get some good closer views of the guys in action! This was plugged on their Facebook page on Saturday, marking Giwakwa's first post there in over four years, so is this a sign of public activity resuming for the band in 2019?
Well, Chris Page has dropped hints on his personal Facebook page towards Giwakwa reuniting and/or still being active for some time. That said, if the only sign of life from a band is personal remarks or postings, I don't count that as a source unless given explicit permission. It'd be nice to see Giwakwa back in some form, they had a lot of promise, but give this 2012 jam clip a look below to see what they brought to the table back then!
Also today, let's cover some long overdue updates from local goregrind solo project Crucify the Whore, and I apologize for the delay in much of this content! Back on February 19th, the Tyler Gibson-led act released a new digital EP named "Crucifiction Inquisition" to their Bandcamp page, which features 5 songs running for just over 11 minutes, which, track for track, is relatively long for a C.T.W. release. Intentionally recorded in a low-fi manner, I won't share the cover artwork here to avoid potential offense with some readers, but the lyrical content, minimalist recordings, and pig squealing vocals remain acquired tastes if you're not already a goregrind fan. Things sound a little more aggressive this time out, and with a "name your price" model, Blood Shed diehards should be right at home with this release! In his latest updates, Tyler noted earlier this month on C.T.W.'s Facebook page that CDs have been printed for his 2016 release "The Beautiful Sounds of Nature".
After some quiet months from C.T.W. and Blood Shed Productions, 2019 is looking very much like a return to form for Tyler's minimalist metal pursuits, and he's definitely ambitious and bold, if sonically provocative! Buy or stream C.T.W.'s recent solo material above, and here's hoping there's more in the works from the Blood Shed camp over the summer!
Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or venue name:
In their first Facebook page posting since 2016, local death metal duo Brutally Fatal (featuring the aforementioned Tyler Gibson) revealed on Monday that they have a "new album coming this summer", though they self-deprecatingly tempered expectations right afterward. We last heard from Tyler & Austin when they posted a free "album" on YouTube in February 2017, and it's great to hear that Brutally Fatal are back after a 2+ year hiatus, so they are back in our active band links!
Almost two years after a fire in an upstairs apartment forced the closure of Queen Street East nightclub/venue Reggie's Place, the fan favourite concert venue is expected to re-open this week! The news was broken in this SooToday article, where owner Reggie Daigle notes that the bar will look more or less the same as it did before the August 2017 fire. While not a regular venue for our coverage, the country-leaning tavern has hosted Soundcheck and predecessors Mourning Wood in the past, so might they pop up there again now? Stay tuned, but congratulations on the re-opening!
I have reluctantly removed defunct local indie/hard rock band Vol. from
our inactive band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook (and
only online) page in recent months. Featuring alumni of The Pixo
Control and Mik & Steve, Vol. had a promising local run in 2017 with
some high profile appearances, but "rad things" in 2018 were superceded
by lineup departures, and they disbanded in June of last year. I wish
they hadn't deleted their page, but hopefully Steve, Shane, Mikaela, and
Matthew surface again soon!
That's all for today, but stay tuned (if all goes according to plan) for this month's CD review tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
After a rare day on the SMS with three posts, let's quiet things down on this Saturday night with just one, as we tackle some updates from 4 local metal bands, including new videos and recent happenings from two of them, a move to our inactive band links for one, and first, a band member search and concert removal for one, so here's what you should know!
Reunited extreme metal band Winkstinger are looking for a new lead singer! As per guitarist Jesse Cook's Musicians Wanted Facebook group on Thursday, they need someone in time for the Gorod/Bookakee show at The Algonquin Pub on April 15th, and "you can scream and flap around all you want" and take liberties with the lyrics in concert. Winkstinger had been fronted by ex-Issues frontman Alan Wells during their original 2010-2013 run, and while it's unclear if he was the intended frontman for the reunion, drummer Jonas Gasperas noted in a personal posting that their singer "bailed", so read into that however you want. No word yet either on who their new bassist is, or if they have a rhythm guitarist again, but we'll let you know if we hear anything. Winkstinger's recent material has been a little more technical and progressive, so they could lend themselves to a few different singing styles, so message Jesse at this link or above if you're interested in trying out!
Also, the Gorod show will indeed be their first gig since their reunion, as they have dropped out of the third installment of Six, Two, Oh.'s punk rock bingo series at The New American Pub this coming Wednesday, as per the Facebook event page in the past week or so. A reason for Winkstinger's withdrawal wasn't announced, but again, they have no singer at the moment, so that could be related. They're not being replaced, so with no other bands, it's no longer on our concert listings, but expect a great night of bingo and random punk themed prizes for winning contestant! Keep it in mind if you're not planning to attend night #2 of the VM Radio Battle on Wednesday!
Next up, we have a band to soon add to our inactive band links due to a year's inactivity, they being local sludge/doom metal band Giwakwa, who last posted on their Facebook page one year ago tomorrow. Active since the summer of 2012, Giwakwa opened for Striker, The Rabid Whole, and Sleep When You're Dead during their early-mid 2013 heyday, and were the runners-up in the third semifinal for that April's Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands. However, Giwakwa haven't played live since that July's Oddzfest 2013 Metal Mash-Up, where they opened for outgoing members Josh Stephney & Nolan Rainville's one-off reunion with Bring The Fallen. Though returns to the stage and new media has since been teased, the band's new lineup never visibly got off the ground. Giwakwa were a brutal band that had a lot of promise, so best of luck to Chris, Mitch, Chris, and other former members in the future! Hopefully they come back down the road, but check out member's current work in The Bear Hunters, Project 421, and Eclipse!
Closing today with new videos, here's the latest from local "grind/death/tech/thrash" band Them, so what have they been up to? While searching for shows as of January 29th, the band featuring Bring The Misery, Strange Coyotes, Revolution, and Infamous alumni revealed on their Facebook page that they're working on "teasers and updates" to be unveiled over the coming month, and the first of that was a new original song called "Moosejaw Boudreau" (referencing drummer Anthony Boudreau), which is featured in this jam video featuring Anthony and singer/guitarist Tyler St. Amour. Sort of harbouring a Shit Liver-meets-Rotopsy vibe here, the song has promise, but I'd be interested to hear it with Chase and Rainey involved as well, and the vertical camera angle does no favours to the view of the performance. A new Them track was teased for yesterday, which came and went, but stay tuned for more from Them when it comes in, and here's their newest track "Moosejaw Boudreau"!
Lastly, here's the latest from local atmospheric black metal duo Dullahan, who made their first public update in 4 months on their Facebook page last month, explaining that personal commitments (including family members falling ill) helped stall band activity, including recording sessions for a planned EP. Wyrn & Sevriz had recorded a new Dullahan song entitled "The Sea of Depression" last fall that will be among the planned EP's tracks, as uploaded to their YouTube channel last month. Cryptic postings on their pages note that this was intended to be the title track originally, but now, the EP "is in the air with the prospect of new material on the way", and "although
the lakes are frozen now and there is snow on the ground, the tragedy in both our lives are in this song." Set to nature video footage, "The Sea of Depression" is well written and fits their genre, but I do wonder how it would sound with vocals & extra instruments. Hopefully things level out and turn upward for the guys, and for now, here's Dullahan's newest track!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for much more news and updates next week! Thanks everyone!
It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, as we're back in the new year for more looks at YouTube channels that have at least a 50% base of local metal, hard rock, and/or punk videos, in order to spotlight and feature them for readers! This month's random selections netted us two channels, as the first only had one video, hence the second channel (with just two videos) to fill things out, but there's some familiar faces and interesting clips to check out, so read on for this month's YouTube profiles!
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Owner: YouTube user bffcfka (identity unknown, but they were likely a student at Central Algoma Secondary School in Desbarats in the late 2000s)
Channel Timeline:Launched on August 11th, 2008; Only video posted on January 2nd, 2010
Channel Summary:The only video posted to bffcfka's channel is of early Crimson Crusade guitarist Brent Beaulieu playing a guitar riff on stage during a CASS Cafe event circa the turn of 2010. Brent had guitar talent here, and while this is a short video, it's nice to see him at work, and check out more CASS Cafe videos from this era on other YouTube channels! Also, note that this channel in particular hasn't visibly been used since this video's upload.
Owner: A member of local death/sludge metal band Giwakwa, identity unclear (likely guitarist Chris Page or drummer Chris Thompson)
Channel Timeline:Launched on May 27th, 2012; Videos uploaded in January & March 2015
Channel Summary:The official YouTube channel for the recently dormant Giwakwa, this channel currently has two videos from their run, one from a 2013 concert and one from a jam session last year.
Why Should You Watch: It's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of Giwakwa, particularly from their main run in mid-2013! However, this channel has not been visibly updated since these videos were posted, and it's not clear if the band is even still functioning, so keep both in mind if you're thinking about subscribing. As well, I believe the band has deleted at least one past upload on their channel.
Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
GIWAKWA -- ENDLESS BUMMER & IRON LUNG @ THE ROCKSTAR BOTB 2013: Giwakwa's first (and only concert) video on their channel comes from The Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands semifinals on April 17th, 2013, where they played their songs "Endless Bummer" & "Iron Lung" to close their set. Featuring their then-lineup of Chris & Chris alongside Bring The Fallen alums Josh Stephney on vocals & Nolan Rainville on bass, they finished in second place behind Josh's current band The Bear Hunters that night, but did not advance to the finals the next week. Filmed at a far angle to the stage's right, these are strongly performed songs at a neat angle, but Chris Thompson is often hard to see, and the audio can be a little tinny. Note that this is a 2015 re-upload of one of two videos posted by a separate filmer on their own YouTube channel at the time, but they later deleted both videos, and Giwakwa themselves never uploaded the first one.
GIWAKWA -- BLOOD SKIN AND SINUE -- SNEAK PEAK: Giwakwa's last major public activity to date came via this Friday the 13th video posting from March of last year, which has Chris Page & Chris Thompson jamming a new original song named "Blood, Skin, and Sinew". Notably just a duo performance (Josh & Nolan moved out of town in late 2013, and Mitch Sirie hadn't replaced either yet), it is a fast & heavy song that seems to point at a sound evolution, but it's obviously incomplete, and the camera slowly tilts upward and falls over during the recording. Hopefully this isn't the last we've seen of Giwakwa, they had a lot of promise!
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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! Next month in this series, we'll again be looking at multiple channels due to the first randomly selected channel only having one local video, so on (or around) February 26th, we'll be looking at user ninezero's channel (featuring a Treble Charger music video), and to fill things out, ex-Scofflaw drummer Ivan Schliska's YouTube channel (featuring a pair of videos from the Sault Michigan artist.) This should be a good one again, so watch for it next month, and stay tuned for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!
Before we finish uploading our Swampstravaganza videos (the joys of seeing a concert with 9 different bands AND 4 open mic performers), here's a news post for your Monday morning featuring a rarity: two Monday night concert previews! Those lead off today, but we also have the latest from a prominent metal band and some assorted extra notes, so here's what you should know! (Updated at 12:36 PM)
We'll start with our double Monday previews at Cafe Natura, where local alternative hard rock trio The Pixo Control will return TONIGHT as local openers for Winnipeg pop rock quartet Naysa! Visibly an upstairs affair after December's basement show at the Elgin Street venue, The Pixo Control should be in fine form following their set at the Biipiigwan show earlier this month, and hopefully there's a solid turnout at this ALL AGES concert tonight! As for Naysa, while not a "heavy" band, their gloomy pop rock & indie originals have attracted a solid following, and they'll be a nice fit at Cafe Natura tonight, so be sure to stay late to check them out as well! TONIGHT'S concert starts at 8:00 PM, there is a $7 cover charge, and again, this is ALL AGES! For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, don't miss the alt-rock entertainment tonight at Cafe Natura, and here's The Pixo Control live at LopLops Lounge last year!
The second half of today's downtown Monday hard rock concert action goes down TONIGHT at The Rednecks Saloon, as Moncton, New Brunswick "Middle Eastern mantra doom" duo Zaum will make their Sault Ste. Marie debut! A unique band that mixes doom metal with dark ethnic chanting and moods, their familiar yet creative sound should find a solid audience with local metalheads! German experimental/jazz duo The Jealousy Mountain Duo will join them tonight as well, and while not a heavier band, their own intriguing hybrid originals should make their own mark amidst the varied sounds to be had at the former Nicolet Tavern tonight! Local support will come via local hard rock quartet Haggith (in their second show with their current lineup and first at Rednecks in 8 months), so if you missed Caleb's return to the band on Saturday, here's your makeup date (and look for "Apocalypse II" as well!)
The new openers tonight are Jack Spades bandmates Johnny Belanger & Jesse Cook in an acoustic cover set, replacing local progressive rock quartet Mannapool (who were confirmed to have dropped out yesterday via promoter Mitch Sirie on the Facebook event page, likely for similar reasons as their Swampstravaganza exit.) Johnyy & Jesse should set a good tone, so come early! This 19+ show has FREE ENTRY, and a 9:00 PM start time is listed, but promoters are aiming to end early given that it's a Monday night. For more details on this diverse and intriguing concert, visit the above links, and here's Zaum live last year!
Next up, we have some big changes to announce for THIS FRIDAY'S Caym-headlined concert, which has been moved from The Oddfellows Hall to The Algonquin Pub! The show, now fully promoted by J.D. Pearce again, will now be the kickoff show for his and Tidal Records' Gonqshow concert series there, so there's all the more reason to check out Caym's first headlining date in the Soo on Friday night! To go along with the venue shift, the cover charge has been halved to $5, but sadly, this is now a 19+ event. This all confirms that Heavy North Entertainment are no longer involved with this concert, with planned local openers Them also removed from the bill for similar reasons. J.D. alluded to the changes on the Facebook event page by saying that "someone dropped the ball", but you can read into that however you want. This should be a great show either way, so stay tuned for our full preview later in the week!
Finally for this post, here's three shorter news stories from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:
Local rap/metal band The Apocalypse Afterparty have parted ways with drummer X (a.k.a. Steve Mozarowski), as confirmed to me by Steve at Saturday night's Swampstravaganza. Allusions to internal tensions in the band (often of a cryptic nature) have been made on Facebook in recent weeks, but we won't get into any details here. Best of luck to Steve in the future, and stay tuned for more on The Apocalypse Afterparty as we hear it!
Local doom/death metal band Giwakwa have quietly confirmed the addition of Beaumont Avenue's Mitch Sirie as their new bassist AND lead singer, replacing both Nolan Rainville and Mitch's Bear Hunters bandmate Josh Stephney. Surprise announcement to be sure, but Mitch is a talented multi-instrumentalist with a lot of band experience, so he should fit in well! Our source is the band's Facebook page, but more details are forthcoming.
We have moved local hard rock quartet The Side FX
back to our inactive band links due to a year's inactivity. The band
featuring Garden of Bedlam, Papa Fogal's Chair, and Elements alumni
haven't made a public statement since playing at bassist Mike Bird's
stag & doe over a year ago, though keep in mind that guitarist
Alex Walls lives out of town. Hopefully they turn up again, and best of
luck to him, Mike, Rob, and Derek in the future!
That's all for now, but keep posted on our Facebook page for the rest of our Swampstravaganza videos, with our review guaranteed to come afterwards! Thanks everyone!
I wasn't expecting to have a second post today, but with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TONIGHT, we have most of tomorrow's intended post a day early! Also read on below for assorted recent news and updates, the latest from a local label, and long awaited news from a recently dormant metal band, but be sure to check out our extended preview of TOMORROW'S VM Radio Battle semifinal in the post below this one! Without any further adieu, here's what you need to know!
Local classic/hard rock quartet Lucky 13 will apparently return to The Rockstar Bar TONIGHT for their own St. Patrick's Day concert! Apologies for the short notice, we only heard about this show via the venue's Facebook group this afternoon, and the band has not publically promoted this event that I have seen. I wish the band would have announced this show, as St. Patrick's Day or not, it is a Tuesday nighter, but hopefully there's a solid turnout TONIGHT as Ed, Jeremey, Jeff, and Roger rock out with their alternative rock renditions for a second time in less than a week, and if you're expecting to have some adult beverages, green beer and Irish Jell-O shooters will be on sale! Also, don't forget that Havadder are celebrating this Irish holiday at The Rednecks Saloon tonight as well. Lucky 13's show has a 19+ age limit, no announced cover, and a 10:00 PM start time. See above for more info, and here's the guys at Toystock 2012!
Next up, remember the local death/sludge metal band Giwakwa, best known from their mid-2013 concert run in the area? Well, they are still alive, so here's their latest updates! Amidst sporadic teases in recent months, the band revealed on their Facebook page last week that they have a new bass player to replace the departed Nolan Rainville, who has largely been working out of town in the past year+. Their identity hasn't been revealed yet, but Giwakwa are apparently "almost ready to rock the stage again." Great to hear, it's been far too long! As a teaser, the guys uploaded a new video to their YouTube channel on Friday, which features guitarist Chris Page & drummer Chris Thompson playing a new Giwakwa song named "Blood, Skin, and Sinew", so how does it sound? Fast and loud with a good crunch, but obviously, there's no vocals or bass to fill it out yet (and as you can see, the camera slowly tilts upward and falls.) Still, nice teaser, so give it a look below, and hopefully we hear more soon!
Also, here's the latest from two of local independent label Blood Shed Productions' local metal bands! One is local death metal duo Brutally Fatal, who have uploaded three new songs from their still upcoming release "The D.P.E.P." to their Bandcamp page! I won't say the name of one here due to it's content, but two of them are called "Table For One" & "Cardiovascular Disorder", and they do revisit the band's early death metal sound again, so give them a listen above if you want! No word yet on when we might see the full disc be released, but the guys were teasing playing "our first actual redemption show" next month, so read into that however you want. Meanwhile, drummer and label owner Tyler Gibson's cybergrind solo project Malignant Neoplasm have announced plans for a release this year called "A Malignant Neoplasm of the Intestines", complete with planned artwork, but we'll again hold on showing that here due to it's content.
The gang over at the Blood Shed are keeping very busy, so visit both Facebook pages linked above for more info on those projects, and stay tuned in the coming days for more on the label's new webseries!
Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter items from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:
Is Danger Cats frontwoman Kate "Kougar" Drew leaving the band this summer? Earlier today, she posted on the Musicians Wanted Facebook page looking for musicians in the London area to start a new band with, as she's planning to move there in August, though she didn't elaborate on why. Nothing has been confirmed yet regarding The Danger Cats' status, but no matter what, best of luck to Kate on the upcoming move, and message her if you can help find London musicians for a new band there!
Speak Easy Battle runners-up Long Shot are expanding their social media presence, as the hard rock quartet now have Twitter and Instagram pages! Content is minimal on both so far, but there is a photo of a sheet of lyrics for a new original song on Instagram. Looks promising, so stay tuned for more from them!
Staying in the realm of new original lyrics, a sheet with the lyrics to Haggith drummer Mike Haggith's new solo song "A Drive Through The Peninsula" (for his upcoming album "The Warinside") is pictured in this new photo on his Facebook page, and yes, you can make out many of the words! The song (and album) are to be released, but vocal tracking is underway, so stay tuned for updates
That's all for today, but barring any surprise posts tomorrow, we'll see you guys next at TOMORROW NIGHT'S VM Radio Battle of the Bands semifinal! Thanks everyone!
Alright, we do have one more news post before TONIGHT'S Ripcordz concert, and it includes some assorted recent news & notes, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT to go with an already stacked Halloween concert lineup, and first, a new local band to take note of, so here's what you need to know!
We have a new band to add to our active links, and they are The Red & Black, a new punk/grunge duo that are officially credited as hailing from Garden River. The newest in the increasing slate of two man bands in the area, their lineup features Telephone & Address founder Chris Shoust on vocals & guitar alongside talented local pianist Damjan Binda (a.k.a. Spider Fingerz) on drums. Information on The Red & Black is minimal so far, and it's unclear if they plan to transfer to the live stage, but two original songs are now online via their Bandcamp page, where both can be streamed and even bought if you so chose. One's named "The Army Song" (complete with repeated chorus shouts of "Left! Right!"), and the other is called "Talk Talk Talk". Both are reminiscent of Chris' recent Telephone & Address originals, just with guitar instead of bass and a live drummer rather than programmed drums, so fans of "Need Not Apply" will be right at home with The Red & Black! Stay tuned for more on The Red & Black as we hear it!
Next up, here's another LOCAL CONCERT ALERT concerning the Halloween season, as Heavy North Entertainment are putting on a second annual Devil's Night concert at The Oddfellows Hall on Thursday, October 30th! Last year's Devil's Night show wasn't the first under the H.N.E. name, but it launched Tyler St. Amour's promotional run at formal venues, so it's cool to see him turn this into an annual event! Though with such an extensive lineup, I'm surprised we're only getting just over two weeks notice. Subtitled "Local Mash-Up" (Oddzfest reference?), this show currently has 12 announced acts, and though Sudbury metal quintet Archelon (who have played with local bands at recent events in Cochrane & Spanish) are the nominal headliners, much of the advance press revolves around the local homecoming of experimental solo musician Chase Wigmore & his death metal duo This Is Your Band On Drugs, neither of which have been seen in town in 5 months due to Chase's out of town work commitments.
It's great to see Chase back in town, and his irreverent and very talented music should be welcomed back in both his solo and T.I.Y.B.O.D. sets on Devil's Night! The lineup will also include three bands with Paperclip Productions ties, including grunge/alternative notables Haggith, classic metal rockers Project 421 (in their first show since the departure of singer Curtis McKenzie), and local doom/punk trio The Revolution (formerly the second Brutaly Fatal), while the heavy portion of the lineup is rounded out with Blood Shed Productions goregrind acts Crucify The Whore & Rotopsy, and former Strange Coyotes bassist James Watterworth (credited under his Delusionair Lionhair alias) in a solo set. Timeslots for all of the above artists are to be determined, but this second Devil's Night show will kick off at 5:00 PM with a three-way set of local rappers (the first time H.N.E. has booked that genre at a non-house party), and the rappers in question are Phat Boii, Miracle Man, and Mikey Thomas, so keep their joint set in mind if you're coming early for some hip-hop!
For reference & continuity sake, every official performer from last year's Devil's Night show is back this year, with the exception of Crimson Crusade (who went on hiatus after last year's show) and The Bear Hunters. This ALL AGES concert kicks off with the rappers at 5:00 PM, and admission will be $5 in advance (details to be announced) and $7 at the door, which is a fantastic value! For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! I've said it before, the Halloween season is the peak of the metal & punk concert calendar during the fall season, and this is continued proof of that, so don't bypass Devil's Night at The Oddfellows Hall during your seasonal concert plans! Stay tuned for updates!
Finally, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:
Bear Hunters guitarist/Beaumont Avenue bassist Mitch Sirie is again looking to start a side metal band project, this time one with an emphasis on natural, earthy songwriting and diverse unpredictable musical quality. He'll have time and jam space to start early next year, so if you're interested, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post on Thursday!
In a comment reply on that very same Musicians Wanted group post, Giwakwa drummer Chris Thompson mentioned that the band (who is indeed still alive) is looking for a new singer and bassist, presumably still due to Josh Stephney & Nolan Rainville's out of town work commitments. Mitch indicated clear interested in one or both positions, but if you're interested in trying out for either role yourself, message Chris at this link!
After a three week break from studio work, Haggith drummer Mike Haggith revealed on his Facebook page on Wednesday that he is working on a new studio album called "The Warinside" (the missing space appears to be intentional), and though it deals with "relevant recent happenings", there's no timetable for it's release as of yet, and what this means for his announced third compilation album, the re-release of "Neighbourhood Watch", and the indefinitely postponed "The Tower" isn't clear yet. Get more info (including the cover art) at the above links!
That's all for today, but we'll see you guys at The Algonquin Pub TONIGHT for The Ripcordz! Thanks everyone!
