Gorod/Bookakee Concert Video Showcase!!

As we continue to slowly clear our our backlogged news stories, here's a second post on this Wednesday, so be sure to check out last month's poll results & our newest poll below! This post is otherwise devoted to newly discovered concert videos that were filmed at last month's Gorod/Bookakee concert at The Oddfellows Hall, as filmed by the Montreal Metal Shows YouTube channel! These were only uploaded there on Saturday, hence the obvious delay, but it's better to get them now than never! You may recognize this channel as the one that filmed acts at last year's Benighted/Bookakee concert, so I'd have to deduce that the channel's creator is a member of Bookakee. Unlike last year, they filmed each band at the show, so let's start with the headliners, French progressive death metal quartet Gorod, who were filmed playing their original song "Carved In The Wind".

One of the late-set songs where frontman Julian Deyres' microphone didn't work (he sang anyway without one), this is still a strong video with the filmer getting some nice close angles of the band in action! The venue lighting is a little inconsistent, but if you can get past the microphone failure, it'll live up to Gorod's hype, so give it a look below!



Next up, here's the channel's video of co-headliners Bookakee, specifically the Montreal progressive/theatrical death metal quintet playing their song "Carcass Coffin"! Basically confirming that a Bookakee member is the channel's filmer (as it's at a stationary angle for this video until the very end), this is a later song from their set, after the band shed their masks, and sadly isn't one that includes any of their major theatrical elements. The lighting is such from this angle that only the right half of the video has any form of good lighting, but Bookakee sound brutal here on this lengthy and proficient number, so check it out below!



Moving to the local openers, punk/metal quintet Jack Spades were filmed at the show playing two songs: The shorter "They Live", followed by "Breakneck Speed", so click each link to go to each song directly. This is a solid video, despite generally poor, and Jack Spades are on their usual form on these intense originals, so give them a look below!



We'll close with local death/groove metal duo Them, who were the only band not filmed at last year's Benighted concert via this channel, so this is a nice way to make up for their omission last year! This is of Tyler & Anthony playing their new original "Slaughter House Blues", in a rare concert video of Them from a non-house party event, let alone with vocals, though Tyler's very hard to hear in that regard. The lighting's poor too, but Them have promise in their genre, so give their Oddfellows video a look below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Project 906 & RPM), Plus New Gorod/Bookakee Concert Videos!!

I was originally planning for today's second post to be our LopLops concert review from last night, but on the way to the venue, I saw that The Rockstar Bar's outside marquee advertised a pair of shows that we hadn't heard about for this weekend, so our review will be coming tomorrow morning, I promise! As such, we have SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, another new concert event next month, and some long overdue new videos from a recent concert, so here's what you should know!

Sporadically seen local classic/hard rock quartet RPM will return to the stage for shows at The Rockstar Bar TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Profuse apologies for the short notice, the gigs were only announced on the venue's Facebook group this morning, complicated by RPM's lack of an online page to promote shows, though they had been advertised on The Rockstar Bar's physical marquee sign this week. I'm not sure if RPM have been playing live at all since, but these are the first shows that we've heard about from Lindsay Pugh & his adult music camp alumni since August's Roberta Bondar Pavilion show during the city's summer concert series. RPM have been developing well since their debut, and hopefully they rock The Rockstar Bar well TONIGHT & TOMORROW! There's no cover for these 10:00 PM-ish shows, and you must be 19 or older to attend. See above for more details, and here's RPM live!



Next up, a big fundraiser concert entitled "Bay Mills Bands Together!" will go down in Brimley, Michigan at Pickles Bar & Grill on Sunday, May 15th, with a number of local artists joining forces to raise money for Maryssa Kronemeyer, an area high schooler who was seriously injured after being hit by a car last month. All proceeds will go to her and her family & the related medical costs, which is a great gesture! The lineup has many solo acts, but there will be bands performing, including new local hard rock/blues quartet Project 906 as the listed headliners (returning to the site of their live debut), and online pageless local metal quartet Stoned Ape Evolution, whose frontman John Napoletano is promoting the benefit. I still don't know much on Stoned Ape Evolution beyond some member identities and that they wear masks on stage, but hopefully more is revealed soon! Bands named The Karstons and Brainstorm are also listed, but I have no info at all on either. Of course, we'll let you know if we hear anything!

Remaining acts include Broke On Sunday frontman Mark Bowen, local country/pop artist Caitlin LeBlanc, Infathom frontman Dillion Semasky (no word on if his solo set will be rock or rap-based), solo artist Ken Jahnke (genre unknown, but Facebook indicates he's a metalhead), and a duo act named Mitchell & Brenda (possibly ex-Train Wreck bassist Mitchell Willis?) A $5 donation is in effect for this 21+ fundraiser, which starts at 6:00 PM, has sound by the Superior Sound Company, and will feature door prizes & a 50/50 draw. This is a great idea to help Maryssa out during a difficult time, so visit the Facebook event page for more info, and stay tuned for updates!

We'll close today with some overdue videos from last week's Gorod/Bookakee concert at The Oddfellows Hall, courtesy of frequent local concert filmer Chris Paci's YouTube channel this past weekend! Though he's been active filming at various other big concerts since, these are Chris' first public videos from a metal concert since The Superior Festival in Sault Michigan last August. Starting with his videos of French death metal quintet Gorod, Chris shot their opening song (I can't place the name, maybe it's new?), "Celestial Nature", and "The Axe of God", but embedded below is the last song from Gorod's set, "Carved In The Wind", which came after Julien Deyres' microphone died. The song's still brutal, and Julian made the most of it by singing sans mic and turning into the conductor of the metal symphony at hand, but the lighting of the hall does impact the quality. See more from Gorod above & below!



Finally, here's Chris' videos from Montreal theatrical/progressive death metal band Bookakee's set, which include this very entertaining quintet's song "Carcass Coffin" and the their version of the theme song from the Super Nintendo game Donkey Kong Country, titled "DK" on their album (if you're at all familiar with Bookakee, you'll know exactly what happens at song's end!) Embedded below is the longest of Chris' Bookakee videos, of a song whose name I can't place (maybe it's new?), so give it a look below, and see more of Chris' solid footage from this show above! (Sadly, he didn't film Jack Spades or Them at all, but kudos to him for getting what he did!)



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our review of last night's LopLops concert next! Thanks everyone!

Gorod/Bookakee Concert Review, Plus Winkstinger & Them Lineup Changes!!

Before we get into this concert review post, I wanted to apologize for missing a concert in this weekend's concert previews, as local party hard rock cover trio Stiffler's Mom played a one nighter at The Rockstar Bar last night. The show slipped us by after the band announced it on Wednesday, and while we did plug the show on our Facebook page late last night, missing it on here is a bad error on my part. Profuse apologies, I'll make sure we have a wider eye on Stiffler's Mom's next show! Now, let's tackle our review of Friday's Gorod/Bookakee show at The Oddfellows Hall, which had a solid attendance (especially for Bookakee's set), so let's kick things off with the late-added openers, local grind/thrash metal band Them! This was the first time I've seen them live, their first show of the year, as well as their first since their most recent lineup changes, as they have quietly parted ways (for the second time each) with guitarist Chase Wigmore and bassist Rainey Vincent. Reasons for their departures were not announced online or at the show, but hopefully things are amicable, and that we see Chase and Rainey back on stage at some point soon!

At least at this point, neither have been replaced in the band, so add Them to the increasingly large roster of two man bands in the area, but frontman Tyler St. Amour and drummer Anthony Boudreau compliment each other well, laying down some heavy if minimal metal action on Saturday! Bookending originals like "Moosejaw Boudreau" & "Slaughterhouse Blues" with covers of Green Jelly and (I believe) Red Fang, Them are a work in progress from a live setting, with awkward pauses being a bit too frequent, and Tyler seemed a little nervous and quiet between songs. Musically, they sounded solid and they fit their genres well, but vocals were very hard to hear on most songs (and completely absent on "March Into Regression"), and bass would be a benefit at times. That said, Them have the talent and promise, and hopefully Tyler & Anthony keep at it and play live more often!

The next band was supposed to be reunited local extreme metal band Winkstinger in their first public concert set since opening for Sleep When You're Dead at The Oddfellows Hall in May 2013, but they did not end up playing due to scheduling delays. According to drummer Jonas Gasperas after the show, a band member wasn't off work in time for their planned set after Them, and there wasn't time to slide them into a later timeslot or after Gorod finished. This is disappointing, especially given the near three year wait for Winkstinger to play a public concert again, but hopefully we see them back in the near future! However, as a teaser of what to expect when they do play live next, I can confirm that their new lineup features Jonas and guitarist Jesse Cook alongside Free Beer alum Keith Gagnon on vocals (replacing Alan Wells) and Scary Uncles alum Andrew MacDonald on bass (replacing Jason Bourcier), while the rhythm guitar position is, as far as I can tell, still vacant.

It's great to see Andrew back in a live band again, and while Keith has some singing experience from past bands, how does he stack up as an extreme metal vocalist? Hopefully we'll find out in short order, so stay tuned to the SMS and Winkstinger's Facebook page for future updates!

With that said, the aforementioned Jesse Cook still played next with his punk/metal quintet Jack Spades in their first non-battle of the bands set of the year, and they proceeded to jack the planet (and hall) with a fun set that fans easily took to! Playing originals like "They Live", "Crossroads", and "Motorwolf" alongside Turbonegro and Ripcordz covers, everyone was generally on form from past shows, aside from an aborted attempt at "Fear Corps" late in their set. That aside, my biggest issue was that the vocals were, like with Them, very muffled and quiet, but J.D. Pearce sounded good when you could hear him through the music, and Jesse and Tiffany Stocco were strong as expected on guitar! Good energy from all involved, with J.D. exploring the hall during songs, and a positive fan reception throughout, so hopefully Jack Spades are back soon, and kudos to J.D. for putting this concert on!

Montreal progressive/theatrical death metal quintet Bookakee co-headlined in their second local concert, and you can tell that word of mouth from the Benighted concert last year has paid off, as a huge crowd saw a set you had to see to believe! I could just spend all day talking about their theatrics and stage show, beyond anything you ever typically see at The Oddfellows Hall, with singer Phil Langelier proceeding to filet his face on two occasions, perform on on-stage abortion, murder Donkey Kong(?!) with a chainsaw which showered front row attendees with blood, and even spray everyone with silly string to end their set! If you saw Bookakee last year, you know what to expect, but it was a blast to see all of this live! The band wore costumes and masks (which were shed mid-set), but with or without them, their progressive-tinged death metal stood on it's own even without the theatrics, with SP Gagnon a very talented guitarist, and Jo David was a powerhouse on bass too! Bookakee rocked beyond measure, and if you weren't there, you missed out!

Despite having a tough act to follow, French progressive death metal quintet Gorod delivered a devastating set of their own to close the night! Playing songs spanning their entire career (including from their newest CD "A Maze of Recycled Creeds"), Gorod played with aggression and a solid stage presence, with frontman Julien "Nutz" Deyres showcasing brutal growling and a natural ease and command of the stage, which served him well for their last few songs, after his microphone stopped working. Rather than stop the show or complain, Gorod powered through, with Julien continuing to sing sans-mic, while basically turning from frontman to conductor of the death metal orchestra, never missing a beat. Mathieu Pascal & Nicholas Alberny were solid and very skilled on guitar throughout, and Karol Diers' technical, fast drumming was a perfect compliment! Despite the technical difficulties, fans rightfully called for an encore, a solid capper for Gorod's awesome set!

Overall, this was a great concert with a double-header of brutal headliners and two entertaining local bands, and despite early muffled vocals, Gorod's microphone issues, Winkstinger's lost set, and the unfortunate fate of Donkey Kong, I know fans will be clamoring for Gorod & Bookakee to come back to the Soo in short order, and I concur! You can check out our photos from the show at this link or at our Facebook page, and as for our videos, here's Them playing their instrumental "March Into Regression", Jack Spades playing "Negative Headspace", Bookakee playing "Monarch of the Depraved", and Gorod playing "Celestial Nature"!









That's all for today, but stay tuned for last month's poll results and our newest poll tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Lucky 13) And Most Of This Weekend's Concert Previews!!

After a few quiet days at the SMS, we're back in full force to tackle this weekend's concert previews! We'll cover this weekend's Mourning Wood, Tym Morrison, and Banned shows tomorrow, given the amount of hard rock shows this weekend, but we'll focus today on shows taking place from Thursday-Friday in the area, starting with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Lucky 13 will return to The Rockstar Bar for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band quietly announced the show on their Facebook page on April 3rd, but it slipped us by until today (in any event, the venue hasn't confirmed it online as of this writing.) Fresh off of their Park Grille debut last weekend, this will be the first Rockstar Bar date from this talented veteran band since their first show with new guitarist Robin Lee three weeks ago. This should be another solid showcase of Lucky 13's new lineup, so keep it in mind for TOMORROW NIGHT for some hard hitting cover action! No word on why they're not playing on Saturday night though, or regarding what act is. TOMORROW's show has NO COVER (a recent permanent change for local shows), you must be 19 or older to attend, and there's a 10:30 PM start time in effect. See above for more details, and here's Lucky 13 live at Rednecks!



Next up, a recently announced house party concert entitled "Metal Massacre!" goes down TONIGHT with some new and familiar faces rocking out at 124 Anna Street in Manitou Park, where last year's Man & His Machine and Shit Liver house shows were hosted! The headliners are local thrash/death metal trio Pillory in their second gig, first non-battle set, and first headlining appearance since their reunion, while new local death metal band Kaepora Gaebora (featuring Bring The Fallen, Ashoka at the Show, Bring The Misery, and Gates of Winter alumni) will make their live concert debut as co-headliners, which should be very interesting on both counts! Another debuting band, local metal duo Twistory (featuring ex-Pillory bandmates Robert Sartini & Josh Amendola) will also be unveiled tonight, with the lineup rounded out by Tyler Gibson's late-added goregrind projects Crucify the Whore & Rotopsy, the latter of which playing live for the first time in eight months tonight, so if you've missed them, don't forget about this one!

Solid lineup for fans of young local death and extreme metal, and it definitely has the flavour of old Blood Shed/H.N.E. house party events, so keep this show in mind for tonight! Promoted by Twistory frontman Josh Amendola, Metal Massacre! has a "pay what you can" model for entry, there's no advertised age limits, and everything starts at 9:00 PM, but of course, respect the fact that is a home & residence. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this intriguing show, and here's Pillory's old lineup live!



Also this weekend, a blast of metal will also hit The Oddfellows Hall TOMORROW NIGHT for the first all-ages metal show of the year at the downtown venue! This concert will be headlined by French technical death metal quintet Gorod in their local concert debut, making them the second band from France in around a year to headline at The Oddfellows Hall (following Benighted.) Their progressive yet brutal blend of death metal should melt many faces tomorrow night, so definitely check Gorod out in advance of this concert! Montreal progressive/theatrical metal quartet Bookakee (who played at last year's Benighted show) will return for an encore tomorrow themselves, and if you saw last year's show, you'll know how wild and extreme their stage show can get, so get hyped for Bookakee as well! Local support will include punk/metal quintet Jack Spades (in their first non-battle of the bands set of 2016) and reunited local extreme metal band Winkstinger, making their first public concert appearance since 2013, with their new lineup finally being unveiled too!

As well, local grind/thrash band Them have been added as a late opening band, as per the official Facebook event page on Wednesday. Good choice, especially given that they haven't been a frequent concert sight in over a year, so come check out Them's new lineup too tomorrow! Also, note that Montreal death metal band Beyond Creation are only playing select dates on Gorod & Bookakee's Canadian tour (this is not one of them), and this show was relocated from The Algonquin Pub due to that venue not being "ready in time". This ALL AGES show has a $10 cover charge and start at 7:00 PM, so see the above links for more details on this huge show, and here's Gorod live!



Finally for this preview post, local classic/hard rock cover quartet The 3 Day Millionaires will make their delayed debut at The Park Grille TOMORROW NIGHT! After they were replaced on short notice by the aforementioned Lucky 13 last week, this new band from Havadder, Cleveland Steamer, and Wishbone alumni will become the third band to play at the Industrial Park Crescent restaurant/venue during their spring season experiment with live music, with returns on May 13th & 20th also scheduled. As such, this will be The 3 Day Millionaires' first show since rocking Rednecks three weeks ago, and this talented group of familiar local faces should deliver a strong show tomorrow, so keep it and The Park Grille in mind for your concert plans! Remember, this is a one-nighter, The Park Grille is only booking Fridays (for the time being?) An early 8:00 PM start time is in effect with no announced age limits or cover charges, but remember where this is being held. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's a new video of The 3 Day Millionaires live!

Filmed at their Rednecks show on March 25th by ex-Chintzy Slicks/SBD drummer Shane Triplett and shared to the band's Facebook page the next day, this 86 second video (from shortly before the venue's relaunch and stage remodeling) is of The Millionaires covering Ugly Kid Joe's "Everything About You", a favourite cover of a few recent local bands, though here, drummer Scott McLurg provides lead vocals. Shot on the vertical cell phone camera angle, it's still a fun cover that the guys handle well, though it is incomplete and a little fuzzy. Give it a look below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and concert previews in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

AlgomA/Chronobot Split Release Information, Stereo North Updates, And Much More!!

Before this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post makes it's way to the site, let's keep the news rolling on this Saturday morning, so what's on tap? Some assorted recent updates, new covers from a recent album release, a local punk band's recent songwriting sessions, and to start, full details concerning a brand new and long awaited vinyl release, so here's what you should know for today!

Local doom metal trio AlgomA's split vinyl EP with Saskatchewan doom metal band Chronobot was officially released as planned yesterday, so what should you know on it? Put out through Dead Beat Media and with cover art by Adam Geyer (similarly to AlgomA's debut "Reclaimed By The Forest"), this is AlgomA's second release and Chronobot's third, following their own solo debut and a separate split. As previously announced, the split features two tracks from AlgomA and three from Chronobot, but given that one of the AlgomA songs is almost eight minutes long, their respective run-times are comparable. Digital copies of the split are available at AlgomA's Bandcamp page for $6, but full copies of the 12'' vinyl record (pressed in blue!) are $20 there, and they'll also be on sale during the Black Tremor/punk rock bingo concert at The New American Pub on Wednesday, so keep all of these purchasing options in mind! Also, AlgomA have dedicated the split to late local metal musician Sabrina "Strange" Pelchat, as per pictures of the liner notes.

Also, Sven Mihlan of the blog Doom Metal Front previewed two more songs via Soundcloud from the split in this article, namely AlgomA's "The Electric Fence" and Chronobot's "Jerry Can", leaving only Chronobot's "Sons of Sabbath" unpreviewed in this fashion (No Clean Singing previewed the other two.) As for our review of the split, you can definitely expect it this month, date to be established, so check the above links for more details on this release, and don't miss AlgomA at The New A on Wednesday!

Next up, here's the latest from local pop punk quartet Stereo North, who have been preparing their own original material since their VM Radio Battle of the Bands set last month, with a Facebook page posting earlier this week implying that the band is aiming to have enough setlist material to play 3 sets worth for solo concerts. Not a bad idea, Project 421 had made the move to play shows of that length themselves recently, so we'll have to see how a full night of Stereo North works! Also, the band shared this video from frontman Andrew Pucci's personal Facebook page of him demoing a planned original song for the band, tentatively named "Echoes", with the aim being to include this on their debut album. Sounds good so far, but it obviously isn't complete, and Andrew admits in captions that a Matthew Anich guitar solo at a key moment would be essential. Give it a look below, and stay tuned for more from Stereo North!

Also today, newer local experimental hard rock solo project The Coyote Speedfreaks posted a new video onto mastermind Chase Wigmore's YouTube channel on Wednesday, and it's of ...."Strange Coyotes 3"?! As you may recall, his former band The Strange Coyotes posthumously finished the live album recorded at their final concert in November 2014 in February of this year, but Chase wasn't behind it's final release, and online postings implied that he wasn't in favour of it. As he noted with a Futurama reference on the Speedfreaks page, "War were declared", so he responded by covering three songs from the Coyotes' album/set ("I'm Gonna Love You" with an adult title change, "Sneeze", and "Kaylore"), all of which started off of James Watterworth's own solo songs, though Chase re-interpreted some lyrics if he couldn't make out the originals. Performed acoustically but with Chase's trademark chaotic & unpredictable presence, it's fun to hear him perform these songs again, and to give his own interpretation of these songs, so check them out below!



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 event name:

• The Gorod/Bookakee-headlined concert on Friday, April 15th has been relocated from The Algonquin Pub to The Oddfellows Hall, and is consequently now an ALL AGES show! Promoter J.D. Pearce noted on the Facebook event page that The Algonquin Pub "won't be ready in time" for April 15th, but it's not publically clear what's going on with the pub. With the new all ages venue, doors will now open at 7:00 PM, and J.D. may be adding an additional local opener, so see the above links for more details on this relocated metal show!
• After 4 years of local band involvement in the Rock 'N Roar Battle of the Bands in Spanish, there were sadly no local bands registered to compete in tonight's edition of the event, as per the official Facebook page for the annual Spanish concert festival, which will be held in August. The Soo's not completely shut out though, as ex-Sykotyk Rampage bassist Brian Cattapan's Sudbury band Aggressive Acoustic will be the first performers tonight, so best of luck to them as they look to place high and earn an opening slot for Big Sugar or Haywire this summer!
• Local goregrind duo Rotopsy will end their nine month concert hiatus as the final local openers for the Reanimator-headlined concert at The New American Pub on Sunday, April 24th, as per the official Facebook event page! Given Tyler & Dylan's usual concert frequency, it's odd that they've been off stage for this long, but Rotopsy should fit in well with Reanimator and Pillory next month! Stay tuned for more!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

Winkstinger Updates, An Inactive Band, And New Videos!!

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!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Gorod & The Motherf*ckers), Plus The Latest From Mike Haggith & The Din!!

A new month is upon us, but first, we have an apology to note regarding a missed concert this past weekend, as hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison played his first ever public concert at Centro Sports Bar (formerly Chilly Willy's) at The John Rhodes Centre this past Saturday as part of the pub night during the Charity Hockey Classic there for the ARCH Hospice. As best as we can tell, it was a public event, but Tym never plugged the show publically that we found. Still, our apologies for missing it, we'd have plugged it had we known! Now, today's stacked post features LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, an upcoming new album of sorts, and more, so here's what you should know!

Local concert promoter J.D. Pearce (in association with Tidal Records) is back for his first non-battle of the bands concerts of 2016, with the first seeing French progressive death metal band Gorod headlining at The Algonquin Pub on Friday, April 15th! The second metal band from France in as many years to rock the Soo (following Benighted last spring), Gorod's brutal technical sound and intense stage presence should leave a strong impression on local metalheads next month, so don't miss this late stop on their Canadian tour! Montreal theatrical death metal outfit Bookakee (who memorably opened for Benighted last year) will join Gorod next month for another set that will surely entertain and maybe even shock fans once again, so check them out as well! Local support will come via punk/metal quintet Jack Spades (in their first show of the year outside of battles of the bands), while the reunited Winkstinger will open the proceedings, and we'll let you know when more comes out on the extreme metal veterans' new lineup!

Note that fellow Montreal metal band Beyond Creation are advertised for only select dates on this tour, those all being in Eastern Canada. This show takes place on April 15th at The Algonquin Pub (not Algonquin College in Ottawa, that's a typo), and there's a 10:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and $10 cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see this long-teased concert finally confirmed, and kudos to J.D. for getting this one booked, so keep it in mind for a blast of death metal come mid-April!

J.D. isn't done though, as he's also got something for punk fans next month, with a headlining concert on Saturday, April 30th at The Algonquin Pub featuring Calgary hardcore punk quartet The Motherfuckers! That's their name, don't shoot the messenger! Veterans of the Canadian punk scene dating back to 1998, The Motherfuckers' explosive blend of fast-paced punk should be just what the doctor ordered as we get back into the swing of regular original concerts over the spring, so if you want some live punk rock, be at The Gonq at the end of next month during this stop on their Classless Society Tour! The aforementioned Jack Spades will open this concert as well, but at least one more band is to be announced, so stay tuned for updates on that front. Like for the Gorod show, this is a 19+ affair with a 10:00 PM start time, but the cover charge for this one is just $5. Sounds like a fun blast of old school punk, so check the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for more on both shows!

We'll close today with new videos, all concerning local hard/alternative rock musician Mike Haggith's active projects! In the last few days, Mike has posted two new studio versions of his solo original songs "Limb Coast" and, as embedded below, "Room 822" onto his YouTube channel, which are both planned to go towards "Neighbourhood Watch Revisited", a completely re-recorded version of his 2012 CD "Neighbourhood Watch", which I believe Mike had talked about doing in the past. On these new copies, Mike is joined by Din bandmate Brandan Glew on drums, as well as former guitarist Curtis McKenzie (nice to see them working together again!), so if you miss the 2015 version of The Din, pay extra attention here. Pending a possible review of the re-recorded album, I won't review the 2016 versions here, but in terms of the differences between versions, the new songs are longer, have better production, but otherwise are similar in structure. We'll let you know when more comes out on the re-recordings, but give Mike's first two "Neighbourhood Watch" re-recordings a listen below!



Finally, here's the latest from the aforementioned The Din, whose second installment of their "Cover of the Month" video series was posted online yesterday! Uploaded to The Din's YouTube channel yesterday, this is of the alternative hard rock trio covering The Barenaked Ladies' "The Old Apartment", complete with Mike & Brandan re-enacting the spoken word intro of the original song to kick things off (albeit with a "mic drop" for good measure.) Well recorded and filmed, fans of Mike's band work should enjoy this cover, so give it a look below, and don't miss The Din at next week's battles of the bands on Wednesday & Thursday!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post and weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!