Another Local Video Showcase!!

I feel like it's getting tougher and tougher to cobble together content for regular posts on the SMS. Hopefully things pick up at some point before I have to think about spreading out our "at least one post every three days" guarantee! To keep things fair in this all-video post, let's go in alphabetical order by artist name, starting with some new videos from prolific local punk musician Dustin Jones, as shared onto SooToday this month! Much like he did during the first major lockdown last spring, a cover by him (on guitar) and his daughter Jett (on vocals) was posted on SooToday to share with readers as a point of inspiration, this time tackling Jordan Clarke's "Freaks". Fun performance for what it is, and they even included lyrics to sing along with in the article proper! I can't embed videos from SooToday's video host here, but luckily, their other new video from Dustin was merely shared from Tidal Records' YouTube channel!

A live performance from Mission Control Studios, this is of an original song called "For Now" that was newly uploaded yesterday, though it's not clear whether this is just a solo song or if it will end up being on The Rising Tide's forthcoming new album. This is definitely a folksier song, but I can see it being adapted with the full band if that is at all planned. Well performned and sung, and SooToday again has lyrics if you want to sing along, but give Dustin's video proper a look below!

Next up, I was recently alerted to a few new YouTube uploads from veteran local drummer Brian Egglesfield's YouTube channel in the past month! You may recognize Brian from bands like Tripod The Dog and Screwge, and the latter band are kinda the focus here, as Brian uploaded three videos credited to that band from Rotaryfest Stage 1 at Clergue Park back in July 2013! In case you don't have a 2013 program handy, this technically isn't Screwge, rather the Toronto jam rock band Ground Zero, who co-headlined the Saturday lineup that year. As detailed in this YouTube video's description, Screwge were active locally from 1978-1981, with some members later moving down south and playing with Ground Zero through 1993, and the latter band held a one-off reunion here with Saultites Frank Fazi & Shane O'Connell taking part (I'm not 100% certain on if Brian drummed.) Ground Zero proper aren't hard rock centric, but they did cover at least one heavier song!

Brian's Screwge Ground Zero videos include covers of ZZ Top's "Gimme All Your Lovin'", George Thorogood & The Destroyers' "Move It On Over", and as embedded below, both Rod Stewart's "Hot Legs" and Goddo's "Sweet Thing" (nice to hear some classic hard rock Canadian content!) Despite an unzoomed and often crooked camera angle, the audio quality is really good, and the guys have a good fan-friendly sound on these classic covers. There is more to touch on from Brian's YouTube channel from other bands, but check out his Ground Zero videos above and below!

Also, here's a new solo performance video from veteran local hard rock solo guitarist Mike Cliffe's YouTube channel a couple of days ago! His first non-Christmas carol upload here in almost a year, this is an apparent original song called "Persuaders" with him on guitar playing alongside pre-recorded backing instruments, though the video proper is replaced by an AudioFumes card for the last minute. Solid performance of this spacey prog rock number, so give Mike's newest video a watch below!

We'll close by heading south to Sault Michigan for the latest from local hard rock quartet Tarnished! Publically speaking, we haven't heard much from them this month in a musical sense, but a Facebook page posting on January 18th did hint that they were "hard at work". At least partially, this relates to non-musical endeavours, including a video of a planned side series called "Tarnished Talks", where band members (Alex & Josh in the premiere's case) talk about something, starting with what they love about AC/DC. As well, they launched another pilot for a "Tarnished Plays" series where band members play a video game together, with Alex and Josh playing Fortnite in episode 1. Sounds like a fun way to stay busy during presumed pandemic-influenced downtime, and they do have creative observations about AC/DC! Tarnished have also launched a Patreon page for fans to back them and crowd-fund future band endeavours, with exclusive content planned there.

Their only new Facebook video in the last couple of weeks featuring the band on camera is this 33 second clip of Alex & Josh thanking everyone for crossing both the 200 followers threshold on TikTok and 600 likes on Facebook. Not too substantial, but length-wise, it's par for the course for their TikTok page. I should really give their TikTok page more of a look re: the SMS, as most videos there are not shared to or re-uploaded on Facebook, and despite the short video lengths, there is a lot of exclusive videos to see. Stay tuned on that front, but give Tarnished's AC/DC discussion a listen below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new post of some kind by month's end! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Losing Ground

It's the 10th of the month, so let's roll out our latest Defunct Local Band Profile! Today, we're looking at yet another randomly selected defunct/inactive Sault Ste. Marie metal/hard rock band, and profiling them and what they've done and put out, and like the past months, they were randomly chosen from our band links with no biases for or against their members, genre, sound, talent, or longevity. This month's selection is a short lived band with a few familiar faces, so read on below to learn more in our latest Defunct Local Band Profile! (Updated on May 8th, 2013)
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Losing Ground

Genre: Heavy Metal

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members:

Kevin Koprash (Stealing Kisses), vocals/guitar
Jonathan Tiberi (Late & Loud, The Daybreak Johnnies), vocals/guitar
Kevin D'Orazio (With Blood Build Character, State of Misery), bass
Nick Kainula (With Blood Build Character, State of Misery), drums

Audio/Video: Only two known videos exist online to document Losing Ground in action, which feature 3/4ths of their lineup (Kevin Koprash is absent in both) in a late 2009 jam session at drummer Nick Kainula's house. They're of Losing Ground's cover of Pentagram's "Forever My Queen" and (as embedded below) their original instrumental "The Wizard's Pipe", both of which feature a high number of video effects and captions when needed. Both were originally posted by guitarist Jonathan Tiberi on Facebook at this location, but they've since made their way to YouTube, so check the above links and below to see most of Losing Ground in action!


 
Info/Analysis: Losing Ground were a short lived local metal band that existed from late 2009 to early 2010. Essentially a replacement for the late 2000s local punk band Stealing Kisses, all three of that band's final members were joined by guitarist Jonathan Tiberi in Losing Ground, who played a much heavier old school sound than Stealing Kisses were known for. Their Facebook group was launched in December 2009, but it was only actively used for a few days, and Losing Ground quietly dissolved early the following year, with most of the band turning up in more successful metal bands like Late & Loud and State of Misery by the end of 2010. There's not a whole lot to say on Losing Ground, but they seemed to have promise in their brief run, and their sound definitely sounds like a precursor to Jonathan's recent work in Late & Loud in some ways. I don't know how Kevin Koprash would have impacted their sound compared to his punk work, but the videos I've seen show some good stuff and guitar riffs, especially on their original, but the Pentagram cover is somewhat messy. Stealing Kisses were a talented punk band, and while there's more to say and hear from them, metalheads will probably prefer Losing Ground for the heaviness displayed and the classic influenced material, so give them a listen if you like the members' later bands!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month, we're gonna cover 2 bands once again, as the first band that I randomly chose doesn't have enough information to warrant a full profile by themselves. As a result, we're gonna profile a Sault Ontario band in a similar situation along with the Sault Michigan band we chose, so in September, we're profiling the late 2000s Sault Michigan metal trio Weed (featuring Clownsack alumni) and the mid-2000s Sault Ontario solo project PYSS, so look out for both of these on or around September 10th! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news & notes shortly! Thanks everyone!

Mike Libertoski & Late And Loud Updates, Plus This Week's Classic Video!!

Let's keep the news rolling on this Thursday morning, and for the record, weekend hard rock/metal concert previews are coming either tonight or early tomorrow. For now, we have this week's classic video, a local concert's venue search, and a lot of updates related to posted media by a prominent local guitarist, so here's what you need to know!

Swayze Train & Galactic Alignment guitarist Mike Libertoski has created a new YouTube channel, and unlike his inactive solo project's YouTube channel, this one is so far solely devoted to solo covers of metal tracks! Three videos have been uploaded there, all posted last month, and they include Mike's covers of Animals As Leaders' "The Price Of Everything & The Value Of Nothing", a short cover of Beneath The Massacre's "Lithium Overdose", and (as embedded below) his cover of The Faceless' "Legions Of The Serpent"! Mike's talent is on full display, and he seems to have a firm grasp on these songs, but I'd have turned down the original song from the recordings, as it can drown out Mike's playing at times, especially on the Animals As Leaders cover. Still, these show Mike's excellent guitar skills well, and you can check out all of Mike's newest videos at the above links, or check out his Faceless cover below!



Also in Mike Libertoski news, I recently came across some new media from his Galactic Alignment tech-metal solo project, but not from official band pages. Mike's old Slackjawed Rats bandmate Jared Lucas (who now lives in Big Rapids, Michigan while attending Ferris State University) has his own SoundCloud page, where he's revealed that he's an aspiring producer & sound engineer. His page has a number of tracks that he's produced, but there are a couple of tracks that Jared uploaded with local metal ties, the most recent of which being a recently remixed version of Galactic Alignment's original "Radiated Infinite Oblivion"! Jared supplies some bass on this track & produced it, and it sounds very brutal, with some nice progressive and technical elements! The other local metal-related video there is a song called "Deluxe 3" from December 2010 that Mike & Jared recorded with Mike's Swayze Train bandmate Scott Savoie (pictured.) Here, Scott played most instruments, with Mike handling lead guitar & drum programming, and Jared on (really good) death metal singing. I don't know how far that band arrangement ever got, but they have good chemistry & are extremely heavy, so check out that and the new Galactic Alignment song at the above links, and stay tuned for more from Mike's projects!

We'll close today with topics related to Sault Ontario classic metal quartet Late & Loud, who will of course rock Coch's Corner THIS SATURDAY! As you may remember, it was confirmed last month that Late & Loud would be opening for Victoria, British Columbia sleaze metal quintet The Lust Boys in Sault Ontario on March 30th, and though posters for their "Tour Before Dishonour 2012" say they're playing at The Canadian Nightclub, that doesn't appear to be final at present. No venue is absolutely confirmed yet for this show, and while I did send guitarist Brendan Christie some venue contacts, any press will help, so I'm spreading the word once again to help secure a Lust Boys date here on March 30th! Remember, The Lust Boys have a great old school mix of punk and hair metal, and former Saultite Ben Kemp-Reynolds (a.k.a. Benny Blitz) is their guitarist, and an ex-bandmate of Late & Loud's Benn Garside & Josh Hatherly from The Glass Statues, so along with their quality sleaze sounds, they have local ties too! It'll be awesome to see them here, but if you can help secure a venue or booking for this show (at The Canadian or elsewhere), give Brendan a shout at this location, and fingers crossed this show goes down! For now, I've removed it from our concert listings due to the venue uncertainty, but if anything new is announced, I'll have it here!

And finally, here's this week's classic video! For the second time in three weeks, we're tying in the current upload with Late & Loud, but only this time is it thanks to a concert (go see them on Saturday night!) As you may remember last January, one of our first classic video postings was of Late & Loud guitarist Jonathan Tiberi's short-lived local metal band Losing Ground (featuring State of Misery alumni Kevin D'Orazio & Nick Kainula) from 2009, and while that video was a cover of Pentagram's "Forever My Queen", they had one more video worth uploading from Facebook! This time, however, it was an instrumental original named "The Wizard's Pipe", and it honestly sounds better than the Pentagram cover! It's got nice speed and pacing, and it has a good classic sound going for it, though I'm curious to hear vocals with it, and the excess video effects can be detracting. Similarly to the first video of Losing Ground, this is from a late 2009 jam session sans guitarist Kevin Koprash, and Jonathan posted this onto his personal Facebook page on December 17th, 2009 at http://facebook.com/photo.php?v=1309568737634. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to the ex-members of Losing Ground, I'm just sharing this video with a wider audience like it deserves!

I know this wasn't the most accomplished band from Jon, Kevin, or Nick's musical resumes, but "The Wizard's Pipe" has a lot of promise, and it'd be interesting to see it expanded on, so give it a listen for some catchy instrumental classic metal below, and stay tuned for more from Late & Loud and related projects as it comes in!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews either tonight or tomorrow morning! Thanks everyone!

Two New Local Bands & Some New Local Videos!!

A day after we launched our new poll (VOTE TODAY!!), we return to the news for today, and we have some notable stuff to share on this fine Wednesday! We have our latest weekly classic video, the latest clips from a once-locally based band, and headlining today's post, two new local band pages! Here's what you need to know!

Almost two months after debuting at the Total Chaos concert, local hardcore quartet Changing Waves have finally launched their own internet pages! I have noticed two, one being a MySpace page, the other a Facebook account. Yes, I said account, not page or group, so you'll have to actually add Changing Waves as a friend, but definitely add them! Their MySpace page (which was launched on January 10th) has more to say at present, and there, it confirms the lineup I had previously mentioned on here, including frontman Benjamin Kallonen, guitarist Mike Hagerman, bassist Devan Lauzon, and drummer Alex Hagerman! You'll of course recognize the Hagerman brothers from Paraside, and Benjamin and Devan from Face First. Crediting "life" as an influence, the band say they sound like "what we want to hear", and they say they're trying to put as much music as they can out there. Not much extra info is present, but you know what is there? Songs, three of them! They're likely recordings from a jam session, and these are rather clear, which is nice to see! I notice that on these recordings, Benjamin's singing isn't as "scream-filled" as I figured it was live, but that's not bad, and the group have chemistry! Can't wait to see their next steps, and definitely check them out at the above links!

The other new band is a new solo project from a prominent local musician! If you've followed the Sault Michigan scene recently, you're likely well aware of singer/drummer Bob Helsten, a.k.a. Orb Hearthstone. Now the singer in End of Existence and the drummer in Elipzis, Orb's carved a good local reputation through singing roles in Integrated System of Machines, Weed, and Mugwort, and for his drum work in Clownsack and Chord On Bluez, among others! Well, Orb's launched another new band, this time, a solo project simply named "Orb"! This project is a completely solo effort, with Bob on each instrument, and he describes his new solo material as a little different than what we've previously seen from him. He's right, as the new songs he has posted on his solo project's MySpace page are lighter and slower than his past death metal work, though there's still harsh vocals to be had on "Dawn of a Dying Day"! "Final Day" is completely softer, but in still sort of a fast sort of pacing, and it reminds me at points of some later Faith No More songs, if that's accurate. Good stuff, definitely different from his usual fare, but just metal enough for the SMS! Check out more from Orb at his solo project's MySpace page linked above, and his new Reverbnation page! And yes, both Changing Waves & Orb are linked in our band links on your left and right!

Now, to new videos, and we'll start with Sue Inside! Yes, the locally-born experimental metal band have resurfaced with a pair of new videos on frontman Shane Lipsit-Fraser's official YouTube channel! One is for an original song named "Hermit", an acoustic instrumental (well, mostly) with an accompanying music video! It's similar in tone to a classic silent film, only with filters, a contemporary setting, and some mostly unintelligible spoken word from Shane in the last section. It's well made, and the guitar work isn't too bad! The same can apply for the second video, of the original song "Green Curry Chicken", which is also a solo acoustic track. It seems to pick up where "Hermit" left off, but is mostly a solo performance, but also in black and white with filters. Not too bad, not really heavy, but well played! And before anyone's like "This isn't metal, why are you talking about this?", keep in mind that many of the posted Sue Inside videos since Shane moved to Southern Ontario have been acoustic, and there are still heavier videos on his channel and on the band's CBC Radio 3 page. Still, it's nice to see Sue Inside are still active, and hopefully some more material comes online soon! Check the above links for more, and here's Sue Inside's video for "Hermit"!



And finally, here's this week's third weekly classic video! Once again, I'm tying in this video with performers at an upcoming concert, and in this case, it's half of local death metal band State of Misery! Bassist Kevin Dorazio & drummer Nick Kainula have joined forces before in other bands, most notably Stealing Kisses in 2009, but that same year, they hit the metal scene in the defunct local band Losing Ground! Only briefly active in late 2009 and early 2010(?), Losing Ground also featured Kevin & Nick's Stealing Kisses bandmate Kevin Koprash on guitar, and current Late & Loud frontman Jonathan Tiberi on vocals and guitar! Is it wrong of me to use puns like State of Loud or Late & Misery to describe Losing Ground? This band never played a live concert, but their Facebook group includes lots of optimistic postings, and there is video footage online of the band in action! This video is one of them, from a late 2009 jam session at Nick Kainula's house, and it features the band (minus Kevin Koprash) covering the Pentagram song "Forever My Queen"! Featuring good quality audio and heavy filter use, it was uploaded onto Jonathan Tiberi's Facebook page in late 2009 at http://facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1309509976165, and because it deserves higher exposure, I ripped it from there and uploaded it to the SMS' YouTube channel!

Remember, all credit for this video goes to Jonathan, NOT ME! NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED, I mean no harm!! It's a good performance, and this song suits Jonathan's range, I wonder why Losing Ground didn't last? So, check out our newest classic video below!



That's all for now, but I should have more later tonight or tomorrow, including weekend concert previews, so keep an eye out! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Garden of Bedlam), Caveman Morrison VIP Night Preview, And Two New Local Bands!

Well, my exams are finally done, so let's update you guys on some new stuff! And we'll start with some Garden of Bedlam news!

On Monday, SooToday posted a press release from Garden of Bedlam concerning the Kiss concert cancellation. As we all should know, Garden of Bedlam were to back up Kiss at the show due to their victory at the Kiss Battle of the Bands! The band expressed disappointment, but hope that when the show is rescheduled, they'll still be the openers. It also features comments from drummer Derek Turner. Now we have already heard a lot of what it says through band pages, but the last part of the article is well worth mentioning:

"Garden of Bedlam will take the stage at Foggy Notions on Boxing Day, and are currently working on new material for a full-length album to be released summer of 2010."

Hear that? Garden of Bedlam at Foggies on December 26th! The band haven't officially announced it as of 3:33 PM Wednesday, but the band has teased it a bit on Facebook too. And really, if it's in the official press release on SooToday, it must be true! So there, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT! I still don't know full details though, but when the band announce them, I'll let you guys know! And make sure to read the news release from SooToday at this location!

Now, we have a concert tonight to preview, so here's what you need to know! I've heard the buzz for it all over the net and with people I've talked to, and finally, after over 20 months of waiting, Foggy Notions is back! Though the grand opening isn't until Friday (Sense of Truth are headlining!), you don't have to wait until then to experience the newly remodeled Foggy Notions! TONIGHT is the V.I.P. night, and headlining are none other than Caveman Morrison! Coming off last night's Kiss afterparty-makeup concert at The Rockstar Bar, they'll be headlining what should be a special night for those of you who loved Foggy Notions and were eagerly anticipating it's return! The concert/V.I.P. night is at 11:00 PM tonight, and tickets cost $10! Technically, tickets shouldn't even be available today, but with some cancellations, there were some available tonight, so ACT NOW if you want one! Call 575-0152 A.S.A.P. if you want to be a part of V.I.P. Night!

I won't go, though it'd be great to see Caveman Morrison again, I'm going to let people who experienced Foggy Notions in it's heyday have this one to themselves, I won't steal a ticket from someone who really really wants it. And if you guys can't make it tonight, no worries, Caveman Morrison will be back at Foggies on January 2nd, and it will be open to the public for Sense of Truth on Friday night! If you are going, you'll be in for a good concert, Caveman Morrison deliver some great covers, and you'll have fun! Check out videos and audio from the band and frotnman Tym Morrison's solo project at this location!

And my other big news today? NEW LOCAL BANDS! I came across two in recent days, and now it's time to profile them and add them to the band listings! The first is a band known as Meatplow! I can't completely confirm the band's lineup, but I believe at least one band member used to be in Amethyst, which, if I'm right, is awesome to hear! The band's Facebook page has some details about Meatplow's plans, including apparent recording sessions for an album to be released next year, and plans for the band to "break the Soo open" in February or March! No audio or video to speak of yet either, but their page says that Meatplow are "are a great band ready to rock" and "If you like the head bopping mixed with head banging then you will love our music." Sounds good to me, we'll have to see what they sound like! And when I hear more details on Meatplow, I'll let you guys know!

The other new band go by the name of Losing Ground, and you may recognize members of this band from another local group of a completely different genre! Frontman Kevin Koprash, bassist Kevin D'Orazio, and drummer Nick Kainula are also from local pop rock band Stealing Kisses, who you may have seen at a pair of shows with Bring The Fallen and assorted other bands from this past May! Well, it looks like the Stealing Kisses guys have gone metal, and joining them is lead guitarist Jonathan Tiberi, who definitely has some huge talent! Though he lived in the St. Catharines/Niagara area for a while, he's a Saultite, and he's uploaded some pretty good solo material onto his MySpace page! He's also done some stuff with fellow local guitarist Brendan Christie too! Sounds good, but how are the band? Well, if you ignore the bad quality audio, you can find out by clicking here, because they've uploaded a video from a jam session! Kevin Koprash is absent, but the song is solid enough, we'll have to see how they sound in full and live! As I hear more about Losing Ground, I'll be sure to share with everyone!

That's all I have for today, stay tuned to The Sault Metal Scene over the next while for my previews of this weekend's shows and the Foggy Notions grand opening, and much more! I won't be in town this weekend, I'm going to Detroit again, so I'll miss the fun at Foggy's, Rock of Ages, Free Refill, and Tym Morrison's solo shows, but I WILL BE BACK MONDAY! I will try and update the SMS where time permits in Detroit too. Oh, and thanks to the continuing support of our Facebook page, everyone! We're nearing 400 members, which is incredible, keep it up! Thanks eveyone!