P.O.D./Hoobastank/Fuel Concert Fallout & Videos!!

It took a few days for videos to turn up, but now there are a good amount, so here's a post dedicated to Friday's P.O.D./Hoobastank/Fuel concert at The Dreammaker's Theatre at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino! By every account that I've heard, the show was a hit, so what should you know from it? Local2 crossed the border to film this video featuring clips of the three headlining bands on multiple cameras, capturing P.O.D. playing "Boom" & a song that I can't place (might it be brand new or from a jam?), Hoobastank playing "Crawling In The Dark" and "The Reason", and Fuel playing "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)". Nice multi-angle footage of the headliners, and all sound pretty good if you're a fan of theirs, so be sure to check out Local2's coverage above! Remember, we can't embed their videos here, as their host doesn't allow external embedding. The rest of our videos come from attendee Christopher Paci (a frequent filmer of Kewadin and larger local hard rock shows), who shot 12 videos from the show for his YouTube channel, as uploaded in recent days, and while there's nothing of openers Lights Out Paris & Redburn, he got some solid footage of the other four bands, so what do we have?

We'll start with the headliners,  San Diego alternative metal quartet P.O.D., who Christopher filmed playing their songs "Alive", "Boom", "Roots In Stereo", and as embedded below, "Youth Of The Nation", which saw frontman Sonny Sandoval invite a few kids in attendance on stage to party with the band with them, which occurs often in P.O.D. concerts during this song. Though the audio can be a little scratchy on heavier stretches, these are solid performances all around from this popular hard rock band, with all four songs familiar from their classic era, so give Chris' P.O.D. videos a look above & below!



Chris also filmed four videos of California hard rock quartet Hoobastank's set, including their songs "Running Away", "Crawling In The Dark", "Pieces", and as embedded below, "The Reason". Nice energy and enthusiasm on these videos, with Hoobastank seeming to barely age from their peak, and these familiar hits of theirs should get a good response if you can get around the sometimes scratchy audio! Check it all out above & below!



And yes, Chris also got three videos of Pennsylvania post-grunge quartet Fuel's set, those being of their songs "Shimmer", "Last Time", and as embedded below, "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)", which Chris incorrectly titled "Don't Fall Away". Very reliable sounding compared to Fuel's studio recordings, fans should get a kick out of these songs, filmed at a nice angle like with Chris' other clips, so give his Fuel videos a look above and below!



We'll close with one last video from Christopher's channel, this time of returning local epic metal quintet Integrated System Of Machines, so what do we know now? According to the video, the band no longer has a keyboardist as a permanent live band member, Chris Leask appears to be on guitar rather than his Power Slug bass role (Art Dietz is on bass), and as for their second guitarist, we can now confirm that his name is Jonathan Bennett, according to tagged pictures from Chris Leask's personal Facebook page. I can't find much on Jon's past band work (all I found was an old personal MySpace page that shows him playing with an unidentified band), but he's a solid player and does the solo in the video from the concert (and on a Dean ML, no less!) Chris Paci filmed I.S.O.M. playing their own self-titled song from their debut album "Apocalyptic Vision", which was one of their more accessible early tracks, so if you're not a fan of death metal or super-aggressive vocals, this one might be up your alley!

Note that there's also a personal Facebook video floating around of the end of one of I.S.O.M.'s songs, but it's strictly focused on Jonathan only, so keep that in mind if you're friends of his friends.  It's great to see Orb bring Integrated Systems Of Machines back at last, and they sound good here, but how are the album plans coming? Will we see them again soon? Will they launch new online pages? We'll keep you posted, but re-integrate yourself with I.S.O.M. below!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Rotaryfest Second Stage) & New Sault Michigan Videos!!

Keeping our busy streak going at the SMS, here's a new news post half devoted to some short new videos from Sault Michigan, but leading off, here's a long anticipated LOCAL CONCERT ALERT concerning the return of a fan favourite summer concert event, so here's what you should know!

The full lineup for the return of Rotaryfest's Second Stage is now official, as per the official program, so what should you know for it's 10th installment? Returning after a year's hiatus due to financial issues, the all-original stage (now presented by Agero & Village Media, and labelled as "Stage 2: Redirected" on official materials) will be held at Clergue Park on an outdoor stage by the Art Gallery of Algoma, presumably due to the ongoing Downtown Association debate and the postponement or cancellation of outdoor Queen Street events until that's resolved, but whether this is a temporary move or not is to be determined. Also, with LopLops Lounge moving on to their own Emergency Festival last year, main stage assistant director Chelsie Parayko is the new director of the Second Stage, but how does this affect the lineup and schedule? For at least this year, the Second Stage will be held on Saturday, July 18th only (it had previously been held on the Friday too), and is is also a little shorter in length and earlier than before (1:00-8:00 PM rather than 2:00-11:00 PM)

Lineup-wise, there are no out of town bands this year, so this year's Stage 2 lineup is all-local for the first time in a noticeable while. In terms of genre, the bands are familiar in sound to past Second Stages, but with a youthful, punk/alternative base that will be up the alley of fans of Lopstock and Tidal Records events, and with one exception, all making their Stage 2 debuts! Headlining at 7:00 PM on July 18th are local post-punk quartet and VM Radio Battle winners Gnaeus, while their good friends in The Pixo Control will co-headline with their own alternative & grunge originals at 6:00 PM. and new local glam metal/power pop trio Caroline Divine will play at 5:00 PM.  Newer pop punk quartet Stereo North are scheduled at 4:00 PM, and young local indie rock quintet Aldous are on at 3:00 PM, while local rapper Conika & DJ Seith will play three 10 minute mini-sets together at 2:50, 3:50, and 4:50 PM. Some familiar Rotaryfest faces will open Stage 2 as well, so who are they?

Local progressive/indie rock quartet The Wild Iris (who previously played the First Stage twice as The Pesto Shirts) will head over to the Second Stage for a 2:00 PM set, while local alt-folk favourites The Boot Hill Crooners will make their first Stage 2 appearance since 2009 to open the day at 2:00 PM. Just for reference sake, this year's event breaks local indie/folk quintet The Porter Band's five year streak of Second Stage appearances since their 2009 debut, though I believe they fell inactive last year. Stage 2: Redirected is a FREE & ALL AGES event, and it's great to have it back in any form after losing last year's event! I'm encouraged by the more alternative and punk selection of bands, and it'll be interesting to see how this does, but of course, if you miss the old Second Stage format and band range, give The Emergency Festival a look next month! See the above links for more details, and we'll keep you posted if any extra info comes in!

We'll close today with some short videos that will be of note to Sault Michigan readers, including this commercial for TONIGHT'S  P.O.D./Hoobastank/Fuel concert at The Dreammaker's Theatre at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino! Uploaded by co-promoter John Yeubanks to the Yooper Bars & Bands Facebook group on Wednesday, this was obviously made before Lights Out Paris were added to the lineup, and Integrated System of Machines' name is said without the "S" at the end, but it's effective, gets the details across, and makes good use of music video clips of the headliners! Give it a look below, and remember, tickets are $42.50 at the door TONIGHT!



Finally for today, here's a brief new video from 415E guitarist Chris Hubbard's YouTube channel! The first new performance upload on his YouTube channel since 2011 (though note a few of his recent uploads have been deleted for unannounced reasons), this 15 second video is of Chris jamming on guitar with the help of his new EVH 5150 III Stealth guitar amp head. The camera is mounted on Chris' guitar (albeit with grainy quality), and everything sounds good, but it's too bad this isn't longer. Give Chris' new video a look below!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Banned) & Sault Michigan Weekend Concert Previews!!

As previously indicated, today's second post dives into a busy weekend in Sault Michigan and Eastern U.P. hard rock concerts, including SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next two nights, and a preview of a major six band Kewadin Casino event, but be sure to check out this weekend's Sault Ontario concert previews in the post below this one! Now, here's your hard rock concert previews in Sault Michigan and area for this weekend!

Kinross, Michigan classic/hard rock trio Banned will rock The Islander Bar in nearby Hessel TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, these shows were originally announced on Banned's Facebook page last month in a concert schedule posting, but they slipped us by until this week. Usually, the guys play at The Runway Bar when they play in Hessel (including at their most recent regional show on June 13th), so The Islander is an unknown commodity for our coverage, but it's located at 134 South Pickford Avenue, and is actually located in a century-old building that once served Hessel as a general store and ice cream parlor, so there's definitely history with this bar! They do book the occasional live band, so might we see more bands (including Banned) there in the coming months? For reference, Alex, Don, and Wayne also hit the road to play shows in Blaney Park and Curtis since their last Soo-area shows, plus a private party of some kind.

This weekend's Hessel concerts have 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no announced cover charge, so for more details, visit the above links, and if you want to check out Banned's hard rock covers over the holiday weekend, you know where to be! For a preview, here's Banned live last summer!



Next up, here's a preview of one of the biggest major hard rock concerts of the year, as three multi-platinum selling bands will rock The Dreammaker's Theatre at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino TOMORROW NIGHT! Those three bands are San Diego alternative metal quartet P.O.D. (in their local debut), California hard rockers Hoobastank (last seen opening for Staind here in 2009) and Pennsylvania post-grunge quartet Fuel (who opened for Buckcherry here three years ago), and this stacked lineup is responsible for many huge hits of the past two decades, like "Youth of the Nation", "The Reason", "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)", and many more, so Rock 101 listeners are bound to like at least one of these three headliners! Note as well that Fuel will have a different drummer than they had in 2012, with Shannon Boone in and Ken Schalk out. Openers will include Rochester, New York post-hardcore band Lights Out Paris, Saginaw rap/rock quintet Redburn (who opened for Saving Abel earlier this year in the Soo), and the long awaited reunion of local epic metal quintet Integrated System of Machines!

After a 5 or 6 year breakup, the band's new lineup (Orb Hearthstone, Art Dietz, Chris Leask, Bart Rennels, and Jon, last name to be determined) are back in a big way with new material, so don't miss I.S.O.M.'s resurgence TOMORROW! Promoted by new local agency Superior Entertainment, tickets are still available from the third row & back for $38.50 in advance or $42.50 at the door at this link, at the in-person box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN. This is ALL AGES, and a 7:00 PM start time is advertised. With 12 top 10 Billboard chart songs between P.O.D., Hoobastank, and Fuel, you won't want to miss this one, so be there TOMORROW, and here's P.O.D. live!



Also this weekend, Traverse City metal trio Scarkazm are returning to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Fresh off of last weekend's Savoy debut in Sault Michigan, the band from Peril's Adam Crawford & Jeff Hudson will be making their first St. Ignace stops in four months this weekend, so if you've missed this popular Northern Michigan band's originals and covers since their last St. Ignace dates (or missed last weekend's shows in the Soo), and if you're not seeing P.O.D. tomorrow, here's a solid option for your weekend concert plans! There is no announced cover charge for either of Scarkazm's concerts this weekend, you must be 21 to attend, and there's a likely 9:00 PM start time in effect both nights. For more details, check the above links, and definitely keep Scarkazm's return in mind for this weekend! Here's Scarkazm live!



Finally for today, we'll head to the aforementioned Savoy Bar & Nightclub in Sault Michigan, where newer local hard rock quartet Ten Kings will return for Independence Day weekend shows TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Making their second weekend appearance at The Savoy, this weekend's shows are part of The Savoy's returning Summerfest outdoor concert series, which sees bands playing on an outdoor stage behind the venue (Scarkazm kicked things off last week.) Great to see Ten Kings hopping on board for some live concerts over this popular series, so don't miss this familiar quartet this weekend as you celebrate the Fourth of July! No word yet though on who's playing The Savoy in upcoming Summerfest weekends, and if you were curious, the bar's hosting karaoke inside while the bands rock outside (source here.) There is no announced cover for this weekend, you must be 21 to attend, and there are 10:00 PM start times, so check the above links for more details, and here's Ten Kings live!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post and more updates tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (P.O.D. & Theory Of A Deadman), The Return Of I.S.O.M., And Theatre Of Night Updates!!

For the first time in what seems like way too long, we have an all-Sault Michigan post for you guys on this Saturday afternoon, so what lies within? Updates from a popular local studio metal project, a surprise return of a related metal band, and two major LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the Soo Kewadin this summer, so here's what you need to know!

A huge modern/alternative rock concert is hitting The Dreammaker's Theatre at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on Friday, July 3rd that will feature three multi-platinum selling rock bands! The listed headliners are San Diego alternative metal quartet P.O.D. (best known for hits like "Alive" & "Youth of the Nation") in their first local concert appearance, and they'll be joined by fellow California hard rockers Hoobastank (who you may remember from their hits "Crawling In The Dark" & "The Reason") and Pennsylvania post-grunge quartet Fuel (of "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" & "Shimmer" fame), and given their familiar rock radio hits and long standing success, it's great to have all three here! You may also recognize Hoobastank & Fuel from opening for Staind in 2009 and Buckcherry in 2012 respectively at The Dreammaker's Theatre, though Fuel have since changed drummers, with Shannon Boone now behind the kit in place of Ken Schalk. If you've missed both bands in recent years, then circle July 3rd on your calendars!

Support will come via Saginaw rap/rock band Redburn (who opened for Saving Abel earlier this year, among other local appearances) and.... Integrated System of Machines?! You read that right, the local epic metal band has reunited after a 6 year breakup and will play live for the first time in the 2010s at this show, which is awesome to hear! Though fans did get unofficial successors End of Existence in studio in recent years, I.S.O.M. had their own big following at their late 2000s peak, including one CD, but what else do we know about their reunion? While I haven't found a newly updated online page for I.S.O.M., personal Facebook postings imply that their new lineup features original singer Bob Helsten (a.k.a. Orb Hearthstone), his Power Slug bandmate Chris Leask on bass, drummer Bart Rennels (a.k.a. Black Trab), and guitarist(?) Art Dietz, with longtime keyboardist Craig "Tubesock" Harrison noticeably absent.

This doesn't appear to be a one-off, as one Facebook posting suggests that I.S.O.M. are working on a demo of some kind, but we'll keep you posted when/if more is announced, and Integrated System of Machines are now back in our active band links! As for the P.O.D./Hoobastank/Fuel concert in general, it is being promoted by local MMA promoter Robin Cook via his new concert promotion agency Superior Entertainment (also now in our links), who also put on the Saving Abel show earlier this year. Tickets for this ALL AGES show are $38.50 in advance or $42.50 at the door, and you can buy tickets right now at this link, at the in-person box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN. For more details on this huge upcoming show, check the above links, and stay tuned as updates roll in!

One more big modern rock concert is hitting The Dreammaker's Theatre this year (just one week after P.O.D. in fact), as British Columbia hard rock quartet Theory of a Deadman will rock the Sault Kewadin on Friday, July 10th! Making their second local concert appearance (after a headlining show at The Dreammaker's Theater in 2012), Theory of a Deadman have 3 platinum albums in Canada, and are well known from hit songs like "Bad Girlfriend", " Lowlife", and "Nothing Could Come Between Us", and their own familiar hits and selection of heavier favourite should serve them and fans well during this stop on their Summer Savages Tour The announced openers are Missouri hard rock quintet Shaman's Harvest, who have charted some rock rasdio hits with songs like "Dragonfly" & "Dangeorous", and should fit in nicely in their local concert debut on July 10th! There will reportedly be one more band added to the lineup, we'll let you know when/if they're announced.

Promoted by Allstar Promotions in their third show since resurging (though their first in their usual modern rock wheelhouse since then), this show has a flat $36.50 ticket fee, and like the P.O.D. show, tickets for this ALL AGES event are available at this link, at the in-person box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN. For more details (including a Facebook contest from Allstar Promotions where you could win backstage and/or meet & greet passes), visit the above links! These two shows will help bolster the summer concert season in the twin Saults, so if you enjoy modern hard and alternative rock, definitely keep your eyes on these two July shows! Stay tuned for more info!

We'll close today's all-Sault Michigan post with some news from local classical metal band Theatre of Night, so what's been going on in their camp? In terms of new music, the band featuring I.S.O.M. and End of Existence alumni have uploaded new "zombie soundtrack" songs named "Demonslayer" and "Revenge of the Living Dead" to their Reverbnation page, but whether this is an intended album theme or not isn't stated there. Both sound good and dramatic, so check them out above! Theatre of Night have also launched a campaign on the crowdfunding website Patreon, which is like Kickstarter, but allows fans to fund artists per each completed work to help them continue producing more in their medium. A lengthy biography written by keyboardist Craig Harrison can be read there, where he outlines Theatre of Night's history and past work, and it's a nice read! That said, if you pledge money to fund Theatre of Night projects, what will you get?

If you pledge $1 per song, you can get new songs as released for free plus possibly studio outtakes and Craig's own art prints. Higher amounts (i.e. $100 and $200 a song) could see money donated to the Wounded Warrior Project or you recieving ALL produced music. Crowdfunding is still a new and hit & miss idea for local bands, but hopefully fans can jump on board to help Craig, Steve, and Gaby to continue making music and finally get that third CD out, so click here for full details on the Patreon campaign, and stay tuned!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for an all-Sault Ontario news post tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Dino Capriata

For our 25th straight day of SMS updates, we have this month's YouTube Channel Profile for you guys! As always, this monthly feature series looks at 1-3 YouTube channels with (at least) a 50% concentration of local metal/hard rock-relevant videos, featuring information, profiles, recommendations, and videos to check out from each! Today marks our first one-channel Sault Michigan profile in 10 months (even though the owner's from Sault Ontario), and if you're a major concertgoer across the river, this will definitely be appealing, so read on below for this month's YouTube Channel Profile! (Updated on October 15th, 2013)
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dino capriata (http://www.youtube.com/user/dfunker76)

Owner: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario resident Dino Capriata

Channel Timeline: Launched on April 29th, 2009; Videos posted from then through August 2011

Channel Summary: Despite being a resident of Sault Ontario, Dino's YouTube channel is entirely comprised of concert videos from The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino in 2009 & 2011! Attending at least five during his use of the channel (including three hard rock concerts), Dino launched his channel with four videos from the Staind/Hoobastank concert on April 28th, 2009, later adding to it with two videos from one of ZZ Top's shows here that September. After a hiatus of over a year for new videos, Dino returned with three 2011 videos from the Cinderella concert on April 14th, following up with one video of Loverboy's show there on June 3rd, and closing with a video of Whitesnake's local show on August 26th of that year.

Why Should You Watch: Because this is a quality resource of major Kewadin Casino concerts, even if three or four of them don't lean heavier! Though Dino's seats varied depending on the show, he has good camera work for the most part, and the audio of each band is pretty clear, so it's definitely a good spot to check out recent Dreammaker's Theater concert footage! Note however that Dino hasn't visibly used his channel in over a year & a half, in case that changes your mind on subscribing, but hopefully he'll film some more local concert footage at some point again!

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

staind at kewedin casino: For his first Kewadin concert videos, Dino uploaded four videos from the April 2009 show featuring Massachusetts hard rock notables Staind and California alt-rock openers Hoobastank, including two videos of each. All four are filmed at a far angle from the stage, which can be somewhat jittery, but luckily, his view of the stage is fairly clear, and the audio picks up well! The featured video here is a slightly more aggressive take of Staind's song "So Far Away" (plus crowd sing-along), while his other Staind video was of their hit "Right Here". The Hoobastank videos include their songs "My Turn" and "The Reason", but the latter doesn't seem to load on YouTube consistently.



dfunk 2: Though his most viewed video his his Loverboy clip, Dino's most watched metal performance video is of Pennsylvania glam metal quintet Cinderella playing their song "Nobody's Fool" at The Dreammaker's Theater on April 14th, 2011! One of three Cinderella videos that he shot (including their songs "Shake Me" & "Somebody Save Me"), Dino got a much closer angle of this show than he had for Staind, with a very clear & close viewpoint and nice quality audio that captures Cinderella's sound well for the most part, but if you prefer heavier songs, his other Cinderella videos will be more up your alley!



MOV02361.MPG: Dino's last concert video on his channel is of British metal legends Whitesnake playing their song "Bad Boys" at the Soo Kewadin in August 2011, and it's very similar to his Cinderella videos by his crowd placement (though maybe a bit further.) I like that he shot a song that wasn't one of their more overplayed hit singles, and though the audio lacks a bit, Whitesnake sound great on this heavier late 1980s track! However, this his only video from this concert, but other channels will hook you up if you want to see other local Whitesnake clips!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, we'll return to Sault Ontario for another single-channel profile, as I've randomly selected YouTube user stumpypet1's channel, which features 4 videos from defunct local hard rock band Quite Frankly in late 2009! Should be enough for it's own self-contained profile, so watch out for that on or around April 20th, and stay tuned for Sunday night concert previews tomorrow, plus more news! Thanks everyone!