Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Hellhitch & Kilacel

Can you believe we're up to our 8th Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile? Feels like just yesterday that this series was launched! Well, we have two more bands to profile today that, though not from Sault Ste. Marie, contain at least one Saultite in their past or present lineup! Though today's bands vary in country and in notability levels in the local scene, both are worth talking about! So, here are this weekend's profiles, and, as is usual, if there's something incorrect, missing, or lacking info/details, please tell me! (UPDATED: November 26th, 2014)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hellhitch (Toronto, Ontario)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; members not in their last lineup in italics. This lineup is incomplete. If you can help complete it or fill in any gaps, e-mail me at robertfigures@hotmail.com!)

Mike Lawrence (vocals)
Tyler Sitter (guitar)
Mike L. (bass)
Marcel Krusher (drums)

Official MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/hellhitch

Local Info: The only Saultite to my knowledge in Hellhitch was frontman Mike Lawrence, and though I can't confirm a lot of details about his local background, he did live here, as cited on his personal page on Intelius. Plus, Hellhitch were listed for years on the old MySpace regional charts for Sault Ste. Marie despite never being based here, so I'm thinking he launched the page while on a visit home. Mike moved out of town at some point prior to 2005 (no reasonable guess when), and is still active in the Toronto music scene, most recently in an old school punk band named Brooklyn Fletcher, so if you see him playing down south in the near future, take note!

Band Bio: Hellhitch were active in the Toronto metal scene in the mid-2000s, playing shows from (at least) 2004-2006. 2005 appears to have been their peak year, and it was only in October of that year when the band's MySpace page was launched. One of Lion Ride's favourite Toronto venues, The Bovine Sex Club, appeared to be a frequent site for their concerts, and they played their last gig there in early 2006. Employing a southern rock-influenced style of metal including a good amount of originals, Hellhitch made some waves in the scene, and a few online sites openly praised them and their sound! Sadly, information on Hellhitch is hard to come by, so I apologize for the lack of specific details on the band. Mike was most recently visibly active in Brooklyn Fletcher as previously mentioned, while Tyler and Marcel later found themselves in another Toronto area band named Angelsmoke, with Tyler later moving to Alberta. I don't think they ever played a Sault area show, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!

Hellhitch have two audio recordings online that I know of, their originals "Cocaine Caviar" and "Broken Bones". My favourite of the two is "Cocaine Caviar", which reminds me of a more Southern-type metal band with a certain swagger and rawness that's refreshing! Reminds me a bit of if a late '70s hard rock type band and a Southern rock band were blended together. Mike is a pretty good singer, and compared to most metal singers I hear for SMS purposes, he's pretty unique in style, employing a melodic and deep, but gritty voice! The backing instrumentation is good all around, nothing "mindblowing", but the band were definitely capable musicians and got their message across in their music, especially Marcel on drums! I lump Hellhitch in as a good band to have a drink to and have a good time, they have that vibe down pat, without sounding like AC/DC to pull that off! "Broken Bones" isn't as good, taking a mellow laid back feel through most of it that seems out of character, but still well played. I don't know what kind of full repetoire Hellhitch had for originals and live shows, but from what I've heard, they are promising, and deserve to be heard again!

Check out both of Hellhitch's posted originals at this location! I can't find a video of Hellhitch online at all, so to make up for that, and to try to expand Hellhitch's sound and reach, I have uploaded "Cocaine Caviar" to The Sault Metal Scene's YouTube channel! Good stuff, check it out below, and more from Hellhitch at the above links!


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kilacel (Muskegon, Michigan)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; ex-members in italics)

Luke Ponce (vocals)
Chris Webster (guitar)
Chris Leask (bass)
Matt Millering (drums)
Kyle Klinefelter (bass)

Official blog: http://kilacel.blogspot.com
Official Twitter page: http://twitter.com/kilacel
Official MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/kilacel
Official Reverbnation page: http://reverbnation.com/kilacel
Official Facebook group: http://facebook.com/group.php?gid=123438708135

Local Info: Two members of Kilacel had local ties, including final bassist Chris Leask, who has been recently prominent in the Sault Michigan hard rock bands Power Slug, River Witch, Great Bodily Harm, and Blind Baby! Chris' bands have been very visible in recent years, particularly Power Slug, so be sure to keep an eye out for them! As well, guitarist Chris Webster was a member of the partly-local hard rock band Elipzis in the early 2010s, with his very clear guitar skills helping them play numerous major concerts both locally and in the Lower Peninsula, before Elipzis parted ways in the summer of 2011. Though I can't confirm if he ever shared a local residence, keep an eye out for him in the Muskegon cover rock band Live Radio! It should also be noted that their MySpace page credited ex-I.S.O.M. drummer Bart "Black Trab" Rennels as a guest musician.

Band Bio: Kilacel were formed by frontman Luke Ponce and Chris Webster in late 2007 after Luke's return to Muskegon following a stint living in California. They soon added drummer Matt Millering to the lineup, and after a few attempts to get a bassist, they settled on Kyle Klinefelter in early 2009, though he'd be replaced by Chris Leask earlier this year. The band rose quickly in the Muskegon rock scene, winning a notable battle of the bands last year to earn a slot on the Muskegon Summer Celebration festival, opening for bands like Pop Evil and Saving Abel! They also gained some press on Musekgon-area television and newspapers at their peak, along with playing many concerts in the area, not to mention in Sault Michigan also, notably at The Corner Pub. Work was announced on an LP, but Kilacel went on hiatus in April 2010 for family reasons, as there were "3 babies on the way" according to their Twitter page, and are now presumably defunct. However, Luke and Matt have resurfaced in the Nunica, Michigan hard rock band Coldville, who share a similar sound to Kilacel.

I have to say, Kilacel's sound is familiar once you hear it, reminding me on first listen of something you'd hear on rock radio, but I think it deserves more credit than that. Luke Ponce has aggressive vocals when need be, but can also keep a nice melody, even when offering pseudo rap vocals on songs like "All You Get"! The band injects a lot of influences in their sound, including a bit of progressive rock that helps to differ themselves from other bands of their style. Chris Webster supplies some pretty good riffing and solos, while Kyle Klinefelter handled the low end well, and Matt Millering was definitely skilled on the drums! Can't comment on how Chris Leask sounded in Kilacel, but his local should be an indication. Kilacel added a nice spin to a familiar radio hard rock sound, and even though Coldville share a similar sound, a Kilacel reunion wouldn't come amiss!

The only page of Kilacel's with original material is their MySpace page, which has two originals, "All You Get" and "Ignite The Cell". My favourite (and the heavier of the two) is "All You Get", but check them both out! Their MySpace page also has some studio clips and a drum solo from Matt Millering, but if you want to see the band playing a full song, YouTube has you covered! YouTube user laner7 uploaded three clips of Kilacel's set at 2009's Muskegon Summer Celebration to their channel, including live renditions of "Ignite The Cell", "All You Get", and my personal favourite, "Shotgun Bullet Baby", which you can check out below!


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There we go, our 8th Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile is complete! I am admittedly lacking details on both bands above, but they did deserve to be profiled regardless! Still, if you can help fill in any gaps, add additional information, or correct a mistake, don't hesitate to e-mail me at robertfigures@hotmail.com! As for which out of town bands will be profiled next month? Well, I have chosen Fifth Way, the Detroit hard rock band featuring former Saultite/LSSU graduate Zak Stelmaszek, and the new solo project from Lion Ride guitarist Marky Lion (a.k.a. Mark Rand!) Watch out for those between September 17th and 23rd!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for much more local metal news and updates very soon, including my next album review at some point in the next week, previews of this weekend's concerts, and much more! I'll be back before you know it!

Weekend Concert Previews, Woods of Ypres Tour Dates, And A New I.S.O.M. Video!

Happy April Fools Day! And before anyone asks, no, nothing in this post is an April Fools joke, I'm not in the prankster mood today (though turning the site into the Sault Emo Scene or Sault Polka Scene for a day would be amusing!) Today, we have previews of the three metal concerts this weekend, along with two news stories, so here we go!

Firstly, a big concert in Sault Ontario tomorrow night, as Garden of Bedlam hit The Canadian Nightclub to officially celebrate the launch of their official website! Though it's already active and ready to check out online at http://www.gardenofbedlam.com, the official launch of it will be tomorrow night when they take the stage for what may be the last time before they hit the studio! (And by "may", I mean if a rescheduled date for their Garden River fundraiser is announced.) Supporting Garden of Bedlam tomorrow will be Half Past, in their debut appearance at The Canadian Nightclub, and their first concert since February! With Garden of Bedlam soon to record a new album, expect lots of unreleased songs from them tomorrow, but Half Past also have a new original up their sleeve tomorrow, so look out for that! Crank Sound Distribution are handling the sound tomorrow, and The Rad Zone will be on hand to sell Garden of Bedlam merchandise! The concert will start around 11:00 PM tomorrow night, NOT TONIGHT like The Canadian's radio ads had been saying earlier in the week. There is a cover charge of $5, a Half Past Facebook status is my source.

This should be a great concert, especially if you're itching to see Garden of Bedlam live, because as I already said, this could be their last concert for a few months. Whether you want to celebrate their website, rock out to some awesome metal, or both, hopefully you'll be at The Canadian tomorrow! Same goes for Half Past, hopefully we'll see a lot more from them soon, but tomorrow's a must if you wanna see them too! Click on the bands' names above to check out their material, confirm your attendance at the official Facebook event page, and for a video preview, here's their video for their song "The Truth Shall Set You Free"!



The other two metal shows this weekend will be on Saturday, and we'll stay in Sault Ontario for the first one, as a major tribute band will make their way here! Destroyer: Canada's Number One Tribute To Kiss will be headlining on Saturday night at The Rockstar Bar, for a show that I'm sure will appease some of the disgruntled Kiss fans who are anxiously (or impatiently) awaiting their rescheduled date here! A very authentic Kiss experience will await ticketholders, with full costumes, makeup, and big-show quality lighting, effects, fire breathing, and most importantly, an authentic Kiss sound! The family friendly, well travelled, and nationally recognized Destroyer will be sure to deliver the closest thing to Kiss that we can get for the time being, so be sure to head out to The Rockstar Bar on Saturday! Doors open at 9:00 PM for this concert, tickets are $12 in advance at either The Algonquin Hotel's front desk or The Rad Zone! If you're buying at the door, the price jumps to $15. Steep for a show at a bar, maybe, but you're going to get a lot of bang for your buck! Plus, $12-15 for a faithful Kiss tribute is arguably a better deal than $100 for the real thing, but that depends on who you ask. Check out more from Destroyer at their official website!

Sounds like a great concert, though I do find it ironic that since Kiss announced they were coming here, we've gotten Ace Frehley and a tribute band at separate shows for less combined than Kiss themselves this summer. But hey, it all works out for Kiss fans! If you want the next best thing to Kiss themselves, you'll want to be at The Rockstar Bar on Saturday, you won't be disappointed! Click here to confirm your attendance on Facebook, and for a preview, here's a video of Destroyer performing the Kiss classic "Rock N' Roll All Night" from a Calgary concert! And yes, that really was their stage setup, these guys are no joke!



Finally, there is a concert in Sault Michigan on Saturday as well, which I'm putting last to not fragment the Sault Ontario shows. Muskegon hard rockers Kilacel finally make their long awaited return to the area on Saturday night when they return to The Corner Pub Bar & Grill! Now compared to when I first mentioned this show last week, nothing's any different, but I'll go over what I know again: The show's in honour of the birthday of a person named Sandy, with an associated afterparty afterwards. It's a listed concert on their MySpace page, so it can't be a private deal, probably more akin to Fitswitch's one-off reunion for a birthday show last year. A cover charge of $3 has been announced, and the show starts at 9:00 PM. I'd been wondering what happened to Kilacel for local shows, they had a decent amount early last year and then it just dried up! (I noticed the same with bands like Orange October and Graveyard Tan, though the latter played here in February.) Great to see them back! If you want some radio hard rock, Kilacel play that style very well, and should put on an awesome show for the fans in Sault Michigan on Saturday!

For a preview, check them out on MySpace, and check out this really good video of Kilacel performing the song "Shotgun Bullet Baby" from the 2009 Muskegon Summer Celebration! I'm impressed!



Two big news stories to cap today's post (I have more than this, just spreading things out!) And we'll start with the announcement of new tour dates from your favourite local black/doom metal band, Woods of Ypres! Frontman David Gold has announced the band's first tour dates since the release of "Woods IV: The Green Album" on a topic on the band's official forum! This leg of the tour is strictly in Western Canada, kicking off in Thunder Bay on June 18th, then making it's way west before the leg wraps up June 26th in Vancouver. It includes a stretch of 6 shows in 6 days, and a possible Victoria show if they can get a booking. Now before anyone panics that there's no Sault Ste. Marie show, even though we were slotted in the Western Canada tour leg last year, do you really consider us "Western"? If that's all for that leg, we're probably in the Eastern half of the tour, whenever that's announced. Either way, I'm hopeful that they're back in our little burial ground this year, I can't wait to hear W4 songs live!

The tour dates, with associated Facebook event pages where available, are all posted at this location! David also mentions a U.S. tour, which would be awesome! I'll keep you posted with more, especially if a local show is announced, and all of the present tour dates are in the "Out of Town Concerts" section on your right!

And finally for today, here's a rarity: Video footage of inactive Sault Michigan death metal band Integrated System of Machines! Keyboardist Craig Harrison uploaded a new clip onto his YouTube channel of the band performing in June 2009 in Stanton, Michigan at last year's Carnival of Chaos! I'm thinking this was one of their last concerts before the band parted ways with frontman Orb Hearthstone and mostly vanished from major activity. This clip comes from their set on the "Ozzfest Stage", and it's of their self-titled song from their 2008 debut album "Apocalyptic Vision" (expect an SMS review of that next week!) It's a bit more accessible than their typical death metal fare, but you should dig it! Check it out below, or head to their MySpace page for more from the band! Hopefully we hear more from I.S.O.M. in the near future!



That's all for today, I thought I had stuff about this year's Rotaryfest to share, but the link for it disappeared, so that can wait until something pops up again. More Woods of Ypres stuff, and much more await my next post, and depending on when it goes up, there may be a Garden of Bedlam concert review attached! Stay tuned, thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Kilacel & Driven), Weekend Concert Previews, And A Potential New Show!!

Yep, March sure is picking up news-wise, I'm glad to say! And today's a good one, with three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, previews for this weekend's Turner Up and Caveman Morrison concerts, and a potential new show that needs your help to make it happen! Let's start with the new concerts, all of which are in Sault Michigan, so here's what you need to know!

Remember Kilacel, the Muskegon-based hard rock band last seen in the Sault area this past June? Well, they're coming back up here, finally! Kilacel will be playing in honor of the birthday of someone named Sandy on April 3rd at The Corner Pub Bar & Grill, the same venue where they played their four 2009 local shows! A cover charge of $3 is announced, the concert has a listed start time of 9:00 PM. The show is confirmed, but keep in mind that the band are apparently looking for a new bassist; whether that will impact the April 3rd show here is unknown. Still, it's great to see Kilacel back up here, I was wondering if they'd ever return to Sault Michigan! Hopefully this won't be the last we see of them, they have a really good modern hard rock sound! Check out more from Kilacel at their official MySpace page, and some live concert videos at this location!

The other two shows are a ways off from now, but even still, they're announced, so why not make some advance plans? Cheboygan hard rockers Driven will be playing at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino for a pair of weekend dates on September 17th and 18th! Both are 9:00 PM shows with no announced cover charge. I vaguely recall hearing of a band named Driven playing at the casino, but I never came across a band page before. These are the only local shows Driven have listed, though they have plenty of other U.P. and Mackinac-area concerts planned throughout the year! If you're wondering how they sound, so am I, they have no audio or video on their MySpace page to speak of, nor anywhere else online I've searched. However, they look promising, especially with their influences being "anything with a groove thats gets people off there ass and party"! I'm positive they're a hard rock band, though their MySpace also says they play a little bit of R&B too? Interesting! If I hear more on these two shows, or Driven themselves, I'll keep you posted!

Now let's get to this weekend's concert previews! Three local metal/hard rock shows, all in Sault Ontario, and we'll begin at Coch's Corner, where Caveman Morrison will play for the first time as a band since frontman Tym Morrison returned to the Sault! Tym's played solo shows there in recent months, but this is the full band experience! They'll be there this Friday and Saturday to rock out your favourite metal and hard rock classics, so why not head on out there? Both shows start at 10:00 PM, there is no cover charge. Confirm your attendance at the official Facebook event page! It's always a treat to see Caveman Morrison live, hopefully they draw some great crowds this weekend! Your favourite tunes played by a great band for no cost, sounds good to me! Check out more from Caveman Morrison at this location, and for a preview, here's video from a 2009 show at The Rockstar Bar of their version of Metallica's "Seek & Destroy"!



Meanwhile, on Saturday night only, local hard rock cover band Turner Up (not "Turn-R-Up", as Sault This Week misspelled) will play what could be their biggest show since their formation when they hit The Canadian Nightclub! Just announced the other day, Turner Up will have video cameras in tow to film their performance on Saturday, which is cool in itself! Also, they're going to have "Official Crew Member" shirts to give out, and who doesn't love free stuff? But aside from that, you'll get to hear some great hard rock covers from one of the more prolific live bands in recent months! A start time of 10:00 PM is listed on the Facebook event page, there is no announced cover. Check out more from Turner Up at their official Facebook group!

Judging by the fact that this is just one show, and they're filming it, this has got to be a big deal, maybe something cool or unexpected will happen? Maybe an original song or two? Or just getting the band's exposure up? Either way, I'll be there! I've been meaning to check Turner Up out live one of these days, and this Saturday is as good as ever! I'll have review, photos, and hopefully my own video posted online on Sunday, so look out for all that! Hope to see you guys there, and if not, hopefully you're at Coch's Corner!

And finally, we have a new local concert....well, maybe. Remember back when local promoters used to gauge interest in a potential show by opening event pages or forum threads asking what the demand would be for the concert? Well, local promoter Jasmin Nott is doing just that for a show she'd like to put on, to see if it worth holding! If this show happens, and it largely depends on local fan interest, it would be on May 18th at a yet-to-be-determined venue. The headlining band would be Vancouver hardcore/death metal outfit Doom Cannon, who have a pretty good sound, it mixes the two styles effectively! They sound perfect for The Oddfellows Hall, but who knows where this show will end up if it's confirmed. Other bands would be on the lineup too. She says if this show's a success, she says she will try and book some more shows, with possibilities like Abandon All Ships and The Cancer Bats being mentioned!

But before any of that can happen, she needs support for this show, so if you would honestly and truly go see Doom Cannon and other bands on May 18th, click here to join this potential show's Facebook event page! Post something on the wall too to help out! Hopefully this works out, Jasmin's at least trying to get more concerts here and I completely welcome that! Plus, we don't get enough hardcore/death metal bands here, there's an audience for Doom Cannon! Let's help Jasmin out to make this show happen!

That's all for today, in my next update, I'll have a local band's placement in a major metal site's voting for Best _____ Album of 2009! Which band and which genre? You'll see! That and hopefully much more are on the horizon, keep your eyes peeled!