YouTube Channel Profile Series: Bango/Skank (((o & mikel2971's Channel

Happy American Thanksgiving! I hope all of our Yooper fans are having an awesome day, and don't get too stuffed with turkey, as you might get too tired to check out both of today's SMS posts! After a couple days off due to minimal news, we're back first with this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! As always, this monthly feature series profiles 1-3 YouTube channels with at least a 50% concentration of local metal videos, and as the first video we randomly picked last month only had one video, I randomly chose one more that could fill out this post. So, what should you know about this month's selected YouTube channels, users, and videos? Read on below to find out! (Edited on October 16th, 2013)
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Bango/Skank (((o (http://www.youtube.com/user/bangoskank666)

Owner: YouTube user & British Columbia resident Mike Vipond

Channel Timeline: Launched on March 15th, 2008; Only video posted on December 2nd, 2008

Channel Summary: Though not a Sault Ste. Marie resident, one of Mike's favourite songs is/was "Winter Flight" from local progressive death metal standouts Gates of Winter's 2008 CD "Lux Aeterna", and he uploaded it to YouTube that December, as it wasn't on YouTube otherwise at the time. Posted in the tail end of their original active period, this is one of Gates of Winter's better melodic early originals, and Mike even added a photo slideshow with lyrics to the video itself, helping add to this upload, which is still a quality track even compared to newer material! Note however that this is Mike's only upload to his channel, despite still being used for personal needs to this day.


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mikel2971's channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/mikel2971)

Owner: Sault College graduate & former local guitarist Mike Laprade

Channel Timeline: Launched on February 5th, 2009; Videos posted from September 2009 through August 2011

Channel Summary: This is the official YouTube channel for Mike Laprade, who some of you may recognize as a Sault College aviation student in the late 2000s, before he moved to North Bay circa mid-2010. His posted videos mainly come from his last year at Sault College, including two live concert videos & a solo performance, all of which were of covers of projects that have featured Zakk Wylde (fittingly, Mike played a Zakk Wylde bullseye Gibson Les Paul in each video!) I don't believe Mike was in any full local bands while in town, and since moving from the area, his only YouTube upload is this mid-2011 video of him (I assume) landing an airplane in Coniston, Ontario in 2011.

Why Should You Watch: I'd give Mike's channel a look for some solid guitar performances from before he moved from the Soo, as he (and the other guitarist in two of the videos) did have clear talent! Mike was nice in the few conversations we had back then, and hopefully he's still musically active out east! As for the airplane video, I can't accurately comment on it, but it looks like he landed well! If you're debating subscribing though, keep in mind that Mike hasn't used his YouTube channel in over a year.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

Tyler Yuke Memorial - Blackened Waters by Black Label Society Cover: The most viewed video on Mike's channel is of him and a fellow Sault College student (name unclear, but his YouTube handle is myapplecore) covering Black Label Society's "Blackened Waters" at that year's Tyler Yuke Memorial Night! Held at Sault College's former campus pub The Outback on March 20th, 2010, Mike & his friend were among numerous open mic performers, and this was among two videos shot by an attendee that day, including their cover of Ozzy Osbourne's "Mama, I'm Coming Home". I saw this set live, and they were solid, but there was guitar feedback & tone issues that didn't highlight their skills well. The quality of the videos is mixed too, with flickering lights, a muffled sound, and very quiet singing, but Mike & myapplecore both show guitar skill, particularly for the guitar solos!



Farewell Ballad: Mike's first video & only other musical clip is of him covering Zakk Wylde's "Farewell Ballad" in September 2009, and this really shows his guitar talents well thanks to better camera quality and a closer angle of his fingering! Sure, there's a couple mistakes, but even he described it as a "mild attempt". His appreciation of Zakk Wylde is clear, and as mentioned above, hopefully he's still in music in some form!


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I hope you guys like this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! Next month, we're looking at 2 channels for the third straight month, as the first channel I randomly selected didn't have enough suitably unique videos to warrant a full post. That said, the channels I chose include those ran by YouTube user vflindall (featuring a full Detroit concert set from 2009) and sisuunicorn705 (featuring a video of Sebastian Bach singing karaoke in the Soo while he was in town for the Swearnet film shoot!) Watch out for it on or around December 22nd, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews in our next post! Thanks everyone!

Turner Up Concert Review, Tyler Yuke Memorial Video, And Lion Ride News!

Hey guys, sorry again for the lack of news the last couple days, it looks like the busy stretch ended kinda abruptly. But today, we're back with new video from the Tyler Yuke Memorial, Lion Ride news, and the top story, my review of last night's Turner Up concert! So here's what went down at my first ever Turner Up live experience!

Well, the show didn't start as early as Facebook announced, not getting underway until 11:00, but I had no plans, so all worked out! Also, there was a cover charge, $3, that wasn't posted beforehand, but no worries there either! Now in terms of Turner Up themselves, let me start by saying that they actually theme their sets around specific sounds, which I don't think I've seen other local bands do. Frontman Todd Killam used the "first/second/third base" analogy to describe their progression throughout the night. The first set was more classic/general rock, the second set was more party/dance tunes, and third set was generally hard rock and more metal stuff! But before I caught on to what each set was like, I wasn't sure what I was in for, when Turner Up played INXS, 54-50, and Green Day in their first set!

Don't get me wrong though, as much of a metalhead as I am, I saw the talent these guys had in their first set, they're really good musicians! Todd Killam has a pretty good rock singing voice, it suits a band that covers a wide variety of stuff! I like his on-stage presence and the way he ad-libbed references to the other Turner Up members mid-song! The guitarists were Rob Brown and The Rad Zone's Len Ward, who are both really proficient guitarists! Len especially surprised me, I knew he was in bands way back, but man. I didn't think he'd nail the solo on "Ice Cream Man" so well! Other songs too, but that got my attention the most! Former Johnny Lunchbox guitarist Jeff Gray handled bass, which caught me a bit off guard. Still, he's a very good bassist! And drummer Scott McClorg kept the beat nicely throughout, also picking up lead vocals for a few songs! I think one was a Tragically Hip song (shades of Jeff from Caveman Morrison?), but he also shown his hard rock voice on a cover of Kiss' "Cold Gin"!

Their second set was essentially, as I said before, the party set, breaking out some Lenny Kravitz, Van Halen, and Collective Soul, among other songs, and this was where Todd encouraged fans to get up and dance! And dance they did, a few girls even pulled their stools up real close to the stage to enjoy themselves! This is where the concert got very loose and casual, with everyone up front singing along, getting on stage, and dancing the night away! Members of Turner Up hit the floor too to mingle mid-song, which was cool to see! Hell, the dancing continued during the break between the second and third sets, even to the house music on the P.A.! They sure do love to just have a beer and party, and I welcome that! The third set brought heavier stuff like Def Leppard and Ozzy, and it was arguably my favourite set of the night, and the exact reason why they're discussed on the SMS! Sucks that I had to leave early though. Also, they gave out free t-shirts during the last two sets, and it impressed me how they had multiple sizes and colours!

Overall, this was a fun concert, and I gotta thank Todd and Len for the free t-shirts (I like them, but they don't say "Official Crew Member"!), and Len for the Black Label Society guitar pick! Really nice guys! I felt so young at this show though, there can't have been too many people there around my age. Turner Up are an entertaining live band, though you know me, I'd really like to see them play a straight complete hard rock/metal set! But really, what they played last night appeals to everyone, there was a set for everyone to enjoy! Mine was the last set, and the dancing partiers loved the second set, they're diverse and wide-ranging in that regard! Fun show, hopefully I'll get to check them out again soon! As you can tell, I took lots of photos, click here to check them out, or head to The Sault Metal Scene's official Facebook page!

And I got a video! A bit of an issue timing some earlier attempts at a video, but I got one good one on time! So here's Turner Up's cover of the Def Leppard classic, Hysteria! (Oh, and expect better pictures and video from this concert in the near future, Turner Up had some pro quality video and pics being taken at the show!)



Next up, we have more videos from the Tyler Yuke Memorial Concert last weekend at The Outback! Remember when I mentioned that a guitarist with a Zakk Wylde custom Gibson Les Paul really impressed me? Well, we have video of his set online! As it turns out, his name is Mike Laprade, and he is a current Sault College student! Not in a band though. He added me on MSN the other day, we were talking about the local scene and his set, he's a nice guy! He told me that him and his friend were supposed to cover "Mr. Crowley", but couldn't thanks to all the delays. On his YouTube channel, he has videos of his two songs with the other guitarist (YouTube user myapplecore) covering "Mama I'm Comin' Home" and "Blackened Waters" by Black Label Society! I KNEW that song was familiar! Soft vocals, but they work well! The audio is still worse than their playing would assume, Mike's got some serious skill! Check out their rendition of "Blackened Waters" below! Also check out his original farewell ballad at this location!



And finally, we'll leave you with some assorted Lion Ride news! First off, they sadly did not win Thursday's Great Canadian T-Shirt Battle. Marky Lion's Facebook statuses confirmed that Whale Tooth, a Toronto indie band, won the 200 custom band t-shirts. I was hoping Lion Ride would win, but hey, what can you do? In more positive news, Lion Ride are now on Twitter! If you use Twitter, click here to follow Lion Ride! I imagine the "tweeting", as it were, will pick up soon! If I used Twitter, I would follow them, but I'm still boycotting it. No SMS Twitter page yet either, but I can't predict the future. And finally, in their Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands quest, they're currently in 74th place, so they're slowly climbing! They can crack the top 70 with just 8 votes, so VOTE FOR THEM TODAY! They won't be considered to play at The Warped Tour's Toronto stop in July unless YOU VOTE!!!

That's all for now, I promise to have more news and updates real soon! I shall return before you know it!