New Videos, Plus Lots Of Assorted Recent News & Updates!!

Today's post largely clears out a bunch of shorter and assorted recent news items, and we'll kick things off with some new videos, starting with a new webseries by Blood Shed Productions, entitled "BreakingSh!tWithBloodShed"! The title implies what you think it implies, with label performers and staff (namely, Blood Shed founders/Brutally Fatal bandmates Tyler Gibson & Austin McCrae, plus rapper Jean-Paul "Phat Boii" Archambault) breaking assorted objects on camera. Two episodes of the series are now on the Blood Shed Weekly YouTube channel, and they include the second episode where a pool table is broken, and the one embedded below where the guys break five chairs. If you're wondering what these have to do with music (aside from who's breaking everything), then you'll want to know that both videos feature new Brutally Fatal songs from their forthcoming CD "Blood of the Devil" as backing music, so fans of the goregrind intensity will like that! The videos themselves are escapist fun, and presumably good stress relief, so check them out above & below!



Next up, here's a new solo acoustic cover from RedStone Riot/ex-Elipzis bassist Ryan Harrison's YouTube channel from Saturday, this time a rendition of Prince's "Purple Rain", in tribute to the music legend following his death last week. Fittingly played "in the key of purple" (and even tinted that colour), it's a strong cover that Prince fans should like, and Ryan's voice is in top emotional form here! Give it a look below!



Finally for today, here's six assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist, event, station, or website name:

• Local doom metal trio AlgomA's split vinyl EP with Saskatchewan's Chronobot received a new review from Kai Ellerman of the German metal website XXL-Rock in recent weeks, though it is in German, so you'll need a translator to read it if you don't know that language. Receiving a rating of "L" (keeping with their motif of scoring by clothing sizes, basically meaning a 4/6), Kai favorably recommended the split to fans of Eyehategod and Neurosis, and said that AlgomA's half is "somewhat messy, but has charm." Give the full review a look at this link (but have a translator ready), and stay tuned for our review of the split very soon!
• This is more of a housekeeping note, but we had pencilled in a formal write-up today to roll in 2012-2013 local rock band Lazer Queen to our inactive band links finally, as they honestly should have been in our full coverage long ago given their membership & sound, but I discovered yesterday that their Facebook (and only online) page has been deleted. Featuring 3/4ths of Late & Loud alongside The Danger Cats' Kate Drew & Pillory's Bret Shuttleworth, Lazer Queen were a talented band that sadly didn't last too long, but be sure to follow members' more recent work!
• The closure of local news/video website Local2 and it's subsequent merger with sister website SooToday was finalized on Monday via this press release, which notes that existing Local2 links will now redirect you to SooToday, and that it's video programming (including Tuned) will largely continue under the SooToday banner, with archive videos also available there. It's a little sad to lose the former SooNews & LTV News after a lengthy run, but this makes sense as SooToday continues it's growth, and we have removed Local2 from our "Other Local Metal Links" as a result!
• Local grunge/alternative band The Pixo Control's headlining set on May 5th at the Sky's the Limit mental health fundraiser concert at The Tech will be an acoustic set sans drummer Keeghan Rosso, according to the band's Facebook page last night. A reason for the change wasn't announced, but hopefully it's just as simple as Keeghan not being available that night. This should still be a fun set for fans of Michael's unplugged sets, so keep it in mind for next Thursday, and stay tuned for more on the openers!
• The planned Summer Bash! concert at The Rockstar Bar THIS FRIDAY has been indefinitely postponed, as per Gnaeus frontman Aaron Alessandri on the official Facebook event page on Monday.  He cited "unforeseen circumstances" and the ongoing renovations at the venue for the postponement, which seems to imply that there's more going on at The Algonquin Hotel than just the downstairs bar (however, note that Kamloops folk band The Decoys are playing there on Saturday, so the "unforeseen circumstances" may be more to blame.) Hopefully Gnaeus, K.I.C.K., and DJ Fuels get a new date soon for the Summer Bash!
• Lake Superior State University's campus radio station WLSO (90.1 FM) announced the results of their recent naming contest for their forthcoming online station on their Facebook page on Monday, with the (oddly unidentified) winner's suggestion being The 46th Parallel, referencing the latitude circle that Sault Michigan lies on. It should be noted that the post mentioned that "our station name" will change to that next semester, implying that the FM station will also get the new name, but an extension past the new internet station hasn't been otherwise confirmed. We'll let you know if this is elaborated on at all!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Apocalypse: The Musical Review!!

Tonight, we have our fourth post in two days, and it's my review of last night's Apocalypse: The Musical at The Canadian Nightclub! Of course, check out this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post from this morning below this review. Last night was devoted to just tribute bands, none of which are complete regular bands in the local scene in the forms we saw last night, so things were fairly unique for this medium-attended show, but at least there was a good contingent of fans on the floor for the bands! That said, how'd the bands do last night?

After a bit of a delay, the opening band was the one-off Motley Crue tribute band Loud Lazer (replacing Late & Loud and the Metallica-covering Pillory), who were essentially the full lineup of Lazer Queen, just with Benn Garside trading the keyboard for the bass, hence the direct link to Late & Loud. Their set saw them cover 8 Motley Crue classics from their heyday (including "Dr. Feelgood", "Looks That Kill", and "Kickstart My Heart"), and though there were some self-deprecating jabs at how they sounded, the guys did alright! It was a good move having Kate Drew handle lead vocals, as she has a good voice that fits Vince Neil material much closer than the guys in Late & Loud would have had they played. They all generally looked the part and showed some good energy and enthusiasm, with guitarist Jonathan Tiberi even hitting the floor for some guitar action with the crowd! The members and music fit well and gave a good Crue vibe, but Jon and Benn's backing vocals were hit and miss, only fully fitting the songs when they did gang shouting.

Overall, solid set from Loud Lazer, and if you like what you heard, go see Lazer Queen in full for a more varied night of rock covers! I'm a bit surprised that the full Lazer Queen didn't play, as normal bassist Josh Hatherley was in attendance, but given that Motley Crue don't generally use keyboards, I don't know how it'd gel if Benn played them last night rather than bass.

The middle band last night was Misfits tribute quartet The Fiend Brigade (a.k.a. T-Rex Manning with Rick White on drums in lieu of Daniel MacDonald), and they pushed out 11 Misfits covers for a nicely receptive audience! Including covers of Frightlight/T-Rex Manning favourites like "Helena" & "Halloween", they also covered songs like "Hybrid Moments" & "She", and even capped off with the T-Rex Manning original "She Banged The Mayor" for good measure! Though frontman/promoter J.D. Pearce took many shots at how they didn't practice the songs, they still sounded pretty good (with all the past covers and inspirations from them, how could they sound bad?), and his vocals held up well along with the other members' musical contributions! Tiffany Stocco shone on guitar, and Bill Bennett's bass work also help up nicely! The guys even welcomed a few guest performers on some songs, including Frightlight alums Kevin Powe & Jeff DeRose on guitar & drums, and a guest singer whose name I didn't place.

The Fiend Brigade put in a fun set of Misfits classics, and it was good to see the Frightlight body parts on stage again, especially with Frightlight's recent absence!  These guys know their Misfits and do justice to them each time out, and hopefully we'll see J.D. and company back soon, no matter what name they're under!

Headlining last night were Welland doom metal trio Xanadu in their first ever local appearance (though we're very familiar with frontman Jon Tiberi), and they covered early Black Sabbath classics for their set last night! Just the first four albums got attention, including Sabbath hits like "N.I.B.", "Children of the Grave", and "Iron Man", and despite the occasional tick (and a microphone issue at one point), they got the crowd's attention with these early metal classics! The big problem with their set was Jon's singing, as his voice was very hoarse and scratchy, which made him almost inaudible during much of their set, and when covering Ozzy Osbourne, singing clearly would help a lot. Musically though, the guys put in a very energetic and fun effort, with Mike Agostini in constant motion with some very solid riffs, and Scott Brady's drumming was on form and technical when need be! Jon's dark wizard-esque costume was cool as well, it helped set a good introductory mood, and by nid-set, the fans were very vocal and active!

I'd like to see Xanadu play locally again, as they have the talent and spark dating back to the old Welland days, so hopefully they'll come together next year in the Soo! If they do, hopefully Jon's voice will be back to normal, and maybe we'll get some Sabbath covers from the 1980s? It'd be cool to see a band cover "Zero The Hero" here, but that's just me.

Great concert overall, and while there were some hit & miss elements, there was a little something for everyone musically, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the performers! I did get plenty of photos, so click here to check them out (or visit our Facebook page), and for videos, here's Loud Lazer covering Motley Crue's "Shout At The Devil", The Fiend Brigade covering The Misfits' "Angelfuck", and Xanadu covering Black Sabbath's "Snowblind"!







That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news shortly! Thanks everyone!

This Weekend's Sault Ontario Metal/Hard Rock Concert Previews!!

Let's wind down this relatively slow month of February with one last post, as we have a busy weekend of metal and hard rock shows in the Twin Saults to preview today! I'm gonna move the lone Sault Michigan previews (Nudge's latest local concert weekend) to tomorrow's news post to spread everything out better, so as a result, we'll focus on three notable concerts from today through Saturday in Sault Ontario. Without any further adieu, here's what you need to know for your weekend concert plans as we close up one month and enter another! (Updated at 5:47 PM)

We start TONIGHT at The Rockstar Bar, where Hamilton hard rock quartet 40 Sons will make their long awaited return to Sault Ontario! Last seen here at the old Coch's Corner in late 2009 & early 2010, this band is sure to be familiar from both their first local stops and from a long successful run in Southern Ontario, opening for numerous major artists, and even seeing their song "Hurricane" used at the UFC 152 pre-show! It'll be good to see their unique blend of modern hard rock back in the Soo after a 3 year absence, and thank local concert promoter J.D. Pearce for bringing them back! Uniquely for The Rockstar Bar, there will be NO COVER tonight, but there is still a 19+ age limit for this 9:00 PM event. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be a solidly entertaining concert for you hard rock fans, so don't miss out! The vocals are unique for the genre, but the music is reliable, often heavy, and very catchy, so head to The Rockstar Bar TONIGHT for 40 Sons! For a preview, here's the video for their single "Hurricane"!



Keeping in the vein of J.D.-promoted concerts, a somewhat unique show hits The Canadian Nightclub tomorrow night to help kick off March, as Apocalypse: The Musical brings 3 tribute bands to the local concert stage! Similar in theme to last January's Merves/Frightlight gig at The Canadian, all three bands tonight feature local musicians playing tribute sets of one major artist's material, including a headlining out of town band featuring a local frontman, and this time around, the headliners are Welland doom metal trio Xanadu! Playing their first gig in over 4 years (I think), Xanadu features prolific local metal musician Jonathan Tiberi on vocals & bass alongside his old bandmates Mike D'Agostini on guitar & Scott Brady on drums, and for the occasion, they'll cover a set full of Black Sabbath classics for their Sault Ste. Marie debut! The Facebook videos that I've seen of Xanadu show a promising metal sound, but who knows how they'll do tomorrow after such a long break? I'm very curious to find out though! Also on board for tomorrow night is Misfits tribute band The Fiend Brigade, who are essentially T-Rex Manning (J.D. Pearce, Tiffany Stocco, and Bill Bennett) alongside J.D.'s Frightlight bandmate Rick White (not the previously announced Frank McCormick) on drums in place of the relocated Daniel MacDonald.

Whether this is officially the new T-Rex Manning lineup or just a one-off tribute set is yet to be determined, but the guys (and girl) do have the chops to do justice to The Misfits, and I'd expect another fun set of covers from them tomorrow night! The opening band was originally slated to be local thrash band Pillory (covering Metallica), and then the returning Late & Loud, but with both dropping out for various reasons, we instead get the one-off tribute band Loud Lazer, who will be covering Motley Crue classics as Late & Loud had intended! The name implies a combination of Late & Loud (via guitarist Jon Tiberi & bassist Benn Garside) and local rock quintet Lazer Queen (via frontwoman Kate Drew & Pillory drummer Bret Shuttleworth), but the complete band is almost a full Lazer Queen lineup, just with Benn on bass instead of the absent Josh Hatherley. This lineup has a lot of chemistry already, and the four members are all quite talented, so I'd expect them to knock out some solid Crue classics tomorrow night!

Apocalypse: The Musical has a $5 cover charge and a 19+ age limit, and everything starts at 10:00 PM tomorrow night. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! I'll definitely be there for this local tribute metal/punk extravaganza, and hopefully many of you guys will roll in for all of the action! For a preview, as Xanadu have no embeddable YouTube videos, here's The Fiend Brigade (more or less) covering The Misfits' "Bullet" at the Humane Society Battle of the Bands last year!

Finally for the Sault Ontario metal/hard rock shows this weekend, Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison will return to The Road House Bar & Grill on Trunk Road tomorrow night, in his latest of many recent gigs at the East End venue! As always, these shows will see Tym covering tons of unplugged version of metal, hard rock, and classic rock hits, and he knows tons of them, so there's a little something for everyone at every Tym Morrison solo gig! This latest solo date will of course be tomorrow at 10:00 PM, with a likely 19+ age limit in place, and no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! If you're up for something a little more reserved and intimate than the norm, why not take a trip to The Road House on Trunk for some unplugged metal covers tomorrow night? For a preview, here's Tym covering Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" at Bossy's!



That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for the Nudge concert previews, a new local band and label, and more! Thanks everyone!

Woods Of Ypres' Juno Nomination, Apocalypse: The Musical Updates, And A Possible Local Concert!!

Here's one more news post before we preview this weekend's metal and hard rock concerts tomorrow morning, and in today's entry, we have a possible show for the spring that needs a booker, a lineup change for an upcoming local metal show, and leading off, huge news relating to a major award nomination for a local band, so here's what you need to know!

Woods of Ypres have been posthumously nominated for a Juno Award! As revealed during yesterday's announcements of the nominees (viewable here), the defunct local blackened doom metal band were nominated in the Best Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year category for their final studio album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", which is absolutely huge news for both the local metal scene and the band as a whole! (for Yooper reference, the Junos are essentially the Canadian Grammys.) "W5" is up against the newest albums from The Cancer Bats, Castle, The Devin Townsend Project, and Ex Deo for the honour, ensuring some stiff competition for the award (KEN Mode beat the likes of Anvil & Fuck The Facts to win the first Juno in the Metal/Hard Music category last year). The 2013 Juno Awards will be held on April 21st in Regina, Saskatchewan, but the metal category will likely be a part of an untelevised private gala dinner the night before the main ceremony, as was the case last year (but those awards are acknowledged on air during the main ceremony on CTV.)

This is fantastic news, and I think in some ways, totally unexpected, as you don't picture the Junos and local metal bands going hand in hand, but the introduction of a full metal category is great in that regard! This may seem like a late nomination given the "Woods V" release last spring, but eligible songs/bands/albums for this year stretch from the end of 2011 through most of last year, so it came out too late for the 2012 awards. I don't know as of yet if anyone connected to the band will be able to attend the awards (guitarist Joel Violette & Gold family members would make perfect sense), but it is still sad that frontman David Gold isn't with us anymore to fully realize how well "W5" has been received. This just adds to the mark he left as a musician locally and nationally, and if this helps spread Woods of Ypres to a larger fanbase (even posthumously), their legacy will benefit, win or lose! I just wish the metal awards were broadcast in some form. If any updates come out concerning the category or ceremony that would impact local Woods fans, we'll have them here, but keep the Junos in mind come April! David would be proud!

Next up, here's another lineup change relating to Apocalypse: The Musical at The Canadian Nightclub on March 1st, as Late & Loud have dropped out of the all-tribute concert. A reason for their withdrawl wasn't announced, but seeing as two members are still playing at the show, I imagine there's either individual scheduling or personal reasons involved. Hopefully we'll see Late & Loud back soon though, as their recent shows have been way too sporadic! In their place, a one-off tribute band named Loud Lazer has been formed, ostensibly because it's a combination of members of Late & Loud (guitarist Jonathan Tiberi & bassist Benn Garside) and local rock quintet Lazer Queen (singer/guitarist Kate Drew & drummer Bret Shuttleworth.) This "new" band will still be playing a set of Motley Crue covers, as Late & Loud had originally intended. I'll note that Bret's involvement returns him to this show following his & Jon's thrash band Pillory's exit earlier this month, while the complete Loud Lazer lineup is almost the same as Lazer Queen, but with Benn Garside on bass (not keyboard) instead of Josh Hatherley, there is a unique direct L&L connection.

This "new" band should be interesting to hear, especially with the added lead vocal possibilities now that Kate's involved! Make sure not to miss Loud Lazer along with The Fiend Brigade (essentially T-Rex Manning) and Xanadu (Jon Tiberi's metal band from Welland) one week from Friday at The Canadian! Click here for all current details, including the updated poster above!

Finally for today, wanna help bring a touring metal band here for a concert? Last week, I received an e-mail from Aaron Homma, a guitarist in the Ontario/Quebec grindcore supergroup Killitorous, and he's hoping to get a booking for both them and Hamilton groove/hardcore metal band Skynet in Sault Ontario in May. I sent him some promoter contacts, but can you help? Killitorous' lineup has a lot of local concert connections, as Aaron played here with Immersed in July 2011, while they also boast members of Blind Witness, Today I Caught The Plague, and Blessed By A Broken Heart in their lineup, all of which you're bound to remember from late 2000s hardcore/metal shows! Skynet themselves have local links too, as members Blake Prince & Adrian Levasseur are alumni of local concert headliners Straight Reads The Line, and they were briefly advertised to headline the Locals Attack show at The Canadian in November before dropping out, so if this show goes down, it will be very familiar!

Musically, both bands are very cool, with Killitorous employing a brutal moshable grind/death sound, and Skynet having a djent-inspired technical style that has some Meshuggah influences, and I recommend checking both out! In the event that the contacts I sent don't work out, can you help promote or book Killitorous & Skynet in May? Message Aaron at this location if you're interested, and hopefully we'll see the guys here in the spring!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this weekend's metal/hard rock concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

The Locals Attack Concert Review!!

It's time for my review of last night's Locals Attack concert! With 6 local bands (including 4 relatively new bands to most in attendance), there was a lot of new young talent and experienced artists gathered on this snowy Monday at The Canadian (in it's second straight multi-band concert event in two days), so how was each band? Read on below to find out!

The first band last night was local/North Shore metal band Crimson Crusade in their Canadian Nightclub debut, and being that this was the first time I've seen them live, there were some unknowns. Yes, their new second guitarist is Pillory frontman Robert Sartini (as I had surmised), but their earlier sound indications hinted at mostly covers, so is that what we saw? Nope, as they blasted through a set of original songs that definitely seem inspired by the band Death, particularly from frontman Devon Lucier's vocals, whose high toned growling was definitely Chuck Schuldiner-esque! Good timing too, and compared to their original version of  "Left For Dead", the improvements vocally are clear. The band shown solid talents on their songs (including "Vanquish the Tyrant" and "Lost Memories"), and though a couple of their songs are simpler in structure, there's promise here, and the Death-connections set them apart from many other local death metal bands! If they can loosen up their stage presences and work on some more technical material, they can go far!

Second was the first of two debuting bands, that being new local quintet Lazer Queen, so what can we say about them? Well, their set was all covers, and though they don't quite cross the hard rock line, they did play a wide variety of stuff, ranging from Franz Ferdinand, Jet, and White Stripes to Deep Purple, Queens of the Stone Age, and Hole material! The members were talented enough, and Kate Drew's singing suited the songs well for the most part, so hopefully we'll see her on stage again sooner or later! Some of the covers did sound a bit messy in parts, and I found that Benn Garside's keyboard work, though very good, didn't fit on songs that didn't originally have a keyboard component. He also didn't seem real happy on stage yesterday, I wonder what was up? Jonathan Tiberi & Josh Hatherley seemed to be in good spirits though on guitar and bass, and they had some fun chemistry at times! I'm curious to see Lazer Queen move forward locally, and even if they aren't the heaviest band, they hopefully can work out some of the kinks!

Tomorrow's other debuting band (also featuring Lazer Queen's Jon Tiberi & Bret Shuttleworth) was new local thrash quartet Pillory, so what'd we get out of their first ever show? Wall to wall thrash, including some long and technical stretches, some blistering riffs, and lots of headbanging! For a first set, they seemed to get a great crowd response on originals like "Cringe at the Cross" and "Shattered War", and their bookending covers of Slayer and Megadeth were also really good! Their biggest issue during their set was with guitar audibility, as I could barely hear Andres Duchesne for much of their set, and some of the solos blended and sounded a bit muddy, which is something that's hopefully amended for their next show. As well, we finally heard Robert Sartini on vocals for Pillory's originals last night, and he wasn't bad for the thrash genre, but the volume could have been louder overall. Very good first set, and it's nice to see a thrash band without death growling locally, but I hope their next set corrects some of the audio issues!

The second half of the night (after a bit of a delay) began with the original crash band themselves, Sykotyk Rampage, in their first Canadian appearance since the Kiss Battle of the Bands three years ago! Their set last night, which seemed somewhat longer than most of their recent shows, was different from it's inclusion of more songs we don't hear much live, while condensing most of their set-ending drinking songs into a medley to start their set. I wonder why they did that, especially as those songs are generally among their most popular? As a result, recently infrequent songs like "Sweet Young Thing" and "Never Ever Life" made it into their set, and by the end, more fans were into their more aggressive material, including Dirk Becker dropping the guitar to go into a fury during "Lowest of the Low"! The members were on form from their more recent concerts, and it was good seeing Dirk sing more, so for what it was, their alternative blues/hard rock stylings went over nicely! It would be nice to see the traditional drinking songs back next time out though.

Second last on the bill was new local punk trio The Northern Tragedy, and while I missed their debut last month, how did they do last night? Their set largely reminded me of drummer Terrence Gomes' earlier work in Good Morning Gorilla, with an energetic and catchy punk sensibility that seemed to go over well, even if fans didn't crowd the floor for much of their set. I'm impressed with the amount of originals they already have in their arsenal (such as "Dragondrums" and "Excuse My Choices"), and while I wasn't overly familiar with their skills going in, guitarist Mike Ivany and bassist Corry Rideout have talent on these songs! They could work on their stage presences though, they were fairly stiff for much of the set. Terrence and Mike both are capable punk singers too (though I think Mike's voice is slightly more aggressive), and while The Northern Tragedy are a far cry from Changing Waves musically (where've they been lately?), this new band should continue to leave an impact locally if they keep at it!

Headlining last night's show was Central Algoma death metal standouts For All That Is Lost, who were back after a three month break from the stage! Not only were they back, but their white masks also returned after not having been used since the spring, which is cool to see and helps set them apart! Luckily, they didn't have much stage rust after the break, and they even had a couple newer originals to go along with established favourites like "Viscosity of Blood" and "The Return of Dionysus", and even a surprise cover or two! You know a set is brutal for moshing and fan activity when you get roughed up by even a small crowd (someone basically clotheslined by shoulder blades at one point), and with F.A.T.I.L.'s skills, I can see why fans would react so well! Tyler Sperry's growling was as good as ever, and all of the guys showed good chemistry, with the double-faced Ben Deslauriers showing particularly good talents! It's great to see F.A.T.I.L. back, and hopefully they'll pop up on stage again before 2012 ends!

Overall, this was a fun concert that could potentially give us a glimpse into the local metal scene's active original bands in 2013 and beyond! I remember that late 2010 was also really big for new band formations and debuts, so could this be the start of a new cycle? It'd have been nice to have seen a larger crowd though, but I know the weather wasn't particularly calm. I did get a bunch of photos, so click here to check them out (or visit our Facebook page), and here's my videos of metal performances last night! Those include Crimson Crusade's original "Left For Dead", Lazer Queen's cover of Deep Purple's "Black Night", Pillory's song "Fatal Woods", Sykotyk Rampage's "Never Ever Life", and F.A.T.I.L.'s newer song "Segregate" (at least, I think that's it's name!)










That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

The Locals Attack Concert Preview & More Assorted News!!

Hey guys, I'm sorry that I couldn't make Bushplane Musical Madness last night, but my cat fell ill yesterday and I was watching him and keeping him comfortable and all that last night. Barring any downturns, I will try and be there for at least some of Toystock, so I hope to see you there! That said, we have another news-ish post today, and we have another extended concert preview for a show going down tomorrow night! It's longer because there's a lot of new, returning, and debuting bands and lineups among the 6 bands, so we need to touch on everything adequately! We also have three assorted shorter news stories at the end, so read on below for what you need to know!

Tomorrow night, six local metal and punk bands will descend upon The Canadian Nightclub for The Locals Attack, the second such concert under this branding from local concert promoter/singer J.D. Pearce, following March's "Dead In The Van" event! Unlike that concert however, tomorrow's is full of newer bands, with two making their live debuts, and only two who've played live with any recent regularity, so this could be a big moment to see some of the local metal/punk scene's future! The headliners tomorrow will be Central Algoma death metal notables For All That Is Lost in their first concert in three months, and it's great to see them back after a while off the stage! The only returning band from Dead In The Van, this brutal and hard hitting quartet have been hyping their return well, and I'm hearing big things about their set, so don't miss it tomorrow night! In descending order for the opening bands, we also have new local punk trio The Northern Tragedy (featuring Changing Waves bassist Terrence Gomes on drums) in their second local concert and Canadian Nightclub debut, and they should have a solid set of punk rock originals tomorrow as well!

Also tomorrow are local alternative hard rock/blues quartet Sykotyk Rampage in their second show in a 3 day span (following yesterday's Bushplane Musical Madness gig), and look for the Beckers and company to deliver a unique and thoroughly sykotyk set of improvised hard rock madness! Also, guitarist Dirk Becker will be providing sound tomorrow through the "Sykotyk Sound Company", similiarly to J.D.'s other recent shows. Prior to them, we also have the debuting Pillory, the new local thrash metal band featuring frontman Robert Sartini (ex-Roadkill), guitarist Andres Duchesne (ex-Bear Hunters), bassist Jonathan Tiberi (Late & Loud), and drummer Bret Shuttleworth, and it's about time we had a straight thrash metal band around here again! Their videos are very promising, and hopefully they can channel that into a successful concert debut tomorrow as well! Second on the bill are local/North Shore metal quartet Crimson Crusade, in what may be their first public concert in Sault Ontario since last year (though they played at a F.A.T.I.L. event in Laird this summer.)

Though not a consistently visible sight in recent months, Crimson Crusade have promise, so look out for some explosive covers (and maybe originals?) from them tomorrow! Also, this should be their first gig with their new guitarist "Rob #2" following the departure of Brock Pinder earlier this year, but the new guitarist's full identity has not been revealed yet (possibly Robert Sartini from Pillory?) The opening band will be new local hard rock band Lazer Queen (formerly Nite Ruin), who don't have an online page yet, but I can tell you a bit about them! Their lineup features singer/guitarist Kate Drew (ex-Apocrytha), the aforementioned Jonathan Tiberi on guitar, and his Late & Loud bandmate Benn Garside on keyboard (similarly to his old Glass Statues work), alongside new additions Josh Hatherley (also of Late & Loud) on bass, I presume, and Jon's Pillory bandmate Bret Shuttleworth on drums. My source for the updated lineup is Jon's personal Facebook page, and Josh & Bret replace the previously announced Harley Syrette & Anthony D'Agostini in Lazer Queen's lineup for unannounced reasons (though Harley indicated to me that he never fully joined this band.)

Lazer Queen sound promising in their own right, and it will be nice to see a female singer and a keyboardist in a heavier band again locally, which should set them apart if they last for the long term! Note as well that Hamilton hardcore/groove metal band Skynet were briefly advertised as headliners for this show, but they can't make it in time, but if you want to help this brutal djent-influenced band play here soon, contact them at this location! Admission for this ALL AGES concert will be $6 ($1 a band), and a 6:00 PM start time is advertised. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be a very interesting concert for both the established and newer bands alike, and I encourage everyone to come down to rally the new bands and mosh out to them all, and being all ages, don't let that stop you from rocking out! For a preview, here's F.A.T.I.L. playing "Hades, Lord of the White House" at The Canadian in May!



Finally for now, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last little while! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or event name:

• Local death metal bands The Bear Hunters & Shit Liver will return to the concert stage next month! ....just not in the Soo. Both will make their first concert appearances outside of the Algoma District on December 21st in Sudbury for the "Doomsday Massacre", where they will join Quebec's Cryptik Howling & 7 other Northern Ontario bands, including Thekillingfield & many others. Click here for details, and hopefully we'll see them on the local stage before then as well!
• The Sault Music Scene's old forum was taken down last month. It was a casualty of the recent migration of all of host Forumer's IPB-based forums to their upgraded Yuku format. Administrators have the option of relaunching it, but it's been replaced twice over since the mid-2000s (now as the 705 Video Magazine forums), so I wouldn't bet on the full archives coming back. This is disappointing for people who liked browsing the old posts, but follow the 705VM above for it's current form!
• If you're wondering why we didn't post any videos from the Theory of a Deadman/Adelitas Way show on here, it's because none of the heavier opening bands got a public YouTube video that I've found. That said, Theory of a Deadman were subject to videos that you can watch at the links here and here, so if you like their rock sounds or missed the show, give them a look!

That's all for now, but I hope to see you guys at Toystock! Thanks everyone!

The Locals Attack Updates (Including A Debuting Band) & New Videos!!

It's time for another news post at the SMS, and it's neatly divided in two subjects: new videos and concert updates, but first, I wanted to note that the Saigon Hookers show at The Rockstar Bar next week likely will not be featuring Garden of Bedlam as openers due to scheduling conflicts, but as of this writing, the official Facebook event page hasn't been updated to reflect any lineup changes. Thanks to drummer Derek Turner for letting me know, and I'll keep you guys posted! Now, to the bulk of this post, including new videos from two local bands and updates for an upcoming all ages event, so here's what you need to know!

First, let's start with the latest updates for the Locals Attack concert at The Canadian Nightclub on November 26th, as the final band lineup and remaining details have been announced! There will be 6 bands total, and of the two final added bands, one is making their live debut, that being a new local band named Lazer Queen! Yes, they were briefly called Nite Ruin before this current name was finalized. From what I was told, their lineup features singer/guitarists Kate Drew (The Freshwater Sirens, ex-Apocrytha) & Jonathan Tiberi (Pillory, The Daybreak Johnnies) alongside Jon's old Late & Loud bandmate Benn Garside on keyboard (as he played in The Glass Statues) and ex-Skull After Betrayl drummer Anthony D'Agostini. Jon also told me that the band's bassist was No Arrow/Half Past alum Harley Syrette, but after chatting with Harley the other day, his confirmation as a band member might have been premature, so if I hear anything confirming their bass situation for the 26th, I'll let you guys know! Jon also told me that their genre is "heavy rock" and will be covers-centric for their debut, but originals are possible for the future.

Promising lineup for Lazer Queen so far, and it'll be nice seeing a female fronted heavier band again locally, and one with keyboards! I might be wrong, but I think the last Sault Ontario metal/hard rock band to play live with a permanent keyboardist (not a guest) was Woods of Ypres with Brιan Holmes in late 2008, so that alone has been a while coming! Stay tuned for updates on them as they roll in, including hopefully an online page or something similar! The other new band for this show is local/Central Algoma death metal quartet For All That Is Lost, who will be making their first public concert appearance since the F.A.T.I.L. Requiem in Laird in August! The only returning band from Dead In The Van in March, it's great to see F.A.T.I.L. back on the local stage, as it's been far too long to see their brutal death metal originals live! They & Lazer Queen will join Sykotyk Rampage, Crimson Crusade, Pillory, and The Northern Tragedy for this show full of newer local bands & young talent, and keeping with the theme of 6 bands, the cover charge will be $6 for this ALL AGES show, and everything starts at 6:00 PM on November 26th. Click here for more details, and stay tuned for more updates on the next Locals Attack concert as it all comes in!

We'll close this post with new videos, starting with a new song from local grunge band Haggith! The last of their recent influx of new videos on their YouTube channel, this is a studio recording of their original song "75" from their planned second album "Deuce" (which is projected for a 2013 release.) A composition by drummer Mike Haggith that he sings lead on, this is also the first publically released Haggith studio track to feature bassist Caleb Cachagee, and it is sort of an upbeat rock number! I won't go too in depth until our formal review of the album, but check out "75" below, and stay tuned for more Haggith updates at they come in!



And finally for today, here's the newest video from ApocalyptiCDistroyeR frontman Jesse Middaugh! After a five month drought for new videos or updates from the band or his solo videos, Jesse uploaded this new take on the Tom Petty song "Learning To Fly" onto his YouTube channel on Halloween, which is a redo of an earlier video he posted in April. His vocals are somewhat scratchy, but the guitar work matches what I know of this song, which is admittedly minimal. I prefer Jesse's heavier and original material, but he does good here, so check out his new solo video below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our review of "Yooper Bars" and more news next week! Thanks everyone!