More New At-Home Performance Videos & Some Assorted Recent News Items!!

Another video heavy post today, but we do have some assorted news and notes to get to at the end, which does include a couple of concert cancellations. Let's start in video-land though with the first new videos from prolific local punk/metal guitarist Tiffany Stocco's YouTube channel in over a year! Not long after helping her Guitar Gangsters bandmate Buzz out with his recent live-stream, the Jack Spades/Stegadeth/et al. guitarist posted play-along covers of The Distillers' "The Young Crazed Peeling" (which will definitely please Coral Fang fans) and, as embedded below, Bad Religion's "American Jesus". The backing songs can drown out her playing a little, but she knows these songs well, and the videos are nice quality, so fans of her local band work and prior cover videos will definitely want to check these ones out above and below!



Next up, let's head to the U.S.A. for some new videos from former Bad Side guitarist and The Bear/Yes FM DJ Jason Mapes! We haven't heard much locally from Jason since 2010, when he was let go from his radio gigs in the wake of the Sovereign/Northern Star buyout, with Bad Side dissolving that summer. Jason has since moved to Nashville and has continued recording as a solo musician, releasing his star-studded debut album "The Devil Plays Guitar" in July. Bad Side fans will like that it features drummer Jonah Brockman on each track, while fellow Bad Side alumni Dan Furmanik, Rob Johnson, and Paxton Olney all feature as guest musicians. The songs resemble Bad Side's 1980s-influenced bluesy hard rock stylistically, obviously differed by having Jason on vocals, and while his solo project isn't locally based, don't bypass his strong recent output! In terms of videos, Jason does have two new performance clips to check out on his YouTube channel!

Credited to a series named "Songs From The Squeaky Floor" (I think I can tell why they're called that), these are new at-home covers of Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" and, as embedded below, Bon Jovi's "Superman Tonight". The motion blur effect doesn't feel necessary, but these covers (on a double-necked guitar!) are effective and make good use of his higher but edgy vocal range, and it's great to see that Jason is staying busy with quality solo music in the past decade! Give his new covers a look below, and buy/stream "The Devil Plays Guitar" at the above links!



Let's head back to Ontario for a new cover of Fall Out Boy's "Thriller" by local/Elliot Lake alt-punk solo project Ashoka At The Show, as uploaded to the 184Films YouTube channel earlier today! I'm not a Fall Out Boy fan, but Darren matches it nicely to an unplugged form factor, and the recording quality is as great as ever, so give it a watch below!



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

• The fourth annual Go North Music Festival in Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island has been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as per their Facebook page, and tickets are refundable at point of purchase. Had the festival take place, it would have expanded to a two night format over the July 10th weekend, and some of the scheduled touring bands were tagged in the post about the cancellation, though no word on if The Rising Tide or other punk/hard rock acts would have played too. Very disappointing, but look for the festival's expected return in July 2021!
• I have removed next week's Numbing-headlined concert at The New American Pub from our concert calendar due to the extension of Ontario's emergency order until May 19th, which means that non-essential businesses like nightclubs will be closed until at least that date. Click here for details on the emergency order. For full disclosure, this concert has not been publically called off by Numbing, The New A, or promoters Dryer Fire, but it's status was on thin ice at best given what's going on in the world.
• Reports of local Tool tribute band Parabol's demise are premature! While their Facebook page was indeed taken down over the winter, it was due to Facebook flagging the page for copyright violations, as per Facebook comment replies. In other words, their Tool covers were too close to the real thing! That said, Parabol still haven't played a public concert since headlining at Soo Blaster in October, and I don't think they have replaced that page yet, but in the coronavirus era, that may be of secondary concern. We'll let you know when they publically resurface!

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

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Jason Mapes

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile, where we once again spotlight a YouTube channel whose content is at least 50% devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk videos, be they from artists or concerts1 This month's randomly selected choice will be slight deja vu from a channel featured in this series back in 2011, but there's even more content in this installment from the band and channel creator each, so here's what you should know on this month's YouTube Channel Profile!
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Jason Mapes (http://www.youtube.com/viciousmusic)

Owner: Former Bad Side guitarist & local radio DJ Jason Mapes, now a Nashville-based solo musician

Channel Timeline: Launched on July 29th, 2006; Videos posted from August 2007 through May 2016

Channel Summary: Originally intended as the official YouTube channel for defunct Sault Michigan blues/hard rock quartet Bad Side's independent label Vicious Music, it later became a personal use channel for guitarist Jason Mapes, focusing many post-2008 videos around his own solo music and other ventures. 31 of Jason's videos are of Bad Side audio tracks, music & live videos, advertisements, interviews, and video diaries, with his 10 non-band videos including 5 solo performances, 2 clips regarding his local radio career, and 3 songs by recent collaborator Rob Jones.

Why You Should Watch: This channel is a must watch source for fans of Bad Side from their mid-late 2000s heyday, with Jason posting lots of media back when he and Melissa ruled the microphones on stage and at Northern Star Broadcasting radio stations! It's also far more substantive of a source for Bad Side videos than the band's actual YouTube channel, where all but one video (among current content) saw an upload on Jason's/Vicious Music's channel as well. Fans curious to hear Jason's music in the 2010s since moving to Tennessee will also get some solid material, if not as prolific as we had previously seen, though activity has not been visible there in over a year.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out

Bad Side - Hit Me - mixed by Beau Hill (Ratt/Warrant/Winger): Jason's most viewed video is the music video for Bad Side's song "Hit Me" from their final CD, 2008's "Bad Things Come In Threes...", which is no longer in print but available online via iTunes and Spotify. A solid sing-along number with nice bluesy vocals by singer (and fellow relocated radio DJ) Melissa Krahnke, the well-edited video looks to have been filmed at an uncredited Dreammaker's Theater concert on multiple cameras, and it's a nice way to spice up this quality original, mixed by noted producer Beau Hill! Six more music videos are featured on Jason's channel, including two more tracks from this album and four songs from 2007's "Bad Side II".



Ace Frehley interviewed by Jason Mapes: Jason will still be familiar to many readers as a DJ at Northern Star Broadcasting radio stations 97.9 Classic Rock: The Bear, 99.5 Yes FM, and Talk Radio 1400 in the 2000s, plus a prior stint at Rock 101. In the wake of the massive local radio buyout of February 2010 that led to Northern Star's exit from the U.P. & The Bear's closure, Jason uploaded a demo reel of his on-air work & this audio interview with former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley, which aired live on The Bear in advance of Ace's solo Kewadin Casino concert in November 2009. The interview features Jason interviewing Ace about his tour, his new CD "Anomaly", what to expect at the show, his influence on young musicians, and Kiss moving on without him, among other topics. Solid interview that showcases Jason's natural ease as a DJ and interviewer, so fans of Ace/Kiss, and who miss Jason and the local Bear will all want to take notice!



Bad Side - Dig That Hooch Live at Summerfest 2010 Milwaukee: Bad Side's final concert appearance took place at the annual Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in June 2010, where they opened for Nonpoint on the CoolTV Rock Stage on the festival's fourth day. This set was the site of two videos on Jason's channel, including a music video for their original song "I Could Make You Want Me", but this full-colour video is a live recording of fellow "B.T.C.I.T." track "Dig That Hooch". Filmed on multiple professional cameras, the guys sound great as usual on this somewhat faster number! I still wish they'd have played one final Soo show before breaking up, but this was a huge stage to go out on, and best of luck to Jason, Melissa, and other former band members in their current ventures!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, we have randomly drawn another stacked YouTube channel to look at next, this time from Sault Ontario goregrind/rap label Blood Shed Productions, featuring numerous audio tracks and live performance clips from their roster, so look or that profile on or around August 26th, and stay tuned for more news and updates soon! Thanks everyone!

Updates From Woods Of Ypres, Jason Mapes, And The Fresh Magazine!!

Hey guys, I have lots more updates to share today in the local metal scene, including new songs, videos, a tour blog, new band pages, and an open letter! Lots of stuff to get to, so let's not waste any time!

We'll start with updates from local doom/black metal quartet Woods of Ypres, as their North American tour continues through the American Southwest! Bassist Shane Madden has uploaded his second tour diary onto Decibel Magazine's website, which details the band's tour dates between Calgary and San Jose! Like on Shane's first posting, the diary mostly deals with the road trip itself and not the individual shows, including the scenic mountain drives, post-show parties, the surprising ease of crossing the American border, the fall-out of a cancelled Los Angeles show, and much more! Good read, interesting seeing how a tour unfolds for an independent band like Woods of Ypres! Click here to check it out! Also new on the Woods of Ypres front: New concert videos! YouTube user caraface has uploaded three new videos from the band's show last night at The Nightmare in Dallas onto their YouTube channel! Nice camera angle, you get a good view of the entire band, though it could stand to be a bit closer. Interesting choice of giving the video sepia toned colour, makes it look older! Audio's not bad either! There's uploads of "Suicide Cargoload (Drag That Weight)" & "Halves & Quarters" and Everything I Touch Turns To Gold (Then To Coal)", but I'm embedding the video of Woods performing "By The Time You Read This (I Will Already Be Dead)" below, check it out, and click here for more!



Next up, Bad Side guitarist Jason Mapes has launched a new Reverbnation page featuring a brand new original demo! The page has lots of information on his new solo project, including band members, profile information, the revelation that his album is scheduled to come out this fall, his Kiss cover video, and of course, that new demo! Entitled "Love Again", it's an acoustic demo where he shows off some good guitar skills and a nice soft singing voice, definitely better suited here than on his cover of "I Was Made For Lovin' You". Not bad, though I'd love to hear heavier than this! Check out more of Jason's solo stuff at the links above! Also to note: Bad Side drummer Jonah Brockman also has a few solo pages of his own for his solo projects! Though not metal, I though that was worth mentioning, click his name to check out some of his own solo material!

And finally, the new issue of The Fresh Magazine is now out at numerous local establishments and online at this location, absolutely free! Lots of stuff this week to interest youths in Sault Ontario, and there's a few things that should interest metalheads! Len Ward from Turner Up & The Rad Zone's newest installment of "Len's Corner" is in this issue, with a playlist of what he's spinning on The Rad Zone's stereo (good selections!) and there's a one page photo collage of shots from the Downtown Showdown Battle of the Bands from May 28th, which is captioned on the cover as well. I hope that isn't the culmination of the promised photo shoots and cover features for the winning bands, cause the prize claims sounded misleading if this is all we get. Aside from that, it's a great issue with lots of interesting articles and pieces, but one in particular struck me that I feel I should mention on here. It's an "Open Letter to Rock 101" by freelance contributor Patrick Webb, the former guitarist of local hard rockers Infrastrate (Does anyone have a copy of their CD that I could get for an SMS review?!) Anyway, Patrick penned this open letter to address his criticisms of our only locally based rock radio station, which boil down to what he feels is a repetitive out-dated playlist of songs, which is helping contribute to an isolated feeling that many youths in Sault Ontario have. I won't detail everything he's criticizing, but it's a well written article, and you can read it by clicking here and scrolling to page 22. Now after reading this, I felt compelled to offer my own take on Patrick's open letter, but read his piece first!

Now I listen to Rock 101 a lot, and personally, it's my absolute favourite local FM radio station. I hate very little of what they air. That being said, I do agree that Rock 101's playlist does get repetitive, and I think it's worse than it could be because the vast majority of Rock 101's schedule is just normal DJ rotation, with only 9 hours a week set aside for special programs, like "Eddie Trunk Rocks" & "Flashback". Those air different stuff, but they're only on weekends. If Rock 101 just had constant 30 minute rock blocks 24/7, it'd be even worse than is claimed. It's not just newer artists and lesser known songs either like Patrick suggests, I could easily add Canadian bands to the list. Local bands on normal rotation would be a help too. I don't know if Rock 101 knows of these criticisms, and it's not just Patrick that has them, but I will submit this: The stuff that Rock 101 does air is good stuff. Repetitive, maybe. Same selection of bands, maybe, but it's not horrible. Rock 101's playlist rotation DOES need to be punched up, but at least they know stuff that a general rock fan would like, even if it's not the most current list or the best selection for a diehard fan of some bands. Myself, I'd love to hear Iron Maiden in normal rotation, but only weekend programs ever air them. That's one of many examples you could offer. But is Rock 101 really a contributing factor to isolation of the youth? I don't know if I'd give it that much credit, it's just a radio station, and if a young Saultite doesn't find it a relevant musical window, I'd hope they'd put a CD in or listen to their mp3 player rather than use it as fuel for a reason to leave town.

Rock 101 is still my favourite local FM station, and unless the unlikely day comes where a new local one pops up, it always will be. I admit that no station is perfect, but Rock 101 has the best odds for good music locally, especially with The Bear's local departure. But where Patrick says that Rock 101 is the "only viable option" in his open letter, I will openly and respectfully say he is incorrect. We pick up three other rock stations locally from the Mackinac Bridge area, including Real Rock 105.1, KLT: The Rock Station, and the new Mackinac City feed of Classic Rock: The Bear. All pick up locally on a good radio and all air different stuff than Rock 101. Real Rock in particular seems to be the best example of what Patrick's looking for. Add WLSO: The Sounds of Lake State to the list too if you know when a metal block airs. I do hope Patrick's opinions get addressed by Rock 101, and I respect his opinions on the situation even though not everything I agree with. I still listen to Rock 101, but like many listeners, there are things I'd like to see adjusted too. Maybe with time, we'll have to see!

That's all for today, but I have lots more news on the horizon! Tomorrow will be solely for weekend concert previews, my GarageBand Profile on Mike Cliffe will be on Friday, and at some point during or after, I have much more news to get to! Stay tuned for all that, and more!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Turner Up), A New Local Band, And More!!

Happy Monday everyone, metal news and updates from Sault Ste. Marie are back today, including a new local band, and starting today's post is a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT! So here's what you need to know!

Once again, local hard rock cover band Turner Up have a relatively short notice show announced, happening THIS SATURDAY at The Canadian Nightclub! I first saw signs of this show when guitarist Len Ward posted a message on the wall for the event page for Garden of Bedlam's fundraiser show (which is the same day), though it wasn't officially band announced, so I didn't mention it until they did. And now they have, and nothing's terribly different from their usual shows! They'll be rocking out from 10:45 PM-2:00 AM, expect the heaviest stuff in their last set, and make sure you have both ID (19+) and some change to cover entry! Should be a fun show, they always turn in a good performance, though I will in all likelihood be out in Garden River for the fundraiser show. Still, if you wanna enjoy some good hard rock in town, you know your options for Saturday! Confirm your attendance at the official Facebook event page!

Next up, we have a new local band to add to the band listings! I've heard about this band, to be honest, for a few months, but didn't have a general idea about their sound until the other day, I just knew they played "classic/current rock". Well the band in question is Sneaky Pete, and what do you know, they are hard rock enough for SMS attention! Drummer Mike Oakley e-mailed me a nice band biography with some extended information on the band, and it says that the band has been in existence since last spring, with their current lineup settling in the fall. The band now comprises of Oakley on drums, Bill Brouillard on guitar (both share vocals), Mario Carlucci on lead guitar (you'll recognize him from local bands like Foothill Road & Exodus), and Dave Grimaldi on bass! Musically, they have a wide variety of influences, but there's metal to go around! The band have covers in the works from bands like AC/DC, Metallica, Velvet Revolver, and Godsmack, among many other bands of varying genres! They plan to play their first shows in the summer, so be on the lookout!

For more on Sneaky Pete, visit their official Facebook page! No concrete word yet on a live debut for them, but you'll be sure that I'll have it for you guys when it comes out! These guys sound promising, I can't wait to see them live! Also, FYI, they're currently running a bit of a logo contest to find a band logo, if you wanna break out your graphic design or drawing skills, send them a concept! The picture above is the first entry, made on Paint by Half Past guitarist Alain Fletcher! Give it a whirl!

Thirdly, we have our first glimpse of Bad Side guitarist Jason Mapes' solo project! Well, sort of, it's not an original song, it's an acoustic cover of the Kiss classic "I Was Made For Loving You"! It's a well played cover, though it's not the best song for him to show off his vocal abilities, it works especially well acoustically! No solo though. I don't know what next we'll see from Jason's solo stuff, but this is promising, I just hope there's some heavy stuff to show soon, or a preview of an original! Another striking thing: The video effects, they're well done with the transitions and angles! Check it out below, and FYI, Bad Side's current status? They're "on a break" according to the caption for this video on Bad Side's Facebook page. Hmmm, hopefully they'll be back sooner or later! For now though, check this clip out, and more from Bad Side, Jason, and Melissa at the band's YouTube channel!



So, what else is on the newsdesk today? How about another review of "Woods IV: The Green Album"? This was posted on Hellbound on Friday by Natalie Zed (a prior review by Hellbound's Adam Wills came out late last year), and this new one is getting some high praise from Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold, who calls it "possibly the best review...so far." It's long, it's well written, and it really seems to describe of the musical journey Natalie took into "the woods" by listening to this album! You can tell she listened to the whole album and thought about what to write, so many reviews I see only feel like the reviewer listened to a couple songs. She also gives especially high praise goes to Gold and his lyrics, and the production! Great read, check it out at this location!

And finally, want your first glimpse into what 705Quarterly's blog will look like? Creator Nikita Andrews uploaded this test screenshot of what it will look like onto 705Quarterly's Facebook page, and on first glimpse, it looks pretty good, as long as it's kept up to date! Looks like they're gonna cover a wide range of topics to appeal to young Saultites, hopefully it finds a huge audience! Click on the picture to check it out, and I'll keep you posted with updates I have on 705Quarterly! And before anyone asks, no, I don't think the screenshot has any "metal" hints. The pictures look like sample placeholders and most of the text is temporary or fake. We'll get a better content hint soon! In the meantime, if you have things to suggest or contribute, click here for information!

That's all for now, but we have much much more coming up this month, in and amongst my end-of-semester tests and what have you. Sunday, we'll end this month's local FM radio poll and have a new poll raring to go, as well as featuting my profiles of Levitate and Necramyth (two more out of town bands with local members) later this week, so stay tuned for those, and much more news!

Sykotyk Rampage Concert Preview, A Local Forum's Big Move, A New Solo Project, And Videos!

Hey guys, it's time for more news and updates in the local metal scene! We have some newly discovered videos from concerts of the past, a major local music message board changeover, and a new solo project from a local hard rock guitarist, but first, we have a rarity: A midweek concert that needs previewing! So let us begin!

Tomorrow night at The Rockstar Bar, "blue Chinese metal crash punk" rockers Sykotyk Rampage will make their debut at that venue for Metal Militia Wednesday! Last seen headlining the delay-filled Tyler Yuke Memorial at The Outback, this should be their first set with a length longer than a half hour since last year, so fans should take notice! Joining them tomorrow will be RedD Monkey, the Toronto/Kelowna based classical-punk band featuring former Smeltzer bandmates Steve Mozarowski and Kevin Overton on vocals/guitar and drums, and Steve's brother Pete on the cello! Unique sound, different from Smeltzer, check them out on their MySpace page! Unique sound, largely thanks to the cello! And there IS a metal connection with RedD Monkey, as Kevin Overton was Gates of Winter's drummer in the mid 2000s! However, seeing that this is "Metal Militia Wednesday", never fear, Sykotyk Rampage will bring the intense night of soundscape you desire! With 22 albums to draw from, who knows that you'll hear? They're hard to describe, check them out on their official SoundClick page!

There will be a $3 cover charge at the door, the concert has a listed 10:00 PM start time, confirm your attendance at the official Facebook event page! This should be a fun concert full of unique music, hopefully there's a good turnout! I might be there, depends on the homework situation tomorrow night, stupid end-of-semester crunch. But if I do show up, there will be a review and photo album on Thursday! For a video preview, here's a clip of "the original crash band" performing their song "Treating You Bad"!



Next up, a popular local music message board has received a major move and facelift! The 705 Scene Forums, the second incarnation of the original forums from the old Sault Music Scene, have moved to a new permanent server! But it's not just that, now they have a new domain name, forum name, layout, and lots of new features with no ads! Now, the forum is called 705 Video Magazine, and it's now hosted at 705vm.com. The new forum has an expanded member page, a calendar, member blogs, and an integrated photo album, which hopefully will catch on! My big complaint is that the old forum, topics, and accounts weren't carried over, which I do realize might have been impossible to do easily, but now it's like starting over. Especially with how The 705 Scene itself has had all it's old forums and posts deleted in lieu of a notice about 705 Video Magazine. Oh well, the new forum should do pretty well, and honestly, it's a step up in terms of restoring some old Sault Music Scene features, so there you go! Click here to check it out, and remember, YOU WILL HAVE TO RE-REGISTER THERE, YOU CAN'T USE YOUR OLD ACCOUNT!

And now, we have a new solo project from a local hard rock musician! Bad Side guitarist and former The Bear DJ Jason Mapes is trying his hand at some solo material, and has launched a Facebook page all about it! Jason will also handle lead vocals in this project, so it will be interesting to hear how he holds up by himself vocally! His backing studio musicians include Bad Side collaborators Rich Blair on bass and Dan Furmanik on guitar, with Rob Johnson behind the drumkit! Now we know from Bad Side's track record and discography that Jason has the goods to deliver some great hard rock, but we won't know how he sounds by himself until some material is posted, which hasn't been done yet. As soon as I hear any of Jason's stuff, I'll be sure to share it with you guys! In the meantime, click here to become a fan of his on Facebook!

And finally for today, I have some newly found videos from come local concerts! Firstly, we have yet another video from December's Three Days Grace show at The Essar Center, well, 4 actually! Youtube user wessephremfecteau has 4 clips from the concert online that I never found until today! The videos appear to be from the stands, are off of a cell phone and are pretty jittery, but the audio isn't terrible! Only one though, his recording of "Bitter Taste", is over 95 seconds. Still, check them out at this location, and I gotta wonder, how many other videos from this show are online? Oh well, check out his clip of "Break" below!

And finally, here's a clip from a local show at The Oddfellows Hall from way back in April 2007! This is of Burlington metalcore band Dead & Divine performing their song "San Dimas" from that show, which notably featured the now defunct As It Stands as one of the openers! YouTube user gregsacco8 uploaded this video about a month after the show, and this is one of those videos that I'm really surprised I didn't find much earlier...maybe it's the lack of mentioning the Soo in the description. Oh well, this is definitely from The Oddfellows! The audio is slightly staticy on louder volumes, but it's decent quality, and it's another nice look back on a concert gone by! We need more of these hardcore all ages shows, what say you guys? Take a look at the video!



So there's some more updates for you all on this Tuesday afternoon, I shall be back very soon with much more, including my review of Integrated System of Machines' debut album! When? Tomorrow or Thursday. Stay tuned!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Sense Of Truth), News On The Local Radio Station Buyout/Firings, And More!

Sorry for the lack of a post last night, hardcore studying for a history test. Weekend concert previews are coming tomorrow, and hopefully more news to boot, but today, we have a big story coming out of the world of local radio. Stay tuned for that, but first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

I could have swore they were gonna be in-studio for the forseeable future, but hey, we thought the same about Garden of Bedlam before they booked an upcoming show, so yeah, here's what I know so far! According to new local band Groove Committee's Facebook group, local hard rockers Sense of Truth are apparently returning to the stage on February 26th! The show will be at The Canadian Nightclub, with support from Groove Committee. Guitarist Steve Myers has since confirmed the show on the band's Facebook group. This will be Sense of Truth's first concert since backing up Ultraviolence last month at Coch's Corner! I could have swore they wouldn't be back live anytime soon thanks to the recording of their EP, but hey, any concert news is welcome! I won't say I can go cause the last 3 times I got excited about a Sense of Truth concert, it backfired when something came up or I went away that same weekend. Let me just say this: If I can go, I will be one happy headbanger! I'll keep you posted as I hear more!

As for that band Groove Committee, they appear to be the new project from former Scary Uncles guitarist Matt Sibilo. I can't confirm with any definite accuracy if they'd be "hard rock" enough for the SMS, but the band does suggest that they could play Pearl Jam and Led Zeppelin live...as well as Ween and Modest Mouse. We'll have to see about these guys! Check out their Facebook group at this location!

Now let's discuss the local radio situation, which sure has a lot of people up in arms. Sovereign Communications, the local company that owns Rock 101, Oldies 93, and two local AM stations, has purchased even more of the Upper Peninsula radio universe from Northern Star Broadcasting, including two more local stations: 99.5 YES FM and Big Country 105.5, as well as AM station Talk Radio 1400. 97.9 Classic Rock: The Bear will remain under ownership of Northern Star Broadcasting to avoid FCC violations for Sovereign's concentration of the local market, though reports suggest that Northern Star are getting out of the broadcast business, so The Bear's days could be numbered. The new purchases will not impact Sault Ontario radio stations, WLSO, or any local Christian/adult contemporary stations, as they aren't owned by Northern Star. On the surface, there may seem to be nothing drastically different, as they haven't announced (yet) that any of the new stations will be getting any format changes. So rest easy, Rock 101 fans, nothing's going on there! But here's where we should be concerned:

4 on-air personalities from 99.5 YES FM have been laid off amid this mess. How does this impact us, a metal-centric blog? Well, two of the laid off personalities are Bad Side frontwoman and guitarist Melissa Krahnke and Jason Mapes. As you may know if you listen to YES FM, Melissa's one of the DJs on the Soo Morning Crew, while Jason manned The Afternoon Drive block on the station, as well as DJing on The Bear. I admittedly don't listen to 99.5 most of the time, mainly because of my own musical tastes. But when I do listen, I notice the good work, intelligence, and professionalism that they (and the other fired DJs, Paul VanWagoner and Scott Nason) had over at YES FM. Especially when no just reason was given for the firings, it makes you wonder what a local company was thinking in firing local radio personalities. Is there some "new direction" excuse? Are they planning top to bottom changes? Do they not like Bad Side? I don't know, but answers would be appreciated.

I know some of you guys listen to 99.5 YES FM, Bad Side, or both, so I encourage you to join the cause to hopefully get Sovereign Communications to rehire everyone let go, or at least give us a good reason why they did what they did. A few Facebook groups have popped up in support of the fired DJs, the biggest of which has over 640 members! Click here to join it and voice your opinion! Hopefully our voices can be heard! Also make note of The Bear's situation. If it's true that Northern Star wants out of radio, then The Bear is likely on it's last legs. It would either have to be bought by another radio company, or go out of business all together. I'm a fan of The Bear, as are many of you I'm sure! Jason's a great DJ over there, they air lots of great classic songs, plus they have Bob and Tom and Alice Cooper too! Someone should start a group to support saving The Bear, cause we need all the rock we can get, and it'd be a shame to lose 97.9 over something like this! Make yourselves heard! Also, check out SooToday's article on the whole local radio mess by clicking here! (Also, if you're gonna boycott anything, don't boycott Rock 101, they have no part in this, their superiors do. Boycott the new purchases for not having the DJs you miss.)

(EDIT: 1:23 PM) I think we have some more news about the radio mess: Apparently Sovereign Communications bought the old Northern Star stations for the physical assets rather than personnel. The employees were fired before the sale by Northern Star, and were not picked up by Sovereign because, and I quote "there are not as many jobs available, because staff is already in place." So there was staff already in place at Sovereign in the stations you JUST bought. That does not compute. Yet there was no firings from the stations they bought in the same deal in Iron Bridge and Marquette. Uh huh. No word on The Bear's status yet. Read the new article from The Soo Evening News at this location!

Now back to Sense of Truth. The concert wasn't why I mentioned I had news on them on Monday, I didn't hear about that until this morning. No, I had stuff about the recording of their EP! I've heard more than what I'm telling you, but I'm only going to report on what they've announced. Monday, Sense of Truth hit the studio with Miguel Gauthier at Stereo Soul Studios to record their debut EP, which will have 6 songs! Drummer Ryan Haryett has mentioned to be on the lookout for photos and maybe the odd video, so make sure to stay tuned to their Facebook group for anything like that! That's all I had on the Sense of Truth front! Should be a good spring/summer with new Sense of Truth and Garden of Bedlam releases coming out, both of which will get lots of press and my own reviews when they come out! I'll keep you posted!

And finally for today, Woods of Ypres updates! Firstly, you know the track listing on your copy of "Woods IV: The Green Album"? Get out your erasers, David Gold has decided to alter, lengthen, or shorten five of the track names! Here's what's different: "Shards of Love" now has the subtitle "(Hurt Forever)", "Dirty Window Of Opportunity" is now "Into Exile", with the subtitle "(Can You Get Here In 10 Days?)" still in place, "And I Am Pining (For You)" has had the "And I Am" removed, "To Long Life In The 'Limbo Union'" is now "Our Union (In Limbo)", and "Move On! (The Woman Will Always Leave The Man)" has had it's subtitle completely removed. Make edits of that where necessary so you're up to date! I even edited my review of W4 to reflect this. Thanks to this topic on the band's forum for the update. Speaking of "Woods IV", David's latest topic post on the band's forum hypes to make sure to buy and listen to the album between March 20th and June 19th, as this is the band's spring themed album, after all! He says "Let it rain! We're all in this together. ...We'll have a party at the end." Hey, I like parties! Buy the album, it's a real experience!

That's all for now, more news coming very soon! Thanks everyone!