Battle Of The Bands Rewind Profile: The Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands

One year ago today, a battle of the bands returned to Sault Ontario for the first time since May 2010, and in it's honour, we're bringing back our Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles today to look back on it! As you may remember, we profiled 7 Sault Ontario battles from 2008-2010 last spring in the lead up to the battle in question, and as I promised then, we'd profile later battles a year after they took place so we can flash back to them adequately. What was this battle's background? What was at stake? Who won, and where's everyone now? We'll find out below, and like previous battle profiles, there's little to no personal critiquing and more of a recap/trivia nature to it. Without any further adieu, let's flash back a year ago for our newest Battle of the Bands Rewind Profile! (Updated on April 17th, 2014)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands (April 20th, 2012)

Background: After a two year hiatus, a new battle of the bands hit Sault Ontario on April 20th, 2012, as hosted by (and as a fundraiser for) The Sault Ste. Marie Humane Society. Held at The Grand Theater (the first there in over 3 years), and with sound provided by the Basswerx Recording Studio, 9 bands competed at the battle, with each playing 15 minute sets for the gathered crowd, with covers permitted. Judges picked the top 3 bands afterwards to receive prizes, including assorted bonus awards given out in other categories. Bands were scored out of 300 (100 for each judge) on numerous detailed categories relating to their talents, stage presence, and audience reaction, while local alternative rock/blues quartet Sykotyk Rampage played two special sets out of competition before the battle started and during the judges' deliberations.

Prizes: Along with trophies for the top 3 bands, the first place band received studio recording time, and a hat & headphones from battle sponsors, while the second place band received a gift certificate to the Delta Waterfront Hotel. Nine extra trophies were also given in varied categories, including four for individual musicians and five for collective performance elements, with all 12 trophies featuring custom artwork and designs relating to their category.

Competitors: Non-competitors Sykotyk Rampage aside, nine varied local rock bands (down from 12 initially and 10 the night before) gathered to compete at this battle, most of which were making their battle & Grand Theater debuts, including 7 metal-leaning bands. The competing acts included local hardcore standouts As It Stands, death metal bands The Bear Hunters & The Valentine's Day Massacre, Central Algoma death metal notables For All That Is Lost & Inhuman Methods, classic metal quartet Late & Loud, metal/punk rockers T-Rex Manning, acoustic duo Tea With Lincoln, and veteran rock band Wishbone.

Results: With a tie for first place and a three way tie for third place, the judges had their work cut out for them, but they awarded Late & Loud a narrow first place win, breaking the tie with the second place As It Stands. The judges also chose Wishbone to take third place, breaking their tie with For All That Is Lost & The Valentine's Day Massacre, who were officially considered as tied for fourth. The Bear Hunters finished a point out of the three-way tie in sixth place, while the placements of the other three bands weren't publicized. As for the bonus awards, those went evenly to each band out of fairness, though only three of the awards didn't go to the judges' first choice. The individual performer awards went to Wishbone frontman Dennis Duguay for best vocals, The V.D.M.'s Andrew Angelic for best guitar, The Bear Hunters' Justin Lam for best bass, and F.A.T.I.L.'s Kameron Nicholson for best drums, while the collective band awards went to As It Stands for best audience, Late & Loud for best ensemble, T-Rex Manning for best sound, Inhuman Methods for best headbanging, and Tea With Lincoln for best mosh pit, which was honestly 100% deserved!

Aftermath: Amidst a summer break and a brief breakup that fall, Late & Loud opened for bands like Skull Fist & The Saigon Hookers, and released their EP "Heavy Rockin' Hard Metal" that November. Though they fell inactive after their Rockstar Bar Battle finals run in 2013, they played two final reunion gigs in 2014. As It Stands stayed active with more concerts through that August, but never played afterwards, dissolving in 2014. Wishbone briefly broke up after the battle before reuniting with new lineups from 2013-2014, while both For All That Is Lost & Inhuman Methods broke up as well in early 2013, following their own scattered mid-2012 concert dates. The Valentine's Day Massacre & Tea With Lincoln were common sights locally before relocating to London & St. Catharines respectively that fall, and while the latter are still active, The V.D.M. dissolved in 2013. The Bear Hunters remain heavily active to this day, releasing their debut album in 2014 and playing many concerts in the process, while T-Rex Manning were a familiar sight at local concerts before falling inactive in 2014 themselves.

Some Notable Performers' Newer Bands (Metal/hard rock in italics):

Crimson Crusade (Robert Crossley from Inhuman Methods)
Flat Stanley (Tony Kajnar & Glen Thomas from Wishbone)
Jack Spades (J.D. Pearce & Tiffany Stocco from T-Rex Manning, and Justin Lam & Johnny Belanger from The Bear Hunters) 
Jon & His Friends (Jonathan Tiberi from Late & Loud; Based out of Hamilton)
Mourning Wood (Steven Flint & Glen Thomas from Wishbone)
The Peace Vibe (Glen Thomas from Wishbone)
Rattlesnake Hotel (Andrew Angelic from The Valentine's Day Massacre; Based out of London)
Skeyes of Seven (John Mignacca* from As It Stands)
Stereo North (Bill Bennett from T-Rex Manning)
The Suicide Kings (Steven Flint from Wishbone & Mitch Sirie from The Bear Hunters) 

Trivia:

• Four different local bands dropped out from competing in this battle for varying reasons. Three exited before the battle took place, including blues rock quartet The Moves (due to external commitments), funk rock trio The Vertically Impaired (who broke up shortly afterwards), and classic hard rock quintet Turner Up (though 4/5ths of that lineup did take fifth place at the Rock N' Roar Battle in Spanish that month with Havadder.) As well, indie rock trio Cowboys & Indians (who were already late additions) pulled out the day of the battle, as bassist Alex White couldn't make the event.
• Though initially planned to be judged by crowd reaction, the judges for the Humane Society Battle included prolific local solo guitarist/Audiofumes podcaster Mike Cliffe, Sault Metal Scene owner Rob Figures, and ex-Browbeat frontman Randy "Dutch" Vanderploeg, while battle volunteer Stephanie Becker assisted in tallying scores and in the score tiebreaking. Rob would later return to battle judging at the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands in April 2013 and then at March 2015's VM Radio Battle of the Bands.
• Sykotyk Rampage guitarist Dirk Becker served as the evening's MC and co-organizer, which was at least partly why they didn't compete with the other bands at this battle. Their sets that night marked their last live appearances with bassist Brian Cattapan, who left the band that summer due to his continuing out-of-town commitments. He was replaced by ex-The Fury bassist Tony Briglio, and Sykotyk Rampage have remained active since at recent local concerts, including releasing dozens of albums worth of new material.
• Despite a lower than expected attendance, $600 was raised for the Sault Ste. Marie Humane Society, which helped stir discussion of this battle returning in 2013, though none would take place.
• Although individual scores & complete rankings were not announced, this battle was notable for it's extremely close scores and competitive nature, as disclosed online following the event. The aforementioned ties aside, just six points (averaged out to two points a judge) separated the tied third place bands from the seventh place band.
• Though Late & Loud pledged to use their recording time won at this battle towards recordings on their debut EP, the sessions for the tracks on "Heavy Rockin' Hard Metal" & it's "Still Hard" 2013 reissue were either done at The Smoke & Oak Room Studio prior to the battle, or were independently recorded, and it's unknown if anything became of the recording time that they won.
• Inhuman Methods' set at this battle marked their second & final concert appearance with original singer Curtis Moir, who was replaced by Anthony Tverdal just a few days after this battle took place, though that lineup only played a few shows themselves.
• Bands were allowed to bring their own banners to set up on stage for their sets, which a third of the competing bands (For All That Is Lost, Late & Loud, and T-Rex Manning) took advantage of.
• Had The Moves or Cowboys & Indians not dropped out from competing at this battle, most members of each could have had another shot at battle victory, as The Moves featured Blackwater alumni Cody McMillan & Dave Pihlaja and ex-Stillbroke bassist Nathan Bouliane, while Cowboys & Indians featured The Crossed frontman Jordan Flesher & Soldiers of Misfortune bassist Alex White, all of which had won local battles in the past decade with the credited bands.
• Both For All That Is Lost & The Valentine's Day Massacre returned for the Battle For The Blood at The Roosevelt Hotel on June 19th, where they competed for a guaranteed opening slot at the 3 Inches of Blood concert there on July 9th, while T-Rex Manning also played a set out of competition (as frontman J.D. Pearce was promoting both shows.) F.A.T.I.L. reportedly finished second, but it's not clear whether The V.D.M. improved on their fourth place finish at the Humane Society battle or not. The fan-voted winners of the Battle For The Blood were Winkstinger.
• Late & Loud, The Bear Hunters, and Sykotyk Rampage all competed the following year at The Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands in April 2013. While Sykotyk Rampage didn't advance, Late & Loud & The Bear Hunters finished in 4th & 5th place in the final round. Other Humane Society Battle competitors involved include Wishbone bassist Steven Flint & Bear Hunters guitarist Mitch Sirie in their newer hard rock band The Suicide Kings (who won the battle), and Bear Hunters guitarist Josh Stephney in his stoner/death metal band Giwakwa (who didn't advance to the finals.)
• Despite the loss of Josh Stephney after his mid-2013 move to Brampton, The Bear Hunters finally clinched their first battle of the bands victory at Viva La Battle at The Canadian Nightclub on November 13th of the following year, earning the right to open for Bam Margera's band Fuckface Unstoppable the following month (which Josh rejoined them for.) Wishbone bassist Steven Flint also competed in this battle with his newer hard rock band Punch, but they finished in third place.
• Mitch Sirie & Steven Flint also saw expanded battle of the bands success in April 2014 when The Suicide Kings finished second out of 15 bands at the Rock N' Roar Battle of the Bands in Spanish, Ontario, winning $500 and the right to open for Randy Bachman & Honeymoon Suite at that year's Rock N' Roar festival in Spanish. A newly reunited Wishbone lineup also competed, though they did not place, and the competing lineup only featured frontman Dennis Duguay from the Humane Society battle.
• The Bear Hunters (sans Josh again) competed in both the Speak Easy and VM Radio Battles of the Bands in March 2015, finishing in third in the former and two points shy of first place in the latter. T-Rex Manning bassist Bill Bennett also competed in the VM Radio Battle at The Canadian that same month with his new punk band Stereo North, but they did not advance out of the semifinals after a close final tally.

Videos:
Videos of each metal/hard rock band's first song (including one from Sykotyk Rampage)
Videos of Wishbone & Tea With Lincoln's first songs




Sources/More Info:
Official event poster
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you guys liked this Battle of the Bands Rewind Profile! Our next profile in this series will take place in June when we flash back to last year's Battle for the Blood, but before all of that, be sure to hit the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands Finals THIS WEDNESDAY! That's all for now, but stay tuned for a stacked post full of big new concert announcements later today! Thanks everyone!

Sykotyk Rampage's Newest Albums, Woods Of Ypres Tribute CD Updates, And Much More!!

The last week has been heavily leaning towards Sault Michigan updates, and as the days went on, a slowly large amount of Sault Ontario news hit the desk, so it's about time we clear most of it off by covering recent news on this side of the border! Today, we have updates to one of our monthly feature series, the latest David Gold tribute album updates, and much more, but first, here's news on a prolific local hard rock band's newest material!

Local alternative/blues/hard rock quartet Sykotyk Rampage have posted their other four albums from last year onto their Reverbnation page over the past few days! Joining the previously plugged "The Cross" and "Will Do Anything, Seriously?", the band's 30th-33rd albums "Anal Disruptions", "Jonathon, Your Music Sucks!", "Smells Really Good On A Bad Night", and "Sykotyk Ramp-Age" are now available for streaming, so click each link to hear them! That all said, what should we know about these albums? They each feature 10-12 songs, and while almost all are listed via the above links, "Anal Disruptions" is missing three songs (tracks 6, 8, and 9) that are so far only available via the full song listing on their Reverbnation page. Much of these songs are brand new, but a few have been heard live, such as "Drugs & Beer" on "Anal Disruptions" and "Roll A Doobie" on "Jonathon, Your Music Sucks!" The vast majority of songs feature Paul Becker on lead vocals, with only a select few (roughly 1-2 on each album) sung by Dirk Becker, and there's an unidentified female guest singer on at least one track as well.

As well, the album "Sykotyk Ramp-Age" almost entirely features song titles starting with numbers, aside from the closing track "Wanga Danga Comes Of Age" (marking that character's return to their original material after a lengthy hiatus), though I didn't detect a visible theme beyond the titles. And finally, I believe these are among the last new albums featuring Brian Cattapan on bass (given his presence in 3 album covers), so I'd assume Tony Briglio will handle bass duties on their next original sessions. I have yet to hear every one of these albums yet (2 more to go!), but let's just say long time fans won't be disappointed with the content or quality, so stream them above! Now, I won't commit to reviewing any of these albums yet as they're not offically for sale as digital albums (counting the "Genius Mushrooms" albums, they're now up to 8 straight that are just free postings), but if and when any are added to their Reverbnation store, we'll review at least the heaviest of the new 6! Yes, I'm aware you can buy some of these tracks individually for $1.29, but that's through a charitable Music For Good campaign, and are all single downloads without an explicit "album-for-sale" bundle component or packaging.

Still, half of the proceeds from purchases of these songs will go to World Vision, which is an awesome cause, so consider buying your favourite singles above, and stay tuned to the SMS for news on Sykotyk Rampage's next shows and material!

Next up, here's the latest updates on the planned Woods of Ypres tribute album "A Heart of Gold"! Organizers have announced that they are now accepting pre-orders for the album (as per it's Facebook group last week), so what should you know? To pre-order your copy, send $10 (towards a digital download copy) or $20 (towards that and a double CD package) via PayPal to pkuhr@comcast.net as a PayPal gift, not by any other means. When sending, include your e-mail address and/or mailing address in the note section to ensure that your copy/copies are sent to you (as the gift feature doesn't send addresses by itself.) It looks like organizers are moving forward with fundraising for a physical run of the tribute CD, and they need to raise $3,000 total before releasing any links to the final product. Check the above links for more details! I know that they're past $227, which is a great start, but I encourage everyone to send in pre-orders to get this tribute album off the ground! David Gold did similar fundraising for Woods of Ypres' albums, so hopefully a similar support drive turns up for the tribute album! Stay tuned for updates!

Also today, here's three assorted stories from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist, promoter, or venue name:

• Local singer/concert promoter J.D. Pearce (a.k.a. Johnny Pints) is looking for local opening bands for various concerts that he's promoting this year. He specified punk and thrash for genres, but long time fans of his concerts should know he books metal bands often too, so if anyone out there wants in on any of his upcoming shows, check out his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Friday!
• Though major details are forthcoming, and a release date is a ways off yet, Haggith drummer Mike Haggith will apparently release his 46th solo album "The Tower" through the Haggith band's local label/recording studio PaperClip Productions this year! Aside from posting the cover on the label's Facebook page, and describing it as a "good paced rock album with lots of heaviness", little is currently known about it, but stay tuned for updates!
• Local coffee shop & acoustic concert venue The Steamy Bean (on Great Northern Road, not Spring Street) has closed, and will be re-opened as Bruno's Breakfast and Waffle House in a few weeks. This might not seem like a major loss, but The Steamy Bean had offered up live bands and performers for many years, including scattered heavier acts like Tym Morrison & These Sins of Time, and long-time customers are bound to be bummed out. Click here for more details!

Finally for today, here's some updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series, to make each profile more up to date and current! In our Skid Row Battle profile, I added a link for Crank Sound Distribution (now that they have online pages) and I also updated the recent information on competitors Sue Inside (the last surviving band from the battle), mainly to hint to their likely inactive status, not having updated online pages since April 2012. In the 2008 Case's Music Battle profile, I replaced The Glass Statues, March Into Regression, and State of Misery in the section for notable newer bands with battle alumni with Lazer Queen, Unbound, and With Blood Builds Character, as they're more recent examples. I also replaced General Striker with Lazer Queen on the YMCA Battle profile for similar reasons, while also updating Sue Inside's information for similar reasons as on the Skid Row Battle profile. Finally for today, I added Bring The Fallen frontman Josh Stephney to Giwakwa's lineup in the section for notable newer bands with battle alumni on both the YMCA & Algoma University Battle profile, while also adding Creedon & The Animal Detectives drummer Terrence Gomes' newest band The Northern Tragedy to that same section. There's more to come, so stay tuned for more updates on this series this week!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news soon, including fallout from TONIGHT'S Sebastian Bach show! Thanks everyone!

Garden of Bedlam at Rotaryfest Review, Bands Looking To Play Here, And More!!

Hey guys, it's time for my review of Garden of Bedlam's set at the Tenaris Second Stage at Rotaryfest, plus some extra news afterwards, so let's get things rolling! Last night, I decided to check out some of the other activities at Rotaryfest before Garden of Bedlam's set, including some strolls through the vendor area (the potato tornadoes get cold way too quickly), and I did briefly check out a couple of the main stage bands! I saw a part of KT, Kyle, and The Pocket's set, and while they were definitely talented, their set was a lot more mainstream than KT & Kyle's old Turner Up/Full Circle work tended to sound (I think.) I also saw a part of Fusion's set (featuring Middle of Nowhere alumni), and they played some entertaining rock covers from all eras and styles, and I have no major complaints from them! I almost filmed them covering "Jailbreak" by AC/DC (the only heavier song they played), but I missed the opening, and I don't like filming/posting incomplete performances, but hopefully I'll get another chance! Nice to see some bands I don't tend to see much yesterday, but I'm not used to a venue so full of chairs. I will say that the main stage definitely skews towards a noticeably older crowd, but the seating was fairly full when I was there, so while I don't agree with the all-cover band setup, it is pulling in people!

Now to Garden of Bedlam, as they took the stage as the headlining and final band on the Tenaris Second Stage this year, which was pushed down Queen Street East a bit further than it was in 2010 (disappointing, especially with the ambiance that being right outside The Grand Theater gave.) That said, the guys ripped through an awesome set of originals, and the fans on the road definitely ate it up! Their set was largely similar to their 2010 set on the Second Stage, only with "Torment" replaced by "With A Spark", along with their 2009 EP track "The Truth Shall Set You Free" as an extra addition, and for the most part, they sounded on fire! It wasn't a flawless set though, as Josh Belleau had a very rare malfunction with one of his guitars early on, and Buzz's singing voice sounded strained at points, but on the whole, they sounded excellent! Evan Belleau's bass work sounded clear and heavy for their set especially, and Derek Turner's drumming was as fast and proficient as you'd expect! If anything, I'd have thrown in "Emptiness Without A Name" or another older original to vary things a bit more from 2010, but I thoroughly enjoyed Garden of Bedlam's set, and I hope this convinces Rotaryfest's music selection committee to integrate more heavier and alternative music in coming years!

Thanks to Crank Sound Distribution for the awesome sound, and hopefully all of the musical and other activities went flawlessly this year! I did get photos from their set, so click here to check them out or visit our Facebook event page! Nice to get photos this time, as in 2010, I filmed their whole set instead. This time however, I just got one, that being of their song "Three Days", which was well done as you'd expect, so check it out below, and stay tuned for more Rotaryfest fallout as it rolls in!



Next up, here's a couple of bands we're long overdue to give some press to on here, as both are reportedly looking for local concert dates in Sault Ontario! One is the Winnipeg southern hard rock quartet Prophet, who are looking for a late August concert in the Soo during their latest tour run. Bassist Martin Lafreniere messaged the SMS earlier this month looking for some help in finding a local booking, and I'd definitely wanna see them play live around here! Unique sound from what we tend to hear, a nice mix of southern styles and hard charging metal, hopefully someone out there wants to book them! If anyone out there is interested, message Martin on Facebook at this location, and check Prophet out above! Another band looking for a local booking is the Montreal death metal band Fateless, who are apparently looking for shows in Ontario for a future tour, and they are willing to open for bands in order to get some dates in the province, including in the Soo. Fateless guitarist Alexander Clarke messaged the SMS this month as well inquiring about booking contacts, so I sent him some, but I've heard nothing since, so can any of you guys help? Nice brutal death metal sound with some progressive touches, they'd be welcome here, so if you wanna help Fateless play here in the future, message Alexander at this location, and check them out as well at the above links!

Finally today, here's some final updates for our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series to make them more accurate! Well, not absolute final, just for this latest batch before we update another series next. On the 2008 Case's Music Battle profile, I added a brief note for high school division winners Stillbroke's early 2012 activity as Borderline Divine and current hiatus to the section on the competitors' later moves & statuses, while also adding the new hardcore band With Blood Builds Character (with Fountain of Betrayal bassist Tyler St. Amour & Unforgiven guitarist Ray Cowan) to the section of newer bands replacing battle alumni. For profiles on battles that Bring The Fallen were in, I edited mentions of March Into Regression in the same section to remove Dan Souliere, as he's not in their last full lineup. In another band substitution on that section for the Kiss Battle profile, I replaced Mustang Sally with local rock cover band Fusion, who feature Kiss battle competitors Anthony Fabiano (Gsis Murphy) and Lino D'Orazio (Middle of Nowhere), and I added Fusion to that section on the Sault College/Scotties Tournament battle profile as well, as Middle of Nowhere also played at that event. Finally, I noted that local punk band RedD Monkey now have two albums for their battle aftermath part of the Algoma University battle profile.

Hopefully things are now up to date in that series, so check the above links for all the updates! I'll have some updates for one of our other monthly feature post series soon as well, but that's all for today, and stay tuned for some all-video specialty posts tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Two New Local Metal Bands, New Tym Morrison Material, And More!!

It's time for a new news post at the SMS, including lots of notable updates, but first, just letting you guys know that I don't think there's a Rooosevelt Hotel metal night tonight, despite today being next on the recent bi-weekly schedule. Nothing official has came out about the 48th and next installment of the Thursday metal concert series, so I doubt there's anything imminent, but I've heard rumblings about a show on August 2nd, so stay tuned for updates! Now, today's post features updates to one of our monthly series, new material from a prominent musician, and leading things off, two new local metal bands, so here's what you need to know!

Our first new band is a local progressive hardcore outfit named With Blood Builds Character, and you may recognize their lineup as featuring four members of March Into Regression! This new band features Like Father Like Son frontman/sometimes concert promoter Jeremy Hannah on vocals, guitarists Ray Cowan (ex-State of Misery) and Christopher Neveau, and Social Suicide bassist Tyler St. Amour (no drummer has been announced yet), and they will play their first show under this band name as the last confirmed band at the F.A.T.I.L. Requiem in Laird on August 4th! They'll take the 6:00 PM slot, but they forgot the "With" in their name on the Facebook event page. This all said, what does this new band's formation mean in terms of the status of March Into Regression? M.I.R. drummer Travis St. Amour (who, along with Josh Stephney, is not visibly in this new band) commented on the event page above that the two bands "have no affiliation", and he has been looking on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group this month for singers & guitarists to work with, so it sounds like the four members of W.B.B.C. broke off and started a more formal new band for some reason or another. That said, M.I.R.'s Facebook page hasn't been updated since July 9th, so I can't say for certain if they are completely gone, or what M.I.R.'s next steps are, but I'll keep you posted!

With Blood Builds Character do have promise judging by the Jeremy-sung songs that they did when I saw March Into Regression, and hopefully they can last locally and inject some creative heavy metal into some upcoming concerts! Stay tuned for updates on both With Blood Builds Character and March Into Regression as it all rolls in, as well as the Laird show next month!

Today's other new band to add to the SMS listings is the Sault Michigan metal project Denaturant! Currently, the band only has one member, that being former Hammerspace guitarist Justin Smith, but he's currently on the hunt for additional musicians to complete a full lineup that would "take a specific journey through music." Denaturant was actually launched last July, but Justin has only recently returned to actively updating the band's Facebook & Reverbnation pages towards a proper launch. Plans are for Denaturant to play all original music and to bring back "the raw energy and skill that it deserves", but more musicians are needed to further those goals, so message Justin at this location if you wanna try out! Aside from a video of a brief original sample from last fall, there's no previews yet of Denaturant's sound, but that video has promise, and I liked Justin's work with Hammerspace, so hopefully he can get this new band even further off the ground and bring some more active original metal to Sault Michigan! Check them out at the above links, and both Denaturant and With Blood Builds Character are now in our active band links on the SMS!

Next up, here's some news from local metal musician Tym Morrison! Though best known recently for his solo acoustic cover gigs and his sets with his band Caveman Morrison, long time fans are bound to remember his original music as well, which led to the release of his debut album "Solo Project" in the mid-2000s. Samples of 9 songs for a planned "next album" have been streamable on his official website for some time now, but in recent months, all we've heard from Tym in terms of solo material has been newer compositions, mostly of a softer or comedic nature. However, he's been posting a bunch of new solo original recordings onto his YouTube channel over the last couple of days, including new versions of the planned album tracks "Dungeons & Dragons" & "Lay It On The Line", new takes of his songs "Someday", "The After Life", and the 9/11 tribute song from his website, and two newly posted originals entitled "His Sacrifice" and "Termination of Exystance", so click each link to check them out! Apparently, Tym is working again on his second CD according to recent posts on his personal Facebook page, and if these new songs are any indication of what to expect, I think things are in good hands!

Under the premise that these will be on an album coming out, I'll hold detailed thoughts for a future review, but these songs do cover a wide range of topics and sounds, and if you like heavy metal, most of these will fill that void! I'll share "Dungeons & Dragons" below (featuring some very good singing on Tym's part), but check the above links for more, and stay tuned for updates on Tym's second CD and future original compositions!



And finally for today, here's the rest of the recent updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series posts to make them more current and accurate! On the Algoma University Battle profile, I added a trivia note on Creedon & The Animal Detectives drummer Terrence Gomes' future battle appearance as Changing Waves' bassist at the Battle For The Blood last month, while the Sault College/Scotties Tournament Battle's profile saw updates to reflect first place winners Blackwater's inactive status, third place act Sykotyk Rampage's current album count, and the current solo projects for Blackwater frontman Cody McMillan & Sykotyk Rampage bassist Brian Cattapan. Finally for this batch of updates, the Downtown Showdown profile now refers to third place winners The Tenagens' recent reemergence in the local scene and guest Bring The Fallen bassist Mike Kyle's almost-return to a battle when his current band Shit Liver were listed to play at the Battle For The Blood at one point. Things aren't completely up to date with these profiles though, as these were part of edits I made so long ago that there's stuff I missed (i.e. With Blood Builds Character's formation), so stay tuned in the near future for more updates and fact changes to this and our other monthly feature series at the SMS!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for previews of this weekend's Rotaryfest Second Stage TONIGHT! Thanks everyone!

Battle Of The Bands Rewind Mini-Series: Downtown Showdown

It's time to end the initial run of our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series, and one week off from the first Sault Ontario battle of the bands in almost two years, we're looking at the most recent one today! As we've done over the past six weeks, we're looking at the circumstances, bands, results, happenings, and aftermath of this local battle, and I apologize for the lack of photos of the placing bands (Bring The Fallen aside.) Though only 4 bands competed, a lot went down, so read on below for what you need to know, and check out previews of this weekend's metal/hard rock concerts and some cancellation notes in the post below this one! (Updated on January 28th, 2015)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Downtown Showdown (May 28th, 2010)

Background: On May 28th, 2010, the Sault Youth Association (in cooperation with the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre) held the Downtown Showdown battle of the bands at The Oddfellows Hall as a non-profit promotional event to help give bands and local youths a better understanding of entrepreneurship and self-employment in the local arts & entertainment sectors. Four bands were chosen to compete, and each performed three songs for the attendees, after which judges picked the top 3 bands to receive varying prizes. To compete in Downtown Showdown, each band had to have an average of age of 25 or less for it's members, in keeping with the Sault Youth Association's target demographic.

Prizes: The winning band would receive a cover story in The Sault Youth Association's free quarterly newspaper The Fresh Magazine and a photo shoot to go along with it, as well as recording time at a local studio. The second place act received a $100 Music Depot gift certificate and a professional photo shoot, while the third place band also received a photography session of their own. Each placing band also won various gift cards, including ones from Future Shop, although details on those prizes weren't elaborated on prior to the battle.

Competitors: Four young local bands from widely varying genres signed up to compete at Downtown Showdown, including death metal quintet Bring The Fallen, drum & bass/punk trio The Fury, experimental hard rockers SBD, and indie rock quintet The Tenagens.

Results: Bring The Fallen won their third battle of the bands in a 14 month span by claiming top spot at Downtown Showdown, with The Fury finishing in second place for a second straight battle. The Tenagens ended up in the third position, while SBD finished in fourth overall.

Aftermath: Bring The Fallen continued to sporadically play live concerts, including many of the early Roosevelt Hotel metal nights, until their disbandment in April 2011 following numerous breakup rumours, though they reunited for a one-off gig in July 2013. The Fury weren't far behind, going inactive in their own right by the summer of 2011, though they did briefly reunite in 2014. The Tenagens would be a frequent sight at many concerts through mid-2011, though aside from a brief mid-2012 return, they've largely been inactive. SBD would re-release their debut CD "Sonic Experiments" later that year and would play at scattered live dates through 2010, though activity drastically slowed in 2011, and they're now defunct.

Some Notable Performers' Newer Bands (Metal/hard rock in italics):
The Apocalypse Afterparty (Paul Stanghetta from The Fury)
The Bear Hunters (Josh Stephney* from Bring The Fallen)
Five Oceans (Patrick Dal Cin from The Tenagens; Based out of London)
Giwakwa (Josh Stephney* from Bring The Fallen)
Infinity Grinder (Brad Griffith from SBD)
No Arrow (Dann Pichette from SBD)
Paterson Hall (Josh White, Jesse Harding, and Patrick Bonne from The Tenagens; Based out of Ottawa)
RedD Monkey (Joe Bumbacco from The Fury)
Shit Liver (Mike Kyle from Bring The Fallen' lineup that night)
Sykotyk Rampage (Tony Briglio from The Fury)

Trivia:

• The judges for Downtown Showdown included then-Turner Up guitarist and long-time Rad Zone staple Len Ward, local artist & Economy Studs member Robbie Adamson, and Emma Piirtoniemi from the local Youth Advisory Committee. Len would later return to battle judging at the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands in April 2013.
• Keeping with the youth-friendly nature of this battle, organizers offered free admission for all ages, refreshment sales, and prize draws at Downtown Showdown, with unsold pizza being freely distributed to attendees after the winners were announced.
• Bring The Fallen won their third & final battle of the bands out of four tries at Downtown Showdown, dating back to their YMCA Battle win in their March 2009 live debut. Similarly to that battle, Bring The Fallen performed at Downtown Showdown without a band member, as bassist Nolan Rainville was out of town. Filling in for him was former OBCD bassist Mike Kyle, who would later become a prominent sight at local metal concerts for his work in the death metal trio Shit Liver.
• Results repeated themselves in the upper half of this battle, as just like at the Algoma University Battle in December 2010, Bring The Fallen & The Fury finished in first & second place each. In another ironic twist, both groups had different bassists the second time around, with Mike Kyle filling in for Nolan Rainville, and Tony Briglio playing for The Fury as a replacement for the departed Josh McNally.
• Bring The Fallen's interview in The Fresh Magazine would be part of their fall 2010 issue, where the interviewed band member(s) discussed their battle of the bands success, what they were looking for out of record labels, the local metal scene & it's future, their unreleased EP, and local concert venues, among other topics. Despite earlier implications, they weren't on the cover for that issue, but a photo from their shoot was included with the article, which you can read at this link. No word ever came out on if Bring The Fallen used the recording time they won at this battle.
• This would be the last battle of the bands to take place in Sault Ontario until the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands on April 20th, 2012, a break of almost two years after seeing at least 9 battle of the bands take place in Sault Ontario between 2007 & 2010. Only one performer from Downtown Showdown (Bring The Fallen frontman Josh Stephney) performed at this battle, as The Bear Hunters' then-rhythm guitarist, but they fell just a point short of a third place tie.
• Bring The Fallen's then-guest bassist Mike Kyle almost got a second crack at a local battle of the bands in June 2012, as he was originally lined up to play the Battle For The Blood with his current band Shit Liver at The Roosevelt Hotel that month. However, they quietly dropped out of the event for unknown reasons around the time of the battle's date change to June 19th.
• Two performers from this battle (Bring The Fallen's Josh Stephney & The Fury's Tony Briglio) returned to compete at The Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands' last 3 band-semifinal on April 17th, 2013, with Tony playing bass for Sykotyk Rampage, and Josh playing guitar for The Bear Hunters & fronting Giwakwa. The Bear Hunters won and made the finals (where they finished 5th overall), with second place Giwakwa and third place Sykotyk Rampage falling short of making the finals themselves.
• The Fury frontman Paul Stanghetta almost competed at Viva La Battle at The Canadian Nightclub on November 13th, 2013 with then-band Keep It Lit, but they dropped out on short notice due to a member breaking their arm, and quietly dissolved the following year without ever playing live. Though The Bear Hunters won the battle, the aforementioned Josh Stephney did not compete with them due to moving to Brampton a few months prior, but he did join them to take part in their first place prize: an opening slot for Bam Margera's Fuckface Unstoppable the following month.
• SBD bassist Brad Griffith returned to battles of the bands when he competed in March 2015's Speak Easy Battle with his recent alternative hard rock duo Infinity Grinder, but they did not place in that event.
• The Fury bassist Paul Stanghetta at last competed in another battle of the bands when his current band The Apocalypse Afterparty made the finals of the VM Radio Battle of the Bands at The Canadian Nightclub in March 2015, where they finished in fourth place, and covered old Fury originals in their set. The Bear Hunters finished in second in the same battle (and in third place at the Speak Easy battle as well), but Josh Stephney was out of town for both.

Videos:
Bring The Fallen playing their original "Stand Before"
SBD playing their instrumental "Ess"



Sources/More Info:
Downtown Showdown's Facebook event page
The Sault Youth Association's press release on Downtown Showdown
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And so ends our first run of this series! I'll continue to update the entries on these 7 local battles as things are discovered, corrected, or change, so I'll of course update you guys as I do that to ensure they're 100% accurate. Barring the obtainment of sufficient info to warrant an older battle addition (i.e. a Bon Soo battle, the other Case's Music battles, any in Sault Michigan, etc.), our next entry to this series won't be until April 2013, when we look back at next week's Sault Humane Society battle, but until then, go see it at The Grand Theater this coming Friday! I hope you guys enjoyed our looks back at these battles of the bands, and stay tuned for a new news post either tonight or early tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Battle Of The Bands Rewind Mini-Series: The Sault College/Scotties Tournament Of Hearts Battle Of The Bands

It's Friday, so it's time for our sixth of seven initial entries in our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series! We're nearing the end of this series' first run with one of two 2010 battles of the bands in Sault Ontario, and this one had a familiar lineup of local talent, with a notable sports event behind it all, so what went down? Who won? Where are the bands now? Find out below, and if you have any additions or corrections to improve this post, please let me know! (Updated on January 28th, 2016)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Sault College/Scotties Tournament of Hearts Battle of the Bands (February 3rd, 2010)

Background: Sault College, in cooperation with the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, joined forces to put on a battle of the bands on February 3rd, 2010 as part of the annual Canadian women's curling championship's festivities when Sault Ste. Marie hosted it that year. Auditions for the battle took place privately at Sault College's former bar The Outback on January 21st, 2010, after which four bands were selected to compete at the battle, which was held at The HeartStop Lounge inside The Soo Curlers Association's building on Anita Boulevard. Only bands with a Sault College student in their lineup were allowed to audition. At the battle itself, the competing bands received a half hour to play their material, after which prizes were awarded to the top 3 bands, though judging criteria wasn't explicitly posted online.

Prizes: The first place band walked away with $750 and the right to play an encore set that night, with $500 going to second place, and the third place band winning $150. Prize money was donated by the Scotties Tournament organizers, with the battle itself charging free admission.

Competitors: The four competing bands came from a wide array of genres, including folk rock standouts Blackwater, classic rockers Middle of Nowhere, indie punk quartet Nebraska Arms, and "blue Chinese metal crash punk" band Sykotyk Rampage. Notably, each of these bands (except Blackwater) had competed in the Kiss Battle of the Bands at The Canadian Nightclub two months before this event, where Nebraska Arms was the only band of the three to make the finals. Bands that auditioned for this battle were not publically revealed, adding to the audition's private nature.

Results: In the end, Blackwater pulled out the victory at this battle of the bands, with Nebraska Arms coming in a close second place. Sykotyk Rampage scored a solid third place finish, with Middle of Nowhere ending up in fourth place.

Aftermath: Blackwater continued to play numerous concerts and events in the Sault area through mid 2010, and though they're now inactive, frontman Cody McMillan still plays Blackwater material & sells their self-titled CD at his solo concerts, even holding a CD release party for it and his later solo releases in September 2012. Sykotyk Rampage remain a prolific and unique sight on the local scene, recording dozens of original new albums, and continuing to play scattered concerts in the area, while Nebraska Arms and Middle of Nowhere both quietly went inactive later on in 2010.

Some Notable Performers' Newer Bands (Metal/hard rock in italics):

Aggressive Acoustic (Brian Cattapan from Sykotyk Rampage; Based out of Sudbury)
The Business Suit Trappers (Guy Thiffault & Adam Sauve from Nebraska Arms)
Cody McMillan (Cody McMillan from Blackwater; Based out of Toronto)
Fusion (Lino D'Orazio from Middle of Nowhere)
The Mark Rand Band (Guy Thiffault & Dave Prendergast from Nebraska Arms)
The Moves (Cody McMillan & Dave Pihlaja from Blackwater)
Northwest (Wayne Watkins from Nebraska Arms)
The Small Town Rivals (Wayne Watkins from Nebraska Arms)
The Soft Shoe Shufflers (Cody McMillan & Dave Pihlaja from Blackwater)
The Strange Coyotes (James Watterworth from Blackwater)

Trivia:

• This battle of the bands was notable for it's high production values compared to other recent battles in the Sault area. This was especially evident by the presence of giant video screens on each side of the stage, which shown professionally filmed footage of each band's set as it happened. The bands received some of their footage from their sets after the fact, which Sykotyk Rampage edited to create some new music videos on their YouTube channel.
• Sykotyk Rampage put in the extra effort to drum up crowd support at this battle, including making many posters for fans to hold up in the crowd, and giving away free t-shirts in paper bags that lined the stage during their song "Bag On Your Face".
• With their second place finish, Nebraska Arms members Wayne Watkins & Adam Sauve ensured that they would either make the finals or win an award at a local battle of the bands in three consecutive years. They previously made the finals of the Skid Row Battle in March 2008 (as members of The Blockade), and the finals of the Kiss Battle with Nebraska Arms in December 2009, with the three battles taking place within a 2 year span.
• Sykotyk Rampage returned to another local battle of the bands, this time hosted by the Sault Humane Society, on April 20th, 2012 at The Grand Theater. However, they didn't compete at the event, serving instead as an opening band. Cody McMillan and Dave Pihlaja from Blackwater were scheduled to compete at the same battle with their newer blues rock band The Moves, but they quietly pulled out of the event due to external commitments.
• Sykotyk Rampage (now featuring ex-The Fury bassist Tony Briglio in place of Brian Cattapan) returned to competing at a battle of the bands at April 2013's Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands, though they did not see the same success, finishing in third out of three bands in their April 17th semifinal, and missing the next week's final round.
• Nebraska Arms bassist Wayne Watkins repeated his second place finish at Viva La Battle at The Canadian Nightclub on November 13th, 2013, when he scored another runner-up placement with his newer indie/punk quintet Northwest, albeit as their singer & guitarist.

Videos:
Sykotyk Rampage video from The Sault Metal Scene
Three Sykotyk Rampage videos from their YouTube channel



Sources/More Info:
The Facebook event page for the battle auditions
The Facebook event page for the battle itself
Pre-audition coverage from The Sault Star
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We're almost done this series' initial run, as next Friday's profile of the Downtown Showdown battle from May 2010 will close up the seven weeks of looks back at recent battles of the bands! Then, of course, the Sault Humane Society Battle rocks The Grand Theater on April 20th, so there's lots of band battling action to come, so stay tuned for all of that, and keep an eye out later today or early tomorrow for our Ypres Metal Fest preview and more news! Thanks everyone!

Battle Of The Bands Rewind Mini-Series: The Algoma University Battle Of The Bands

As promised, here's our fifth of seven entries in our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series, and we're entering the home stretch of this series' initial run! The final three profiles are all of four-band battles in a 6 month span from 2009-2010, but all had big moments and lots of talent, so don't let these slip by! Now, before we launch this one, I want to apologize for a lack of photos or videos from the battle itself, as I wasn't there for it and I haven't found much media verifiably from this battle itself, so I went with close facsimiles from late 2009/early 2010 to make it accurate to the period, if nothing else. If you have any corrections or additions (be they for facts, information, or media), e-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com! For now though, let's travel back to the end of 2009 for this latest battle in this series, and look at all the facts, fallout, results, and more from it! (Updated on January 24th, 2016)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Algoma University Battle of the Bands (December 1st, 2009)

Background: The Algoma University Student Union and The United Way of Sault Ste. Marie (in cooperation with local punk standouts The Inner City Surfers) joined forces to hold a battle of the bands at The Speak Easy at Algoma University on December 1st, 2009, with all proceeds from admission going to local United Way charities. Five bands were confirmed to play four songs each, after which judges would award prizes to the top three bands, though judging criteria was not announced prior to the event. Despite running concurrently with the second day of the Kiss Battle of the Bands, a good response resulted from this battle and it's small but talented lineup of competitors.

Prizes: The first place band would receive $300 cash, a $100 Joey Calzone’s gift card, a $25 Case’s Music gift card, 4 hours of studio time, and the right to open for The Inner City Surfers at their Christmas Bash at The Speak Easy on December 22nd. Second place received $200 and a $50 Boston Pizza gift card, while 3rd place would receive half of that: $100 and a $25 Boston Pizza gift card. The second place band would also get first dibs at replacing the winning act at the Inner City Surfers show if they couldn't make it.

Competitors: Though five bands were initially confirmed, only four competed, with punk-inspired music dominating the event. The participating bands included local death metal quintet Bring The Fallen, ska punk quartet Creedon & The Animal Detectives (previously better known as Good Morning Gorilla), local drum & bass/punk trio The Fury, and then-Toronto based hardcore punk/cello trio RedD Monkey.

Results: When all was said and done, Bring The Fallen claimed victory at this battle, marking their second straight 1st place finish in a local battle of the bands. The Fury finished second, while RedD Monkey took home third place, and Creedon & The Animal Detectives rounded out the band order.

Aftermath: Bring The Fallen quickly made it to The Canadian Nightclub following their performance at this battle, to perform a two song set at that night's Kiss Battle of the Bands, although the success wouldn't repeat itself, as they did not advance to that battle's finals. Undeterred, Bring The Fallen continued their local success levels with a number of high profile gigs, including a further battle of the bands victory at May 2010's Downtown Showdown event, before dissolving in April 2011 (though they held a one-off reunion in July 2013.) The Fury remained a popular sight at local concerts of varying genre types until they went inactive in mid-2011 (however, a 2014 reunion never got off the ground), while RedD Monkey released three studio albums and headlined many notable concerts locally and in Southern Ontario before they went on hiatus in 2014, though they did play a Toronto reunion gig and posthumously release their final album last year. Finally, Creedon & The Animal Detectives did not see the same success levels that they experienced as Good Morning Gorilla, and they quietly disbanded in 2010.

Some Notable Performers' Newer Bands (Metal/punk in italics, ex-members noted with an *):
The Apocalypse Afterparty (Paul Stanghetta from The Fury & Steve Mozarowski* from RedD Monkey)
The Bear Hunters (Josh Stephney from Bring The Fallen)
Changing Waves (Terrence Gomes from Creedon & The Animal Detectives)
Deter (Josh McNally from The Fury)
Infinity Grinder (Terrence Gomes from Creedon & The Animal Detectives)
Kaepora Gaebora (Dan Souliere from Bring The Fallen)
March Into Regression (Josh Stephney, Dan Souliere, and Travis St. Amour from Bring The Fallen)
The Moves (Josh McNally from The Fury)
The Northern Tragedy (Terrence Gomes from Creedon & The Animal Detectives)
Theriac (Joe Bumbacco from The Fury; Based out of Toronto)

Trivia:

• The planned fifth band to have taken part at this battle would have been local punk quartet The Scary Uncles, who notably finished in second place at the Skid Row Battle of the Bands at The Speak Easy the previous year. However, they had to pull out prior to the event due to scheduling conflicts, though they were later added as an additional opener for the Inner City Surfers concert on December 22nd anyway.
• This was Bring The Fallen's only local battle of the bands victory to feature their entire lineup for their performance. Then-drummer Joey Graham was absent for their YMCA battle set as The Undead Warriors that March, while bassist Nolan Rainville was absent from their Downtown Showdown appearance the following year.
• Despite winning this battle of the bands, Bring The Fallen would later drop out of the Inner City Surfers concert for unannounced reasons a couple of days before it happened. Though contest rules said that the second place band would open if the winners couldn't perform, no evidence online suggests that The Fury were able to play in Bring The Fallen's place. It's also not known if anything became of Bring The Fallen's recording time that they won at this event.
• This battle of the bands was severely overshadowed by the Kiss Battle of the Bands, whose second night took place on the same day as this battle. As a result, only 65 fans showed up to cheer on the participating bands, which was a 70% drop in attendance from the Skid Row battle at The Speak Easy the previous year. All was not lost though, as $576 was raised for charity at the event.
• Judges for this battle included former Algoma University Student Union president Vanessa Gastaldo and member Cristina Guzzo, along with an unidentified United Way representative. Gsis Murphy drummer Anthony Fabiano & Inner City Surfers frontman Dustin Jones were also slated to judge this battle, but they both had to pull out due to other commitments (Anthony was playing with Gsis Murphy at the Kiss battle that night, and Dustin was touring in Southern Ontario with his band Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide over that time period.)
• This marked the first of two four-band battles of the bands in Sault Ontario to feature Bring The Fallen winning first place and The Fury claiming second place. This same order happened again at the Downtown Showdown battle in May 2010, which ironically saw both bands employ different bassists than they had at the Algoma battle.
• Already linked by sharing former Smeltzer members, unique genres, and creative instrument arrangements, The Fury and RedD Monkey were further linked in mid-2010 after The Fury's Joe Bumbacco replaced Kevin Overton as RedD Monkey's drummer on a temporary (and later permanent) basis. Joe remained a member of both bands until The Fury went inactive in mid-2011.
• Planned judges Anthony Fabiano & Dustin Jones would both later be involved in battles of the bands in differing roles. Anthony competed in April 2013's Rock 'N Roar Battle of the Bands in Spanish with his hard rock band Griphook (though they did not place in that event), while Dustin would finally serve as a battle judge at the VM Radio Battle of the Bands in March 2015, as well as a sponsor with his label Tidal Records.
• Bring The Fallen frontman Josh Stephney would also compete at the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands on April 20th, 2012, and the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands in April 2013, both as guitarist in the local death metal band The Bear Hunters. They finished in 6th & 5th respectively at each, making the final round of the latter. Josh & B.T.F. bandmate Nolan Rainville also competed at the Rockstar Bar Battle in the newer death metal band Giwakwa, though they finished 2nd to The Bear Hunters in the third semifinal night, and missed the final round.
• Creedon & The Animal Detectives drummer Terrence Gomes also competed in the aforementioned Humane Society & Rockstar Bar battles as bassist for Changing Waves and as singer/drummer in The Northern Tragedy respectively. Changing Waves didn't place at the Humane Society Battle in April 2012, while The Northern Tragedy finished third in their Rockstar Bar Battle semifinal the following year, missing the finals.
• The Fury's Josh McNally was also once scheduled to compete with his most recent band The Moves in the Humane Society Battle of the Bands, but they pulled out of the event due to external commitments.
• Though Josh Stephney missed The Bear Hunters' Viva La Battle win at The Canadian Nightclub in November 2013 due to moving out of town, he came back home to take part in their first place prize, an opening set for Bam Margera's Fuckface Unstoppable at The Canadian the following month. The Fury frontman Paul Stanghetta was scheduled to play at this battle as well with his then-band Keep It Lit, but they dropped out due to a band member breaking their arm, and never ended up playing live afterward.
• After The Northern Tragedy went on hiatus, Terrence Gomes returned to The Speak Easy to play in March 2015's Speak Easy Battle of the Battle of the Bands with his recent alternative hard rock duo Infinity Grinder, though they did not place in that event. The Bear Hunters finished in third place in that same battle, though Josh Stephney was out of town and unable to attend.
• The Fury & RedD Monkey frontmen Paul Stanghetta & Steve Mozarowski (or, Z and X) made the finals of March 2015's VM Radio Battle of the Bands at The Canadian Nightclub in their rap/metal quartet The Apocalypse Afterparty (with Steve on drums), eventually finishing in fourth place, and playing some old Fury originals in the process. The Bear Hunters also finished in second place at this battle as well, losing by just two points, but again, Josh Stephney could not attend the event.

Videos:
None known (general videos of this battle's top 3 bands can be seen below)




Sources/More Info:
The official Facebook event page
Post-battle fallout from The United Way
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you guys liked this look back at one of many recent local battles of the bands! Sure, this one wasn't well attended, but it was out of their hands, and a lot of great music and charity fundraising was had! Next Friday, we'll profile the Sault College/Scotties Tournament of Hearts battle from February 2010, featuring a rematch of three bands from the Kiss battle. What went down at that battle? Find out next week, and stay tuned for my review of "Woods V" TOMORROW, along with more news to come! Thanks everyone!

Battle Of The Bands Rewind Mini-Series: The Kiss Battle Of The Bands

As expected, it's time for our fourth of seven profiles in our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series, and the series peaks in quantity (and arguably quality) with today's entry, as the biggest local battle of the bands in recent memory is getting the spotlight! Like the previous three weeks, this post will outline what happened, who won, and the whereabouts of the bands and performers at this battle of the bands, along with more facts, trivia, and notes relating to it and the events surrounding it. Read on below for this week's profile, and e-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if there's anything missing or incorrect! (Updated on February 23rd, 2016)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Kiss Battle of the Bands (November 30th-December 2nd, 2009)

Background: From November 30th to December 2nd, 2009, a huge battle of the bands was held at The Canadian Nightclub, where 20 bands gathered over three nights to compete for the chance to open for Kiss at their headlining show at The Essar Center on December 15th, 2009, though it was later postponed to August 10th, 2010 due to inclement weather. This huge opportunity was held in cooperation with local radio station Rock 101 and Kiss' touring company AEG Live. Of the 20 bands who signed up, 10 each performed on the first two days, with performance order determined in a secret random drawing before the event. Each band received a 10 minute timeslot to perform two original songs, with no covers allowed. A judging panel chose 5 bands each night to advance to the finals on December 2nd, with 75% of the voting based on their performance, talent, and entertainment level, and 25% based on audience reaction. The finals on December 2nd were formatted and judged on similar criteria (though the band order was announced for the finals), after which one band would be chosen as the winners.

Prizes: The winners would initially have been recommended to Kiss' management as the local openers for their concert on December 15th, though it was later confirmed that Kiss would approve the winner of the battle no matter what. The winning band would also win 10 tickets to Kiss' concert at The Essar Center, along with a guaranteed photo with Kiss. Though no other prizes were offered for the runner-up bands, the second place band was guaranteed the opportunity to open for Kiss in the event that the first place act couldn't perform at the concert.

Competitors: The first 10 bands on November 30th had a definite mix of styles, including blues rock quintet Blues Harvest, heavy metal bands Caveman Morrison & Garden of Bedlam, glam/punk quartet Dirty Virgin, progressive rockers Flat Stanley, veteran rock outfits Huckster & Stiffler's Mom, indie punk rockers Nebraska Arms, "the original crash band" Sykotyk Rampage, and new rock quartet Tiny Trebuchet. The remainder of the lineup, who performed on December 1st, was a bit heavier than the first night, though still with a good selection of genres. The remaining bands included country/punk notables The Billy Bastards, death metal quintet Bring The Fallen, veteran rock bands Gsis Murphy, Middle of Nowhere, and Wishbone, popular metal quintet Lion Ride, hard rock standouts Sense of Truth & Stillbroke, and Sault Michigan metal quartet Nixxon Dixxon.

Results: The first night of the battle saw Blues Harvest, Flat Stanley, Garden of Bedlam, Nebraska Arms, and Stiffler's Mom advance to the December 2nd finals. The following evening, Gsis Murphy, Lion Ride, Nixxon Dixxon, Sense of Truth, and Wishbone moved on to the finals to complete the 10 band final round. After the final judges results were tallied, it was revealed that Garden of Bedlam beat Lion Ride by a single point to win the battle of the bands and the right to open for Kiss in Sault Ontario. Placements for the other 8 finalist bands and the 10 bands who didn't advance were not publically revealed.

Aftermath (Finalists): Garden of Bedlam successfully opened for Kiss with a half hour set at the new date of August 10th, 2010, helping solidify their place in the local metal scene. Since the battle, Garden of Bedlam have headlined numerous major concerts (including the Rotaryfest Second Stage in 2010 & 2012), played scattered out of town dates, and released their first full length CD "Everything Will Die" in 2011. Lion Ride continued their local success through 2011 with numerous Ontario concert dates, and recorded material towards an unreleased album in 2010, but they would ultimately disband in February 2012. Stiffler's Mom continue to play numerous concerts in the area to this day (save for a 2011-2012 breakup), while Flat Stanley are currently working on new studio material with guest singers. Blues Harvest & Wishbone stayed prominent with various local concert dates and recording sessions towards new albums, though Wishbone broke up between briefly in 2012, and Blues Harvest have been inactive since 2013. Sense of Truth played scattered live dates through May 2010 and recorded material towards their unreleased debut EP, before falling inactive and eventually parting ways in 2011. Nixxon Dixxon played numerous high profile dates in 2010 in the Upper Peninsula, including opening for Pop Evil & Vince Neil at Kewadin Casino concerts, before disbanding that August. Gsis Murphy & Nebraska Arms continued to play occasional local concerts through mid-2010, when they both quietly parted ways.

Aftermath (Non-Finalists): The Billy Bastards continue to play scattered local concerts to devoted crowds, releasing three well received albums in the process, while Sykotyk Rampage, though only occasionally seen on stage with frequency, have recorded dozens of new and unique albums since this battle. Caveman Morrison played live often until falling inactive in 2014, while Stillbroke played two more shows in early 2010 before entering a long period of inactivity, returning in late 2011 with a new lineup & name (Borderline Divine) before disbanding for good in mid-2012 after just three concerts. Dirty Virgin have only been seen since at one off Canadian Nightclub gigs in the spring of 2011 & 2012, and Huckster continued playing off & on through the summer of 2011, seemingly going inactive later that year. Bring The Fallen rocked local concert venues often until their dissolution in the spring of 2011 (save for a one-off reunion in July 2013), and both Middle of Nowhere and Tiny Trebuchet continued to play occasional local dates through their descent into inactivity in mid-2010.

Some Notable Performers' Newer Bands (Finalists; Metal/hard rock bands in italics):

415E (Chris Hubbard from Nixxon Dixxon)
Bone Yard (Greg Simpson from Stiffler's Mom)
Changing Lanes (Erik Boissineau from Garden of Bedlam)
The Fairmounts (Mikey Hawdon from Lion Ride; based out of Toronto)
Griphook (Anthony Fabiano from Gsis Murphy) 
Lucky 13 (Jeremey Salatuk from Wishbone) 
Mourning Wood (Glen Thomas from Flat Stanley)
Northwest (Wayne Watkins from Nebraska Arms)
Skeyes of Seven (Cory Murchison & Ron Baxter from Sense of Truth)
That's Chester (Greg Simpson from Stiffler's Mom) 
The Wild Iris (Steve Myers from Sense of Truth & Jake Rendell from Blues Harvest)

Some Notable Performers' Newer Bands (Non-Finalists; Metal/hard rock bands in italics, ex-members indicated with an *):

Aggressive Acoustic (Brian Cattapan from Sykotyk Rampage; based out of Sudbury)
Al Wood & The Woodsmen (Cliff Alloy from Huckster)
The Bear Hunters (Josh Stephney from Bring The Fallen)
Debt To The Heirless (Dan Souliere from Bring The Fallen)
Destroilet (John Conway from The Billy Bastards)
Frightlight (Rick White & Jeff Richards* from Caveman Morrison) 
The Ghost Town Cryers (Kyle McKey from Stillbroke; based out of Pembroke)
The Hustle Brothers (Jay Case & Cliff Alloy from Huckster)
Redundant (Rick White from Caveman Morrison)
Sailor's Tongue (Kyle McKey from Stillbroke)

Trivia:

• At least three local bands who were reported to have signed up for this battle would later drop out of the event. Local producer Miguel Gauthier's pop rock project MBM was slated to be a part, but exited the lineup due to a failure to secure a full live lineup, and were replaced by Caveman Morrison. Celtic punk quartet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide reportedly signed up as well, though they had conflicting out of town tour commitments over that time period. Some sources also reported that drum & bass punk trio The Fury had signed up, and though they later confirmed they wouldn't be playing, they would finish second at the Algoma University Battle on December 1st.
• Rock 101 DJ Mark SanAngelo was the MC for this battle of the bands, and he was joined by morning host Brian Davie for the final round. Both likely did some judging for the event too, but details on who exactly was judging the battle weren't revealed. Crank Sound Distribution also handled sound for the entirety of the battle.
• Following their success at this battle of the bands, Garden of Bedlam celebrated their victory with a solo headlining concert at Madison's Pub (now The Harp Bar & Grill) on December 5th, and they were joined by fellow battle competitor Marco Pedalino (Lion Ride) as a guest guitarist for a couple of songs. Garden of Bedlam would use the battle experience as the topic of their original song "Three Days", which was performed at the Kiss concert the following August, and was later featured on their full length debut album "Everything Will Die" in December 2011.
• Though rules for this battle stated that bands had to play only original songs and no covers, a few bands did play covers of songs that members played in other projects. Notably, Caveman Morrison (who generally play only covers) did two songs from frontman Tym Morrison's solo album, and Stiffler's Mom covered two songs by their earlier metal band Sin Stereo in their opening round performance.
• Dirty Virgin, who capped off the performers on the first night of this battle, were notably disqualified for attempting to play a third song in their set, potentially costing them a slot in the battle finals. This remains the band's last concert during their active period (and only show with drummer Dickie Blackstock), though they did reunite for one-off gigs in the spring of 2011 & 2012.
• After the Kiss concert was initially announced in the summer of 2009, Lion Ride aggressively began an online campaign to be named local openers for the concert. When the battle of the bands was announced, Lion Ride pulled out all the stops, including bringing their stage banner and smoke machine for their energetic and high octane first round set, which helped encourage other finalist bands to bring band paraphernalia and merchandise to the final round. Despite falling a point short of victory, Lion Ride's appreciation of Kiss never faltered, and they frequently covered "Strutter" at later concerts.
• Before their set on the second day of the Kiss battle, Bring The Fallen competed in and won the Algoma University Battle of the Bands at The Speak Easy, where they won the opportunity to open for fellow battle competitor Mikey Hawdon (Lion Ride) and his punk band The Inner City Surfers later that month, though they later had to drop out of that show. Battle success wouldn't repeat itself that day, as Bring The Fallen were not voted through to the Kiss Battle finals, making this their only loss out of four battles of the bands that they competed in during their local run. The band capped their battle career with a win at Downtown Showdown at The Oddfellows Hall in May 2010, albeit with future Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle filling in for Nolan Rainville due to out of town commitments.
• Though he didn't win the right to open for Kiss at this battle, Lion Ride drummer Mike Indovina still made it the local Kiss concert while serving as tour manager for Toronto pop rock quartet The Envy, who were named as a late opening band for Kiss during that stretch of their tour.
• Some people noted that progressive rock band Wishbone played at this battle despite a threatened boycott that three unnamed local bands had levied on The Canadian Nightclub if Wishbone were to play at The Canadian in October 2009 as openers for Texas country metal trio Grady. This was due to inflammatory comments that then-drummer Glen Thomas had reportedly made against the three bands. However, Wishbone (and Glen's primary band at the time, Flat Stanley) competed at the Kiss battle without incident, and both bands successfully made the finals. No word on if any boycott ever happened as a result.
• Sault Michigan quartet Nixxon Dixxon made their only live concert appearances in Sault Ontario at this battle of the bands before their breakup the following year, and these remain the most recent cross-border appearances by a Sault Michigan metal band at a Sault Ontario concert.
• Three bands who competed at this battle (Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska Arms, and Sykotyk Rampage) would re-convene at The Soo Curlers Association's HeartStop Lounge the following February for the Sault College/Scotties Tournament of Hearts Battle of the Bands. Nebraska Arms (featuring two time battle finalists Wayne Watkins & Adam Sauve) finished in a strong second place, with Sykotyk Rampage in 3rd and Middle of Nowhere in fourth place. The winners of that battle were local folk rock outfit Blackwater.
• Though they didn't compete in any other local battles of the bands, Lion Ride competed in two similar events in Toronto the following year. The guys finished in third place in The The Great Canadian T-Shirt Battle at The Hideout in March 2010 (winning recording time and adult paraphernalia), while they advanced to the semifinals of the annual Indie Week competition that October at The Hard Luck Bar. The winners of the latter event were defunct Toronto dance rock quartet These Electric Lives, who enlisted Lion Ride's Mike Indovina as their new (and final) drummer in late 2011.
• A handful of performers from this battle were a part of the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands on April 20th, 2012 at The Grand Theater. Wishbone (then featuring Flat Stanley's Tony Kajnar & Glen Thomas, plus bassist Steven Flint) scored a close third place victory, with frontman Dennis Duguay winning "Best Vocalist", while Bring The Fallen frontman Josh Stephney's newer band The Bear Hunters fell a point short of a third place tie. Sykotyk Rampage also performed at the event, though out-of-competition prior to and directly after the competing bands.
• 7 performers at the Kiss Battle competed at the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands in April 2013, where Sense of Truth's Steve Myers & Blues Harvest's Jake Rendell took third place in the finals on April 24th with The Pesto Shirts (now The Wild Iris), while Bring The Fallen's Josh Stephney took fifth place as a guitarist with The Bear Hunters. Also, both Josh & B.T.F. bandmate Nolan Rainville (in the death metal band Giwakwa) competed against Sykotyk Rampage (now with Tony Briglio on bass) in the third semifinal on April 17th, though neither made the finals.
• After an almost 4 year absence from battles, The Canadian Nightclub hosted the fan-voted Viva La Battle on November 13th, 2013, where Nebraska Arms bassist Wayne Watkins saw greater battle success as the singer & guitarist of his newer indie/punk quintet Northwest, where they finished in second place. Though The Bear Hunters won this battle, Josh Stephney did not compete due to moving to Brampton a few months beforehand, though he did play with them at the Bam Margera concert the following month, which was the first place prize at the battle.
• A few performers at this battle have tried their hand at recent installments of the annual Rock N' Roar Battle of the Bands in Spanish, Ontario in April 2012 & 2013, though none made the top 5 to earn a spot at the annual Rock N' Roar festival. They include Gsis Murphy drummer Anthony Fabiano (with Griphook in 2013), performer Lucas Bugyra (with Havadder in 2014), and a reunited Wishbone in 2014 (though then with Jeff Gray on bass instead of Chris Smith.)

Videos:
Nixxon Dixxon's semifinal set
Stillbroke's first round set
(Due to the deletion of a previously featured Nixxon Dixxon video, a Garden of Bedlam video from a separate concert is also featured below)




Sources/More Information:
Coverage & photos from SooToday (November 30th)
Coverage & photos from SooToday (December 1st)
Coverage & photos from SooToday (Final Round) (second link here)
Sault Star article promoting the final round
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you guys liked this look back at this major local battle of the bands! Next Friday, we'll take a look at the battle this event ran concurrently with (on one day, at least), that being the Algoma University Battle at The Speak Easy from December 1st, 2009. It was a much smaller event, but no less valid, so what happened there? Find out next Friday as this series enters it's latter stretch, and stay tuned for a new news post later today! Thanks everyone!