As has become the recent trend, we're holding off on a new Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile this month to instead update our past installments of this monthly feature series where we profile bands that, though not from the Soo, have had at least one Saultite in their past or present lineups. With almost 4 years worth of profiles to go through, this should be a long update, so to help cut it down, I'll note that almost all of these profiles have had embedded videos made larger to fit our slightly larger post area. Most of our past profiled bands have had big changes in the past year, so what are fellow Saultites and their bands up to now? Find out below, along with other updates, additions, edits, and changes where need be!
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Phatstick: I mainly updated this profile to note that the St. Catherines hard rockers reunited in May of this year after a 10 month breakup, which saw them return to the stage in Brantford in October. To go along with that, they have a new rhythm guitarist, with Marco Bresette replacing Julian Tomarin for unannounced reasons. Fingers crossed that Jason & Joe bring them back home for a concert soon!
Will of the Ancients: In terms of the Toronto black metal band's lineup, I noted the departure of guitarist Dean Arnold (who hasn't visibly been replaced yet) earlier this year, while mainly adding notes to refer to the forthcoming release of their new album "To The Glorious Dead", which is available online for purchase, but won't see it's official physical release until February. Will of the Ancients remain busy with a number of Southern Ontario concerts, so keep an eye out for them in 2014! Lastly, I replaced the video featured there (of Will of the Ancients live in 2004 with the late David Gold on drums) as it's been pulled from YouTube for unknown reasons, so in it's place is this 2005 clip from around his era with the band, though I can't confirm if he's on drums. Really solid clip though!
Papa Fogals Chair: The only informational edit was to note that members Mike Bird & Derek Turner are now in the new local hard rock band
The Side FX, with everything else OK (aside from grammar corrections), as P.F.C. have not reunited in any form in the past year. However, I did change the video, as the live clip of "Trust" that we did feature was lost in the MySpace layout overhauls from earlier this year, and no other concert videos survive to my knowledge. In it's place, I've uploaded this audio version of their original song "Disgust" to our YouTube channel, so give it a listen!
The Sexual Vigilantes: No changes, aside from making their video larger. This project has been inactive for over 4 years, with members/Saultites Brenton Ellis & Curtis Faux still hard at work with their current band, Toronto hardcore punk notables
Maximum RNR, so follow them to see what Brent and Curt are up to nowadays!
Feral Noise: Again, no changes beyond a larger video. Feral Noise have not re-activated since their 2008 demise, and guitarist
Tym Morrison is still a frequent sight locally at both solo and
Caveman Morrison concerts, but a reunion would be interesting!
Sadomasochism: While the information was still fairly up to date (they've been defunct since 2004), the previously featured video of theirs (from their later run with
Half A Man drummer Mikey Bishop) was deleted when Mikey deleted his YouTube channel (again, for unknown reasons), which is really disappointing given the solid amount of videos he had there from his bands! We're not out in the cold though, as I replaced it with this video of an older Sadomasochism lineup playing their song "Worship The Dark", and you can also give it a look below for some very brutal death metal!
Levitate: The only edits were to note that frontman Cory Murchison's current local band
Skeyes of Seven have played live twice now and are currently working on studio material. Other than that, everything's as accurate as I can get, as Levitate have been inactive for at least 8 years as of this writing.
Necramyth: I added a note to reference frontman Pedro "Urlok" Chae's current role as the frontman of the Spanish metal band
Embloodyment, but that's all, as Necramyth have not reactivated since their 2009 demise.
Human Disorder: The only edit of note was to remove references to members Jason Taillefer & Joe LaVergne's current band
Phatstick's demise, as they reunited earlier this year. Everything else is fine, as Human Disorder haven't played live or reunited in over
13 years.
Summon: Aside from confirming that they are indeed defunct, I again replaced a video, as like with drummer Mikey Bishop's Sadomasochism videos, his Summon videos were deleted when his channel was. I wish Mikey had left his channel up, the videos were really cool! Regardless, there are still Summon videos online, and now featured on the Lansing black metal band's profile is their music video for their song "Sacred Nothing", so check it out below and there!
The Disciples of Rock: Updates were limited to updating bassist James White's recent local music work, as he's since rejoined
Caveman Morrison, while I also added references to his recent work with
The Northern Mudsliders and as a guest with
Frightlight, plus his sound/production company
White Wreckords. The rest was good, as this band has not reunited in the past year.
Violet Fuse: I updated the profile to reflect drummer/former Saultite Thom Edwards' current role as the drummer in the London pirate rock outfit
The Gypsy Ghosts, while also noting that Violet Fuse may now be inactive, as they've made no public updates since December of last year. Hopefully they're not dead, as they're a solid melodic hard rock outfit! As well, the previous video we embedded there (a 2009 live clip of their song "RNFNR") has been privatized for unknown reasons, so I've replaced it with this newer 2011 video of Violet Fuse playing their song "Be Confident", so check it out below and on the profile!
Jar.: Updates mostly related to the release of their self-titled new CD (featuring some re-recordings of old material) in April of this year and where you can buy it, and it's a solid comeback to be sure, so give it a listen via the links at the profile! Other notes remain as accurate as I can source.
Thrawsunblat: I made notes to acknowledge the release of their new album "Thrawsunblat II: Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings" (their first after David Gold's passing) plus their recent digital EPs that rework older songs into new genres, while adding some thoughts on their current lineup, which is very familiar to
Woods of Ypres' last incarnation. Though still a studio-only project, Thrawsunblat are riding high, so stay tuned for updates!
Hellhitch: Aside from the larger video, no changes. Hellhitch have been broken up since 2006, and I've heard nothing new to add to the already minimal information that we have on their profile.
Kilacel: The biggest edit was to note former guitarist (and Elipzis alum) Chris Webster's current role in the Muskegon, Michigan cover rock band Live Radio. The rest is fine, as Kilacel have not reunited in the past year, though members Luke Ponce & Matt Millering remain active in the similar hard rock band
Coldville, who have had their own successes in recent months, so follow Kilacel's essential successors to keep in the loop!
Fifth Way: Updates thankfully didn't include bassist changes this year, but I did note that guitarist/LSSU grad Zak Stelmaszek now lives in Milwaukee, and has since traded cover band projects, leaving Detroit's
Cruizin' Jupiter prior to his move and now playing as well in Milwaukee's
Superfly. He's still in Fifth Way though (as we saw earlier this year at Kewadin Casino), and I updated references to cover their most recent local concerts there as well.
Mark Rand: I mainly added some extra references to Mark's current Peterborough band project
Cross Dog, which has a similar genre to his now inactive solo work, and you saw how entertaining they were at the local Dayglo Abortions show in September! I also added a reference to his recent role in the Peterborough rock band
The Lumbermen when noting his extensive band repertoire.
L'anguisette: My only major updates were to note that L'anguisette have fallen inactive for our purposes, having issued no public updates since January 2012, shortly after drummer David Gold's passing. I hope this isn't the band's end, as they were a unique and melodic project that would be nice to see continued!
S.C.A.R.: Along with some updates to reflect recent activity and
a new free "album" posting in June, I also replaced the featured video, as the original video from MySpace died when MySpace overhauled their layout, but a live video from a March 2011 concert in Windsor was posted onto their Facebook page a few years ago that can now be embedded there! Featuring Eminem & Cars covers (plus their original "Green Peace"), it's the best live video I've seen of S.C.A.R., so give it a look below for some varied jam rock!
The Northern Ontario Black Metal Preservation Society: No changes, besides making their video larger. The project has been defunct since David "Veillko" Gold died in 2011, and I've heard nothing since relating to a new band project from surviving member Aaron "Platinus" Palmer, but hopefully he's still working on music in some form!
Maximum RNR: The updates here mostly related to the release of their new album "Rough Side of the Dial" in June 2013, which is their first full length non-compilation with Saultite members Diamond Brent Panther & Curtis Faux, which you can buy at
this link and at concerts! I also de-emphasized the lack (at the time) for videos of their current lineup, as a quick YouTube search will find numerous videos from 2011-2013 shows of theirs, including at their most recent local date!
Buster Cherry: To make the profile less "wordy" and more focused on members of this band, I removed some arbitrary notes on members Terry Eaton & Vinnie Milosevich's past local bandmates, while also noting that Terry has played in local country cover bands
Asylum Country and
Two Buck Beers since moving back to Sault Ontario in 2011. The rest is good, as this project is long since defunct.
The Heatseeking Moisture Missles: I noted a lineup change, as the band welcomed back original bassist Nolan Silvaggi in June to replace the departed Kyle Paulton, who moved out west. Other edits were just to freshen up references, as nothing else major has occurred with them since our last updates of their profile, and no online updates have been made since the bassist switch announcement.
Gravity Crash: I only freshened up references to former guitarist Paul Melanson's band work, including adding credits to his more recent work as the latest bassist of
Caste of Shadows and as the current bassist of Metallica tribute band
Damage Inc., both bands of which also from Lethbridge, Alberta. The rest was fine, as Gravity Crash are defunct and I have not found more extant online pages of theirs.
Jeff Nisbet: No changes, beyond making the video larger. Jeff's solo project has not visibly been updated since August 2011, but he's a really talented guitarist with clear local ties, so fingers crossed he's still working on music!
NeanderTHRALL: In terms of their lineup, I noted the addition of singer/guitarist Kris Kerr (replacing Chris Wilkins), the departure of the aforementioned Kyle Paulton and his replacement on bass by existing drummer (and Saultite) Ash Richtig, with Ash's Line Drawn bandmate Mike "Mihilo John" Kryworuchko taking over on drums in their current lineup. I also replaced the first photo (as the lineup was very outdated), and noted the band's return to activity in 2013, including new songwriting sessions and a new sound to be inspired by Isis, though parts will still need to be freshened up when their current lineup begins playing live.
Infathom: Lineup-wise, I noted that second guitarist Josh Stadler is no longer an active band member, having moved to Arizona a couple of years ago, with the band not visibly replacing him. I also replaced a band photo to reflect their current quartet lineup, and added notes to reflect their 2012-2013 resurgence and pair of regional concert dates this year (such as last weekend's Nick Cam Jam), along with ackolwedging the recent high amount of live videos on
Michael Cole's YouTube channel. Solid as usual!
Paricide: For the write-up, I edited references to members Shane Lipsit-Fraser & Adam Veen's recent metal project
Sue Inside (who originated locally in 2007), while noting that their newest collaborative project was the London acoustic project
Dalliers. Beyond that, I replaced the embedded video, though not as it was pulled, but because I found actual video footage of theirs, courtesy of
Adam's YouTube channel from 2007! A promotional video, it combines photos, synched up live video, and one of their studio tracks, and it's pretty well done for the age of everything, so check it out below and at their profile!
The Lust Boys: Lots of lineup notes to get through, so in a nutshell, both singer Jayme Black and guitarist Brian Comeau left The Lust Boys early last year, with bassist Colin "Tommy Thrust" Stuart replacing both, and Derek Dufresne replacing him on bass. Also, via
this RateYourMusic page, I was able to add and clarify the names of some past members, including ex-guitarists Dallas Dagger, Johnny Blade, Cody Vandal, and Shaun "A.C. Desylva" Thackeray, bassist Rex Razor, drummer Nikki Neon, and a member named "Coldhands". I also replaced their inactive blog with
their official website in the links, and noted their lineup changes and recent activity, including the 2012 release of a full length album. Videos of their current quartet lineup aren't in high supply yet, but I did also add notes to compare Tommy and Jayme's vocals as well, and hopefully we get much more new media from them soon!
Repetitons: No changes, except for the larger video. Repetitions have not reunited in the past year, and the only new updates relate to members Jay Buston and the Soo's own Ash Richtig's current band The Line Drawn, who are similar musically, so follow them to follow with Repetitions' successors!
Mothership: Updates mostly referred to their return after a year's breakup in October of this year (with the same lineup, no less), and they will return to the stage next month. To go along with it, they're even working on a documentary about their work as a Led Zeppelin tribute band, and you can see a preview of it at
this link! More edits will be likely once Mothership actually begins playing regularly again though.
Constructed Apocalypse: Aside from deleting their now closed Facebook page, my only edit was to note that former frontman/Saultite Jeremy Hannah is now based out of Ottawa (where he's recently relaunched his acoustic/indie project
Like Father Like Son.) The rest was good, as Constructed Apocalypse have not reunited in the past year.
Winter of Silence: I removed their now deleted Facebook page and replaced a dead photo, but as they've not reactivated in the past year, I didn't make any major edits to the information there. However, project mastermind Ryan DeWinter did post an unreleased W.O.S. song "Nar ... Vi Grat Ved Elvebredden" (Norwegian for "When... We Cried By The Riverside" roughly) onto
his YouTube channel last year, so I posted that on our profile to replace the now deleted song of theirs that we did feature. Check out this posthumous black metal original below!
Azriahl: Updates mostly related to the release of
their debut album last December and activity through the spring, but I've heard very little since on their status (though not enough yet to cite them as inactive.) I will note that members Paul Tikkanen (a Saultite) and Robbie Rogers recently formed the new progressive rock band
Goblin Market out of Peterborough, but I can't confirm yet whether they left Azriahl and will be replaced, or if that band is defunct, so I didn't remove them from the most recent lineup there. Finally, I replaced the video there to add this live video from their first concert featuring 3 solid original songs, so give it a look there and below!
RedStone Riot: For their lineup, the band replaced departed guitarist Brock Warber with Ryan Fluharty earlier this year, so that's now noted on the Muskegon, Michigan hard rock band's profile. Other updates related to recent concert activity and so on, but while things been quieter from their camp in recent months (partly due to frontwoman Rachel Kiger dealing with some medical concerns), I left that off the profile to keep it related to their music work. Stay tuned for more in 2014!
Under Earth: Aside from enlargening their video, no changes. This project hasn't been activated in the past year, but project leader Ash Richtig is more than busy nowadays with
The Heatseeking Moisture Missiles,
NeanderTHRALL, and
The Line Drawn, so follow his current bands to see what he's up to now!
The Georgian Skull: Like above, no changes except for the larger video. The Georgian Skull remain inactive, and members Alex Petrovich & Adam Saitti are still plugging away in their current similar band
Gypsy Chief Goliath, so follow them for the next best thing!
Beyond Haven: Updates here were mainly just to freshen up the band's current activity, including the release of their second album
"Don't Back Down" earlier this year, and assorted other recent shows and events. The only other change was a restored photo, but hopefully Beyond Haven continue on their upward path!
Genocya: For their lineup, I noted the amicable departure of drummer Tim "Speedbag" Sever in May, with Erik "Hamms Of Doom" Stroude replacing him shortly after. Everything else is up to date though regarding their current status and plans, and hopefully 2014's a big year for them!
The Dyadics: No changes, beyond noting their increased album availability
on iTunes. The London hard rock duo continue work on their music and prominence, and they have the skill to get them there, so keep tabs on them to follow along!
Bury Your Demons: On their lineup, I note singer Jimmy Shaddix's departure (he was replaced by Ryan Blanchard), along with the addition of John Philip on guitar in February 2012, which we missed originally when we profiled this band in January. That said, the Illinois death metal band has offered no public updates since plugging an Chicago concert in April, and they may now be inactive, but hopefully they're alive still, as they're a brutal act with bassist Scott Mills providing a local tie!
The Line Drawn: Edits here were mostly to freshen up their status, including original material releases, a set opening for Juno winning metal band KEN Mode, and to amend references to their posted videos, as they have more than there was when we originally profiled them.
Brynhildr: Aside from a photo replacement due to a dead link, no real changes. This project was still alive as of June, but have had no major updates since, but hopefully Ryan keeps this project going, as he's a talented black metal musician!
Flint: The only edits were to note former bassist Jamie Vincent's newest local band project, as the frontman of the grunge duo
Bad Back. Everything else is up to date given what we covered at the time, but they have big plans!
Lead The Dead: No changes, except for making their video larger. Lead The Dead have not reunited in the past year, but hopefully their members stay active in music!
Caste of Shadows: For the lineup, I noted the departure of bassist/Sault native Paul Melanson just earlier this month after a 7 month run with this Lethbridge, Alberta hard rock band, though you can still catch him live with Damage Inc.. He has yet to be replaced publically, but there should be more to update for this profile soon, including for more upcoming concerts!
D3athcharg3r: I updated references to members/Saultites Steve Rhodes & Andrew Angelic's other band work to note their current side band
Saints & Serpents (essentially the successors of
The Valentine's Day Massacre.) Aside from a replaced photo, the other major updates reflect the presence of videos of their current lineup, with one now embedded there in place of the music video of an earlier incarnation, so check out D3athcharg3r playing their newer song "Slow Decay" in London below and at the profile!
Cross Dog: All that needed updating is freshened references to their live run, especially as their local debut opening for The Dayglo Abortions in September has came and went. They've since opened for the likes of The Misfits & Fuck The Facts in Southern Ontario, among other gigs and songwriting plans, so keep an eye out for their next high profile work!
Damage Inc.: The only edit was to reflect bassist Paul Melanson's departure from his most recent live band
Caste of Shadows. Metallica fans out west will want to keep tabs on Damage Inc. for sure going into 2014!
Life In Shadow: No changes. Life In Shadow have not suddenly reunited in the past month, and even if they had, there hasn't been a wide range for new updates to pop up, but I hope their members stay musically active!
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I hope that covers all essential additions, corrections, changes, edits, and updates on our past profiles in this series! As we spend most of our time covering bands based in the area, the acts in this series don't get the same attention, but hopefully this addresses things I should have got to well before today. Next month in this series, we'll return to normal band profiles, as we'll be looking at Peterborough southern hard rock band
The Lumbermen, whose lineup once featured veteran local metal/punk musician Mark Rand! Watch out for that on or around Boxing Day as usual, and stay tuned for news and concert previews at the SMS shortly! Thanks everyone!
Blind Baby 
Info/Analysis: Originally
named Stone Circle, Blind Baby were a short lived hard rock band that was active in the Eastern U.P. circa late 2009-mid 2010. Frequently seen at local bars on weekends (including The Rapids Lounge & The Bird, among others), Blind Baby played a mix of covers & varying originals during their run, but they quietly dissolved circa July 2010. Their members (sans Tadd Gravelle & Bill Ogston) formed the similar new band River Witch the following month, and took on existing Blind Baby bookings in the process, before they evolved into Power Slug (with only Chris Leask remaining) in late 2011. Though surviving online information on Blind Baby is minimal, they have 8 original songs on their Reverbnation page that I recently posted on our YouTube channel, and they show a diverse gritty sound that has a lot of softer & mellower moments! Tadd's vocals remind me of Erik Rintamaki's, and they're an interesting contrast on ballads like "Someday", but there's a lot of visible talent, and on heavier tracks like "2 Blind 2 C", they show a solid groove that hopefully carried over to their successor bands! I've embedded one of my favourites "In Spite Of You" below, but stream more at the above links!
Info/Analysis: Squirrelboy & The Smiling Giraffes was a rather unique solo project maintained by local solo musician Chase Wigmore from 2007-2009, operating under a creative alias & theme, which included describing themselves as "the infectious & pointless waste of human flesh" and comparing their sound to "Yoko Ono, if she was a squirrel". Their 6 MySpace songs (which are also now on our YouTube channel) include frequent use of effects, samples, sped-up "squirrel" vocals, extreme metal screaming, and solid guitar work, to create a sound that's honestly hard to describe in text. There's a lot of originality & humourous moments, but I have a feeling The Smiling Giraffes won't be everyone's cup of tea, so it depends on if you like the included elements. Myself, I appreciate what Chase did, but some songs are better than others ("Pretty Baby" stands out, for example.) Hopefully he keeps up his talents in his current solo work (which does feature & acknowledge some Squirrelboy material), and here's one of their more popular songs "Mr. Chik'n"!
Local concert promoter Jamie Vincent's next hyped concert is now official, as Edmonton grunge/punk quartet Catgut will indeed make their local debut on Monday, August 12th! Featuring Jamie's former Flint bandmate Jesse Silkie on drums, Catgut have a unique and noisy blend of styles that calls to mind grunge and alt-rock from the late 1980s and early 1990s, and there's some solid heavier songs within, so check them out and see what you think! Two local bands will open for them, including local grunge duo Bad Back (more on them in a bit) and Small Town Rivals frontman Wayne Watkins (ex-Nebraska Arms, Renderware, etc.) in a solo acoustic punk set, and each should compliment Catgut's softer and faster songs well! My hunch on the location was correct, as the host venue will be The New American Pub House at 602 Bay Street (beside the Tim Hortons near the "Algoma's Friendliest City" sign), in the first heavier concert I've heard of here since starting the SMS! I have no clue on how it'll handle for a non-cover band, but fingers crossed it fits and will get further use for original acts!
Finally for today, here's some new updates to our past Battle of the Bands Rewind profiles to make them more updated and current! First, I changed many MySpace links (due to their content deletions from their "upgrades") and made videos embedded on each larger (as the post area on the site is now bigger) on each profile. On our Skid Row Battle profile, I replaced the still-undebuted Crawfather with Scary Uncles frontman Justin Langlois' newest band The Thrill Junkies in the section on battle alumni's later bands. In both our 2008 Case's Music & Algoma University Battle profiles, I updated info referencing Fountain of Betrayal/Bring The Fallen drummer Travis St. Amour's run with the latter band, as he wasn't B.T.F.'s drummer at the time of their YMCA Battle win in March 2009. It was actually Joey Graham (who missed the event with a sprained wrist), and I also noted that in that battle's profile, along with replacing the defunct Faithless Sin with Operation: Killdozer bassist Justin Lam's newest band Jack Spades in the newer bands section. Finally for now, on all profiles on battles that Bring The Fallen was in, I noted their upcoming reunion set at The Oddfellows Hall on July 26th!
Finally for today, here's some assorted updates to some of our Defunct Local Band Profiles! I updated our AtrophiA profile to note ex-bassist Ryan Gray's more prominent band Free Beer's name change to Sarah's Valley, while I restored photos on both their profile as well as the profiles on M7K & The White Knights in this series. I edited the State of Misery profile to add references to the second version of With Blood Build Character (who have featured 3 S.O.M. alumni in their lineups), along with restoring a photo, and replacing Social Suicide with The Unforgiven for lead guitarist Ray Cowan's notable other bands. Also, I updated our Detroit profile to freshen up band members' other projects (including adding drummer Mikey Hawdon's current punk band The Fairmounts and bassist Mark Rand's current projects Cross Dog & Kidshit.) Finally, I updated our Mugwort profile to restore a photo and add references to singer Bob Helsten's current work in Toast and to note the project's similarity to his older bands that he fronted. Check the above links for the updates, and stay tuned for more!
After a seven week hiatus from the stage, local metal/hard rock cover trio Caveman Morrison will return to the stage TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT at The Roosevelt Hotel! I apologize for the short notice, but these shows were only announced on Tuesday, and I didn't want to redundantly cover the same details twice in a few days. This will be the first full concert weekend from Caveman Morrison's full current lineup since February (as their show last month was a one-nighter with guest drummer T.J. Case), and while we have seen frontman Tym Morrison often in the interim at solo shows, it'll be great to see the full band back together to rock The Rosie with their widely varied covers again! Admission should be free for TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT, you must be 19 to attend, and both nights have 10:00 PM start times. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! These should be some fun concerts, so don't miss Tym, James, and Johnny playing some great metal & hard rock classics again this weekend! For a preview, here's Caveman Morrison covering Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Pride & Joy" in 2011!
Finally for today, here's some more updates to our past profiles in our Battle of the Bands Rewind series! In our profile of the Algoma University Battle from December 2009, I added trivia on competitors Josh Stephney & Nolan Rainville (Bring The Fallen) & Terrence Gomes (Creedon & The Animal Detectives) in the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands last month with The Bear Hunters, Giwakwa, and The Northern Tragedy. Then, I updated our profile on the Sault College Battle from February 2010, to note third place band Sykotyk Rampage's own appearance at the Rockstar Bar Battle, and to add ex-bassist Brian Cattapan's new Sudbury band Zero Hour (plus Nebraska Arms' Guy Thiffault's new band Crawfather) to the section on competitors' later bands. Finally, I updated our Downtown Showdown profile to note the likely inactive status of 3rd place band The Tenagens, and to add Ottawa indie band Paterson Hall (featuring 3/5ths of The Tenagens) to the section on competitors' later bands. Plus, I added notes on the Rockstar Bar Battle appearances from Len Ward (who judged at both), B.T.F. frontman Josh Stephney, and The Fury bassist Tony Briglio (now of Sykotyk Rampage.)
Thirdly today, while I was at The Rockstar Bar
on Thursday for the Garden of Bedlam/Skeyes of Seven concert, I spotted
more metal/hard rock items decorating the walls & ceiling of The
Algonquin Hotel's upstairs bar/venue, so while I had some free time, I snapped photos to share with you guys! Joining
previously featured autographed items from Turner Up, Lion Ride, That's
Chester, Garden of Bedlam, Sneaky Pete, and Half Past (now removed),
plus stickers and a Kiss Battle poster, The Rockstar Bar has since added
a guitar signed by Helix from their last local show here, a speaker signed by Kiss tribute band Destroyer, Late & Loud bassist Benn Garside's smashed bass from the Battle of the Bands Finals last week (signed by the whole band, no less), and a Rad Zone-branded record, so click each link to check them out! I also included a Lucky 13 sticker and this smashed bass on the ceiling (does anyone know what show/band this came from?) There's much more than this, but it's great to see The Rockstar Bar honouring and displaying local band items and touring acts, so click here to see more of my photos, and go see everything at The Rockstar Bar next time you're there!
Next up, there's a big lineup change for the Apocalypse: The Musical tribute band concert on March 1st at The Canadian Nightclub, as planned openers Pillory have dropped out. The local thrash band, who were slated to play a Metallica cover set at what would have been their second concert, pulled out to focus on recording sessions for their planned debut EP "Cringe At The Cross", as per a post by bassist Jonathan Tiberi on the Facebook event page. For potential attendees, this has to be disappointing given their promise from their first gig last year, but hopefully this EP lives up to the early hype and sees a release! That said, the replacement band will be very familiar, as one of Jon's other bands is returning to replace Pillory, that being local classic metal quartet Late & Loud! Slated to be their first show since their EP release gig at The Rockstar Bar in November (and just their third since winning the Humane Society Battle of the Bands in April), they'll be playing a set of Motley Crue covers on March 1st, which should be quite interesting!
It's great to see Late & Loud back together, and hopefully this won't just be a one-off return from their recent sporadic activity! (No word yet on if they'll have EPs on sale on the 1st.) While we're on the subject of this concert, here's a few more notes relating to Jon Tiberi's music projects. First, from what I can tell, his band Xanadu (who are headlining on the 1st) are indeed a reunion of his old metal band from his hometown of Welland, not a new local version, and to that end, guitarist Mike Agostino & drummer Scott Brady from their old lineup are listed as attendees on Facebook. Friends of Jon's should be a bit familiar with Xanadu from personal Facebook photo & video postings, and hopefully they rock the Soo with their Black Sabbath covers for their return in just under 2 weeks! Finally, Jon's solo metal project The Soviet Space Program posted a new song named "Want You Back" onto their Reverbnation page within the past week, and how does it sound? Good, but it does sorta feel unfinished, and the chorus doesn't have the punch I'd expect given it's structure. Check it out though at the above links, and stay tuned for more from Jon's various projects!
Remember that 2008-2009 CASS Cafe band The Diego Experience that we mentioned in our first CASS Cafe metal video showcase? Well, they're still alive & active under a new name, and they have a Facebook group to go along with it! Apparently, they changed their name to Durera at some point between the fall of 2010 and last summer (unsure of an exact date), and though I don't know what prompted the name change, Durera does mean "shall last" in French, so that could be it's origin. Their lineup still includes the members from half of their YouTube videos (though with less visible instrument switching), including Mike "Diego" Brown & Keegan Gjos on vocals, A.J. Biron (Vendetta) & Brent Hurley on guitar, Column Ruins bassist Ben Eppert, and Brent's brother Ty on drums. They've lessened their ties to simply CASS Cafe events since 2010, and are apparently working on original material, but updates to their page are very scattered. With members divided between Sault Ontario, Echo Bay, and Desbarats for residence, they definitely fall within our coverage range, and luckily, they cover enough hard rock material to warrant SMS coverage based on their YouTube videos, so we've added them to our active band links!
Next up, here's our other new band addition, that being the defunct local "noise rock" trio BeeFMouTH! We've previously had them in our band links in the past, but after ruling that their YouTube channel didn't count as a band page, we hadn't featured them in recent months. That changes now though, as I just recently came across two posthumous band pages for them that were launched in December, including a Facebook page and a Tumblr page! The latter mostly links live concert videos from their 1997-2001 run, but there's some more interesting stuff on their Facebook page! It indicates that the members had the stage names "Bwaad", "MoDez", and "Neunen", but I'm unsure of their full identities (I believe 2 members were Kevin Campbell & Boyd Rendell though), and a bunch of photos give us some glimpses into their active local tenure, including stickers, the "BeeFMouTH head", and some cool retro concert posters, so click here to see them all! Nice to see the posters especially, from shows at venues at Koolies N' Cues and the Club Princess, with old local punk bands like Downshift and Bankshot, and I'm very curious about the Thessalon hardcore band Foul Play that are on most of the posters. I wonder how they sounded?
Also today, here's the latest news on the upcoming David Gold/Woods of Ypres tribute album! Among the most recent updates on "A Heart of Gold: A Tribute To Woods of Ypres" (whose recordings are still in progress) are another updated song listing for the album, which you can check out at this link, though it's missing some later or space-constrained additions. So far, the album now includes 20 tracks, including eight of the bands from the David Gold memorial concerts from the spring, including local death metal quintet The Bear Hunters for their cover of the second half of "Kiss My Ashes Goodbye", which is awesome to hear! I just hope they work on some improvements from their live version of it if this does make the final cut. I won't get to in depth yet about the track listing, as it's changed a lot since initial plans began, but one change I will note is that Gypsy Chief Goliath are now doing "Suicide Cargoload" in place of Rob Cranny following his sudden passing earlier in the year. The album will also apparently feature paragraphs from the contributing bands with rememberances of David Gold and Woods of Ypres, and ideas for an album cover are being bandied about, with this one by British artist Steve Cowan getting a lot of positive responses, though a final choice hasn't been made yet.
And finally, here's two more updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series entries, but first, remember that both of these were in have already been updated to reflect Bring The Misery's renaming to March Into Regression and recent lineups in the section for current bands from battle alumni, as Bring The Fallen played at both. For our YMCA Battle of the Bands profile, I've added references to 4th place band Operation: Killdozer's ties with their successors Winkstinger, including how Jesse & Jonas' current band saw later battle success at last month's Battle For The Blood, and how they reworked the Operation: Killdozer song "Pieces of You" into what's now "Where'd We Go Wrong". For our Kiss Battle of the Bands Profile, I've replaced Trail's End, The Southern Fried Band, The Business Suit Trappers, Asylum Country, Havadder, and The Wild Turkeys with newer bands in the section for battle alumni's current projects, with their replacements being The London Gentlemen, Skeyes of Seven, Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide, Sailor's Tongue, Barrie rock band Angels of Fire, and March Into Regression. I also briefly noted for the competitors' current statuses that winners Garden of Bedlam are playing at this year's Rotaryfest, and noted Sykotyk Rampage's updated album count and Huckster's likely inactivity. There's more updates to come, so keep an eye out!
