Definitely give this and other episodes of Metal Morpheus a listen at the above links, as it is (was?) a good series and helped fill the metal void on The Borderline's scheduled rotation, and if Josh doesn't return to record new episodes, hopefully we hear more from him in some form, let alone more metal, hard rock, or punk-centric programming on the station! That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and more on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
The fifth and final Algerian band played on November 21st was the black metal project Berzek with their very long original track "Mourning In Oblivion" (25:30). After wrapping up the trip to Algeria, Josh flies back home to look at songs from four inactive local metal bands, starting with classic hardcore punk band The Harsh Heads' song "You're Pawning Your Mind, Asshole" (37:00) from their kinda-unreleased album "First Hated Then Forgotten", followed by the more contemporary grindcore trio Shit Liver's song "Liverated" (42:55) from their 2017 album "Hitting The Fan". We next get a live cut from 2010-2011 local metal band Sativa Rose (who never released an album), specifically their original "Fall From Grace" (47:15), and the episode closes with early 1990s metal band Amethyst's song "You've Been Caught" (53:00), which opened their 1992 CD "Innocent As Hell".
While some of the six in between would seem hard to get enough bands from (especially the tiny Andorra and Antigua & Barbuda), I would have thought Australia at least would have had ample bands to pull from, and Argentina, Armenia, and Angola are not lacking themselves. Josh did also tease at episode's end that he wants to do episodes themed around international metal subgenres (methinks Japan would lend itself well to that). Tune in to The Borderline this Sunday at 9:00 PM to see if Metal Morpheus is back from their winter break(?), and we'll have more episode recaps soon, I hope, plus more news and notes in general! Thanks everyone!
MrJohnveale's channel (http://www.youtube.com/mrjohnveale)
On Saturday, local grunge quartet Haggith uploaded their first live album (and third release overall), entitled "Flight 75" to their YouTube channel! Though the album's formal paid release won't occur until next month, we can now hear all 11/12 tracks of "Flight 75" for free like with their earlier albums, so what should you know about it? The cover art's not bad (though the title seems tacked on), and the track listing is more or less the same as was in their live compilation video from their Bushplane Musical Madness set, albeit with some differences. "Public Enemy", "These Four Walls", and "No Cure For Insanity" are not present on the "Flight 75" track listing, with "Chaos In The Streets Of Aftermath" and "Rage Train" being added on, while the track order mostly flows with the live video (save for the song changes and "I Am" & "75" switching spots.) A new review of a Haggith album on the site won't come until the spring (to avoid any biases), but I'll say that the recording quality is pretty good given how it was captured, and at times, it's hard to tell it was from a live concert!
Next up, here's this week's classic video! With their long awaited return from London coming up THIS FRIDAY, I figured it'd make sense to tie in this upload with local deathcore band The Valentine's Day Massacre! In particular, we're tying this in with frontman Steve Rhodes, who (as you may remember) fronted defunct local death metal band State of Misery off & on from 2010 through this summer. Most of State of Misery's videos have made it to YouTube already in one form or another, but there's at least one outlier from their early days, that being the last of their four December 2010 jam session videos! Featuring their original/final lineup, this was one of four videos from this same day that were posted onto the band's Facebook group at the time, including performances of their originals "Bleed" and "Don't Break The Silence", and their cover of Pantera's "Cowboys From Hell", but we are only now just putting the last of these four videos (mostly shot by Ashley Lacasse) onto YouTube. It's of an original song (name unclear), and like the other videos from this jam session, the audio is a bit scratchy, but State of Misery's early promise and brutality are clear!
Well, I went all the way back to 2004 for our first Christmas uploads, as these are two early audio recordings from defunct classic hard rock quintet That's Chester! We covered these on the site last year, but as a refresher, guitarist Gabe Tessaro had posted two covers of theirs onto a personal page of his that was linked through the band's former website. These date back to That's Chester's original lineup, which featured Gabe and Eugene Orlando on guitar, Aubrey Falls on bass, and Ric Datson on drums, alongside original singer Richard Fullerton, who's now musically active in the Ottawa area. The songs, which I assume were recorded at a jam session, are covers of Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down" and (as embedded below) Kiss' "Detroit Rock City", and even at this early stage of their 8 year run, they're rocking out well! Ritch arguably has a better range than his successors in That's Chester, and while there's the occasional misstep, this veteran local band has the chops to pull off these hard rock classics, and it's great to hear some rare older recordings of theirs! Check the above links to hear the Queen cover, and here's That's Chester losing their mind with "Detroit Rock City"!
And finally, our second Christmas surprise uploads for you guys are three original demos from inactive local metal band Sativa Rose! We also plugged these on the site last year, but as a reminder, drummer Alex Palmer uploaded three instrumental demos of the band's three original songs ("Fall From Grace", "Bellows of the Beast", and "Deliver Us") to the streaming music website Grooveshark circa July of last year, as part of a (now deleted) playlist of their setlist at the time. Sativa Rose's mid-2011 lineup is present here, with Alex joined by now-Valentine's Day Massacre bandmates Andrew Angelic on guitar & Adam Veale on bass, alongside current Winkstinger guitarist Anthony Orazietti. I assume that the demos were instrumental due to the band's search for a singer last summer, so they forgone having Andrew or Adam sing for these more formal non-live demos, but versions with new singer Marisa Valois never turned up before Sativa Rose went inactive earlier this year. The recording quality isn't bad, and the members show some blistering metal chops with great solos, but the vocals are missed, as they never played these songs live in an instrumental format.
Are you or your band interested in playing at a multi-band outdoor concert in the Sault Ontario area next summer? Applications are being taken right now for some sort of concert event to be held in June 2013, as per postings by organizer Rita Slater on our Facebook page, and a related "Sault Ste. Marie Outdoor Concert" Facebook page that she's launched. Rita is the general manager of Laird International Raceway and the organizer of the relaunched Hot Rides Cornfest that was held there this month & last August, and from what I can gather, this event (which may also be a festival) would likely take place in Laird as well, though it's not planned to be country music-centric like Cornfest is. Details are otherwise scant on this planned event, but headlining bands will apparently be announced later this year, and she's hoping to find 10-12 local acts to perform. If you or your band are interested in playing this outdoor concert event in Laird next June, e-mail Rita A.S.A.P. at theboomboomshow@hotmail.ca! I know the new Cornfest has been successful, but a new music festival in the area with rock integration (and hopefully some metal) would be neat, especially in June rather than later months where it'd have more competition. I'd say take Rita up on this offer to apply for this event, you never know how big it could be, so send your e-mails A.S.A.P., and stay tuned for updates on this event!
Next up, I wanted to note a band that we're regrettably moving to the inactive band links on the SMS, that being local classic metal quintet Sativa Rose. Though we're not at the one year-inactivity threshold for them (they were last visibly active in December via some concert video uploads), an immediate future for Sativa Rose is unlikely due to members Andrew Angelic & Adam Veale's planned move to London for college early next month. Nothing official has ever came out regarding Sativa Rose's status, but with Andrew & Adam focusing on the also-moving Valentine's Day Massacre, guitarist Anthony Orazietti now in Winkstinger, and drummer Alex Palmer living out of town himself right now (I think), the writing seems to be on the wall. It's disappointing to see Sativa Rose fall into inactivity, especially knowing their musical talent and the unrealized potential that their final lineup (including singer Marisa Valois) had following that lineup's first & last show in November. No matter what, they gave us a lot of great shows and originals from their summer 2010 debut through last fall, and classic metal fans had a lot to like and headbang with! Best of luck to Marisa, Andrew, Anthony, Adam, and Alex in the future, and maybe Sativa Rose will pop up again in some form down the road!
Thirdly today, remember how we shared videos from new Sault Ontario thrash metal band Pillory and their 2011 predecessors Roadkill on Thursday? Well, guitarist Robert Sartini has posted 10 solo thrash covers aside from his recent band work on his YouTube channel as well! With one exception, these were all filmed last year, and they include covers of Metallica's "Jump In The Fire" and the solo from "Disposable Heroes", and Viking's "Case of the Stubborns", but the rest are all Megadeth, including versions of "In My Darkest Hour", "Set The World Afire", "Victory", "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due", and the solo from it in a separate video, so click each link to see Robert in action! He has skill at metal guitar work for sure, but his guitar is tuned a bit weirdly on some of the videos, and there are some rough patches. He does have talent though, and I'm curious to hear more from Robert in Pillory or solo uploads, so check out his cover of "Holy Wars" below, and see more at the above links!
And finally for today, here's some updates to our YouTube Channel Profiles, to make that monthly feature series more accurate and current! On the profile of YouTube user AshTraynor's channel (which is centric towards Kinross hard rockers Banned), I updated references to their current lineup (namely the return of Alex Schrovenwever as their new second guitarist), and made lineup adjustments accordingly, along with some date fixing. On the StateOfMisery2011 channel profile, I updated it to reflect State of Misery's latest breakup from earlier this summer, and finally, I edited the GardenofBedlamBand channel profile to note the current amount and usage of newer band channels, as it's been replaced twice over in the last 3 years. That's all for that latest batch of updates, but as more updates come up relating to our monthly feature series, I'll let you guys know so you don't miss anything that's added, removed, or switched! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes shortly, including our next YouTube Channel Profiles and our Dead & Divine concert preview in a few days! Thanks everyone!
Remember on Thursday when I alluded to a likely cancelled concert at Feedback for TONIGHT featuring Espanola metal band Fifth Column and locals View To A Kill? Well, the show's still on, and the reason the old event page was deleted is likely because Fifth Column couldn't make it tonight (not sure why), but View To A Kill are still on for tonight for a set of brutal deathcore in their Feedback debut! That said, they'll now be joined by local death metal trio Shit Liver, replacing Fifth Column's original replacements Winkstinger on the lineup, as they had something come up. A lot of shuffling, but Shit Liver are a quality replacement, and kudos to them for stepping in! Apologies for the short notice, the show was only officially confirmed by promoters last night. No matter which second band is announced, this should be a solid lineup of metal, I just hope that a good crowd shows up, as the Helix show might steal some fans. However, there is NO COVER tonight at Feedback, but you must be 19 to attend, and a 10:00 PM start time looks likely. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!
Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison is returning to The Service Grill for another solo acoustic concert TOMORROW NIGHT!! This will be the fourth straight week of unplugged hard rock and metal covers from Tym Morrison at this Korah Road restaurant, and it comes just a week before he brings Caveman Morrison back to the stage down the road at The Roosevelt Hotel, so go see him tomorrow night just in case his next solo show isn't for a while! Apologies for the short notice too, Tym only launched the Facebook event page for tomorrow's concert last night. As usual, Tym will be on at 8:00 PM tomorrow night, I don't think there's a cover to get into The Service Grill (it is a restaurant, after all), and there is no announced cover charge. For more details, check the above links! It's good to see Tym keeping busy in the buildup to Caveman Morrison's return, and if you wanna enjoy some great hard rock & metal covers, what better way then to head down to The Service Grill tomorrow night? Check the above links for more info, and for a preview, here's Tym & former Half Past singer Luke LeBlanc covering Extreme's "More Than Words"!
Now to the other concerts of the weekend, and first, we'll hop to Sault Michigan, as local hard rock quartet Powerslug are returning to The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino! This will be their last concert weekend at Kewadin Casino's bar of 2011 and (from what I can tell) their first local shows since the day before Thanksgiving at The Bird. Now, as I've come to expect over the past year, Powerslug haven't updated band pages in any fashion since before their name change, so I don't have any official band confirmation for these shows TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT, but if Kewadin Casino's entertainment page confirms them, then they must have truth to them! As such, you can see the band featuring Scofflaw & Kilacel alumni tonight & tomorrow at around 10:00 PM both nights, there's no known cover charge, and you must be 21 to attend. Check the above links for more details! It's good to see Powerslug back on stage for concerts that I can cite, and hopefully we'll hear (and see) a lot more from them in 2012 (that includes videos, so I can't preview that area of theirs yet, but hopefully soon!) Check them out this weekend if you can!
And now, the main event of the metal concert weekend... gimme an R! (R!) O! (O!) C! (C!) K! (K!) Whatcha got? The return of Helix to Sault Ste. Marie, that's what! Over three years after last rocking the area, the Kitchener classic metal legends will return to town TOMORROW NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar to deliver a set full of their classic songs like "Wild In The Streets" & "Deep Goes The Knife", tracks from their latest album "Vagabond Bones", and of course, "Rock You"! No strangers to Sault Ste. Marie, you may remember last seeing them in July 2008 at The Canadian Nightclub in what was a great show, but older fans are bound to remember Helix's concerts here from their prime years, like their Sault Memorial Gardens headlining concert that took place exactly 24 years ago today on December 2nd, 1987! Even more coincidental, the surviving members of their classic 1980s lineup are back in Helix, so how's that for a flashback on Saturday night? The openers for this show are local dance rock quartet Boogie Fever, who may seem like an odd choice to open for Helix (a far cry genre-wise from Syre or Stillbroke), but they're a very talented band and they feature some local hard rock alums in their lineup, so their talent will speak for itself!
With the known weekend concert previews out of the way, here's a bonus story, and it's the first videos of the new look Sativa Rose, who debuted at The Roosevelt Hotel on Tuesday night as openers for Toronto punk band The Unbelievers! As you may know, new singer Marisa Valois made her debut with Sativa Rose on Tuesday, where they also featured guest drummer Steven Flint in place of Alex Palmer, but how'd they sound after their over 4 month hiatus? We can now find out, as bassist Adam Veale's dad John has uploaded two videos from the show onto his YouTube channel! The videos feature Sativa Rose covering Ozzy Osbourne's "Bark At The Moon" and Iron Maiden's "Aces High", and I have to say, Marisa fits in well! She has a voice that meshes well with heavier songs, while being melodic at the same time, and a nice stage presence, though she doesn't hold her notes as well as I assumed on "Bark At The Moon". Steven's solid on drums too on short notice, I wonder if this will lead anywhere beyond this show for him and the band? Time will tell, but Sativa Rose's new formation sound very promising, so check out the new videos above, and here's their cover of "Aces High"!
There's been a few changes to the Green Christmas Bash at Feedback near the end of the month, as confirmed at this new Facebook event page (the old one was deleted), starting with a date change, as the show will now take place on Christmas Eve rather than on Christmas itself. A reason for the date change was not announced, but December 24th does fall on a Saturday this year, so that could be related. That said, the lineup for the concert has been confirmed, though not without a band change, as local metal quintet Sativa Rose have dropped out of this show. According to promoters, they're off because frontwoman Marisa Valois will be out of town with family when this show takes place. Disappointing, but hey, family calls! Replacing them on the bill is a new folk/acoustic trio named Ye Olde Mold Pickers, who I believe share at least one member with the local band The Night Owl Meme Makers. They're actually the listed headliners for this concert, with local classical/punk trio RedD Monkey, local metal quartet View To A Kill (yes, they were Andrew Angelic's new band from the original event page), and "the original crash band" Sykotyk Rampage opening the festivities in that order. Admission remains $2, it's still 19+, and it all starts at 10:00 PM on Christmas Eve. Check the above links for more details!
And finally, here's this week's classic video! With a relatively thin weekend for metal concerts (despite the return of Helix), I won't tie in this week's video with a performing band, so we'll dip into the archives for this week, and I've chosen a video from the recently-inactive local grunge trio No Arrow! We haven't heard much from them since their one-off show at what is now Feedback in February, but there's plenty of old videos and music of theirs online, including this video of them playing their original song "Delayed Reaction" when they opened for Montreal punk legends The Ripcordz at The Speak Easy on August 5th, 2007! At this performance, frontman Dann Pichette and drummer Joe Falco were joined by guest bassist Dean Scheepmaker (now of the Manitoba band The Aral Sea), and they definitely rocked on one of their heaviest songs here, though the audio quality is kinda scratchy and the first minute of the song wasn't captured. Dann's got some great screaming here too, helps make me miss No Arrow all the more!
Here's a short notice announcement for a touring rock band's stop in Sault Ste. Marie on Wednesday, as Toronto hard rock trio The DGB are stopping in town! Influenced by grunge & stoner hard rock bands, this will be a special acoustic concert at Feedback on Wednesday night, in what's a last minute stop on their return from a cross-Canada tour, so we're getting a unique look at this talented Southern Ontario outfit! If you like stoner rock or early 1990s alternative hard rock, The DGB will be right up your alley, and with it being an acoustic set, there's no chance that the police will be called on them, so that's a plus! No opening bands have been announced, and I'll of course let you guys know if any are named before Wednesday. There is no cover charge, you must be 19 to attend, and a 9:00 PM start time is listed. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be an interesting concert, and hopefully a good crowd turns out despite the late notice & mid-week setting! The DGB are talented and have that grungy sound I like, so hopefully they have a great show on Wednesday night! For a preview, here's The DGB playing "Insert Your City" at a Halifax acoustic gig, but check the above links to hear more of their unplugged and electric material!
Now, while we're in the concert previewing mood, there's also a show with some metal representation taking place at The Roosevelt Hotel TOMORROW NIGHT, so here's what you need to know! It's primarily a punk concert, to be headlined by Toronto pop punk trio The Unbelievers, and they've got an entertaining & energetic style of female-charged punk rock, so they're definitely worth seeing! However, metalheads might also be interested to note that one of the opening bands is classic metal quintet Sativa Rose, who are finally returning to the stage after a four month hiatus tomorrow night! This will be their first concert since adding singer Marisa Valois to their lineup this summer, and how will she sound in her live debut? Well, there's only one way to find out, by going to The Rosie tomorrow! The other opening bands will include the debuting T. Rex Manning (the new band from Frightlight's J.D. Pearce & Skull Fist concert booker Tiffany Stocco) and frequently seen local punk trio Redundant, so there's a lot of metal potential on the undercard of this concert! Admission will be just $3 (which is more than worth it), it is a 19+ show, and doors open at 10:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!
Now, here's some disappointing news, as noted local hard rockers Sense of Truth have broken up. An official statement has not been made by the band, but band members confirmed on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group over the weekend that Sense of Truth split up a few months ago. A reason hasn't been announced for their breakup, but I'll note that they haven't played live since May of last year, and a proper update hasn't came onto their Facebook group in almost 8 months, so things haven't been looking up for a while. That said, members Cory Murchison & Ron Baxter are forming a new local hard rock band, and you can get more details on the Musicians Wanted group linked above if you're interested in joining on bass or drums. This surprising news comes after a successful 3+ year run for Sense of Truth, who memorably launched in April 2008 by winning the Skid Row Battle of the Bands, and later opened for notable groups like Econoline Crush, State of Shock, and Ultraviolence, made the finals of the Kiss Battle of the Bands in 2009, and headlined the re-opening of Foggy Notions that year. Though Sense of Truth recorded songs towards a self-titled EP in February of last year, a formal release for it never came, and it's looking unlikely now that we'll ever see it come out.That's all for today, but stay tuned for our review of Theatre of Night's "Christmas Night" album on Wednesday, and more news over the coming week! Thanks everyone!
Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison has two more acoustic solo concerts lined up for you local fans, both of which take place this weekend! His first new show will be his debut at Feedback on Friday night in a rare non-Service Grill concert from him! Though his acoustic metal covers are new to Feeback as it currently exists, you may remember him from a number of Foggy Notions shows in the past, including a weekly concert arrangement there that started late last year and ended in February, so he's no stranger to this bar! That said, if you're used to his Service Grill shows, never fear, as he'll also be back at the Korah Road restaurant on Saturday night as well with lots of hard rocking hits to play for his fans! He's back there after another off weekend, suggesting a bi-weekly arrangement now for his shows there, but there hasn't been a finite weekly schedule for them since September. Neither show this weekend has an announced cover charge (bring cash just in case for Feedback though), he'll be on at 10:00 PM on Friday and 8:00 PM on Saturday, and though I know it will be a 19+ show on Friday night, I don't believe the age restriction will apply for the Service Grill. Click here and here for each show's respective event pages! It's great to see Tym playing some more solo shows this weekend, so check them out if you can! Stay tuned for more later in the week!Also for new shows, it's the long awaited return of Sativa Rose to the local stage! The classic metal quintet will finally make their debut live appearance with new singer Marisa Valois at this show, after initially dropping out of Sunday's Skull Fist concert, when they rock The Roosevelt Hotel three weeks from today on November 29th! After a four month hiatus, how will they sound? Time will tell! At this concert, Sativa Rose will be among the local openers for Toronto pop punk trio The Unbelievers, who recently played with local standouts Frightlight when they opened for The Misfits last month in Toronto! Good to see them here, their stylish punk attack will be sure to turn heads at The Rosie! As well, the new local band T. Rex Manning (who were briefly advertised for the Coch's Corner Halloween Party before dropping out) are scheduled to open this concert as well. I still don't know much about them, but I can confirm they're Frightlight frontman (and this show's promoter) J.D. Pearce's new band, alongside guitarist Tiffany Stocco, bassist Bill Bennett, and drummer Daniel MacDonald. Punk covers and some metal, from what I understand, but hopefully we see and hear more from them soon! Thanks to Tiffany for filling me in!
Next up, here's some huge news from Gates of Winter! If you've been wondering what they've been up to lately, bassist Steve Furgiuele will tell you in the video below courtesy of the band's official YouTube channel. Firstly, he announced that Gates of Winter's forthcoming second studio album will be entitled "Perihelion" (which means the point of a planet's orbit when it's nearest to the sun), and the planned release for it will be in December... of 2012. That's a ways off, but at least we have a tentative idea of when to expect the CD! He also announced in the video that Gates of Winter plan to re-record some material from their 2008 CD "Lux Aeterna" and release it in some form in the summer. I'm glad to see they're not abandoning it all like past pages had alluded to, and hopefully the new versions of whatever songs they re-record showcase their current talents well! Nothing about a potential live return was announced in the video, but my fingers are crossed! Also, he plugged that "Lux Aeterna" is on sale now on iTunes (click here to pick it up for $8.91 or 99¢ a song), and he referred to the band's website at http://www.gatesofwinter.com which now redirects to their Facebook page, replacing that error-filled fan page that had taken the domain name since 2009.
And finally in Gates of Winter news, the band has uploaded two new 2008 concert videos onto their YouTube channel! Though their live instrumental demo of "From Nothingness" and their "Gates TV" episode were disappointingly deleted from the channel, the band has replaced them with two live videos from what (I think) was their surprise return show at The Grand Theater in September 2008, and also their first of two local concerts with former drummer David Gold. The posted videos, which apparently have never been released to the public before, are of Gates of Winter playing their song "Winter Flight" and their unreleased song "Torment", which was axed from "Lux Aeterna" before it's release. Very nice quality footage from a high viewpoint, and I've always liked how much heavier the vocals were on the later version of "Winter Flight" especially! Always good to hear "Torment" too, though I wish the band would have released it on a CD. Check the above links to see this newly posted Gates of Winter footage, and here's the "Winter Flight" video! Awesome stuff!
Roosevelt Hotel metal nights are officially back! After a three week absence following a promoter switch, the Thursday night metal shows at the Korah Road bar are back this Thursday for your headbanging needs! This will be the 38th metal night at The Rosie, but the first from new booker (and Rosie manager) Stephane Vincent, and he's secured a solid lineup of local talent for Thursday night, so here's who to look out for! The announced headliners will be local melodic death metal quintet The Bear Hunters, in their first local concert since the Napalm Death show and their record-tying 16th Rosie metal night appearance, so they'll fit in extremely well on Thursday! Backing them up are local punk trio Redundant (fresh off of a pair of Halloween weekend concerts of their own) and local grime/death metal outfit Shit Liver, themselves rocking a Rosie metal night for a record-tying 16th time! Sounds like a good first lineup for the new metal nights, and it's good to see an all local lineup again for a change! Admission will be free as usual, you must be 19 to attend, and an 11:00 PM start time is announced. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!
Now to a concert preview, and in an otherwise quiet weekend on the local metal scene, we'll end the weekend strong tomorrow night, as Skull Fist are making their long awaited return to Sault Ontario! The always-entertaining Toronto heavy metal quartet will bring their old school sound back to The Canadian Nightclub tomorrow night, 15 months after last rocking Saultites to the core! This time however, they're touring in support of their new album "Head Of The Pack", and they'll look to end their cross-Canada tour in style here in the Soo! Unlike last year though, this concert will feature local openers instead of touring acts, including local classic metal quartet Late & Loud! After a busy stretch of late-October concerts, this talented outfit will be sure to deliver a great night of metal in what could be their first ever show at The Canadian! Fellow classic metallers Sativa Rose were initially announced to join them tomorrow in their debut with new singer Marisa Valois, but they have dropped out of the show due to personal reasons. Disappointing, hopefully nothing bad happened! That said, they have been replaced by a new band named View To A Kill, and I'll have more on them in a second.
And now, let's mention the new local metal band named View To A Kill that are replacing Sativa Rose tomorrow night. If you're bummed that Sativa Rose aren't playing, it might be some solace to know that guitarist Andrew Angelic and bassist Adam Veale are in this new band, and that alone is promising! Whether this is Andrew's new band that was hyped for the Green Christmas Bash at Feedback or not isn't known yet. The other members of View To A Kill are State of Misery's own Steve Rhodes on vocals, as well as Kyle Umgeher on drums. I'm not familiar with Kyle at all musically, but it's nice to see Steve back out on a local stage for the first time since June! I have no clue if the existence of View To A Kill means anything "final" for Sativa Rose or State of Misery, but if I hear anything on their statuses, you'll be sure to find it here! Other details on View To A Kill are minimal so far (zombie Pokemon photo on their Facebook page aside), but they appear to play a form of hardcore metal, and have influences similar to those of their other bands. Their lineup sure sounds promising, and hopefully they deliver where Bring The Misery fell short tomorrow night! I'll have news on them (and the members' other bands) as I get it, but for now, check out View To A Kill at the above links!
The first metal concert at Feedback Nightclub & Bar since the Napalm Death show is now official, and like he used to do at The Rosie, owner Rich Moreland has brought a talented out of town band in for a high energy metal show! On Friday night, Toronto metal trio Laugh at the Fakes will play Sault Ontario for the first time for a high energy set of wide ranging originals! Very heavy and catchy material, with unique higher vocals too that remind me of Axl Rose at points, you guys should dig them! The local openers will be classic metal quartet Late & Loud, fresh off of their headlining show TONIGHT at The Speak Easy, so look out for some proficiently played originals and covers from them in their Feedback debut on Friday night! For the record, the Facebook event page doesn't hint towards anything Halloween related for the show itself, but I know the spirit of the season will be around! Apologies for the short notice too, promoters didn't officially confirm this show until earlier today. This show will have a 19+ age limit and a $3 cover, and it all starts at 10:00 PM on Friday. Check the above links for more details! Sounds like a fun show, hopefully lots of people head to the former Foggy Notions to enjoy the metal!
Also new this weekend is the return of Scofflaw to the local stage THIS FRIDAY & SATURDAY! The Friday show is newly announced, while they've been added to an existing date on Saturday, both of which will be at The Merchant's Bar in Sault Michigan. From what it looks like, Scofflaw will headline both nights, with drummer Ivan Schliska's other local rock band Powerslug opening both nights (they were originally the only confirmed band for Saturday only.) This will be the first time that both of Ivan's bands have shared the stage since LemmaFest, and with the punk inspired rough hard rock sounds of Scofflaw always welcome locally, you won't wanna miss them during Halloween weekend at The Merch! Like Feedback, there will be drink specials for the season, and there'll be a costume contest for $100 on Saturday night as well, so make note of that! There is still no announced cover charge for either night, you must be 21 to attend, and everything starts at probably around 10:00 PM both nights. For more details, check the newly updated Facebook event page! It's awesome to see Scofflaw back for a beefed up Halloween weekend at The Merchant's Bar, so make note of these shows if you can for your Halloween weekend concert plans! Stay tuned for more in our weekend concert previews!
Next up, are you guys in the mood for more seasonal Halloween metal action? Well, how about a show on Halloween night itself? On Monday, classic metal quartet Late & Loud will play their third concert in six days when they headline a Halloween bash at The Speak Easy! This will be the band's second non-weekend show at the Algoma University bar in a two week span, and their second costumes-welcome concert of the fall, following a superhero costume pub there last month. That said, if you want a heavy metal good time for Halloween night, you know exactly where to be! A cover charge hasn't been announced (I'd expect one though), you must be 19 (or an Algoma student if underage?) to attend, and I presume they'll take the stage at around 10:00 PM. For more details (scant as they may be), visit the band's Facebook page! Late & Loud are sure ramping up the bookings lately, aren't they? Don't miss them on Monday night if you need something to do, they'll deliver some hard rocking good times to send out the Halloween season with a bang! Stay tuned for more updates if they come in!And finally for new shows, Toronto old school heavy metal quartet Skull Fist are returning to Sault Ontario on November 6th (one week from Sunday!) After a memorable local debut last August that gave us the SMS YouTube channel's most popular video, this high energy blast from the past will return to The Canadian Nightclub for what should be a memorable headlining set! Unlike last year's show which featured fellow touring favourites The Isosceles Project and Thekillingfield as openers, this show will instead feature two local opening bands, those being Sativa Rose & (once again) Late and Loud! Nice to see them so busy, hopefully they keep this up! This concert will have two notable firsts, one of which is that this will be the first metal concert at The Canadian Nightclub since the massive flood in July, so us metalheads can see how the Pim Street bar looks after the seven week long renovations! Also, this will be the first concert appearance by Sativa Rose since adding singer Marisa Valois to the band in the summer, ending a four month hiatus from the live stage for this talented classic metal quintet! The show itself is a late addition to Skull Fist's "Head of the Pack" tour, but what better place is there to end this tour than here in Sault Ontario?nd finally for today, here's some notes relating to Roosevelt Hotel metal nights. As you may remember, last week saw no Thursday night metal show at The Rosie, and there won't be one tomorrow night either, following promoter Rich Moreland's purchase of Foggy Notions (now Feedback.) Occupied with his own bar now, the Dismembertainment-promoted Rosie metal nights have ended after a successful 11 month run on Thursdays, but is this the permanent end of Thursday metal concerts at the Korah Road bar? It doesn't look like it, as Roosevelt Hotel manager Stephane Vincent formally announced last night on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group that he was taking over concert bookings for both Thursday metal nights and other weekend gigs. By request, I sent him a list of bands that would fit on metal nights (including a few punk bands), and he's open to answer questions and take bookings from any interested acts at stephane.vincent71@live.com and through his personal Facebook page.