Firstly, the concert: Toronto metal band Skull Fist are looking to play here in May! They have a "TBA" date listed for here on May 8th during a short Northern Ontario tour stretch, and you know what that means: They need a venue! If you wanna know how these guys sound, expect a really cool classic metal sound, they sound straight off an old vinyl record, and that's not a bad thing! They describe their sound as "chariots ripping through The Great Lakes" and named their E.P. "Heavier Than Metal", and really, doesn't that sound promising in itself? They'd fit very nicely here, especially with the popularity the classic-sounding bands have here, so why not help them get a booking?! If you're interested in booking Skull Fist for a concert here on May 8th, send them a message A.S.A.P. at their official MySpace page! Remember, the more metal, the better, and these guys bring it in spades! I'll keep you posted if I hear more!...speaking of bands looking to play here, when I was browsing the MySpaces of bands looking for a show here in the coming months, I noticed something intriguing: New Brunswick experimental hard rockers Cop Shades, who are hoping to play here on August 8th, have none other than locals Sykotyk Rampage listed as playing with them on that show! Not kidding, check out their MySpace page! A very promising sign, just one problem though: No venue yet. Help make this show happen, click here to send Cop Shades a message if you want to book them and Sykotyk Rampage for August 8th!
Next up, might we have a new local concert venue? Maybe, maybe not, and I'll explain. According to a topic on The705Scene forums, Twist N' Shout Bar & Grill on McDonald Avenue is getting a four day trial run for concert bookings, with the potential to become a regular concert venue if the shows are successful. The four dates in question are four consecutive Saturdays: April 24th, May 1st, May 8th and May 15th. Now I don't know full details, but if all goes well, we'll have another venue to hit up for shows! And who's playing on those Saturdays? We don't know, and that's where you come in. If you or your band are interested in playing one of those Saturdays, or you know someone that is, e-mail pegu66@hotmail.com to show your interest! Hopefully we can get a metal band or two on one of those weekends, so we can rock another local venue! Remember, the original topic is at this location, but because The705Scene forums are now restricted from view to non-members, you'll have to log in or sign up to check it out.Next up, we have some new (well, new to the SMS) videos from local concerts of past years! Firstly, YouTube user osXzealot uploaded another clip from this past December's Three Days Grace concert at The Essar Center online! It's of their performance of the song "World So Cold", and the audio is pretty good, but it was filmed from very far away, looks like a seat in the far corner. That combined with their on-stage lighting, and you cant even make out the band! Still, the audio makes up for it, check out the video below!
The other new video I have is actually an old concert clip from The Oddfellows Hall! You don't see much videos from shows there, and especially not many of this quality! It's a two minute clip of the now broken up Sudbury hardcore band Three For Fallacy (remember them?) performing their song "Best Before Dates" in support of Blind Witness on August 21st, 2008! I've seen this video twice online: YouTube user katefantham uploaded it on YouTube the day after the show, while Three For Fallacy guitarist Kai Kinos uploaded a better quality version of the same clip onto Vimeo, though it's not as reliable to watch. Things that strike me about this video: I like their lighting, frontman Kyle Blake's attire is....interesting, and the crowd is really small. Where is everyone? Still, it's great quality for an Oddfellows Hall show, usually videos I see from there are very dark and/or choppy! Check it out below, and Kate also uploaded their performance of "Eleda" onto YouTube, click here to take a look! Always great to find old concert clips like this!
Two more items to get to, and it appears that Social Play have lost another member. Apparently, bassist Tiffany Emmerson has also left the former Browbeat. This leaves frontman Dutch Vanderploeg as the sole remaining member, and he's still looking to get the band back out there! He's looking for a dedicated hard rock bassist and drummer each, and having equipment is not a requirement, he has a bass and drums. He really wants to get Social Play going and play live again, and I'm sure many of you want to see Dutch back on stage, like myself! So if you play bass or drums, or know of someone that does, message Dutch on Facebook today!!! Let's not make it another year before their next show!
And finally, I meant to mention this days ago, but it slipped my mind way too many times. Popular heavy metal website Metal Storm has recently ran it's annual Metal Storm Awards, and this year, there was a local connection! In the category of Best Black Metal Album of 2009, the sixth place finisher was none other than.....Woods of Ypres, for their newest release "Woods IV: The Green Album"! Now technically, this was a doom metal album and the black metal days are behind them, but who am I to argue semantics when they got this kind of press? David Gold and company were just 10 votes out of third place, with first place going to Immortal's new album, "All Shall Fall"! Even though they didn't win, it's awesome to see "The Green Album" continue to grow and gain attention! Buy "The Green Album" today!!That's all I have compiled for today, but mark my words, there's more on the horizon! This weekend will have my review of Garden of Bedlam's concert this Friday, along with any news and updates I come across throughout! And next week, stay tuned for my review of Integrated System of Machines' debut album, and much more! Keep your browsers pointed here!
