Tarnished Updates, New Original Songs, And More News & Notes!!

In case there's no new post before then, I'll wish all of our readers a happy Valentine's Day! This post features some assorted updates, new original songs from some familiar hard rock artists, and some more updates from a prolific local band, so here's what you should know!

We'll kick things off with the latest (non-TikTok) updates from Sault Michigan hard rock band Tarnished, who revealed on their Facebook page on Sunday that they are working on a new single, with plans to release it to major music platforms next month. Former Chained Memories guitarist Ryan Nicklas (who mixed & mastered Tarnished's cover of "Run Rudolph Run") is back in studio with the guys for this new single, and given Gary's recent departure, I imagine frontman Alex Traynor will be behind the drum kit again, knowing that that the single is already being recorded. Tarnished are looking for fans to contribute to planned "gang vocals" on the track, and if you're interested, comment on their Facebook post from Wednesday for more details. Finally, a new video of Alex and bassist Josh Fair performing acoustically at Crooked Music was posted to Facebook last night!

Entitled "A Crooked Jam", this was filmed by Pick-Me-Ups alum Trevor Yake in what looks like an empty store (I don't think we missed a surprise gig), the video features Alex & Josh covering a fragment of Metallica's "Fade To Black" and all of Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl", across multiple camera angles. Well done renditions with much better audio than their acoustic live-streams from last year, and I like the camera-work and atmosphere shots that Trevor got in this video! Give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Tarnished, on or off TikTok, next week!

Next up, Sault Ontario hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison has two new original songs to check out! Now, I want to preface this by noting that these are not hosted on YouTube, rather Rumble, a video hosting website that has been gaining popularity in recent months among conservative-leaning content creators. From what I understand, these two new songs ("COVID-19" and "Declassified") were pulled from YouTube due to being flagged for misinformation, and they each have very strong personal viewpoints. I try and keep the SMS apolitical, so I won't go into specifics on the lyrics or the detailed video content on these songs, especially as YouTube and Blogger (this site's host service) are both Google properties. On strictly musical terms, both of these songs are very heavy and will definitely please fans of Tym's old metal work, with some strong guitar solos included in both. Give them a watch if you want at the above links!

Also today, here's a new solo original song from Skeyes Of Seven/ex-Sense Of Truth frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel! Entitled "Sorry & Forgotten", this is about rising up against "the global elite" and their control on Earth. I won't get into the lyrics, but this modern hard rock song is intense and well performed (I can easily see one of his bands playing this), and Cory makes good use of multiple camera angles! It is an odd visual seeing him sing through the pop filter though. Give Cory's new song a look below!

 

 

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

 

• Veteran local musician Greg Simpson revealed on his promotional company (Choose) Maxx Entertainment's Facebook page on January 27th that he's closing the page "sometime in the next few weeks", and encouraged everyone to follow his personal Facebook page for continuing business needs in event promotion & graphic design. Greg's personal page indicated that it was "time for a change up", as "this pandemic has forced me to shut down the corporation & move on as sole proprietor." Hopefully we'll still hear more from Greg in the future! As of this writing, the Maxx page is still online, so "the next few weeks" clearly means more than two.
• In their first Facebook page update in nine months, local acoustic punk solo project Slumshine shared a picture of a box full of blank cassette tapes, and noted that "SllMSHN" is coming soon. The two lowercase Ls seem to imply that these will be used to record a sequel to their 2019 debut album "SLMSHN" (note the one L), which was only released physically on cassette. It's great to see Brent is still working on new Slumshine material, so stay tuned for updates!
• I have moved Heavy Lies The Crown guitarist Ted Olson's solo project to our inactive Sault Michigan band links due to a year's inactivity. The St. Ignace product only sporadically updated this page after it's May 2018 inception, and despite hyping it as his "new artist page" in January 2020, only three videos followed that month before updates quietly ceased. Of course, pandemic woes and his work with Heavy Lies The Crown may have slowed Ted's personal page's activity, but stay tuned for more updates as H.L.T.C. progress towards their new album!

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post of some kind by Monday! Thanks everyone!

Northern Superior's Latest Songs & A Six-Pack Concert, Show Cancellations, And More!!

On this 55th straight day of SMS posts, we have new videos to check out from some familiar veteran faces, but let's lead off with some more updates to our concert calendar, albeit negative ones as usual. We'll start in Michigan, where Kewadin Casino announced on their Facebook page yesterday that their branches will all remain closed through the end of the month, with June 1st tentatively slated to be their re-opening date. As such, this wipes out the final May concerts we listed in the E.U.P., namely the May 29th weekend shows from Peril in the Soo and Highway 63 in St. Ignace. In Sault Ontario, nothing that we currently have listed has been visibly cancelled by the bands or promoters on social media, but I am reluctantly delisting the Anti-Queens concert at The Rockstar Bar on May 23rd, as everything around it this month has been called off, and many of The Anti-Queens later concert dates are getting postponed or cancelled elsewhere.

For full disclosure, the local show has not been publically cancelled by the band, promoter, or venue, but the likelihood of this concert and no others in May taking place seems slim-to-none, and there are definitely more cancellations and postponements ahead. If I happen to be wrong, I will redact this, but these are funny times that we're living in right now.

Next up, Northern Superior Brewing Co.'s sixth weekly "Songs & A Six-Pack" live-stream concert took place last night, and this week's host was Bone Yard frontman and (Choose) Maxx Entertainment head Greg Simpson! For the record, last week's show was headlined by country musician Brendan Hodgson, so genre fans will definitely want to check that one out at this link. Simultaneously, Greg's performance is the de facto sequel to his "Songs From The Smoke Room" live-stream last month, with it's planned follow-up on April 8th cancelled on short notice due to his father-in-law being in the hospital, which he acknowledged in last night's video, but thankfully, he is doing better now. Of course, it's great to see Greg back in the smoke room for more covers, albeit with Northern Superior advertising and plugs thrown in! Like last month, this set is more reflective of Greg's past work in classic/hard rock bands.

The 82 minute video starts with his slowed down acoustic cover of Kiss' "Rock & Roll All Nite", before moving to renditions of Kris Kristofferson's "Me & Bobby McGee", Black Label Society's "Spoke In The Wheel", Kid Rock's "All Summer Long", Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", The Tragically Hip's "Fiddler's Green", Cinderella's "Shelter Me", Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", The 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up", Ray LaMontagne's "Jolene", The Band's "The Weight", Jamey Johnson's "High Cost of Living", The Barenaked Ladies' "The Old Apartment", Prince & The Revolution's "Purple Rain", The Five Man Electric Band's "Signs", and Guns N' Roses' "Used To Love Her". If you get deja vu from Greg's live-stream last month, then I cannot blame you whatsoever, as only two songs from that set ("Wheat Kings" & "I Took A Pill In Ibiza") were not reprised last night, and only the last five covers were brand new.

That all said, this is still an entertaining concert set, and Greg injects a lot of these songs with good energy and optimism, complete with more entertaining banter with his wife Kerry, helping out off-camera once again. Hopefully there's more on the horizon from Greg, but give his "Songs & A Six-Pack From The Smoke Room" a watch below!

Finally, here's a newly shared video of Greg's old classic/hard rock cover band That's Chester, albeit before he joined the group! This comes from Rotaryfest's main stage at Clergue Park in July 2006, and was uploaded onto drummer Ric Datson's YouTube channel on Tuesday. This features That's Chester with their original frontman Richard Fullerton (now of the Ottawa-based Led Zeppelin tribute band Mothership), and the video opens with an amusing intro by MC/local radio DJ James Warner-Smith where the guys get introduced as the "next" band in an increasingly silly list of musicians, and we even hear their early stage names too (all have "Chester" in them). Musically speaking, you can see Ritch, Eugene, Gabe, Aubrey, and Ric cover a number of different songs, though these were edited into a clip montage in post-production, so no full songs are presented. Fans will hear Sammy Hagar, The Tragically Hip, and AC/DC songs, among others.

I wish the song fragments were at least longer, and the editing quality gives me the impression that this isn't a brand new video, but it's nice to hear the original That's Chester lineup at their height before Richard left! Everyone sounds good, so fans of theirs would be well served to give this video a watch, and visit Ric's YouTube channel for more archive video uploads of his!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

More Facebook Videos From Solo Musicians & Familiar Bands!!

As we continue keeping the SMS updated regularly during the pandemic, here's another post devoted just to videos, starting with another live-streamed concert from Thursday, courtesy of Bone Yard/Bearded Lounge frontman Greg Simpson! This was streamed on his promotion company (Choose) Maxx Entertainment's Facebook page, and was shot in Greg's smoke room, nicely decked out in drum heads and posters from his prior events. Despite his current bands focusing on country covers, his acoustic set on Thursday was much more in line with his classic/hard rock work with Stiffer's Mom and That's Chester, so if you miss those bands, this video will have extra resonance. In performance order, Greg covered Kris Kristofferson's "Me & Bobby McGee", Kiss' "Rock and Roll All Nite", Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", Black Label Society's "Spoke In The Wheel", Kid Rock's "All Summer Long", ...

...The Tragically Hip's "Fiddler's Green", Cinderella's "Shelter Me", Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", The 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up", The Hip's "Wheat Kings", Ray LaMontagne's "Jolene", The Band's "The Weight", and Mike Posner's "I Took A Pill In Ibiza". This live-stream seemed to go over well, as Greg is planning an encore for this Thursday night, and the video proper is a fun watch with lot of familiar and well done covers! Greg's rough-edged, to-the-point delivery and strong musical knowledge helps, and he has good rapport with his wife Kerry (off camera), so fans of Greg's prolific band work will definitely want to see this request-heavy set below!



Next up, here's a second acoustic solo performance by Northwest frontman Wayne Watkins, as uploaded to the band's Facebook page this morning, and it's a cover of "Sunshine Blues" by folk musician Bahamas. This song has extra personal meaning for Wayne, as he would rock his newborn daughters to sleep with it. As such, it's a departure from what you'd expect from Northwest, but this whole pandemic is a departure, let's be honest. Wayne puts solid emotion into this well played cover, so give it a look below!



Also today, here's a short new video from southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek's Facebook page last week, and while they'd be prepping for their formal concert debut on Friday in a sane world, we instead get a slow & ominous look at their studio, complete with eerie background music. The title even alludes to isolation making it feel like "a Walking Dead movie set." You do get an interesting look at their space here, and I hope they can get back to work there at some point soon, but give it a look below!

Finally for today, I might as well cover two short videos that I've been sitting on for way too long now, and with local hard rock & punk content naturally slowing down, this will help in that regard. Back in the summer of 2017, local alt-punk/genre-hating trio Handsome Sandwich posted two short non-musical videos on their Facebook page for humorous/teaser purposes, and I intentionally held off on covering them because I figured they would put up something more substantial, and I'd tie those two in with it then. Almost three years later, they have followed those videos with just three Facebook posts and zero new videos, and the 2 clips I mentioned have been sitting in my draft folders ever since, so let's finally give them their due. The June 2017 video is a 4 second clip of drummer Johnny Belanger showing how he practices drumming (spoiler: by rapidly whacking a cut of meat with a meat tenderizer.) Amusing sight gag, but it's over quick.

The other video from July 2017 runs for just 8 seconds, and it features Johnny dramatically whispering to the camera that "something is happening" while Jesse & James inspect gear in the background. Given the optics, was anything happening back then? Well, they did open for Vaultry at The Canadian the next night, but the video would seem to hint more towards a studio project. In any event, Handsome Sandwich updates became very sporadic for much of the late 2010s, including not posting on Facebook at all last year, so who knows how far the guys got into "something". Give these videos a look, at last, above & below, and stay tuned for updates!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks veryone!

Toystock 2014 Fallout, Coverage, And Media!!

As hinted over the past week, here at last is our first fallout post from the third annual Toystock fundraiser concert at The Canadian Nightclub this past Sunday! We'll start with some local news coverage, as SooToday's Donna Hopper was among the attendees at the annual Christmas Cheer benefit, posting this article later that night that both outlined the saga of the Kraft Dinner box and the concert at hand. Donna couldn't stay long though, with her photos split between Lorrie Lynn & The Sinners' set and Toystock attendees during and around Santa Claus' arrival. Solid pictures all around though (and in colour), so give them a look above! If you're looking for photos of more of the day's bands, local photographer Roy Iachetta will have you covered, as his Facebook page features a few dozen shots of every act (including Killabeatz) that you can see at this link and here, but I'll give the caveat that the photos are not in chronological order, and are spread out between the two albums linked above. Great photos though, and kudos to Roy for sticking around all day!

In terms of videos, Sault Online's Mike Caruso was also on hand all day to film each band, just like he does each year at Rotaryfest! Note that he didn't get a video of Killabeatz, but to be fair, his mini-sets weren't advertised in advance. His videos were largely uploaded to his YouTube channel over the past week, starting with this news piece that begins with a brief interview by Mike with Toystock co-promoter/Bone Yard frontman Greg Simpson, so what's discussed there? In the interview portion, Greg talks about the event's theme and purpose, how it began, and the charitable causes behind everything, and while it's short, it's informative! The rest of the video features abbreviated clips of all 10 of from Mike's full performance videos, so if you prefer to watch the full videos, this will admittedly be redundant save for the interview. Give it a look below!



To avoid an extremely long post, we won't feature all of the videos that Mike shot in this post, but we'll outline the first few chronologically so you know what happened in the early hours of Toystock III! I'll note off the bat though that Mike's videos are generally of each band's first song, they all look auto-brightened, and they all use multiple camera angles. They're well edited and capture the bands nicely, but on occasion, the audio quality jumps when the camera angle changes. Mike's videos led off with local country/bluegrass act The Stumpy Coldwater Trio covering The Steeldrivers' "Guitars, Whiskey, Guns, and Knives", Mike Case's Junior All Stars covering Hot Chelle Rae's "Tonight Tonight", Lorrie Lynn & The Sinners playing her original "Swear When I Pray", and first for hard rock videos, The Pixo Control playing their original song "Land of the Moles"! One of the guys' more familiar tracks, it was well performed here, and has a well-aged spirit to it, so give it a look below!



Mike's next Toystock videos were of country veterans Thin Ice covering Jason Aldean's "The Only Way That I Know", as well as his own version of all-female classic rockers Domina covering Pat Benatar's "All Fired Up", but we'll close things for today with his video of local alternative/hard rock cover quartet Lucky 13 covering The Cult's "Wild Flower". Definitely better in quality than our video of this song (and of "All Fired Up" too), though Ed's vocals could be a bit more forceful and loud in the mix. We'll recap Mourning Wood, Mannapool, and Bone Yard's videos, plus extra fallout in an upcoming post, so stay tuned for that, and now, here's Lucky 13 on Sunday!



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

Woods Of Ypres - "Allure Of The Earth" Single Review!!

Let's end the month strong with our 57th monthly CD review at the SMS, though for the first time in 11 months, we'll be looking at an archive release due to a slow schedule for new local metal/hard rock albums this month (not counting ones within our 6 month buffer period.) This month, we'll be reviewing a single for the first time, that being the "Allure of the Earth" vinyl released by defunct local blackened doom metal band Woods of Ypres! The last release on frontman David Gold's original independent label Krankenhaus Records, this single saw it's limited release on September 6th, 2009 exclusively on 500 7'' vinyl records, each hand-numbered with lyrics sheets and download cards towards digital copies of this single and Woods of Ypres' 2009 compilation album "Independent Nature 2002-2007". The song "Allure of the Earth" was recorded at Spectre Sound Studios in Tecumseh, Ontario in 2004 and originally released on the "Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth" album (or "Woods II") that August.

Woods of Ypres were represented for these sessions by the late David Gold on all instruments save for Jessica Rose on keyboard, while ex-members Steve Jones & Connor Sharpe went uncredited for their guitar & bass parts due to leaving the band beforehand. As well, the second song on the single is a band-endorsed cello cover of "Allure of the Earth" by Australian cellists Sebastian Simpson & Chris Doig, which we'll cover in a second. Even with David's passing in 2011, this single was only available in one limited pressing (and isn't digitally available for sale), so sale copies can be expensive, but you can buy the original song and it's album on iTunes at this link, and both songs are readily available online in streaming copies.

We already reviewed "Allure of the Earth" as part of our full review of it's album in September 2011, so I won't rehash that here, but check this link to read it in full. Essentially Woods of Ypres' first toe in the water of softer ballad material, the song seemed to be based around the desire for death, which may strike familiar with fans compared to the themes of last year's "Woods V". As an early example of David's range and diversity as a singer, it does the job well with solid passion and emotion, but the first half still feels empty, almost like it needs extra instrumentation. Black metal purists will still prefer other songs on "Woods II", but "Allure of the Earth" helped plot the future course for Woods of Ypres' studio material, and it's dark emotion still holds up! The B-side cover of "Allure of the Earth" by Sebastian Simpson & Chris Doig is well performed and adds it's own haunting quality to the song, though with just cellos, it could be considered empty as well. Also, the arrangement is altered in some spots, making the total runtime of the cover a few seconds shorter.

Overall, the "Allure of the Earth" single was a nice release for diehard Woods of Ypres fans in 2009, and the inclusion of the cello cover and vinyl formats gave some solid incentives to pick it up, but given the length and limited availability, I'd only recommend seeking out & buying a copy to collectors. With only 500 copies printed, the price and availability of this record will only go up when copies turn up on the secondary market, and with just two songs, casual fans would be better off buying or downloading "Pursuit of the Sun..." to get their fix of this song & this era of Woods of Ypres, especially as there's no exclusive band originals on it, but this is definitely a recommended album for collectors to look for! I hope you guys liked this month's local metal album review, but what's coming next month? Given recent indications of imminent releases, our next CD review could very well be the debut EPs from Shit Liver or Jack Spades, which are both pencilled in for April releases, but Telephone & Address' "Rotten EP" could be this month as well, pending acquisition of a copy.

For reference, our next Woods of Ypres review (of their 2011 vinyl single "Home") will be our last of their CD reviews on here, barring any possible posthumous albums, but due to our 6 month buffer period to avoid repetition, that won't make it to the site until September at the earliest. Also, a SweetKenny review (of either "Ink!" or "This End Up") is likely for mid-2014, as it's too soon from our last review of his also. With that said, look out for our next CD review in the next 4 weeks, and stay tuned for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!

New Videos And Songs From Four Local Bands!!

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates since Sunday. I've been bogged down with a lot of family issues and homework, so things have been regrettably slower than I'd like. That's about to change, as the month will end with a bang! There's today's post, weekend concert previews tomorrow, and a likely review of Saturday's Halloween show at Coch's Corner to come, with more possible as well! But today, we cover some new topics, namely, new songs and videos from four local bands! So let's begin today's post!

We'll start with videos, then transition to new songs, then back to a video at the end. And kicking things off today is brand new videos from Sault Michigan classic hard rockers Bad Side! They've been on what I'd consider a hiatus for some time now, but if you remember correctly, they did reunite for a pair of shows in the Milwaukee area in June, notably at this year's Summerfest in Milwaukee on June 27th! Well, four months later, video footage from their set has finally popped up online, with two brand new videos uploaded onto their ViciousMusic YouTube channel yesterday! One is a music video with effects for their song "I Could Make You Want Me", with video taken from the pro-quality Summerfest footage. It's nicely made, but I was hoping we'd hear the original audio in it! I really like this song though, it's one of my favourites on "...Bad Things Come In Threes"!

The other new video, which you can see below, is a straightforward live video of their song "Dig That Hooch" from Summerfest! It's also a good song, not as heavy though, but it's nice to see that Bad Side still sounded good and tight! Hopefully it's not the last time they play together! Check the above links for more, click here to hear their entire set on SoundCloud, and check out "Dig That Hooch" below!



Next up, local hard rock trio Browbeat have finally begun posting new audio tracks featuring their new lineup onto their Reverbnation page! Unlike the older tracks that just featured frontman Dutch Vanderploeg on all instruments, these new ones feature James and Rick White on bass and drums respectively! These are just live demos, but from what I'm hearing, they don't sound too bad! One's a brand new song named "Sorry", and I like it's pacing and energy! Dutch's singing is melodic and in control, and the guitar work is nice too! James and Rick play as well as I'd expect, and though it can get repetitive, it sounds pretty good! The other new upload is a redone version of their original "Walk Away", and though it's a bit bouncier than "Sorry", it's also well played, and the new lineup shines! I think the bass could stand to be boosted though, it sounds a bit washed out at times. Good start for the new lineup, I can't wait to hear more from Browbeat! Click here for more, and be on the lookout for new versions of their other songs!

Thirdly today, Bear Hunters guitarist Mitch Sirie has released two new solo tracks from his Animas solo project onto it's MySpace page, which was also recently updated to match the new MySpace page layout! One is a 2:13 sample entitled "Live For The Sunrise", which gives off the vibe of a progressive metal song mixed with very synth-ish sounds, and it works in a "marching" sort of way! It gets a bit repetitive after a while though, but to be fair, it's a sample and might not even be finished. The other new song is entitled "Squirrel Buddy", and the offbeat sense of the title reflects on the opening about wanting a little squirrel to be his buddy. Then, out of nowhere, the song launches from a low-key folksy vibe to balls out relentless death metal! The song has a lot of sudden changes in tone from lighthearted to brutal, but the vocals are very repetitive throughout. That being said, the song produced some chuckles from the comical non-death metal sections, and the death metal parts are extremely moshable! Good stuff on different ways! Check more from Mitch's Animas project at the above links, and stay tuned for updates on his "Hollow Hope" album that he's been working on as well!

And finally, here's one more video. I've been sitting on this audio track for a while, and figured that it'd be a good time to share it now, cause this band's back in the local news. That, and it'd make a good story to fill a post too! Last year, you may remember that Woods of Ypres released a vinyl single for their 2004 doom ballad "Allure of the Earth", from their second album "Pursuit of the Sun/Allure of the Earth". It featured that song, and a cover of it by Australian cellists Sebastian Simpson & Chris Doig, which I really liked. If you know me well, you'll know that I am a big fan of using orchestral elements and string instruments in metal, as it tends to give it a more epic and grandiose feel. So a few months back, as an experiment, I synced up the original version of "Allure of the Earth" with the cello cover using Audacity. It mostly lined up well, but certain parts needed tempo adjustments or faded audio. I liked the final product, and the cellos do add a certain something to the song, but only now have I posted the results onto The Sault Metal Scene's YouTube channel for you guys to check out! Remember, I'm not highly skilled with Audacity, so be nice if I messed something up, and NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED! That being said, check out my "orchestral version" of Woods of Ypres' "Allure of the Earth" below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews tomorrow night, and more by the weekend! Thanks everyone!