LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison) & A Farewell To MySpace Band Links On The SMS!!

Today's post is devoted to two topics: LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (one on SHORT NOTICE) from one musician over the coming months, and a big change to our defunct local band links on the site, so here's what you should know on this Saturday morning!

Local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will return to Misty's Fifties for matinee concerts TODAY and every two weeks into June! Apologies for the short notice on TODAY'S concert, we only heard about it earlier today via Tym sharing a Facebook event page covering the dates earlier this week. Of course, Tym debuted at the 658 Second Line West bar/restaurant back in December, and played sporadically there ever since, though a planned Wednesday nighter on Valentine's Day was quietly cancelled for unannounced reasons. Clearly, that wasn't a bad sign for Tym's relationship with Misty's, as he'll be back for more acoustic hard and classic rock favourites TODAY at 4:00 PM and then on these Saturdays to come: March 2nd, 16th, and 30th, April 13th & 27th, May 11th & 25th, and June 8th & 22nd. All of these shows are presumed 19+ events with no cover.

For the record, two of these gigs could tie in to holiday plans, as the March 16th show is the day before St. Patrick's Day (as it's a Sunday this year, many nightclubs may have events on the 16th instead), while the March 30th show is on the Easter long weekend. Tym is no stranger to weekly or bi-weekly events at the same venue like this, so don't miss out on all of the unplugged action starting TODAY at 4:00! Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tym live last year!

Next up, in advance of a big change that I'm making to the band links on the SMS, I'm starting by making a big one for an opposite reason. Since the SMS began in 2007, a big source for band pages for research and linking purposes was MySpace, as anyone around the local music scene in the 2000s will be well aware, but it (for all intents & purposes) died a slow and painful death starting with its forced redesign in 2010, which deleted all blog posts & biographies from accounts. I kept certain bands linked from MySpace on the basis of their hosted music/videos and pictures for history and information, if not necessity, as MySpace may still have been this band's fullest/only presence online. Eventually, a botched server migration forced all music on hosted accounts to be unplayable, and photos hosted there have slowly winnowed away too, leaving just captions with nothing viewable. Even the MySpace home page seems to have not been updated since 2022.

MySpace was very important to the SMS originally, and a lot of internet-using readers from the 2000s will have fond memories of it for personal use and for band pages, but unless intentionally looking up old bands, current usage of it died in 2010 and just got worse and worse (Destroilet did try to work around the 2010 redesign but they were a rare exception), with then-current and new bands looking to Facebook and elsewhere for their social media promotion. Quite frankly, linking old local bands via MySpace pages in 2023 is nearly useless, so I've decided to remove the remaining bands from our links that are only here because they didn't have surviving pages elsewhere and I clung to MySpace for this long. As such, these local bands are no longer linked on the SMS: 2wo Man Baand, A Fall From Innocence, Bring The Fallen, Despised Eyes, Foothill Road, Free Beer, Infrastrate, The Last Warrior Of Rock, Nebraska Arms, The Pisstanks, Renderware, ...

...Route 69, Smeltzer, and Stealing Kisses. From Sault Michigan & the E.U.P., I have also deleted 7/47, Absolute, Analog Deficiency, Clownsack, Condemned, Hands Of Betrayal, Lower S.E.S., Nixxon Dixxon, The Pick-Me-Ups, Shift, and Twisted Manikin. Just to be clear, some of these bands did have activity into the 2010s on now-deleted social media accounts or without launching new ones (i.e. Clownsack's 2011 CD "Funny Farm", Bring The Fallen's 2013 reunion concert & EP, Free Beer's return as Sarah's Valley, and Foothill Road's pandemic-era original song), but unless I have missed something, none of these bands have an extant social media presence elsewhere that has content worth linking to in 2024 for research/historical purposes. If I find something that I forgot about or didn't see before, or if one of these bands decides to reunite, I will absolutely re-link the band(s) in question.

Still, deleting these pages cleans up our links a good amount, and we'll fill them back up in no time, so stay tuned for more on that in the near future! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Smeltzer & Gorrifier

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles, continuing our monthly spotlight of local metal, hard rock, and/or punk bands from the past, all as randomly selected from our inactive band links! Given our random pick last month, I optimistically pencilled today's first band in for a single band profile, but alas, not enough media or information is publically available all these years later, so we're doubling up with another randomly selected band, this time a solo studio project. Here's what you should know!

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Smeltzer

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Punk/Alternative

Lineup:

Steve "Knuckles" Mozarowski (RedD Monkey), vocals/guitar
Paul "Pauliford" Stanghetta (The Apocalypse Afterparty, The Fury), bass
Kevin "Kevo" Overton (RedD Monkey, Gates of Winter), drums

Info/Analysis: Active from around 2005-2008, Smeltzer were a common sight for genre fans at the time, primarily from appearances at Oddfellows Hall all-ages shows opening for bands like Propagandhi, Means, and The Full Blast. After dissolving, Smeltzer held a one-off reunion in 2011 at The Oddfellows Hall, while Steve and Kevin would later succeed them in the cello-infused local favourites RedD Monkey, and Steve would cover Smeltzer's "The Jock Song" with that band and as a solo artist. Smeltzer had original songs and once teased releasing an album called "Dropping The S-Bomb", but MySpace's degradation has left none of their media online, and I can't find any videos. I recall liking Smeltzer's grungier alt-punk sound and darker aesthetic compared to members' later groups, and while it's a shame they didn't run longer, follow RedD Monkey & The Apocalypse Afterparty for members' diverse recent material, visually & musically alike!

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Gorrifier

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Technical Death Metal

Lineup:

Robert Sartini (Pillory, The Peach Thieves), all instruments 

Info/Analysis: Originally active for a brief spell in 2014, Gorrifier was a straight death metal project of Rob's, playing original songs distinct from his YouTube covers of that time period. Their Reverbnation page and its six original songs were quietly pulled from public view by year's end during a mass social media exodus for his non-Pillory projects, but it quietly returned at some point circa 2016, albeit without new material.With brutal song titles like "Grotesque Creation" & "Psychological Nightmare", you can expect punishing death metal from Gorrifier, whose intense originals foreshadowed Pillory's shift to death metal during their mid-2010s revival, and while production wasn't pristine, these showcased Robert's ability and improved Death-inspired vocals very well! Give Gorrifier a listen to see what you think, and hopefully Robert returns in one project or another!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! This series will return on or around March 10th for our first single-band profile of 2022, or artist in this case, as we'll be looking at ex-Haggith/Eclipse frontman Curtis McKenzie's inactive solo project! Tune in then, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Meet The (Inactive) Local Punk Bands!! Part 6

It's now time for our 6th (and maybe second-last?) post to roll in defunct/inactive local punk bands with surviving online pages into our band links on the SMS! Sourcing mainly from MySpace now, it's sadly incredibly hard to search for local bands on there now due to last year's layout overhauls, and with biography information and bands' hometowns no longer listed, it makes the search a lot more difficult. We have enough bands there that I can verify their local ties to for at least one more installment after today, but I can't guarantee an 8th or not yet. Now, here's four more inactive punk bands from Sault Ste. Marie to formally add to our site links, in alphabetical order!

We'll start with A Fall From Innocence, an emo/pop-punk band that attained some notability in the Sault area in the mid-2000s! Active from roughly 2003-2007, their only full cited lineup online featured singer Larry Babic (later of Backroom Concept), guitarists Matt Durette and Jeff King, bassist Waylon Bougie (who's since manned some solo projects), and drummer Marc Santos (Fuller), while the band also featured Stay Seventeen singer Matt Maccarone and current Northwest frontman Wayne Watkins in other incarnations, possibly among other artists. A.F.F.I. released two CDs ("The Breathing Method" in March 2005, and a self-titled CD in February 2006), and would tour Canada in support of both discs, open for bands like The Planet Smashers, and appear at popular local concerts like the 2005 Heatwave Festival, before quietly breaking up by the following year. While I'll admit that emo punk isn't my favourite of punk subgenre, you can sense a strong talent and chemistry with A Fall From Innocence's MySpace tracks, which had strong songwriting and melodic sensibilities!

I imagine they made some fans in their tour runs, and if you listen close to some songs, Larry might have some screaming vocals too! It'd be nice to get a hold of their albums, and while I don't know of any videos of A Fall From Innocence, check them out at their Bandspace, MySpace, and PureVolume pages to hear their public original material!

Next is the popular late 2000s ska-punk band Free Beer (also known for short stretches as M.O.B. and Sarah's Valley), who fans should be familiar with from a number of big local concerts of their own! Their lineup featured singer (and Shaw TV correspondent) Christian Lemay alongside current Habitat Shuffle guitarist Dustin Goodall, and local metal band alums Ryan Gray & Keith Gagnon on bass & drums, though Stefan Zaharuk played bass for Free Beer at one point early in their run as well. During their original run as Free Beer, the band opened for the likes of The Rebel Spell, Broadcast Zero, and The Flatliners at numerous local venues between 2007 & 2009, as well as placing third at the 2008 Skid Row Battle of the Bands. Free Beer changed their name to M.O.B. in 2010, though the band didn't last terribly long under that name, and played only the occasional one-off gig before reuniting as Sarah's Valley last year, which itself was also a short lived run, and they broke up for good last summer.

I don't recall Free Beer ever putting out an album, but they had entertaining originals and covers all the same! As heard on their MySpace & Soundcloud pages, they could deftly take on both Chili Peppers-esque funk rock on originals like "My Reality" and more reggae influenced material like on "Come With Me", and their sound and fun stage show definitely helped them get a strong following! It'd be cool to see the guys turn up again under any name down the road, but give them a look at the above links, on Reverbnation, and on Christian's YouTube channel, which has a fair amount of Free Beer concert & jam videos from their heyday, including this mid-2008 video from the old O'Aces! Hear more above!



Also, we're adding defunct mid-1990s punk band Room 206 to our links! One of the few pre-2000 punk bands from the Soo with a posthumous online page (via MySpace), there isn't a lot of surviving information on them, but they were a well recieved band that were among the roster of bands that frequented the Windsor Park Hotel during that venue's heyday, as vividly depicted in Paolo Colascco's book "Going Underground", which is on the local punk scene. At the time of their feature in the book, Room 206's lineup featured singer/guitarist Mike Yorke, current Role Models frontman Brad Lacell on bass, and Mike's future Totally Confused bandmate Al Watson (later of Startlefish) on drums. I know that I'm missing members, as their MySpace photo shows a quartet lineup (and I seem to recall Brad's longtime bandmate Dave Bahun once being in Room 206 too), but I can't verify much else. Let me know if you can fill in any blanks!

Though long since inactive, Room 206 had a successful run in the local punk scene, apparently recorded some sort of album named "2 Innies & An Outie", and their song "Good Enough" even found their way onto the "Punk: The Next Generation" compilation CD alongside fellow locals The Spigots. Room 206 had a good skate punk sound with fitting vocals, very good riffs and hooks, and a nice explosive sound that must have gotten a good reception live, and you can check that out for yourself via this YouTube video of themr covering Fugazi's "Waiting Room" at the former Club Princess in February 1995! Muffled audio and patchy video, but look at that crowd! Check out much more from Room 206 via their MySpace page!
 


Finally for this punk band feature is Smeltzer, who were among the most prominent young alternative/punk bands in the Sault area in the mid-2000s! Their lineup featured both "songwriters" of the new local band The Apocalypse Afterparty, those being singer/guitarist Steve "Knuckles" Mozarowski and The Fury's Paul "Pauliford" Stanghetta on bass, while Steve's former RedD Monkey bandmate Kevin "Kevo" Overton (also formerly of Gates of Winter) rounded out their lineup on drums. Active from roughly 2006-2008, Smeltzer opened for notable bands like Propagandhi and Means at assorted concerts during their run (including a sizeable amount at The Oddfellows Hall), and though they've been broken up for 6 or so years now, the guys did reunite for a one-off headlining show in 2011, and Steve has been known to cover Smeltzer songs like "The Jock Song" both with RedD Monkey and in solo gigs. An album release named "Dropping the S-Bomb" was also teased on MySpace, but I can't confirm if it came out or not. I actually can't find a video of Smeltzer from their run, but how'd they sound?

Sound wise, I'd compare Smeltzer to a more grungy 1990s-alternative variant of Steve & Kevin's later RedD Monkey sound, and with the lack of cello, not as original, but effective in itself! I remember enjoying Smeltzer at local all ages show when I was a teenager, and their darker essence served them well, though of course, turns with a dress at live gigs did offset that a bit! Nice to hear Kevin's drumming again too, he was a local standout before he moved from the area. Check out Smeltzer above, and follow The Apocalypse Afterparty for Steve & Paul's newest material!

I hope you guys liked this newest defunct punk band feature! The only thing I can guarantee for our 7th (and maybe final?) of these introductory posts for older punk bands is that Bin Hawdon & The Taliband WILL finally be a part! Anything else is up in the air, mainly due to the awful MySpace layout changes last year, but keep an eye out regardless in the coming weeks, and stay tuned for this month's new poll and the results of last month's poll tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Smeltzer Reunion Concert Review!!

I'm back from last night's Smeltzer reunion concert at The Oddfellows Hall, but how'd it go? Here's where you'll find out! Did their reunion go off without a hitch? How'd the bands sound? Find out below!

A low attendance started the evening off, though Smeltzer/RedD Monkey had lots of merchandise and art for sale, even bringing cupcakes! The opening band was local death metal quintet The Bear Hunters, and despite the limited amount of fans to start the night, their set was mostly pretty good! The guys played all of their heavy and very brutal originals as good as we could expect early on, and this time, I could actually hear Nik Deubel with the sound being used at The Oddfellows Hall! The last few times, I couldn't hear him well, so I liked that the sound seemed to be good for the overall experience! That said, I have seen better Bear Hunters sets, but this isn't their fault, as guitarist Josh Stephney broke a guitar string about midway through their set. With no remedies immediately available, Josh had to sit out half of the set, so there was one less Bear Hunter. Luckily, it wasn't always noticeable, but you could really tell a second guitar was needed on some songs. I think the string couldn't handle the metal being played, and luckily, Josh had a good sense of humour about the situation! I also liked seeing the cover of "Down From The Sky" back for their set, which overall, was full of death metal goodness, despite the string breaking!

Next up was the Sault's favourite grind band, none other than Shit Liver! It's been a while since they've rocked an Oddfellows Hall concert (not since last year), and for the occasion, they even brought a real liver to adorn the drumkit! It didn't look shitty, but it was interesting! Their set was another crusty and grimy good time, though mostly based around originals, only covering Dystopia and OBCD last night. Their originals are worth the set though, and they play what they play very well, especially if you like their assaulting brand of death metal! Unbelievably, ANOTHER guitar string broke on a guitarist named Josh (Penno) during their set, but this time, he had replacement strings with him, so the show went on, but the playing time was cut a bit due to the delay. Technical issues aside, Shit Liver had a good set if you enjoy their mix of punk and death metal, which is liable to grow on some people with repeated listens!

Third were local indie quintet The Tenagens, and they're a talented band who performed a good set, although their style isn't something I hear a lot of. Similarly to the last time I saw them, they kinda stood out amongst the punk and metal on the bill, but their talent speaks for itself! Josh White has a nice singing voice, and Pat Dal Cin's a good bassist (nice Dream Theater shirt too!), with lots of talent to go around! I also was nicely surprised to hear their cover of The Beastie Boys' "Sabotage", but I have to say, I was surprised at the lack of banter between songs. Maybe it was due to time constraints, but I'm used to hearing some talking between songs. Good set of indie rock though, even if it's not my thing! Never hurts to broaden your horizons!

Fourth last night were the last of three metal bands, that being hardcore quartet Changing Waves, who replaced Winkstinger on last night's lineup. Surprisingly, I found that the amount of people inside rocking out for them last night was larger (or least more livelier) than the last two bands, which is a sign that Changing Waves are definitely doing something right! Their set last night featured originals like "Jung Jung", "Tital", and "Lockdown", along with well recieved covers of System of a Down's "Suite Pee" and Austrian Death Machine's "Get To The Choppa", and I have to say, they're really improving and growing as a band! Their songs have a certain energy and bang to them , and singer Banjamin Kallonen's stage presence just gets better and better! Mike Hagerman's guitar work was really nice too, and the fans started some good pits and receptions for Changing Waves! You hear more about other bands locally, but don't sleep on Changing Waves, they're right up there too, and I can't wait to hear their hardcore sounds again!

Co-headlining last night were local cello punk trio RedD Monkey, who put in another dependably solid set of high energy original songs! I'll say one thing about them live compared to their "Thought Control Tower" EP that I finally bought last night: In concert, they're faster and more energetic than on the original studio versions of their songs. I was honestly surprised at that! Songs like "Friar's Ire" and "The Clock's Dement" definitely have more bite and aggression live, I wonder why that is? Comparisons aside, their set worked really well to rock out with, and the mix of aggressive punk rock and cello seems to be a better and better match the more you see RedD Monkey! We also got a surprise early in their set when Smeltzer drummer Kevin Overton rejoined his old RedD Monkey bandmates for a song, which was cool! Very nice set from RedD Monkey, hopefully I'll see them again soon!

And finally, it was the long awaited reunion of alt punk trio Smeltzer, and it's been far too long to see them back on stage! For the record, it definitely felt old school last night, as Paul Stanghetta and Kevin Overton both returned from out of town for the Smeltzer reunion, and yes, Steve Mozarowski broke out a dress for the set! Comparisons to RedD Monkey may be inevitable (especially for newer fans), but they're two different bands, so I try not to, but I will say that Smeltzer's set seemed more spontaneous than the earlier bands last night. It was a treat hearing old Smeltzer originals again, as well as seeing the old lineup back together, and their songs still had the punk/grunge style that made them so well loved in the mid-2000s! It was especially nice to see Kevin back drumming in town, I haven't seen him at a local show since 2008 or 2009. Smeltzer showed good chemistry, and their punk and alternative sounds were easily welcomed back last night! Hopefully this won't be the last time we see the guys together!

Awesome nostalgic concert last night! Lots of quality local bands, and there was no shortage of music for any taste, though I have to ask: Why no reunion of The Fury? 2/3rds of the band played last night, and bassist Tony Briglio was in attendance, it would have been a perfect fit. Oh well, what we got was great! I got photos of each band, so click here or visit our official Facebook page to give them a look, along with this concert's "Tag Yourself" photo! And I got videos of each metal band, so check out The Bear Hunters playing their original "Condemned", Shit Liver playing their song "(Friendly Old) Uncle Joe", and Changing Waves covering Austrian Death Machine's "Get To The Choppa"!







That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for more news including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, details on a new local band, and more! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison) And Sault Ontario Weekend Concert Previews!!

Alright, it's now time for our second part of our three-post weekend concert previews, and today, we have five shows in Sault Ontario itself to preview, one of which is newly announced, so that's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT too! And yes, Sault Michiganders, we'll preview your weekend concerts early tomorrow! Now, to this weekend's previews on the Ontario side, starting with the new show! (And for my preview of this weekend's Hempfest, check the post below this one!)

As could be expected, Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison will return to Service Grill Pizza on Saturday for some acoustic metal goodness! His weekly arrangement there continues for two sets on Saturday, after just playing the afternoon set there last week due to the Hollow reunion show. So if you wanna see Tym at 3:00 PM or 8:00 PM, you're good this week! Actually, knowing that this arrangement was only scheduled for the summer, this could be one of the last times you could see him at the Korah Road pizza joint this year (barring an extension), but I assume it will run at least through the end of August. Also note that he'll be back at the Tilt'n Hilton in Hilton Beach on St. Joseph Island Sunday too, so if you wanna make the long drive out there on Sunday afternoon, then definitely go see Tym on Sunday! There is no announced cover charge, and again, it appears to be all ages on Saturday. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds like fun, hopefully Tym tears it up this weekend! Go see him here or in Hilton Beach if you can, and for a preview, here's Tym covering Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven" in 2009!



Now to the previously announced shows, and first, it's TONIGHT'S 28th Roosevelt Hotel metal night! However, if the lineup seems familiar to a non-Dismembertainment show at The Oddfellows Hall three weeks ago, it's no coincidence, as Halifax classic metal bands Black Moor & Sanktuary are coming back to Sault Ontario tonight to rock The Rosie! Awesome to see them back so soon, seeing as they slayed The Rosie the first time around! However, there will be changes, including cooler temperatures and a new band order. This time, Black Moor will headline, with Sanktuary again co-headlining the concert. Local death metal band The Bear Hunters (who played last three weeks ago) will instead be third on tonight's bill, in what will also be their record 13th appearance at a Thursday metal night! The opening band for tonight will be grimecore rockers Shit Liver, in their first metal night appearance in 7 weeks. Good to see them back, they're piling on the bookings now that they're back gigging! With the out of town bands (which we haven't seen on a Thursday since The Dayglo Abortions), there will be a nominal cover of $3 (it's worth every penny though, and cheaper than three weeks ago.) As usual, it's a 19+ show, and Shit Liver start things off at 9:30 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

Awesome show all around, hopefully a big crowd shows up! And if you missed Sanktuary and Black Moor last month, do yourself a favour and check them out tonight, their classic metal sounds aren't to be missed! Check the above links for more, and for a preview, here's Black Moor playing "Acid Biker" at The Oddfellows Hall last month!



Also this weekend is a very cool all ages show taking place tomorrow night at The Oddfellows Hall featuring three metal bands and the return of alternative rock trio Smeltzer! They were a talented & prominent sight in the mid-2000s, and now they're back for one night only to headline this all ages concert! Not metal, but if you saw them, you know how entertaining they were! Not sure which of their old lineups will reform for this show, but for reference sake, their last active lineup featured RedD Monkey frontman Steve Mozarowski, bassist Paul Stanghetta of The Fury, and ex-RedD Monkey/Gates of Winter drummer Kevin Overton. Conveniently, RedD Monkey are also scheduled for tomorrow night as the co-headliners, which should ensure a punk filled finish for tomorrow's show! Below them, the show includes local hardcore band Changing Waves (replacing Winkstinger tomorrow), indie rockers The Tenagens, and one day after the Rosie metal night, Shit Liver & The Bear Hunters once again! That's the performance order, but I should address the lineup, as it's changed since the show was first announced.

The Tenagens & The Bear Hunters flipped their spots at 7:45 PM & 9:00 PM (now 9:15 PM), but now, Changing Waves have been promoted from opening at 7:00 PM to third on the bill at 9:15 PM, bumping The Tenagens, Shit Liver, and The Bear Hunters back a slot each to 8:30 PM, 7:45 PM, and 7:00 PM respectively, with Smeltzer & RedD Monkey playing at 10:45 PM & 10:00 PM. This show is ALL AGES with a $5 cover, and doors open at 6:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds like fun, and I will be there to enjoy the local talent! It's been forever for me to see Smeltzer, and you can't beat an old school all ages show like this! Hope to see you guys there, and for a preview, here's RedD Monkey covering Motorhead's "Ace of Spaces"!



Finally for this weekend, local classic hard rock quartet Full Circle are back at The Roosevelt Hotel for a weekend set tomorrow night and Saturday night! Their busy schedule of weekends continues at The Rosie this weekend, and they should have some great covers in store from all eras of hard rock over the next two nights! Nothing too different for their shows this weekend, but remember that the new patio at The Rosie is open, if that's a selling point! They'll be on at 10:00 PM both nights, you must be 19 to attend, and there is no cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Always good to see Full Circle out and about, and hopefully they'll deliver a great weekend of music as always tomorrow night & Saturday night! Hopefully Hempfest doesn't sap the attendance either, but fans will come out either way! For a preview, click here and move to 13:20 of the video to see Full Circle cover of Heart's "Alone" at this year's Rotaryfest!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for Sault Michigan weekend concert previews and more news tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (NoXcape), Plus News From Banned, Changing Waves, and Woods Of Ypres!!

More news for your weekend, in what's turning out to be a fast start to the month of August! In what's likely my last post before I go see the Hollow reunion tonight at Bossy's, we have a new video from Banned, more assorted news from Woods of Ypres, and news on the lineup at next weekend's Smeltzer reunion show, but first, here are some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!! (Edited on Saturday at 3:34 PM)

Their debut show hasn't even happened yet, but new local metal quintet NoXcape have already announced their next concerts! The band featuring former members of Absolute and Shift will make their first ever appearances in Sault Michigan itself in two weeks when they rock The Satisfied Frog on August 19th and 20th! The shows were recently posted on the band's Reverbnation page, so that's my source. Both shows should be 21+, a 10:00 PM start time is listed for both nights, and there's no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details! Nice to see this talented new local band with some truly local shows on the horizon, I know they'll do great in two weeks at The Frog! Of course, before that, head down to Rudyard TONIGHT to see NoXcape's debut show at Dan's Place! I'll keep you guys posted when more NoXcape news comes in!

Next up, here's the latest lineup news as it pertains to Friday's Smeltzer reunion concert at The Oddfellows Hall, featuring local metal bands! The final band has been announced for the six-band lineup, and they are local hardcore quartet Changing Waves, fresh off their show at The Rosie this past Thursday! They are replacing Winkstinger (who were briefly advertised for this show last month) on the official lineup. Solid addition, never hurts to get some hardcore into an all ages show! The lineup for this show is now complete, and the official event poster on your left reflects that (and in case anyone asks, "The Quick Acting Pain Reliever" is not a band, it's a retro advertisement reference.) The official schedule is also out now for this concert, and it runs down like this: Smeltzer are headlining at 10:45 PM on Friday, with frontman Steve Mozarowski's current main band RedD Monkey preceding them at 10:00 PM. The Bear Hunters are the highest placed metal band at 9:00 PM, with returning grimecore trio Shit Liver on at 8:30 PM, indie rockers The Tenagens at 7:45 PM, and Changing Waves opening the show at 7:00 PM. The lineup is tentative, however, so changes in order or bands could be coming. Stay tuned to the SMS for more details, and hopefully I'll see you guys there!

Now to some video-related news from Woods of Ypres! Firstly, the band now has an official YouTube channel through popular music video site Vevo, and you can check it out at this location! So far, the only video posted is of their music video for "I Was Buried (In Mount Pleasant Cemetery)", which we have seen from other sources, but hopefully it will fill up more soon! Maybe re-post the "Northern Cold" video? It's a thought! However, we also have a new remix of "You Were The Light" from guitarist Joel Violette to check out as well! The remix is titled "Accounting For Your Cruelty" (it's not a new song, thanks to "Findles" for the correction), and it's also very doomy and emotional under the remix effects, which are well done once again! E-mail David once again at davidypres@gmail.com for the master files if you want to remix this song, and hopefully people jump on this bandwagon, as I haven't seen too much in the form of new remixes yet outside of the ones Joel made. Good stuff, give the new remix a listen below, and apologies for my earlier error!



And finally for today, we have one more new video from Kinross hard rock trio Banned! Like the past two videos we've featured, this comes from the band's Music In The Park show in Rudyard last month, and was uploaded to YouTube by Ashley Traynor yesterday. I won't go too in-depth with it, as we mentioned videos from this show already when they were posted, but this is of Banned covering T. Rex's "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" with drummer Don Traynor (Ashley's father) on lead vocals. Good rendition, but the chorus is a bit more piercing than the original version. Nice to see more Banned videos though, so give this one a look below!



That's all for now, but if no new posts come by tonight, I will see you guys at Bossy's for the Hollow reunion show! Thanks everyone, keep it metal!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Bear Hunters), Rotaryfest Fallout, And Our First Taste Of Great Bodily Harm!!

It's time to dive into the old news desk with a packed post today, including Rotaryfest fallout (particularly the metal & hard rock aspects), and our first glimpses at a new local metal band! However, we'll lead off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you need to know!

All ages concerts have been popping up very rapidly in recent weeks, from July's metal-driven Titan's Eve and Sanktuary shows to next month's Alcoholic White Trash-headlined concert. Well, add another one to the schedule, as another all ages show at The Oddfellows Hall is now official for August 12th! One metal band is confirmed for the show so far, that being melodic death metal quintet The Bear Hunters, marking their third all ages show of the summer. Awesome to see them back at The Oddfellows Hall, they'll tear it up! The rest of the lineup so far is a mixed bag of styles, but there's a lot of great stuff to be had, including the reunion of Smeltzer as the headliners! Yes, the popular alt-punk trio last featuring RedD Monkey frontman Steve Mozarowski, bassist Paul Stanghetta (of The Fury), and former RedD Monkey/Gates of Winter drummer Kevin Overton will reunite for presumably one night only on August 12th, which should be awesome! No word if this exact lineup will be back, but fans should be excited for their return, as Smeltzer were a popular and loyally followed local band in their mid-2000s heyday! Conveniently, RedD Monkey will also play this concert as the co-headliners (no word on a possible Fury return yet, though it seems like an ideal time for one), and local indie rockers The Tenagens have also been confirmed as openers. More bands are to be announced, so I'll let you know when announcements are made!

This show will have a $5 cover charge, a 7:00 PM start time, and as said above, this is an ALL AGES event! For all current and future details, visit the official Facebook event page! I used to really enjoy Smeltzer back in the day, so their return alone is worth hitting, but with the potential for a huge amount of bands (including The Bear Hunters), this show will likely get even better over the next few weeks! As more updates come in, I'll have them here!

Next up, do you remember the Sault Michigan metal band Great Bodily Harm? They're the newer local supergroup featuring former Hammerspace singer Kirk Labadie, Swampghas drummer Doug Reed on guitar, River Witch bassist Chris Leask, and End of Existence frontman Bob Helsten on drums. You may remember them as the openers for a Half A Man concert in April, followed by a slot at LemmaFest last month, but without a visible internet page or media, we couldn't say too much about them. Well, now we can, as three original demos from Great Bodily Harm are now on YouTube, thanks to YouTube user panzertera (who is likely a band member, though I can't prove which one.) These songs were actually uploaded in March & April, but without a local credit to the videos, I wouldn't have found them, so thanks to Doug's Swampghas bandmate Jason Mills for verifying that with me! So the three posted Great Bodily Harm songs are called "You Don't Even Know", "Jaw Breaker", and the intentionally misspelled "Cuntrol", and their sound is quite promising! Think of it as a mix between 1990s groove metal and hardcore, similar sounding to bands like Pro-Pain. Kirk's singing is much heavier than his Hammerspace work, and Doug's riffs are crushing! I'm eager to hear more from Great Bodily Harm, hopefully they finally start an internet page of some kind!

I'll embed "Jaw Breaker" here, but all the songs are very heavy and worth checking out, so visit the above links for your first online tastes of Great Bodily Harm! As I hear more, I'll let you know, but here's one of their first original songs, "Jaw Breaker"!



Finally for today, here's some fallout from this year's Rotaryfest stages, seeing as our annual summer festival is now in the books for another year! Firstly, local news site Local2 was on hand to film The Stage at Clergue Park, where they got video footage of almost every band from all three nights of music! Only Fusion was left out, to my knowledge, I wonder why? Lots of solid (though unembeddable) video footage was taken by Local2's Mike Caruso, though his camera made many objects have squiggly lines in fast motion. Click here to see Thursday's "Blues In The Park" bands, but if you're looking for hard rock, the video from Friday will have you covered, as it has some footage of local classic hard rockers That's Chester covering Deep Purple's "Highway Star" from Friday's lineup! It's not full (cutting off before the 3 minute mark), but the quality's great and the band are in top form! Click here for to see most of Friday's bands, and That's Chester's segment starts at 6:22 into the video. As for last night's Rotaryfest main stage lineup, there's a video for that too, which you can view at this location, and it gives us our first video glimpse at local classic hard rockers Full Circle! Sadly, they only get barely a minute of screen time, but I can tell you a few things, including that the video is from their cover of the song "Alone" by Heart!

I don't have a huge glimpse of Full Circle here to accurately compare them to the last Turner Up lineup I saw live (the Krista Marshall fronted lineup from earlier this year), but KT Antler has some real pipes on her, and Kyle McKey shows some good energy on guitar! Hopefully we get some longer video soon, but this is better than nothing! Check the above links to give the Saturday main stage lineup a look, and Full Circle's portion begins at around 13:20 of that video. Other local news sites didn't devote large coverage to the main stage, but the Tenaris Second Stage has lots of stuff to share! No metal bands played on the outdoor stage on Queen Street East this year, but SooToday's massive photo album and some more Local2 videos (viewable here) will give you some very nice glimpses into the Second Stage, where local metal alumni like Glen Thomas & Chris Smith (Wishbone), Joel Poluck (Mora Lee Sound), and Alex White (Cowboys & Indians) rocked out to a large audience! Also of note: Sativa Rose guitarist Andrew Angelic played with Cowboys & Indians on Friday as their temporary live guitarist, and you can see him in the photos and video footage as well! Looks like this year's Rotaryfest stages were big successes, so check out all of the above links for all the Rotaryfest musical fallout, and I'll have more if it emerges!

That's all for today, but stay tuned TOMORROW for the final results of last month's poll and the debut of our new poll, where you can pick your favourite concerts of the first half of 2011! Stay tuned, thanks everyone!