LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Slaughter), Two Inactive Band Notes, And More SMS Band Link Updates!!

While the snow continues to pile on outside, here's a new news post to check out on this Tuesday evening! We're mostly addressing updates to and removals from our band links today, but to lead off, here's a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this year!

Las Vegas glam metal veterans Slaughter will make their long awaited return to our area on Saturday, June 29th when they rock Kewadin Casino... in St. Ignace?! Best known from hit singles like "Up All Night", "Fly To The Angels", and "Real Love", this will be Slaughter's first regional concert appearance since opening for Stryper at the Sault Michigan Kewadin in 2012, and their third local gig since 2008, but now they're headlining with their high energy classic hard rock! Pasadena glam/hard rock quartet Autograph (of "Turn Up The Radio" & "Blondes In Black Cars" fame) will open with their own familiar brand of 1980s rock action, so don't bypass their set either! Clearly, the St. Ignace summer concert series did well last year, as this Kewadin branch is booking even more touring bands for 2019, though the Slaughter show appears to be indoors at the casino's on-site event center. The location may be atypical for Kewadin-booked hair metal, but how do $10 tickets sound?

Yes, tickets are that low, and you can buy them starting Friday at 9:00 AM at this link, the Sault Kewadin's in-person box office, the gift shop at the St. Ignace Kewadin, or presumably at 1-800-KEWADIN. This show has no advertised age limits, and an 8:00 PM start time, and is presented by Classic Rock: The Bear (whose 95.3 signal is easily heard in St. Ignace, but only gets fringe reception in the Soo.) It'll be very interesting to see how this show does given the non-Sault locale, but if you love the Hair Scare and 1980s glam rock, you won't wanna bypass this show, especially at this price! See the official Facebook event page and the above links for more details!

Next up, we have regrettably moved local death metal project Life's Eclipse back to our inactive band links. While no public statements have been made regarding their current status, the band has not issued an update to their Facebook page since January 31st of last year, well past our one year inactivity cutoff. The flagship band of local independent label Werehold Records (both led by singer/guitarist Jason Mills), Life's Eclipse reunited in 2011 after a few years' hiatus, and had been active to varying degrees ever since as a studio project. Long-time readers may be most familiar with Life's Eclipse from their regular involvement in Werehold Records' nine Friday the 13th new music posting events from 2012-2017, often featuring songs from incomplete and unreleased albums. It should be noted that Werehold Records proper haven't updated their own Facebook page since 2017, and of their roster of metal/hard rock artists, only Moss remain in our active links.

I know that personal commitments have been at least partially to blame for the slowdown in Life's Eclipse/Werehold updates in the late 2010s, so a resumption of public activity could happen at any time pending availability and scheduling.  Life's Eclipse were a brutal, technical, and well-composed band when firing on all cylinders, and Jason & the Werehold roster had a lot of talent and ambition to go around! Despite not being known for live concerts, they flew the extreme metal flag well for the E.U.P., and hopefully we hear more from Jason, David, Joe, and Casey when the time is right!

Also, we have one more band to move to our inactive band links, namely Sault Ontario rap metal/party rock collective The Apocalypse Afterparty. While the band did publically acknowledge that "hibernation is ending" back in October, their Facebook page has quietly been taken down since, which (Destroilet aside) is historically a bad sign. In any event, the band had only posted once on Facebook in the past 15 months, and in lieu of the apparent deletion, they are now linked here via their Wix website. Active since 2014, this eclectic masked group evolved from a duo to a full live and studio band, though concerts were selective, often at private bookings or via short notice "pop-up" gigs. The Apocalypse Afterparty may best be known from their quartet appearance at the 2015 VM Radio Battle of the Bands at The Canadian Nightclub (surprisingly making the finals), while they released their EP "Bufflesnort" back in April 2017.

Whether or not you previously knew of X, Z, x, z, and company's real identities, The A.A. made their mark in the mid-2010s! With a unique stage presence, creative hybrid sound, gender-equal lineup, and imaginative back story, it's a shame that The Apocalypse Afterparty didn't play live more often, but hopefully we see Paul, Amanda, Sara, Sven, Rito, and former band members back out there down the line, masked or otherwise!

Finally, CBC Music closed it's artist page service on November 20th, due to the decrease in traffic and attention to band pages there compared to other social media services (you can read more on the decision at this link.)  This didn't receive the advance notice that PureVolume's closure had, so I unfortunately was unable to back up anything there from local artists, but much like PureVolume, I did recognize how little CBC Music (formerly CBC Radio 2) was used by local musicians in recent years. It was a useful and informative service in it's day, and I'll miss having it around! As of this month, we had only linked four local bands (all defunct) to CBC Music pages, so changes to our links are thankfully minimal, especially as only one didn't have an online band page elsewhere. With all of that said, I changed our links for defunct punk bands The 12 Gauge Ready and Glunk! to their MySpace pages, while replacing Burn The Past (previously known as Downshift) with their Bandcamp page.

The only removal was 2007-2012 local/Oil Springs metal band Sue Inside, who don't have a known online page outside of CBC. It's unfortunate to lose one of the oldest local death metal bands from our links, but hopefully Shane, Adam, and Jeff are still musically active out of town! Hopefully this all clears up the recent link changes, and in lieu of the CBC Music page deletions, maybe they'll bring their FM station here sooner or later? That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next. Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile: Sue Inside

Here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, but with a late change of band! Last month, we had randomly chosen Sykotyk Rampage for our next band in this spotlight series on inactive local metal, hard rock, and punk bands, as they were seemingly still on hiatus. As it turns out, they have in fact released their first "album" in over a year, and are back in our active band links (more on that this week), so I have opted to change this month's featured defunct/inactive band. Like with similar past situations, I picked the closest alphabetical band that we hadn't previously profiled in this series, who should be familiar from our early years, so here's what you should know!
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Sue Inside

Genre: Death Metal/Hard Rock/Folk

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie/Oil Springs, Ontario

Members:

Shane Lipsit-Fraser (Paricide), vocals/guitar
Adam Veen (Dog Patch, Paricide, The Mudd Buttons), bass/guitar/vocals
Jeff Vogel, drums

Audio/Video: Though Sue Inside never released a formal studio album in either of their hometowns, a fair amount of original material survives from their run, including 8 original song demos on their CBC Music page. Shane and Adam's respective YouTube channels (linked here & here) feature a number of Oil Springs-era videos from the early 2010s, though Shane's are primarily of an informal acoustic variety sans Jeff, and some of Adam's are cover performances, while I can't find any live videos of Sue Inside from their late 2000s local tenure. Here's the 2012 music video for their song "Caligula (Extra Cheese)" from the band's YouTube channel!



Info/Analysis: Formed by then-Sault College students Shane Fraser and Jeff Vogel in early 2007, non-alumni will best know Sue Inside locally from their sets as an extreme metal duo at the Skid Row and YMCA Battles of the Bands in April 2008 & March 2009, though they didn't place in either event. The band moved along with Shane and Jeff to Southern Ontario in mid-2009, where they enlisted Shane's former Paricide bandmate Adam Veen to round out their lineup. Sporadic activity would follow over the next three years, largely via solo and jam session videos, though the guys did play the occasional Sarnia-area concert during this time. The group quietly dissolved following the "Caligula" video release in 2012, though Adam remains musically active in Oil Springs. As a local band, Sue Inside honestly came onto the local scene about 6 years too soon, as they'd have fit right in with the mid-2010s rise of two man metal projects in this city with their brutal minimalist sound!

While raw and unpolished in the Soo, Shane and Jeff harboured good chemistry in their battle sets. Sue Inside's Oil Springs tenure saw a nice expansion of their horizons to softer acoustic material like "Hogtail Juice" and "Saved on T.V.s", while also retaining a fuller metal edge on select tracks, with Adam a key factor at this time. The guys are now spread out across the province, but hopefully Sue Inside resurfaces in some form down the road, they were definitely ahead of their time locally!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, we'll be looking at two bands for the second time this year, as the first randomly chosen band doesn't have enough material to warrant a solo profile, so a Sault Michigan act in a similar state was chosen to round things out and close this 10 band 2-1-3-1-2-1 cycle. As such, our next profiled bands will be ex-Fitswitch bassist Andrew MacDonald's LikeKissingBricks solo project and early 2000s metal project Hammerspace, so look for these on or around August 10th, and stay tuned for news and concert previews on The Sault Metal Scene soon! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: MrFortierg & SueInside1's Channels

It's now time for our monthly YouTube Channel Profile Series, as we're once again looking at randomly selected YouTube channels featuring at least a 50% ratio of local metal, hard rock, or punk-relevant videos among it's present content, in order to profile them for readers who might want to check them out! This month, we had planned to look at 3 channels due to each only having one distinct video type, but on further observation, the first that we chose had two distinct video types, so we'll only look at 2 channels today, with the planned 3rd channel (kennybekendam featuring 2 Treble Charger videos) will now lead off next month's profile. More on that in a bit, but now, here's what you should know!

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MrFortierg's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/mrfortierg)

Owner: Guy Fortier, owner of The Lavigne Tavern in Lavigne, Ontario

Channel Timeline: Launched on November 17th, 2009; Videos uploaded from March-August 2010

Channel Summary: Guy's channel is devoted to live concert videos from concerts at The Lavigne Tavern (outside of Sturgeon Falls) in 2010, with five of his nine videos coming from a concert there by local/Toronto Celtic punk quartet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide on April 24th. The other four videos are of other artists that played there in mid-2010, though none are local acts.

Why You Should Watch: You should give Guy's videos a look for some entertaining videos of The Rising Tide from some of their earlier concerts from before the release of "Whiskey Will Be Our Sun", and while the quality on these videos is mixed (with muddy visuals and inconsistent audio), they capture Dustin & company's entertaining Celtic punk well! Also, give Guy's other videos a look to see other acts playing there that have talent in their own right! Note however that this channel hasn't been visibly updated in over 4 years, in case that changes your mind on subscribing.

Our Recommended Videos to Check Out:

rising tide 011.avi: Guy's videos of Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide's Lavigne concert in April 2010 include four of the band (then featuring Frank McCormick on drums) playing songs together, including their songs "Rising Tide" & "Molly Malloy" (as embedded below), as well as covers of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" (with Sheldon Jaaskelainen on lead vocals & banjo) and The Pogues' "Streams of Whiskey". Though the quality is mixed, you can make out strong performances of these originals and covers from Dustin and crew, and it's nice to see fans dancing up front!



risingtide 016.avi: The most viewed video of Sheldon playing an energetic fiddle solo, complete with a jump up to the bar counter during it! Nice rousing performance that definitely seemed to please fans in attendance, and if you know Sheldon, you'll know that he's fiddling at his best!


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SueInside1's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/sueinside1)

Owner: A member of defunct local/Oil Springs metal band Sue Inside, identity unclear, though the channel is credited to the band as a whole.

Channel Timeline: Launched on April 5th, 2012; Only video uploaded three days later

Channel Summary: Likely the intended official YouTube channel for Sue Inside (and possibly in place of frontman Shane Lipsit-Fraser's own channel), the only upload here is of the music video for "Caligula (Extra Cheese)", which marked the band's last major public activity before they fell inactive. Featuring their expanded Oil Springs-era lineup (with Shane and drummer Jeff Vogel joined by bassist/clean vocalist Adam Veen), the video is well shot and edited in black & white, and it captures one of Sue Inside's best studio originals with a catchy riff and great vocals from both Shane and Adam. It's a shame that Sue Inside aren't active at present to keep up this strong work!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! As previously mentioned, we'll now lead off next month's installment of this profile with kennybekendam's channel (featuring 2 Treble Charger concert videos), but to round things out for a full profile, we'll look at Jon Livingstone's channel (featuring three drum performances by ex-Pillory drummer Bret Shuttleworth) and Jurgenss88 (featuring two Woods of Ypres songs), so watch for all of them on or around April 22nd! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Shaneuf's Channel

In our second post of the day, we have this month's YouTube Channel Profile for you guys! As usual, this monthly feature series looks at 1-3 randomly chosen YouTube channels that have at least a 50% focus on videos on or about local metal/hard rock artists and events, so you guys can learn more about them and be encouraged to check out and subscribe to them on YouTube! This month's selection focuses on a band that may be familiar to some readers from their late 2000s local tenure, so read on below for this month's profile, and check out this weekend's Sault Michigan concert previews in the post below this one!
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Shaneuf's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/shaneuf)

Owner: Former Sue Inside singer/guitarist Shane Lipsit-Fraser, most recently in the London acoustic rock band Dalliers

Channel Timeline: Launched on September 22nd, 2007; Videos posted from November 2009 through February 2012

Channel Summary: Effectively the official YouTube channel for two-time local battle of the bands veterans Sue Inside, Shane Fraser has posted videos of him and fellow band members playing original Sue Inside material since shortly after their 2007 debut, but all of their local-era postings (including some live local concert media) have been deleted over time for unannounced reasons. Currently, Shane's channel features 15 performance clips credited to Sue Inside from after the band's 2009 relocation to Oil Springs, though the majority are of Shane playing solo acoustic versions of their songs. The channel's lone non-Sue Inside video is of bassist Adam Veen's alter-ego Dr. Jeremiah Rabishi playing his original acoustic song "General Store" from October 2011, with Shane on guitar.

Why Should You Watch: I recommend checking out Shane's channel as it's the best surviving source for Sue Inside videos, as they were a unique and creative band that were about two years ahead of their time based on their extreme metal sound, even if we only saw them as a duo! That being said, none of Shane's surviving videos come from their local tenure (or even feature drummer Jeff Vogel), and few sound similar to that era, but there's some unplugged and jam talent within even still! Note however that Sue Inside fell inactive last year, and there have been no visible signs of life there since, in case that changes your mind on subscribing.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

Sue Inside - Lost Cave of Corpses: Shane's five earliest surviving & last two YouTube uploads are of him playing solo acoustic versions of Sue Inside songs, including "Falling" & "Let Us Out" from February 2012. To share here, I picked one of the first 5, as they're a bit more creative in lyrical content & themes, and being from November 2009, were closest to their local tenure. To have been featured on a "Living Room Sessions" album that I don't think ever came out, these 5 songs (with such interesting names as "Return to the City of Cheese" & "Hogtail Juice") are all naturally performed in his living room. I picked "Lost Cave of Corpses" based on it's length and creative guitar work (including some percussion slaps), though note that the window lighting makes him very dark, and his vocals are very quiet when used. Still, Shane has real guitar talent and creativity at acoustic songs, even if it was a big departure from his local work!



Skeleton Sunrise by Sue Inside: The most viewed (and longest) of Shane's Sue Inside videos, this clip is one of six jam session videos that he posted between November 2009 & March 2010 featuring him, bassist Adam Veen (on guitar or drums), and on the last three, guest one-skin drummer Craig MacDonald. These were part of a Monday night jam session series during Sue Inside's early Oil Springs tenure, and the music tends to be pretty good, with Adam's deeper singing voice often outshining Shane's in an unplugged setting! Note that the videos with Craig (like "New Jersey") are longer & a bit more serious, but the ones of just Shane & Adam have more of a loose & fun vibe, including "You Will Never Know", which has both Shane's aggressive metal screaming vocals & Adam behind a normal drumkit! For actual live footage of Shane & Adam in concert during the band's last months, visit Adam's YouTube channel.



Sue Inside - Hermit: In January 2011, Shane experimented with some post-production and camera filters for two generally black & white videos that he posted on YouTube, including the solo acoustic versions of Sue Inside's "Green Curry Chicken" and "Hermit", two instrumental songs from the middle of their Oil Springs run. The former is mostly a performance video (almost looking like newsprint with its filter), while "Hermit" is a full on music video, with Shane portraying the title character in a dark and somewhat eerie piece that ends with him speaking to the camera, though what he says is very hard to hear, then fast forwarded. The song itself is fairly repetitive and minimalistic, but the video has a nice atmosphere that would have been cool to see again!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! As for our last entry in this series for 2013, we'll be looking at two channels for the first time in 8 months, as the first channel we randomly picked only had 2 videos from the same concert, so I picked another to fill it out. With that said, we'll be looking at the YouTube channels of user BurgandyHill (featuring two videos of Bring The Fallen from their first show & battle of the bands win in 2009) and veteran local drummer Vinnie Milosevich (featuring videos from two of his old local metal band Hollow's concerts), so watch out for all of this on or around December 22nd! I'll also note that BurgandyHill's videos are ironically from the last of the two local battles that Sue Inside was in... the joys of random selection! That's all for today, but in case there's no new news post tomorrow, I'll see you guys at The Moose Lodge on Sunday night for Biipiigwan! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bret Michaels), And Some New Video Finds!!

I wasn't expecting to have a second post today, but with a new promotional video for a local metal concert taking place TONIGHT, I threw this one together, so what's joining said clip? A new video discovery from two time local battle of the bands veterans, but first, here's a HUGE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT that you hair metal fans should enjoy for early next year (and check out most of the weekend's Sault Ontario metal/hard rock concert previews in the post below this one!)

Poison frontman and TV personality Bret Michaels will once again return to the region for a headlining concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino during his Life Rocks Tour on Saturday, January 18th! Definitely no stranger to Sault Ste. Marie, we last saw the "Rock My RV" host at Kewadin in December 2011 (which followed dates there in 2008 & 2010, plus at the former Eastgate Hotel in Sault Ontario in 2005), so you know there'll be a sizeable crowd back at the Soo Kewadin in January for his (at least) fifth local solo concert! Bret's a glam metal mainstay who's sold millions of records with Poison, and with his new collaborative album named "Jammin' With Friends" now on sale, he'll have some classic Poison hits and newer originals ready to rock this time around for what is the first announced local hard rock show of 2014! Bret's opening band in January will be North Carolina glam metal quartet FireHouse, who will return to the Soo for the first time since opening for Skid Row there in March 2009!

Best known for hit singles like "Don't Treat Me Bad" &  "When I Look Into Your Eyes", the inclusion of FireHouse as openers is extra fitting, as they were scheduled to open for Bret's March 2008 local concert before frontman C.J. Snare's wife went into labour (locals Nixxon Dixxon filled in on short notice), so it's great to see FireHouse opening for Bret locally as was originally planned almost 6 years ago! Tickets will go on sale for this ALL AGES concert on November 29th (one week from Friday), and they will cost either $52.50 or $42.50 depending on location, and a 7:00 PM start time is likely. For more details, visit Kewadin Casino's Facebook page! It's great to see Bret Michaels back in town after over 2 years away, and while I'm not a huge fan of Poison, he's well liked and definitely talented musically, and an effective redo of his & FireHouse's 2008 show can't be a bad thing! Get your tickets next Friday at this link, at the in-person box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN, and stay tuned for any possible updates!

Next up, here's a new music video discovery from defunct local/Oil Springs metal band Sue Inside! While researching them for tomorrow's YouTube Channel Profile on frontman Shane Lipsit-Fraser's personal channel, I found a newer official channel of theirs that saw just one upload in April 2012 before their fall into inactivity, and it's a music video for one of their last original songs, "Caligula"! Filmed in black & white and on multiple camera angles, it features Shane on harsh vocals & guitar, Adam Veen on clean vocals & bass, and Jeff Vogel on drums. The editing's a bit predictable in terms of what camera angles take place when, but it's well filmed otherwise, and this is still a really promising sign of what could have been for Sue Inside. I always liked Adam's vocal ability and tone, and that (plus his bass work) added a missing piece to their sound, but as well, Shane & Jeff's more extreme local run as a duo in the late 2000s was about 2 years ahead of it's time. I firmly believe that if they played the same material in the early 2010s, they'd have been a lot more successful, but check out Sue Inside's last video posting below!

Finally for today, remember how we previewed TONIGHT'S Diemonds-headlined concert at The Algonquin Pub in this morning's post? Well, the Toronto sleaze rock quintet posted this public service announcement video onto their YouTube channel just a little while ago to hype the concert! It's a PSA from (I believe) guitarist Daniel Dekay to address the fact that 9 out of 10 men suffer from a lack of rock, and the solution is to come to The Algonquin Pub for their show tonight! Note that the video's description says the show takes place upstairs at The Rockstar Bar, but I assume that's an error, everywhere else says it's downstairs. Neat and short clip that is cool to see, especially with the tailoring to the local date, so check it out below, and don't miss Diemonds, T-Rex Manning, and Punch TONIGHT! 10:00 PM, 19+, $5!



That's all for today, but stay tuned TOMORROW for the rest of our weekend concert previews, plus the aforementioned YouTube Channel Profile on Sue Inside's frontman's channel! Thanks everyone!

The End Of For All That Is Lost, Another Inactive Band, And More Recent News!!

For our 40th straight day of new SMS posts, today's updates have a bit of a downer feel to them, as we have a major band breakup, another who've likely fallen inactive, and a member departure from another local band in this post. There is some levity concerning a venue change (sort of) for a major upcoming show, but read on below to get caught up on these recent stories!

First, Central Algoma death metal quartet For All That Is Lost have surprisingly announced that they've broken up. In a posting on their Facebook page last night, they announced that they will "no longer be a band", though they added that they had a great run, they appreciated their fans, and they encouraged other local bands to keep their music close & their friends closer. A reason wasn't given for their breakup, though their brief bassist departure status on Facebook from last month could have been linked. This ends a successful three year run for F.A.T.I.L., who launched at CASS Cafe gigs in early 2010 before moving to concerts everywhere from St. Joseph Island to Thessalon, later becoming a favourite at Sault Ontario metal shows from early 2011 through last fall. Memorable concerts included 8 Rosie metal night appearances, their various multi-band gatherings at members' homes, opening slots for bands like Fuck The Facts, and their third place tie at last April's Humane Society Battle of the Bands, though they only played one live concert in the past 7 months.

I really enjoyed For All That Is Lost, and I thought that they had steadily improved as a unit during their run with a lot of brutal originals (plus their unique masked look in many later shows), helping make them arguably the highest profile of the Central Algoma metal bands that sprouted in the early 2010s! I don't know what led to their breakup, but I can only hope things were amicable, as they're talented guys that would all benefit newer bands! Best of luck to Tyler, Brook, Ben, and Kameron in the future, and hopefully we'll hear of new music from them all sooner or later!

Next up, we have another band to add to our inactive local band links, that being the former locally-based metal band Sue Inside. They last updated their then-new Facebook page on April 10th of last year, but they have shown no visible signs of life since then elsewhere, so it seems likely that they fell inactive. Sue Inside had been active since their 2007 inception in Sault Ontario, and they may be best remembered locally for their duo appearances at the Skid Row and YMCA Battles of the Bands in 2008 & 2009 (in fact, they were the last continuously active band from either battle.) After members Shane Lipsit-Fraser & Jeff Vogel moved to Southern Ontario in mid-2009, the band remained active over the next three years, including the addition of Shane's former Paricide bandmate Adam Veen on bass, the posting of many new songs (many of which were acoustic) onto Shane's YouTube channel, and the occasional show in the Sarnia/Oil Springs area, but updates grew more sporadic, and hopes for more concerts & larger activity following their Facebook page's launch don't seem to have panned out.

I think Sue Inside flew under the radar a lot during their run thanks to their small lineup and few live concerts, but they had a solid chaotic death metal sound that would have fit well at newer local metal shows, though from what I heard of the guys with Adam, he added a nice new dimension that I wish we could have heard more of! Best of luck to Shane, Adam, and Jeff in the future, and hopefully they stay musically active going forward!

Now, let's break from the break-ups and departure news briefly to talk about next Saturday's Ripcordz-headlined concert (featuring local metal openers Destroilet & T-Rex Manning!) While the physical location of the show (864 Queen Street East) hasn't changed, the venue still has, as the show has been moved upstairs from The Algonquin Pub & Sports Bar to The Rockstar Bar, as per Destroilet drummer Matt Waples on the Facebook event page this past Wednesday. A reason for the change in floor wasn't announced, but the upstairs bar will arguably give the show a bigger feel, so hopefully this will benefit all involved, and the music will still rock! Nothing else has changed regarding age limits and ticket prices, just the floor. Also, if you've seen a YouTube video about The Algonquin Pub being "born" on March 8th as the Lower Lounge at the Rockstar with a dance nightclub theme, I wouldn't read into it, as that video was posted well before The Ripcordz show was announced, so I don't think metal/punk shows are off limits downstairs. Keep an eye out for any other possible updates on this huge concert coming news weekend!

Finally for today, local thrash band Pillory have announced the departure of bassist Jonathan Tiberi, as per a posting on their Facebook page on Monday (which the band emphasized was not an April Fools joke.) A reason wasn't given, but it's already been reported that Jon's moving back to Southern Ontario later this spring, so that's likely at least part of why he's left. No word yet on if the band will launch a replacement bassist search, but Jon's departure (and guitarist Andres Duchesne's sudden passing in December) leaves just frontman Robert Sartini & drummer Bret Shuttleworth in their current lineup. I expected to start hearing winds of change with Jon's local bands following the news of his impending move, but Pillory's coming first surprised me a bit because he'd been so important & involved with the band's planned "Cringe At The Cross" EP (as seen on Facebook), and after such a promising debut show last fall, it's disappointing that he likely won't be there for their second.

Don't worry though, as he still has one gig with Late & Loud left at the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands Finals, so best of luck to him in the future no matter what, and contact Pillory at the above links if you're interested in their open guitarist or bassist positions! That's all for today, but stay tuned for hopefully a new news post tomorrow, possibly including a new concert announcement! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Caveman Morrison), Lion Ride's Newest Song, And Much More!!

Yes, we have more David Gold tribute concert fallout to get to (including new videos and updates from both the Toronto event last Thursday and the local concert on Saturday), but I wanted to squeeze in some more assorted news and notes from the last while tonight so it didn't get pushed back further. The new bands post from this morning (check it out below this post) also didn't help for these stories, but we've got a lot of notable stories tonight, including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, a new page from a formerly local band, a defunct quintet's newest song, early updates on a local concert festival, and lots of assorted news and notes, so here's what you need to know!

Three weeks after their current lineup debuted at The Nicolet Tavern, popular local metal trio Caveman Morrison will return to the Albert Street venue next weekend for two more concerts! These come one week after their next shows this weekend at The Roosevelt Hotel, and it's good to see Tym and company staying busy! Note that the Friday show next weekend conflicts with drummer Johnny Belanger's scheduled appearance at the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands with The Bear Hunters, though I assume he could play at both if The Bear Hunters' set was early enough that day. If I hear any updates or changes to the status of either band or Johnny's involvement next Friday, I'll let you guys know! Admission should be free for both of Caveman Morrison's shows on April 20th & 21st, you must be 19 to attend, and they both have likely 10:00 PM start times. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's good to see Caveman Morrison bringing their hard rock and metal covers to some more gigs this spring, and hopefully this trend keeps up! Stay tuned for more updates!

Next up, here's a newly posted Lion Ride song! No, they haven't reunited following their February breakup, but on Monday, a studio version of their Pointer Sisters cover "I'm So Excited" was posted onto their reactivated YouTube channel! It's cool to see a new video posted there after almost three years, but it's even cooler to hear a new song from the prominent local metal quintet, even if posthumous! A frequent addition in their later concert setlists, I assume this is the fourth song that they recorded at BWC Studios in Toronto in 2010 towards their unfinished second CD (joining "Stick It In", "Snail Trail", and the yet-to-be-released "Bang Bang, Bye Bye"), though this could be a bonus cover for all we know. It's good to hear this in full studio quality, and it sounds nice and energetic like I expected, though hopefully the remaining material from their 2010 sessions are posted online soon as well! Check out Lion Ride's cover of "I'm So Excited" below, and I never noticed that Jessie Spano was a Lion Ride fan before! Maybe I should watch more Saved By The Bell.



Thirdly, a formerly local metal band has finally launched a Facebook page, that being Sue Inside! The band best known for their duo appearances at local battles of the bands in 2008 & 2009 have mostly kept their online presences to just CBC Radio 3 & YouTube since relocating to Southern Ontario, but it's good to see them launch what I assume will be an outlet for more frequent band news! Now credited as also being from London (drummer Jeff Vogel's current home), their new Facebook page mentions that their music is "for the mind", and that they're working on music to start gigging, something they've done rarely at best since moving from the Soo. Lots of photos of both their current & older lineups (including bassist Adam Veen) are posted there, along with links to their new SoundCloud page, featuring two new original recordings! Both aren't brand new, but they include their acoustic instrumental "Hermit" and their groove metal track "Caligula", both of which are good for their respective genres! "Hermit" is closer to their most recent work from frontman Shane Fraser's YouTube channel, but "Caligula" has a solid catchy metal sound that I'd love to hear more of, and their current incarnation sounds good here! Solid work, so check out the latest from Sue Inside at the above links, and I'll have more as it comes in!

Also in the news, are you guys curious about helping out or participating in this year's LemmaFest? After the successful debut for the Michael Lemma memorial concert festival last summer, a second installment is scheduled for June 23rd outside of Dondee Lanes, and updates are coming in via their official Facebook page. That said, a meeting will be held TOMORROW NIGHT at the Dondee at around 8:00 PM, and Gary Hatch from Grooves Music will be on hand to answer questions relating to the bands and what will be provided. Organizers are hoping that band members interested in participating will come to voice their opinions and ask questions, so if you wanna be a part, I'd say come to the Dondee tomorrow night at 8:00 PM! As for the lineup as it currently stands, only two bands have been 100% confirmed, those being Brimley metal quartet Half A Man and local cover rock band Chump Change, both of which feature alumni from last year's LemmaFest (Infathom's Dillion Semasky and Bucksaw's Jason VanLuven.) As well, former local musician David Waite (From The Ashes of Angels) has voiced interest in coming home to play at LemmaFest this year with his Colorado acoustic project Jibber N' The Beanie, but they have not been confirmed by organizers yet.

Hopefully LemmaFest gets another solid lineup of Michigan talent this year, so that this year's event can be bigger & better like they're striving for! As a point of reference, last year's LemmaFest featured 10 bands, and they included heavier acts like the aforementioned Infathom, the since-disbanded Swayze Train & Great Bodily Harm, and the still-active Powerslug & Scofflaw. Will we see some of the above performers back this year? Time will tell, but as more LemmaFest updates roll in, I'll absolutely have them here!

And finally for today, here's some assorted stories from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• Former Banned bassist Alex Schrovenwever rejoined his former band on guest guitar & vocals at their most recent "job" on March 17th at The Bird in Sault Michigan, as cited from their Facebook page. As far as I can tell, this was a one-off appearance for this concert, but at least it seems to indicate that Alex's departure from Banned last fall was amicable. Stay tuned for more Banned updates as they come in!
• Kincheloe metal band Chained Memories have announced the addition of Mikaela White as their new bassist, replacing Sean Roush, who has since replaced drummer Mike Rynberg as their primary singer. The news was confirmed last week on their Facebook page. I'm not familiar with Mikaela musically, but hopefully she'll add to the all of the talented female musicians in the Sault Michigan area!
• I've edited our YMCA Battle of the Bands profile to note some more things about 4th place finishers Operation: Killdozer, notably that their guitarist was Winkstinger's Jesse Cook, and that half of their lineup moved on to Winkstinger the following year. I also added a link to a video of Operation: Killdozer playing their original "Pieces of You" at that March 2009 battle. It's not new, but I only recently found the link again. The quality isn't great, but note that the song sounds very similar to Winkstinger's original "Where'd We Go Wrong", which doesn't seem to be a coincidence!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more David Gold memorial concert fallout and weekend concert previews shortly! Thanks everyone!

Battle Of The Bands Rewind Mini-Series: The Skid Row Battle Of The Bands

Hey guys, it's time to launch a new mini-series at the SMS, as for the next seven Fridays, we're flashing back to some of the notable battles of the bands in Sault Ontario between 2008 and 2010! What's the background of them? What was at stake? Who competed, and where are they now? I hope to answer those questions for at least 7 weeks leading up to the April 20th Humane Society Battle, and though I know this isn't comprehensive, e-mail me at robertfigures@hotmail.com if you can fill in any blanks for any missing battles in either of the Twin Saults, or if you have any corrections or additions! I'm formatting the posts in this series differently then how our monthly features tend to look, including more videos and less personal reflections (out of fairness, as I wasn't at all of these events), and it took a bit of tinkering to look right, but hopefully you guys enjoy this first entry! Let's flash back almost 4 years to kick off this mini-series, so here's what you need to know/remember! (Updated on February 8th, 2016)
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The Skid Row Battle of the Bands (April 26th, 2008)

Background: The Algoma University Student Union & The Superior Community Skatepark Association joined forces to host a battle of the bands at The Speak Easy at Algoma University on April 26th, 2008. All proceeds from the battle went to construction of Sault Ontario's permanent skate park at The John Rhodes Community Center. Each band would get to perform 3 songs, with judges picking three bands to play in the final round, where each act played two more songs before the prizes were handed out. Musical ability, stage presence, originality, and crowd reaction were among the criteria being voted on by the judges, and Crank Sound Distribution handled sound at the event.

Prizes: Originally, just cash, with $500 going to first place, $250 to second place, and $125 for third place. However, an added prize for the first place band was added two weeks before the battle, that being an opening slot at a major headlining concert at Runway Park on June 28th of that year, which was to have been headlined by Skid Row, the Tracii Guns-led version of L.A. Guns, and Enuff Z'Nuff. That added prize was thanks to Hitman Productions, who were promoting the Skid Row concert.

Competitors: The lineup included 7 bands playing a wide array of styles. Punk was the most prominent style of music at this battle, including indie punk quartet The Blockade (in their only show under this name that I can confirm), hard hitting punk rockers The Scary Uncles, and popular ska punk outfit Free Beer. Only two metal/hard rock bands were on the lineup, including debuting hard rock quartet Sense of Truth and extreme metal duo Sue Inside. The lineup for this battle was rounded out by indie rock quartet Terminal and Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band Sikamikanico.

Results: Four bands (rather than three) were picked for the final round, those being The Blockade, Free Beer, The Scary Uncles, and Sense of Truth. In the end, Sense of Truth made the most of their local concert debut, claiming the $500 first place purse and an opening slot at the Skid Row concert. The Scary Uncles took home $250 for second place, with Free Beer winning $125 for third place, and The Blockade finishing in fourth place. Rankings for the remaining three bands were not publicized.

Aftermath: The Skid Row concert was cancelled on June 25th (just three days before it was to take place) after sponsors dropped out. Despite this, Sense of Truth rode the momentum of their victory to numerous high profile concerts over the following years, including opening for bands like Econoline Crush & The Trews, and recording material towards an unreleased debut EP in 2010, though they broke up after a lengthy inactive period in the fall of 2011. The Scary Uncles & Free Beer also maintained their successes through the late 2000s, playing numerous notable punk concerts in the area, and recording their own original material. Free Beer changed their name to M.O.B. in 2010 before going inactive (save for one-off sets) before briefly returning in full under the name Sarah's Valley in mid-2013, while The Scary Uncles' increasingly sporadic concerts continued until they disbanded in December 2010. Sikamikanico & Terminal continued to play a number of headlining gigs in the Sault area through the summer of 2008, after which both bands quietly went inactive. The Blockade do not appear to have played any other gigs under that name following this battle, though 3/4ths of the band rocked local venues as Talk Shit through 2009, and the bands may have been connected. Finally, Sue Inside relocated to Oil Springs, Ontario the following summer, and remained sporadically active in that area with varied material through the spring of 2012.

Some Notable Performers' Newer Bands (Metal or punk bands in italics):
Id Iota (Christian Lemay & Dustin Goodall from Free Beer)
Jack Spades (Jesse Cook from Sikamikanico)
Northwest (Wayne Watkins from The Blockade and Mike Yakasovich & Greg Callaghan from Terminal)
Redundant (Justin Langlois from The Scary Uncles)
Skeyes of Seven (Cory Murchison from Sense of Truth)
The Small Town Rivals (Wayne Watkins from The Blockade)
Talk Shit (Marc Lafrance, Ian Robinson, and Adam Sauve from The Blockade)
The Thrill Junkies (Justin Langlois from The Scary Uncles) 
The Wild Iris (Steve Myers from Sense of Truth)
Winkstinger (Jesse Cook from Sikamikanico)

Trivia:

• The judges for this battle were veteran local guitarist Keith Conway, Hitman Productions owner Stephane Guindon, and Speak Easy manager Tony Boniferro. Keith himself saw some battle of the bands success as a performer the following year, when his band Blues Harvest made the finals of the Kiss Battle of the Bands in December 2009.
• Around 220 fans were in attendance for this battle, with over $1,600 raised towards the Sault Ontario skate park, which was successfully opened to the public the following summer.
• Despite not being able to open for Skid Row like was hoped, Sense of Truth made the most of it by playing a concert on June 28th anyway at The Canadian Nightclub with fellow local hard rock band Driving Dave Home, who were to have played the Skid Row concert as well. Driving Dave Home guitarist Ron Baxter joined Sense of Truth himself the following year.
• Sense of Truth followed up their win at this battle with a run to the Kiss Battle of the Bands Finals on December 2nd, 2009, where they lost to Garden of Bedlam. Their lineup was noticeably different than during their Skid Row Battle win, with frontman Cory Murchison now on vocals only, the aforementioned Ron Baxter on rhythm guitar, and Curtis Beauchamp (ex-Fitswitch) on bass in place of Patric Belanger, who left Sense of Truth in late 2008.
• Two other bands from this battle competed in similar later events. Sue Inside competed in another 7 band battle held by the YMCA in March 2009 at The Grand Theater, but results repeated themselves, as Sue Inside did not make the top 4. Also, the relaunched Free Beer (then named Sarah's Valley) competed at the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands in April 2013, but they finished third in their semifinal match, and did not make the finals.
• Despite their fourth place finish, The Blockade's Wayne Watkins & Adam Sauve would see greater battle success in the coming years in their later band Nebraska Arms, who finished 2nd at the Sault College/Scotties Tournament Battle in February 2010, as well as making the Kiss Battle finals in December 2009
• The Scary Uncles almost got a chance to build on their success at this battle the following year, when they were slated to be a part of the Algoma University Battle of the Bands in December 2010, which was also held at The Speak Easy, but they had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts. Despite that, they were later chosen to open for The Inner City Surfers at their show there on December 22nd, 2010, which was one of the first place prizes at that battle already.
• Sikamikanico drummer Jesse Cook had far greater battle success as a lead guitarist with his later metal bands Operation: Killdozer and Winkstinger, who finished fourth at the 2009 YMCA Battle and in first place the 2012 Battle For The Blood respectively. These join earlier successes that he had with Soldiers of Misfortune, who he won at least one battle with.
• Sikamikanico bassist Alex White almost returned to a local battle of the bands at the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands on April 20th with his later indie rock trio Cowboys & Indians, but they dropped out after he couldn't make the event.
• Sense of Truth guitarist Steve Myers returned to a local battle of the bands at The Rockstar Bar in April 2013 with his current indie/jazz rock quartet The Pesto Shirts (now named The Wild Iris), who rode a wild card berth to a third place finish in the final round.
• Three performers at this battle (The Blockade's Wayne Watkins and Terminal's Mike Yakasovich & Greg Callaghan) saw greater collective success at Viva La Battle at The Canadian Nightclub on November 13th, 2013, where they finished in second place with their new indie/punk quintet Northwest.
• Battle of the bands action returned to The Speak Easy on March 5th, 2015 when the venue hosted their own battle event. Like the Skid Row Battle, this event featured 7 acts and cash prizes for winners, but 2015's Speak Easy Battle was a fan voted affair, and no one that competed in 2008 was on the lineup seven years later.

Videos:
Clips of each band from SooToday's YouTube channel
Sense of Truth's set from frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel
Sense of Truth video from SooToday's YouTube channel





Sources/More Information:
Pre-battle coverage by SooToday
SooToday review & photos by Donna Hopper
Superior Community Skatepark Association post-battle coverage
Battle photos by Curt O'Neil
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I hope you guys liked this first entry in our new SMS mini-series! Our next entry in the series will be next Friday (March 9th), when we look at the 2008 Case's Music Battle of the Bands from May 2008, which wasn't the only battle held by this popular local music store, but it's the only one well documented online that we can cover equally in this series at the moment. Stay tuned for that next week, and much more news over the weekend! Thanks everyone!

Another Local Metal Video Showcase!!

With Super Bowl Sunday behind us, let's get back into the swing of things with some new local metal news and updates in the form of some new videos! Today, we have some cool press and new video footage from a local band's recent out of town show, new material from a formerly local metal act, some new jam footage related to a local band, and a cool new cover song, so let's get things rolling!

I'm having trouble trying to order these videos by content, so let's go in alphabetical order instead, starting with the newest video footage of Frightlight! The Toronto horror/music web series Tomb TV & their host Tomb Dragomir were on hand for The Misfits' headlining concert at The Phoenix Theater in Toronto on October 26th, which notably featured Frightlight (and debuting drummer Chris FreaknStein) as an opening band, and footage from said concert made it into their newest episode on Friday! At 2:06 into the video below, about a minute of footage cut from assorted Frightlight live videos and some horror movie segments is set to their song "Fright Night" from their "It's Alive" EP, and it includes new shots from their Toronto performance! Not a long amount though, with much of the included clips being taken from local concert videos (including one I shot, but I'm not complaining!) The audio's not completely synched with the video footage either, but hey, small press is better than none, and it's cool to see Frightlight making new fans in Southern Ontario! Check out Frightlight's appearance on Tomb T.V. below, as well as footage from The Misfits' and Juicehead's sets that night, and assorted other clips, cartoons, and segments!



Also for new videos is a pair of new audio recordings posted by Brimley metal quartet Half A Man onto their YouTube channel last week! We've already covered both songs on the SMS from their earlier postings on other pages (both of which featured their Erik Rintamaki-fronted lineup), but they're new to YouTube, so it makes sense to mention them again! One is their original song "Die In Disgrace", while the other is a cover of Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf", and that's posted below to check out as it has more to look at (thanks to an included sideshow of 3/4ths of their current lineup.) Both are very heavy, and though I appreciate how they adapted "Sweet Leaf" to their grittier sound, I probably prefer "Die In Disgrace" for it's groove and intensity, but check both out at the above links! Give their "Sweet Leaf" video a look below though, and stay tuned for more Half A Man news as it comes in!



Thirdly today, here's the first video footage in 6 months from the formerly local extreme metal band Sue Inside! As you may remember, they were based out of Sault Ontario in the late 2000s, and are surprisingly the only surviving band to have competed in either the Skid Row or YMCA Battles of the Bands from 2008 & 2009. Since their mid-2009 relocation to Oil Springs, band material has occasionally popped up online, and yesterday, frontman Shane Lipsit-Fraser uploaded two new solo performance videos under the Sue Inside name to his YouTube channel! Like much of their recent material, these are acoustic originals, though both are instrumentals, and they're of songs named "Let Us Out" and "Falling". Both are well performed, and I like the more varied guitar work on "Let Us Out", but it'd be cool to see some new plugged-in stuff like in the local days from Sue Inside. Still, it's awesome to see Shane and Sue Inside still making new music, and hopefully there's more to come! Check out "Let Us Out" below and more at the above links!



And finally, here's some new video footage of local extreme metal band Winkstinger! This video comes courtesy of drummer Jonas Gasperas, who posted this onto his YouTube channel yesterday, and it's an 8:30 long video of "new garbage"! More specifically, it's of Winkstinger members jamming two newer original songs (including Jonas on his old Soldiers of Misfortune kit), although the camera is only pointed at him, and it's partially behind a wall for some reason. Now, if you were hoping this would give clues as to who's replacing Alan Wells on vocals for the band, this video won't help, as the songs are instrumentals at the moment, but they're promising and very heavy! I just wish the camera was set-up better, as almost a third of the video is blocked off. Check out Winkstinger's new jam session footage below, go see them next Thursday at the 42nd Roosevelt Hotel metal night, and stay tuned for possible word on their new singer!



That's probably all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes later this week, along with this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on Shift on Friday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Monkey's Uncle & Swayze Train), Sue Inside's Return, And More!!

Let's take a break from concert previews for a bit to get some news on the site! Today, we have videos from a re-activated local band, some new solo demos from a local guitarist, and leading things off, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for you Sault Michiganders, so here's what you need to know!

Kewadin Casino's entertainment page has been updated to reflect concerts at The Rapids Lounge through the end of the year (and River Witch's name change to Powerslug), so thanks to that, we have four new concerts to announce, starting with the return of Monkey's Uncle to Kewadin Casino's bar & concert venue! Though already scheduled for Kewadin dates on November 25th & 26th, this talented hard rock quartet will also hit The Rapids Lounge two weeks earlier on November 11th and 12th to rock fans with their originals and covers! I believe these shows replaced a cancelled booking, but I don't recall who was originally listed for that weekend. As I sadly expected, Monkey's Uncle haven't confirmed these new dates, but Kewadin Casino's own site is as good a source as any! Admission should be free for both of these new concerts on the 11th & 12th, you must be 21 to attend, and both should have start times of around 9:00 PM. Check the above links for more details! Even if they only update pages sporadically to not at all, Monkey's Uncle have a lot of hard rocking tunes to show off at their shows, and they've now got four in a 15 day span, so get your fill of Monkey's Uncle next month for sure! Stay tuned for updates if they come in!

Also newly listed, Sault Michigan hard rock quintet Swayze Train are coming to our local Kewadin Casino for the first time(?) in December! Though no strangers to the Kewadin Casino in St. Ignace, the local quintet featuring Clownsack, Electric Motor Fish, Slackjawed Rats, and Insipid Brutality alumni will make what I think are their first ever weekend appearance there for New Year's weekend on December 30th & 31st! What better way to send in 2012 then with this talented new band? Like with Monkey's Uncle, Swayze Train have yet to publically confirm these dates, but I have more faith they'll acknowledge these in advance, so something's probably coming! The same house rules as the Monkey's Uncle shows above will likely apply here, so nothing's too different (21+, no cover, after 9:00 PM, etc.) Check the above links for more details! It's nice to see Swayze Train branching beyond The Frog for some local shows, and though I still don't know how they definitively sound, the band is very accomplished all around, so keep these shows in mind for your New Years weekend plans! As always, stay tuned for more from them and the casino as everything comes in!

Next up, have you been curious lately as to the whereabouts of Sue Inside, the Oil Springs metal project that originated locally in 2007? We hadn't heard anything major from them since January, but as it turns out, the band returned to activity for at least one live gig in August, and the videos from it are online! These come from a live acoustic outdoor concert that bassist Adam Veen played under his solo project pseudonym Dr. Jeremiah Rabishi on August 12th in Oil Springs, and Sue Inside bandmates (and ex-Sault Ontario residents) Shane Lipsit-Fraser & Jeff Vogel joined in for some live originals and covers! The posted videos include acoustic covers of Five Finger Death Punch's "Far From Home", The Foo Fighters' "Skin & Bones", and Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire", and they do a good job! I continue to like Adam's singing too, he should do vocals on more Sue Inside originals, as in all honesty, he has a better range than Shane does. These videos come from Adam's solo project's YouTube channel, which mostly features Dr. Jeremiah Rabishi material, but there's also an actual video of his & Shane's old band Paricide, a promising acoustic Sue Inside audio demo named "Get Busy", and yes, one live video from August of the band playing a Sue Inside original song!

Entitled "Saved On T.V.'s", it's a live acoustic jam that I haven't heard before in other versions, and it has promise to it! Much of Sue Inside's non-local output has been unplugged, but it's a well played track with some nice acoustic guitar work from both Shane and Adam/Dr. Rabishi, and I missed hearing Jeff's drum work too! Good stuff, so check out some new Sue Inside video footage above and below, and if I hear anything new on them from Southern Ontario, I'll have it here!



And finally, local solo artist (and awesome Napalm Death filmer) Neno Jovanovic has uploaded two more solo guitar demos onto his YouTube channel earlier this week! Both have also been posted on his Reverbnation page. Following his trend of playing the guitar tracks over the original song, these newest tracks are of Neno covering The Police's "Message In A Bottle" and (as featured below) The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop"! Not the heaviest songs, but hey, he plays them well! I'm no Police fan, so I can't say how it compares, but it's well performed. The Ramones cover isn't bad, he knows and plays the song well, but the pacing seems too hectic during the singing. Good stuff though, Neno has lots of talent,. and hopefully we hear some more originals and covers from him soon! Check out these and more audio demos at the above links, and here's Neno's cover of "Blitzkrieg Bop"!



That's all for now, but in case there's no new news post later today, I will see you guys TONIGHT at Coch's Corner for this year's Halloween party (with Frightlight and more!) Thanks everyone!

Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Paricide

As scheduled, here's our next monthly feature post, and it's this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! In this series where we look at bands from elsewhere that feature one or more local hard rock/metal musicians, we return to Southern Ontario to focus on a band from a few years back featuring a future local talent, and maybe you guys will dig this band! Just up front though, I'll remind you that this band is not the same as Paraside, the 2007-2008 local hardcore band featuring the Hagerman brothers from Changing Waves. Similar pronunciation, but completely different band. With that out of the way, here's what you need to now in this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! (Updated on November 26th, 2014)
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Paricide (Petrolia/Brantford, Ontario)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; members not in their last full lineup in italics)

Casey McLean (vocals/guitar)
Shane Lipsit-Fraser (vocals/bass/keyboard)
Adam Veen (drums)
Rob LaPier (vocals)
Taylor Davis (?????)

Official website: http://angelfire.com/indie/paricide
Official YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/paricidictv

Local Info: The only former Sault Ste. Marie resident in Paricide (to my knowledge) was bassist Shane Fraser, who's probably best known locally as frontman of the experimental metal band Sue Inside! After moving to Sault Ontario in the mid-2000s, he formed Sue Inside in 2007 with drummer Jeff Vogel, and they left their mark in the local scene with unique two-man metal sets through mid-2009, notably at the Skid Row & YMCA Battles of the Bands. Shane moved to Oil Springs (45 minutes southeast of Sarnia) in the summer of 2009, taking Sue Inside with him, where they continued to sporadically play live and post new material until the spring of 2012. Now residing in Thunder Bay, Shane most recently played bass in the rock band Ostrich (now Eleven Seventeen.)

Band Bio: Paricide formed in Petrolia (a half hour east of Sarnia) in or around early 2003. Their original lineup, including singer Rob LaPier, played numerous shows in that area over the next year, including some high school concerts and benefit events. The band also released an EP called "The Druglords of Music" that year, along with another release during their run named "The Bong Chronicles". In January 2004, Paricide relocated to Brantford to further their musical goals, though Rob moved from there that April, reducing the band to a three-piece. Paricide continued to rock Southern Ontario concert venues from there, including shows in Toronto & London, and some opening sets for notable hard rock tribute bands like Mama Kin. Band updates stalled after July 2005, with the band presumably dissolving that summer, though with a lack of online band pages, that can't be proven. Four years after their last update, a posthumous YouTube channel was launched featuring assorted Paricide audio recordings, while you can now see Adam with the Oil Springs band The Mudd Buttons.

Compared to most of the Sue Inside output we heard at their local shows, Paricide were definitely more melodic and full-sounding, so if you're not a fan of screaming and more extreme metal, you might like Paricide more! I was honestly surprised at how many slower softer moments their songs had, and on tracks like "Paraconscious", there's real layers and themes mixed into everything, even if the production's lacking. Rob LaPier's vocals weren't bad and flowed with the music, and the members of Paricide showed some good hard rock skills with some nice original touches! Reminded me a lot of late 1990s hard rock in style, though definitely not venturing into nu-metal territory. Shane's bass work is solid here, and he showed off some nice diversity on the originals I have access to, and the guys did have chemistry! Songs like "The Shadow" are good for aggression, but on tracks like "Bleed" and "The Number Eight", they definitely hold their own with softer material. Alternative hard rock fans should give Paricide a listen, cause they were a talented band that had a lot of unfulfilled promise, so don't skip a chance to check them out!

Online media of Paricide's is mostly limited to their posthumous YouTube channel, as the songs on their website are now dead links. No videos are posted, but tracks from both of their demo releases are featured, along with select live covers from at least one Petrolia concert circa 2003, including covers of Mudvayne, Nirvana, and Nine Inch Nails songs. The live tracks are lesser in quality, but well performed, so give them a listen too, especially "Stoned" by Silverchair! Embedded below though is a promotional video that Adam uploaded to his YouTube channel in 2007 that features rare live footage and some solid original music, so check it our below, and  all of their posted songs at the above links!


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There we go, hopefully you guys enjoyed this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! Next month, we'll travel all the way to Victoria, British Columbia to take a look at The Lust Boys, the glam metal band featuring former Glass Statues guitarist Ben "Benny Blitz" Kemp-Reynolds! This should be interesting, so look out for it the week before Halloween, likely on October 26th! Stay tuned for more news on the SMS this week, including our last monthly feature post of September by Friday, which will be this month's CD review! Thanks everyone!