LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Nameless) & More Weekend Concert Previews!!

As promised, let's round out this weekend's hard rock concert previews, but after yesterday's short notice-heavy affair, today's is mostly devoted to shows that I knew about before the last few days. However, we are leading off with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one on SHORT NOTICE, so here's what you should know for the rest of the weekend!

Sault Michigan hard rock band The Nameless will return to Snow's Bar & Grill in nearby Cedarville for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band did announce it via their Facebook event page on June 26th but it slipped us by last week when I could have plugged it with time to spare. The Nameless debuted at Snow's in February during this year's Les Cheneaux Islands Snowsfest, but TOMORROW'S show appears to be standard fare, so if you liked them there in February and/or want to enjoy some hard rock covers, keep this one in mind! In other news, The Nameless will return to The Merchants Bar in Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday, July 13th (here's its Facebook event page), while they will make their debuts at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on Friday, July 26th & Saturday, July 27th (both shows have individual Facebook event pages linked here and here).

It's good to see that Josh, the Mikes, Justin, and Anna have a busy month in store for fans, so don't miss their upcoming shows across the E.U.P., starting with their trip to Cedarville TOMORROW! All four dates are 21+ affairs with no announced cover charges and 9:00 PM start times. See above for more details, and click here to watch their sole (if unembeddable) public concert video from their Merch debut!

Next up, let's look at shows that had 100% advance notice, starting with Sault Ontario classic/hard rock musician Tym Morrison's return to The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post TONIGHT! Fresh off of his Gino's Fired Up Kitchen debut on Wednesday, this will be another outdoor show way down Great Northern Road, if without the partial patio protection for attendees, so it'll be a familiar time for fans of Tym's varied and extensive setlist, not to mention his vocal and guitar talents! For the only time in his 2024 summer calendar, Tym is not pairing this show with a Saturday nighter at Misty's Fifties, and I have not seen a public reason as to why he's not playing there tomorrow. He'll be back there next week! Tonight's Trading Post show has a 7:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and no age limit, as per usual during his summer gigs there. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for a 40% chance of rain tonight with temperatures of 19°.

Tym has cancelled/shortened his Mike Case Stage shows due to weather before, so if you're at all concerned about tonight's being rained out, keep tabs on it closer to showtime. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here he is live!

Now let's take a brief detour back to Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula to look at Sault Ste. Marie hard/blues rock quartet Project 906, who return to the stage TONIGHT at The Islander Bar in nearby Hessel! This will be Project 906's first public concert since February and their first gig in Hessel since August of last year, so regardless, it's been a while to see their hard rocking cover slate on a local stage! So far in this "summer of 906", the band has exclusively played at private events, not to mention a trio of solo dates for singer Billy Bernier, including once at The Islander Bar in May (if his solo shows are basically 906 unplugged or not, I don't know). Project 906 are on tonight at 9:00 PM, there is a 21+ age limit in effect, and there is no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more on Billy, Joe, Dustin, and Jason's Hessel return tonight, and for a preview, here they are live!

Finally for this weekend, let's head back north to Sault Ontario, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will play a special outdoor concert at Strathclair Park at 639 Black Road during this year's COPPA Giovanni Soccer Tournament TOMORROW NIGHT! This very nontraditional concert comes on day #2 of the annual local soccer event, with their set taking place near the main field during (after?) games featuring local men's and women's squads in World Cup-style tournaments. Like last year, Silent 9 are only playing at private, festival, or special gigs this summer before returning to the weekend nightclub circuit in the fall, so if you want to see Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve rock out, this is your only chance before Rotaryfest! Remember, Silent 9 dropped out of the Giovanni's Italian Festival on Sunday for unannounced reasons, and they were replaced by RPM.

Silent 9 takes the stage at 7:00 PM tomorrow, this is definitely an all ages event, and there is no admission fee for spectators. 9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy weather of around 19° tomorrow night during Silent 9's showtime, and the tournament action should beat the rainy weather forecast that morning. Good luck to all of the competing teams this weekend and to Silent 9 as they take the stage, so see above for more details, and here's Silent 9 live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: sykotykrampage

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we once again spotlight 1-3 randomly selected YouTube channels with at least 50% of their content focusing on local metal, hard rock, and/or punk music! This month's random choice has some coincidental attachment to recent personal events involving this band, as the final services for Sykotyk Rampage members Paul & Dirk Becker's father Dirk Sr. actually take place today, so our thoughts and condolences obviously go out to the Becker family at this difficult time. Read on below for this month's YouTube Channel Profile!
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sykotykrampage's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/sykotykrampage)

Owner: Likely Sykotyk Rampage guitarist/vocalist Dirk Becker, but this isn't officially stated on the channel

Channel Timeline: Launched on April 21st, 2006; Videos posted from February 2009 until February 2010

Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" veterans Sykotyk Rampage, their six videos are half comprised of music videos for fan favourite songs from their late 2000s albums, and half live music videos taken from a battle of the bands set in 2010.

Why You Should Watch: This is definitely worth watching for fans of Syktoyk Rampage and their bluesy alternative hard rock originals, which have the added quirk of being improvised in studio, as you may remember! However, if there was anything posted there from 2006-2008, it has since been deleted, and while Sykotyk Rampage are still active & prolifically releasing new material, this channel hasn't visibly been updated since 2010, though more YouTube videos are available elsewhere.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out

DRINKING ON THE WEEKEND - by SYKOTYK RAMPAGE: This channel's first three videos are all music videos made in-house at River Front Recreation Studios, including for their songs "Superman Can" (featuring animation from the 1940s Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons) and "9 Days" (featuring heavily filtered video footage of the band interspersed with stock footage of nature & the desert.) Embedded below is their most viewed video & signature song, "Drinking on the Weekend" from 2006's "Original Crash Band" album. Represented by the band's 2007-2012 lineup (singer/drummer Paul Becker, guitarists Dirk Becker & Shane Kokis, and ex-bassist Brian Cattapan), this combines jam session footage from "The Cave" with band photos, layered under many filters, effects, and fast motion camera movements, with early album covers closing the video. Fun and chaotic video set to their classic drinking song, and well worth watching for Sykotyk diehards!



Called in Dead "live" by Sykotyk Rampage: The other three videos on Sykotyk Rampage's channel come from live video footage taken during their set at February 2010's Sault College/Scotties Tournament of Hearts Battle of the Bands at what's now the Community First Curling Center, where the guys finished in third place. Two of the videos come from footage professionally shot at the battle by organizers, which Sykotyk Rampage edited in post-production to include filters and some other effects. One is also for "Drinking on the Weekend", but featured here is another fan favourite drinking song of theirs, "Called in Dead", which is well filmed and admittedly didn't need the post-production that it was given, but captures a fun set with some dancing fans even, plus cameos by Curious George himself!



Treating You Bad -live- SYKOTYK RAMPAGE: The most recent video on the channel also comes from the Sault College Battle, but this time, the video was actually shot by myself, which the band copied, edited, and re-posted with permission on their channel. Featuring their song "Treating You Bad" (a frequently played song at concerts of the era), this uses more filters and post-production effects than the others, likely because what I filmed wasn't professionally done, but it's well put together, and fans of their harder edged material should like Sykotyk Rampage in action here! For our original, unedited version of this video, visit this link!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Through 100% random selection, next month's profiled channel will again be a single channel, this time that of defunct Sault Michigan hard rock band Division of Sanity! Look for that on or around August 26th, and stay tuned for more news and previews this week! Thanks everyone!

Battle Of The Bands Rewind Mini-Series: The Sault College/Scotties Tournament Of Hearts Battle Of The Bands

It's Friday, so it's time for our sixth of seven initial entries in our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series! We're nearing the end of this series' first run with one of two 2010 battles of the bands in Sault Ontario, and this one had a familiar lineup of local talent, with a notable sports event behind it all, so what went down? Who won? Where are the bands now? Find out below, and if you have any additions or corrections to improve this post, please let me know! (Updated on January 28th, 2016)
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The Sault College/Scotties Tournament of Hearts Battle of the Bands (February 3rd, 2010)

Background: Sault College, in cooperation with the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, joined forces to put on a battle of the bands on February 3rd, 2010 as part of the annual Canadian women's curling championship's festivities when Sault Ste. Marie hosted it that year. Auditions for the battle took place privately at Sault College's former bar The Outback on January 21st, 2010, after which four bands were selected to compete at the battle, which was held at The HeartStop Lounge inside The Soo Curlers Association's building on Anita Boulevard. Only bands with a Sault College student in their lineup were allowed to audition. At the battle itself, the competing bands received a half hour to play their material, after which prizes were awarded to the top 3 bands, though judging criteria wasn't explicitly posted online.

Prizes: The first place band walked away with $750 and the right to play an encore set that night, with $500 going to second place, and the third place band winning $150. Prize money was donated by the Scotties Tournament organizers, with the battle itself charging free admission.

Competitors: The four competing bands came from a wide array of genres, including folk rock standouts Blackwater, classic rockers Middle of Nowhere, indie punk quartet Nebraska Arms, and "blue Chinese metal crash punk" band Sykotyk Rampage. Notably, each of these bands (except Blackwater) had competed in the Kiss Battle of the Bands at The Canadian Nightclub two months before this event, where Nebraska Arms was the only band of the three to make the finals. Bands that auditioned for this battle were not publically revealed, adding to the audition's private nature.

Results: In the end, Blackwater pulled out the victory at this battle of the bands, with Nebraska Arms coming in a close second place. Sykotyk Rampage scored a solid third place finish, with Middle of Nowhere ending up in fourth place.

Aftermath: Blackwater continued to play numerous concerts and events in the Sault area through mid 2010, and though they're now inactive, frontman Cody McMillan still plays Blackwater material & sells their self-titled CD at his solo concerts, even holding a CD release party for it and his later solo releases in September 2012. Sykotyk Rampage remain a prolific and unique sight on the local scene, recording dozens of original new albums, and continuing to play scattered concerts in the area, while Nebraska Arms and Middle of Nowhere both quietly went inactive later on in 2010.

Some Notable Performers' Newer Bands (Metal/hard rock in italics):

Aggressive Acoustic (Brian Cattapan from Sykotyk Rampage; Based out of Sudbury)
The Business Suit Trappers (Guy Thiffault & Adam Sauve from Nebraska Arms)
Cody McMillan (Cody McMillan from Blackwater; Based out of Toronto)
Fusion (Lino D'Orazio from Middle of Nowhere)
The Mark Rand Band (Guy Thiffault & Dave Prendergast from Nebraska Arms)
The Moves (Cody McMillan & Dave Pihlaja from Blackwater)
Northwest (Wayne Watkins from Nebraska Arms)
The Small Town Rivals (Wayne Watkins from Nebraska Arms)
The Soft Shoe Shufflers (Cody McMillan & Dave Pihlaja from Blackwater)
The Strange Coyotes (James Watterworth from Blackwater)

Trivia:

• This battle of the bands was notable for it's high production values compared to other recent battles in the Sault area. This was especially evident by the presence of giant video screens on each side of the stage, which shown professionally filmed footage of each band's set as it happened. The bands received some of their footage from their sets after the fact, which Sykotyk Rampage edited to create some new music videos on their YouTube channel.
• Sykotyk Rampage put in the extra effort to drum up crowd support at this battle, including making many posters for fans to hold up in the crowd, and giving away free t-shirts in paper bags that lined the stage during their song "Bag On Your Face".
• With their second place finish, Nebraska Arms members Wayne Watkins & Adam Sauve ensured that they would either make the finals or win an award at a local battle of the bands in three consecutive years. They previously made the finals of the Skid Row Battle in March 2008 (as members of The Blockade), and the finals of the Kiss Battle with Nebraska Arms in December 2009, with the three battles taking place within a 2 year span.
• Sykotyk Rampage returned to another local battle of the bands, this time hosted by the Sault Humane Society, on April 20th, 2012 at The Grand Theater. However, they didn't compete at the event, serving instead as an opening band. Cody McMillan and Dave Pihlaja from Blackwater were scheduled to compete at the same battle with their newer blues rock band The Moves, but they quietly pulled out of the event due to external commitments.
• Sykotyk Rampage (now featuring ex-The Fury bassist Tony Briglio in place of Brian Cattapan) returned to competing at a battle of the bands at April 2013's Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands, though they did not see the same success, finishing in third out of three bands in their April 17th semifinal, and missing the next week's final round.
• Nebraska Arms bassist Wayne Watkins repeated his second place finish at Viva La Battle at The Canadian Nightclub on November 13th, 2013, when he scored another runner-up placement with his newer indie/punk quintet Northwest, albeit as their singer & guitarist.

Videos:
Sykotyk Rampage video from The Sault Metal Scene
Three Sykotyk Rampage videos from their YouTube channel



Sources/More Info:
The Facebook event page for the battle auditions
The Facebook event page for the battle itself
Pre-audition coverage from The Sault Star
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We're almost done this series' initial run, as next Friday's profile of the Downtown Showdown battle from May 2010 will close up the seven weeks of looks back at recent battles of the bands! Then, of course, the Sault Humane Society Battle rocks The Grand Theater on April 20th, so there's lots of band battling action to come, so stay tuned for all of that, and keep an eye out later today or early tomorrow for our Ypres Metal Fest preview and more news! Thanks everyone!

Half A Man News And The Winner Of March Mayhem!

In our final post for this Saturday three-for-all, we have three aims: Preview a concert tomorrow night, update you guys on some recording plans from that band, and unveil the winner of our March Mayhem tournament! Before we preview tomorrow's concert, remember that the previously announced punk show at Foggy Notions tomorrow featuring Dancing With Paris has been cancelled, but you can still see them at The Oddfellows Hall on May 28th, details of which you can find at this location! But there is still one metal show tomorrow, so here's what you need to know!

Brimley hard rockers Half A Man are back on the local stage tomorrow night for a special early concert at Golanka's Bar (The Bird)! Though the band have lots of great original hard rock in store for their fans tomorrow, there's a lot more going on than just their set. This show will serve as an afterparty for a softball team's opening game, though I'm not sure of the specifics. I'd guess it's either a Bird-sponsored team, a team made of Bird employees, or has band members or family/friends on the team. Aside from that, I have heard that Half A Man have giveaways planned for free band merchandise, and the people behind the upcoming "Yooper Bars" book will officially be on hand to gather photos and info on The Bird for their book, so if you want to make a cameo in the book or talk about The Bird, there's some added incentive! This show has a special early start time of 7:30 PM, you must be 21 to attend, and there is no cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! There's a lot going on tomorrow evening, but remember to be there for Half A Man's set, as their hard hitting music is making a fast rise in the local scene, so they'll be on the top of their game! For a preview, here's Half A Man playing their song "Drunk" at The Bird in February!



Also, I wanted to add that Half A Man announced on their Facebook page last month that they've unveiled their official plans to record a full length album this summer! They're planning to hit McNally Smith Studios in St. Paul, Minnesota in June to record the album, with a hoped release date for late 2011. The band also noted that they could get former Machine Head/Soulfly guitarist Logan Mader to mix and master the album, presumably through his production team Dirty Mind Productions, but nothing is concrete. Click here for full details! Intriguing news overall, I hope everything falls into place, and I'll absolutely pick the album up when it comes out!

And now, here's the conclusion to the SMS March Mayhem tournament! So, who won the tournament, and how does the final bracket look? The results are below!


Congratulations to Sykotyk Rampage, the winners of the March Mayhem tournament! The local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet took a surprising 207-83 win over Frightlight in the last week of voting to claim 1st place in this tournament! This was definitely a surprising result in both vote totals and pre-final round predictions, but Sykotyk Rampage did good to win all 5 matchups they were placed in! What does this all mean though? In terms of the spoils for the winner, it's just bragging rights, as the tournament was all basically an experiment in good faith. Some could point to band member-run voting campaigns for some of the results, but to me, it's just indicative of their devoted fan base rallying together! The results are interesting overall though, providing some interesting insights into some band's fan bases and how they can surprise you when the votes come in! Will we do this again, possibly with Sault Michigan bands? I don't know. I won't do one right away, as I do want to get back to some old school polls on the SMS over the next few months, but if I do do another, you guys will get lots of advance word, and it'll hopefully get an even bigger response! So congratulations to Sykotyk Rampage again, and here's hoping you guys enjoyed the tournament on the whole!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow, as I have a "surprise" post to share tomorrow to help make up for the delays the other day. What's the surprise? Well, if you see me at The Canadian Nightclub tonight, that could be a hint. Thanks everyone!

Fuck The Facts Concert Preview & The SMS March Mayhem Finals!!

Hey guys, it's time for another post, with two aims: To psyche you up for a concert tomorrow night, and to launch the finals of the SMS March Mayhem tournament! First though, let's get previewing!

Ottawa grindcore quintet Fuck The Facts are returning to Sault Ste. Marie for the first time in 2 ½ years tomorrow night! After last devastating a local audience in November 2008 at The Grand Theatre, this female-fronted outfit will make their way to The Roosevelt Hotel on Monday in a Dismembertainment-promoted night of metal madness! If you enjoy brutal fast death metal with guttural and brutal vocals, you'll enjoy Fuck The Facts, so don't forget this concert! Two local bands will open at this show, including extreme quintet WinkStinger & grimecore rockers Shit Liver! For WinkStinger, this is their first show in a month, and first Rosie appearance in two months, so it's been a relatively long time coming for their next show, while Shit Liver are back in full force to deliver their own unique brand of death metal as openers! This show will have a special $4 cover, but you know that if a Rosie show has a cover, it'll be of extra quality and prominence, so it's worth paying! This show will also be 19+ with a 9:00 PM or later start time. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

This should be an awesome show, hopefully I can make it out! I need more metal, and fast, so hopefully they'll deliver from after their last show here! For a preview, here's Fuck The Facts' music video for their song "The Sound Of Your Smashed Head"!



And now, it's time for the finals of the SMS March Mayhem tournament, as we come down to the final two bands left after seven weeks of voting! First though, here are the results of last week's semifinals!

Frightlight def. As It Stands 89-76

Sykotyk Rampage def. Mike Cliffe 127-87

What do you guys think? The Frightlight win wasn't what I predicted, but it was a close vote all week long, and both bands have put in great showings and support from the beginning! Sykotyk Rampage ended Mike Cliffe's Cinderella run in the tournament with a more decisive victory, as their also-surprising run takes them into the finals! Congratulations to Mike on making it this far though, it's a good sign! With those matchups now wrapped up, here is the updated tournament bracket!

Amazing that this is almost over, huh? Well, without any further adieu, here's the tournament finale, the final matchup!


Can Frightlight's horror punk attack take out the surprising Sykotyk Rampage's crash punk sounds? It will be interesting to see who takes this final matchup, which you have ONE WEEK to vote on! Vote at the left of the page for this final poll in the SMS March Mayhem tournament! Who'll win it all? We find out next Saturday! Stay tuned for that, reviews, and more very soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Half A Man) & The SMS March Mayhem Semifinals!!

Hey guys, I apologize for this being later than it usually is, but that's the joys of vacation plans. This post shall lead off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, but then we'll transition into the latest SMS March Mayhem updates, including the debut of the final four! Let's get things going!

Brimley hard rockers Half A Man are playing a rare all ages concert on The Fourth of July! This will serve as both an official outdoor show and as a Fourth of July barbeque to take place at 6816 South Main Street in Brimley. I believe this is likely at or near a band member's house, but don't quote me on that. This event has a 1:00 PM start time, but I imagine the band might not play until later. It is definitely an ALL AGES show, and there is no listed admission price. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds like a fun time, and what better way is there to spend both Independence Day & the SMS' 4th anniversary? Details aren't entirely out there yet for what's going on, but stay tuned to the above links for info as it comes in!

Now it's time to update the SMS March Mayhem bracket as we finish the quarterfinals, narrowing the bands down to a final four! Who made the final four? Here's the results of the third round!

As It Stands def. Destroilet 35-17

Frightlight def. Lion Ride 39-19

Mike Cliffe def. Shit Liver 109-106

Sykotyk Rampage def. WinkStinger 48-22

What do you guys think? As It Stands' victory is what I predicted, though it was a bit more of a blowout than I was predicting. Destroilet had a good run though! Same goes for the Frightlight/Lion Ride match in terms of the finish, as I thought Lion Ride would have at least lost by a closer amount. Mike Cliffe's surprising Cinderella run continues with a stunningly high vote total, narrowingly beating Shit Liver in this past round! Who'd have thought we'd get over 200 votes on a matchup? Sykotyk Rampage's win of WinkStinger is also a surprise, though their fanbase is quite devoted! So these are the quarterfinal winners, and here's the updated tournament bracket!

As you can see, the winners of last week's first two matchups and the winners of the last two matchups will face each other, starting TODAY, in fact! With that said, here are the matchups for the SMS March Mayhem Semifinals!


Can Frightlight continue their gauntlet run in the tournament with a victory over hardcore mainstays As It Stands? And in the battle of surprise semifinalists, can Mike Cliffe pull off yet another upset victory as he takes on Sykotyk Rampage? The winners of these matchups face off in ONE WEEK in the finals, so VOTE TODAY and pick your finalists! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news very soon! Thanks everyone, and GET VOTING!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Farewell To Freeway) & The SMS March Mayhem Quarterfinals!!

Another packed month of local metal news continues today with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT & the latest SMS March Mayhem updates, including the launch of the tournament quarterfinals, so that's the topic of this first post of the day! Before we get to the news, I will say that our next news-centric post (likely coming tonight) will feature new As It Stands & Half A Man videos, and some assorted other stories, so keep an eye out! Now, let's begin this post!

Another Roosevelt Hotel metal night from Dismembertainment is now confirmed, this time for the show on May 12th! (No word yet on the May 5th lineup.) This time around though, it will be the first Rosie metal night (I think) to feature two out of town bands! As part of their All Or Nothing Canadian tour, two touring hardcore bands will hit Sault Ontario for this show, including headliners Farewell To Freeway! Signed to Victory Records, this hard hitting metalcore quartet will be sure to incite some fury when they headline this Thursday nighter! Also joining them will be No Bragging Rights, a melodic hardcore band from Southern California who are a great compliment to this show with their own take on hardcore mayhem! Check the above links to give both bands a listen! The local openers will be As It Stands, adding another high profile opening slot to their spring schedule, so make note of them as well! Typical Rosie rules apply, including a 19+ age limit, 9:30 PM-ish start time, and no cover charge. For more details, check the above links and the Facebook event page! Sounds like a solid concert, I'll of course keep you posted when and if updates roll in!

Now it's time to update the SMS March Mayhem bracket as we close down the second round and head into the final three rounds of the tournament! I notice some campaigns are growing to get votes out, and I thank you all for voting over the past week! So, how'd the last second round matchups score? Here are the results!

Mike Cliffe def. Sativa Rose 40-33
Shit Liver def. State of Misery 80-73
Sykotyk Rampage def. That's Chester 50-13
WinkStinger def. Woods of Ypres 26-22

What do you guys think? I'm really surprised at how many votes Mike Cliffe got, I'm pegging him as the Cinderella of the tournament! Who'd have thought he'd outscore Sativa Rose? Nice high scoring match though, you can tell both have devoted fanbases! The Shit Liver & State of Misery match sure was the battle of dueling vote campaigns, as both would have crushed any other band's total had they took on anyone else! Shit Liver ended up pulling out a narrow 6 vote victory in a match that I thought was a coin toss from get-go! Sykotyk Rampage's win didn't surprise me given the shorter time period that we've covered That's Chester on the SMS, but this was a thoroughly dominating performance! Who'd have thought? WinkStinger's victory over Woods of Ypres wasn't what I expected, but I did figure it'd be close. I'm surprised that it scored so low though, who'd have thought it'd be the lowest voted of the matchups? And finally, is it ironic that the first band alphabetically in each matchup won? Odd, if nothing else! So that closes out the second round, and here's the updated tournament bracket!

As you can see, the winners of last week's first two matchups and the winners of the last two matchups will face each other, starting TODAY, in fact! With that said, here are the matchups for the SMS March Mayhem Quarterfinals!

In the battle of hardcore eras, can As It Stands build on their momentum, or can Destroilet lock up a third straight blowout win? Will Frightlight's gauntlet run continue, or can Lion Ride defeat them and advance to the semifinals? Can Mike Cliffe continue his Cinderella run against Shit Liver, or will their crusty and grimy sounds prove too much? And can Sykotyk Rampage emerge from the cave with an upset over WinkStinger's extreme attack? The winners of the AIS/Destroilet match and the Frightlight/Lion Ride bout will face off next week, as will the Cliffe/Shit Liver and Sykotyk Rampage/WinkStinger winners in the final four! The voting for the quarterfinals begins today, the winners are in next week's semifinals, and you have just ONE WEEK TO VOTE! Let's see some enthusiastic results and high totals again, we're nearing the end of the tournament! VOTE TODAY!!!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for a likely new news post later tonight! Thanks everyone, and GET VOTING!

SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (River Witch) & SMS March Mayhem Updates!!

Second post of the day is now, and remember to check out our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on The Heatseeking Moisture Missles in the post below! Today, we'll start with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, but we'll cap off with the latest SMS March Mayhem updates, as we hit the halfway point of the second round! And yes I have a news post coming tonight as well in a rare triple post day, so let's get right to it!

This was partially a Facebook exclusive from yesterday afternoon, as I wasn't planning to post a new news post yesterday, but I had to get the word out on this before it was too late. As it turns out, this weekend certainly was busier than we had predicted, as River Witch also played/are playing this weekend! At 6:00 last evening, the band announced on their Facebook page that they'd be playing at The Bird last night and TONIGHT, which has to be one of the closest short notice announcements I've seen for a show in quite a while. So I plugged it on our Facebook page last night to ensure it wasn't forgotten about, and I promised to lead off one of our posts today with it, so here we are! Remember, TONIGHT'S show (just like last night's) is a 21+ affair with no announced cover charge, and it starts at 10:00 PM tonight. Apologies for the short notice, but it's out of my hands. I wish River Witch would update their shows and pages in further advance than they tend to do, but hey, what can I do? They'll still deliver some solid hard rocking shows this weekend, so check the above links for more details, and if you saw them last night, hopefully you had fun! Remember, they're back at The Bird TONIGHT at 10:00 PM!

And now, it's time to update our SMS March Mayhem tournament brackets, as we hit the halfway point of the second round, and determine the first four quarterfinalists in this poll tournament! I'm glad to see votes picking up in the second round, and there's some interesting results, so here they are!

As It Stands def. The Bear Hunters 27-21
Destroilet def. Browbeat 101 20-5
Frightlight def. Garden of Bedlam 38-24
Lion Ride def. Half Past 40-23

What do you guys think? I figured As It Stands would win given their solid local following, though The Bear Hunters kept it close and proved their own growing prominence in the scene, which is about what I expected! Destroilet pulled out a second straight blowout win, though the fact that Browbeat 101 officially broke up didn't help matters for them. Still, leaving them in was only fair! Frightlight got tons of votes, again showing the fanbase that's helping them do so well in the Vans Warped Tour Battle of the Bands voting, though it did come at the expense of Garden of Bedlam, who I thought would have finished closer! I'm really surprised at that, though their slow activity of late couldn't have helped. And Lion Ride's win over Half Past was what I expected, though I should note that Half Past had a solid lead for the first half of the week before Lion Ride surged in front to lead the week's voting. Good on Half Past though for a solid finish! With all that said, here's how the brackets now look for the tournament!


As you can see, As It Stands will collide with Destroilet in the quarterfinals, and Frightlight will continue their gauntlet run against Lion Ride, with these promising to be two highly voted matchups! The voting for these begin next week, along with the other quarterfinal matchups from the rest of the 2nd round winners. Speaking of which, those remaining second round contests begin TODAY, including the remaining seven first round winners and the last byed entrant. Without any further adieu, here are the final second round matchups!


Can solo artist Mike Cliffe pull off an upset against fast rising metal quartet Sativa Rose? In the battle of young local death metal bands, can Shit Liver's grime sounds take out the more extreme stylings of State of Misery? Who'll win the matchup of crash punk & classic rock when Sykotyk Rampage take on That's Chester? And can WinkStinger continue their run by spoiling the tournament debut of noted local doom metal quartet Woods of Ypres? The Cliffe/Sativa Rose & Shit Liver/SoM winners face each other next week, as well as the Sykotyk Rampage/That's Chester & WinkStinger/Woods winners in a quarterfinal matchup next week too, along with the winners from this past week, so keep an eye out! The second round ends with these four matches, so to decide the last quarterfinalists, VOTE TODAY in the polls on the left! No risks, no biases, just pick your favourites and help get their support up for the next round push! YOU HAVE ONE WEEK, so make your votes heard!

That's all for now, but we have a new news post coming tonight featuring a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, Cinderella fallout, the return of a promising local band, and more! Thanks everyone!

New Band Pages And The Start Of The SMS March Mayhem's 2nd Round!!

Hey guys, I apologize for not making it to any shows last night, we got caught up in a lot of stuff at home and by the time everything was free, I'd have been very late to any of the bands playing downtown. I'll be at a very long marathon of concerts tonight though, as I'll be seeing the Sewer Swampstravaganja and Lion Ride tonight, and I hope to see you there! Now, to today's post on our current 31 day streak of new posts, and we'll start with some new band pages, and then, it's SMS March Mayhem updating time! Here's what you need to know!

Three local bands have new pages we haven't previously mentioned on here, so here they are! Local hardcore band As It Stands are now on SignMeTo, Roadrunner Records' music discovery site, so click here to check out their page on there! It features a short band bio and all of the studio songs they've unveiled since their return, but little else at present. Give it a look and become a fan! Also, Brimley hard rockers Half A Man have a page on MetalHeadRadio.com which is honestly hard to navigate, but does contain band information, so click here to check it out! Disregard that the URL implies it's just a page for drummer Mikey Bishop, it's an official Half A Man page! And finally, Theatre of Night, the classical metal project from 3/4s of End of Existence, now has a MySpace page as well! Though lacking in band info, it does feature some new photos of keyboardist Craig Harrison, and one song not posted on Reverbnation, entitled "Mary's Epic"! It's a very nice instrumental song, it has that epic orchestral feel that I love hearing in metal, so give it a look at this location, and more at the above links for all three of these bands!

And now, it's time to update our SMS March Mayhem tournament brackets, and as we close down the first round and begin the second round! It's the "Sweet 16" now, as the winners from the past three weeks join the four byed bands in matchups over the next two weeks! Before we get into that, how'd the results shake down for the last 4 first round matchups? Well, here they are!

State of Misery def. Sneaky Pete 29-10
Sykotyk Rampage def. Stillbroke 11-6
That's Chester def. Turner Up 9-4
WinkStinger def. Tym Morrison 18-3

What do you guys think? I am pleased to see such a following for State of Misery in this round, but I chalk up the lopsided results partly due to Sneaky Pete's local unfamiliarity, only having just debuted on stage last night. It'd be closer if they'd been playing longer, but State of Misery pulled out a good win! Same for Stillbroke, kind of. If they hadn't been on a year long break from the stage, I'm sure they'd have gotten more votes, but they'll be back soon! Congratulations to Sykotyk Rampage on their win though, nice to see their support! In the classic rock showdown, That's Chester beat Turner Up in a low scoring but close win, which surprised me given the relative newness of our coverage of That's Chester. Interesting! WinkStinger won a very lopsided win over Tym Morrison, which really surprised me, as I thought fans of Tym's solo work would come out in higher numbers! Still, nice to see some high WinkStinger support! Now, with the first round done, here's the updated March Mayhem bracket!

As you can see, State of Misery will face Shit Liver in the second round, Sykotyk Rampage and That's Chester will face each other, and WinkStinger will face Woods of Ypres in the next round, after their own first round bye. Those matchups (plus Mike Cliffe vs. Sativa Rose) will take place next week, but how about this week? Three of the byed bands will make their debuts along with the first five opening round winners, but before that, I just want to clear up one note about a band that is now broken up, that being Browbeat 101. I won't replace them or delete them from the tournament because they already won their opening match, and it'd be unfair to them to remove them now, whether "dead forever" or not. So here are this week's matchups, the first four of the second round battles!

Can As It Stands make a big splash to begin their tournament against The Bear Hunters in this battle of prominent extreme metal bands? Can Browbeat 101 pull out a posthumous victory, or will Destroilet win another matchup in decisive fashion? In a marquee matchup for the second round, can Frightlight spoil the tournament debut of Garden of Bedlam? And can Lion Ride top Half Past in their first matchup, or could we see an upset? The As It Stands/Bear Hunters & Browbeat/Destroilet winners face each other and the Frightlight/GoB and Half Past/Lion Ride winners face off in two weeks in the quarterfinals, along with the winners of next weekend's second round polls! As always, these matchups are polls on the left hand side of the screen, and to vote, all you have to do is pick a favourite and vote! YOU HAVE ONE WEEK to determine our first quarterfinalists, so VOTE TODAY!

That's all for today, but I will see you guys at The Oddfellows Hall in an hour or so for The Sewer Swampstravaganja, and then at The Rockstar Bar for Lion Ride! Thanks everyone!

New Bands On Three Shows & The Latest SMS March Mayhem Updates!!

Hey everyone, its time for another news post at the SMS! We're mostly gonna detail the March Mayhem bracket, but we will start with some new bands on three upcoming concerts, and later tonight, I believe we'll have a new news post with some more stories from the last while! So let's begin this post!

I have new bands added to three upcoming Dismembertainment concerts! Firstly, local death metal quintet State of Misery have been added to the lineup of the next metal night at The Roosevelt Hotel on April 14th! This is sort of unexpected given that they're playing on April 28th as well, and there usually isn't the same band at consecutive metal nights, but they should do well! State of Misery join Desbarats' For All That Is Lost on the bill, and my source is drummer Nick Kainula's Facebook page, where he was asked by organizers if they wanted to play beforehand. Also, WinkStinger have been added as the local openers for May 23rd's Isosceles Project concert at Foggy Notions! My source is the official show poster which you can see at this show's Facebook event page, and if that's not a good source, I don't know what is! WinkStinger will fit right in as openers, joining fellow extreme Ontario acts Thekillingfield and Like Animals! Finally, Winnipeg metal band Annex Theory (featuring former Quo Vadis singer Trevor Birnie) will join Laika at the August 25th metal night at The Roosevelt Hotel, as confirmed on their summer tour's event page! I'm impressed with them, good extreme sound and awesome vocals, remember this show come August! Check the above links for more!

And now, it's time to update our SMS March Mayhem tournament brackets, and begin the last polls of the first round! Yeah, I know it's April now, but why change the name when "March Mayhem" flows so well? With two weeks of voting in the can, we're now down to 20 bands, and I again want to thank you all for voting so well in most of these matchups! Though only one of the polls crossed 20 votes, we got good results for all, so, here are the final totals for the 5th-8th first round matchups!

Half Past def. Late & Loud 12-4
Mike Cliffe def. Riverin 5-2
Sativa Rose def. SBD 13-5
Shit Liver def. Sense of Truth 20-18

What do you guys think? Half Past's win isn't surprising given their higher local profile compared to Late & Loud, who are relatively new, but with Half Past's scattered activity of recent months, I figured the results would be closer. I expected the Mike Cliffe vs. Riverin match to have low votes because they aren't the most well known bands (no recent concert history doesn't help), but thanks to those of you who did vote! I had no idea who'd win, but congratulations to Mike on pulling it out! Sativa Rose's win over SBD wasn't too surprising either, they've made more waves in recent months than SBD, whose concerts are less frequent, and I'm sure their genres helped influence the votes. Shit Liver's win of Sense of Truth was really interesting, in what was the only real "close" fight of the week. Though they never led, Sense of Truth were neck and neck with Shit Liver all week, and with that kind of a high result, imagine how it might have looked had they not been on such a long hiatus! But Shit Liver's loyal fans helped them win it all, and they're moving on to the next round! Now, here's the updated March Mayhem bracket!

As you can see, Half Past will now face Lion Ride in the second round of the tournament, thanks to Lion Ride's first round bye. Mike Cliffe will face off with Sativa Rose in the next round, and Shit Liver will clash with the winner of this week's Sneaky Pete/State of Misery match. The Half Past/Lion Ride match starts NEXT WEEK, with the remaining second round matches taking place in two weeks, so remember that! Other than adding the winners for the next round, nothing's changed to the bracket itself. With all of that said, the final 1st round polls for March Mayhem are now online, and the same rules apply as before. You have one week to vote, it's one vote per person, and pick your favourite band in each of the four matchups below with the polls on your left!


Can veteran local hard rockers Sneaky Pete take out fast rising hardcore quintet State of Misery despite not debuting on stage until Friday night? Despite their long hiatus from the stage, can Stillbroke overcome the crash sounds of Sykotyk Rampage? Who will win the battle of classic hard rock cover bands when That's Chester collide with Turner Up? And can Tym Morrison's acoustic solo project overcome the extreme stylings of WinkStinger? The winners of all of this week's matchups will collide in two weeks, where the Sneaky Pete/State of Misery winner faces Shit Liver, the Stillbroke/Sykotyk Rampage & That's Chester/Turner Up winners face each other, and the Tym Morrison/WinkStinger winner faces Woods of Ypres! So there are our last March Mayhem first round battles, and to vote, the polls are on your left! VOTE TODAY, YOU HAVE ONE WEEK! And remember, next week, the second round begins with bands whose names are between the letters A and L!

That's all for now, but VOTE IN THE NEW TOURNAMENT POLLS TODAY, and stay tuned for another news post later tonight! Thanks everyone!

Last Month's Poll Results & The Debut Of SMS March Mayhem!!

It's poll day at the SMS! I apologize for this being late a day, I was working out a lot of kinks in what will constitute our next poll(s). This will be interesting, to say the least, but before we get to that, we have a poll from last month to outline the results to! As you may remember, we posed thia question to you guys last month: "What was your favourite local metal concert of 2010?" 31 votes, decent total, could have been better or worse! Remember, this poll included almost all of the choices from the prior half year polls on 2010 concerts, and does this declare a definite winner? Give it a look and see, as here are the results!

Frightlight at Coch's Corner on June 16 (7 votes, 23%)
Garden of Bedlam at Foggy Notions on February 27 (3 votes, 10%)
Turner Up at The Canadian Nightclub on March 27 (3 votes, 10%)
Algoma Hope4Haiti at Nite-Life Dance Club on February 20 (2 votes, 6%)
Sense of Truth at The Canadian Nightclub on February 26 (2 votes, 6%)
Lion Ride & Sense of Truth at The Canadian on May 22 (2 votes, 6%)
Garden of Bedlam & Half Past at The Canadian on April 2 (2 votes, 6%)
Endast & Blood Drunk at Foggy Notions on September 2nd (2 votes, 6%)
Total Chaos at The Oddfellows Hall on Nov. 21st (2 votes, 6%)
Sativa Rose at The Roosevelt Hotel on December 23rd (2 votes, 6%)
Other (2 votes, 6%)
Garden Of Bedlam at The Rockstar Bar on November 12th (1 vote, 3%)
Sativa Rose at Foggy Notions on December 31st (1 vote, 3%)
Caveman Morrison at The Roosevelt Hotel on April 9-10 (0 votes, 0%)
Crued at The Canadian Nightclub on May 1 (0 votes, 0%)
Downtown Showdown at The Oddfellows Hall on May 28 (0 votes, 0%)
Kiss at The Essar Center on August 10th (0 votes, 0%)
Gunz N' FN' Rosez at The Rockstar Bar on September 23rd (0 votes, 0%)
Grady at The Grand Theater on November 16th (0 votes, 0%)
The Mark Rand Band at Coch's Corner on December 29th (0 votes, 0%)

So, how do the results look? Well, seven concerts tied for last with no votes, none more surprising than Kiss at The Essar Center in August. Seriously, NO ONE picked that enormous concert? Very surprising. Garden of Bedlam's Rockstar Bar show in November and the New Years Eve concert at Foggy Notions tied for 12th place with a single vote, both of which seem a bit off given the reception they both got! Amazingly, right above them was an eight way tie for fourth place with two votes each, and while all deserve a high placement, the logjam is something I'm not used to seeing. You think there'd be more of a spread! The second place options tied with three votes each, those being Garden of Bedlam's Foggy Notions show in December and Turner Up's March show at The Canadian Nightclub, though voters on that choice may have just picked them in general for the whole year. I expected they'd get higher, no worries there! And in first place, just as they were for the first half of 2010 poll, was the "secret" Frightlight concert at Coch's Corner! The secretive nature of it kept people wondering, and if you were there, you'll recognize why this had such a big impact! I still wish I could have attended, but there you have it, the winner of the "favourite concert of 2010" poll is Frightlight's secret show in June!

So, what is this month's poll? I've decided to try something different, as inspired by the current NCAA college basketball tournament! I've long been against polls on the SMS which compared bands individually, as I don't want to seem preferential or biased towards specific bands. However, I had a good idea for a poll event that would feature bands competing in a fun, hassle-free tournament a'la "March Madness" to see who could be considered the "winner". After getting a positive reaction from some SMS readers when I proposed the idea, I'm running with it, and we'll see how it goes over! So, I'd like to announce the debut of The Sault Metal Scene's March Mayhem! (EDIT, 4:24 PM: I replaced Turner Up in the bracket to reflect their demise as an active band, and replaced them with Skull After Betrayal, with alphabetical adjustments where needed.)


Click on the image to see the full bracket, which will be updated frequently! This will be an eight week tournament event featuring four matchups a week (until the "final four" are decided) involving 28 of the higher profile active metal and hard rock acts in Sault Ontario! I wanted to get it to 32, but I was having trouble getting that high. The 28 bands I chose are all active at present (well, maybe not Bring The Fallen, but nothing's official), and they'll face off in this single elimination tournament, a'la "March Madness"! Nothing's on the line here besides bragging rights, it's simply for fun, curiosity, and to see if something like this would even be popular for the SMS to attempt. In case anyone's wondering, the seeding is done by alphabetical order, as I found it's the only fair way to do it, I couldn't rank bands and risk alienating or seeming biased towards any of them. That said, if you've noticed As It Stands, Garden of Bedlam, Lion Ride, and Woods of Ypres got byes to the second round, it's only to ensure that after the first round, the tournament can have a 16-8-4-2-1 breakdown like a usual tournament, with no screwy rounds. Those four bands were given the free pass for their recent local prominence, not on personal preferences, so that's why they'll skip the first round.

SMS March Mayhem will take place over the next eight weeks, with the opening round taking place over the next three weeks through April 9th. The second round will be two weeks long, ending on April 23rd. The quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals will all run for a week each, ending with a final winner on May 14th! So each individual matchup will be it's own poll, running for a week, with four matchups taking place each week until the semifinals. So the first four 1st round matchups alphabetically will run until next Saturday, so VOTE TODAY! Here are the matchups!

Which death metal quintet will take the battle between The Bear Hunters & Bring The Fallen? Can Browbeat frontman Dutch Vanderploeg overcome his old band Caveman Morrison in this contest between local hard rock trios? When Changing Waves collide with Destroilet, will old school hardcore trump the new? And can Gates of Winter pull out a victory over Frightlight despite their slow activity and low profile of recent years? VOTE TODAY on your left to help decide! Remember, the Bear Hunters/Bring The Fallen winner faces As It Stands in three weeks, the Frightlight/Gates winner takes on Garden of Bedlam, and the winners of this week's other matchups face each other! You have ONE WEEK to pick the winners of these matchups, so get voting!

Stay tuned later tonight for a new news post featuring some more big recent news, and I'll see you guys TONIGHT at The Rosie for Browbeat! Thanks everyone!