More Lion Ride News, Possible New Shows, The Local Radio Situation, And More!

Hey guys, hope those of you who went enjoyed last night's Stillbroke show at The Rockstar Bar! I couldn't make it, but it sounds like it was a good concert, and there's lots more where that came from tonight and tomorrow! My last post has all you need to know on the metal side of things for the area this weekend, hopefully all the shows have good turnouts! But now, it's news/updates time, and we'll start with lots of new stuff concerning Lion Ride!

Remember when I said they were in the voting for a chance to play at the 14th Annual Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands in Toronto on July 9th at The Vans Warped Tour? Well, if you remember correctly, the top 100 would be the bands from which The Warped Tour would select competing bands. As of 4:44 PM today, Lion Ride are in 95th place with 74 votes, and are just 10 votes out of 86th. First place is a Toronto band named Majesty with 4,431 votes. VOTE FOR LION RIDE TODAY!!!! The more votes they get, the more odds that The Warped Tour will put them in the Toronto segment of the battle!

But that's not all when it comes to voting contests that Lion Ride has recently entered. Listen to this for a hypothetical: Imagine SLASH guest starring on a Lion Ride song. Not kidding either, it could happen! A new online contest called "Your Next Record With Slash" has been launched by Guitar Center in co-operation with the Velvet Revolver/ex-GNR axeman, and the winner will get a laundry list of cool prizes, and Lion Ride have entered! If they won, they would get to record a 3 song E.P. produced by legendary producer Mike Clink, of which Slash would write and perform on the single! They'd also get a management development deal with "The Collective", their single would be put on iTunes, plus they'd get a worldwide distribution deal with Tunecore, $20,000 worth of gear and endorsement deals, the opening slot on Slash's upcoming tour, and an editorial feature in Guitar World Magazine!

Now all that just sounds awesome, but it will never happen to Lion Ride unless we all support the cause! You have until April 30th to vote for your favourite bands in this contest for the right to get all these cool prizes, and of course, the E.P. with Slash's guest spot! Hopefully, of course, your votes will go to Lion Ride! To vote for Lion Ride for all of this awesome stuff, CLICK HERE! I don't know the criteria for who will "win", I'm assuming it's the highest voted band, but I can't say for sure. Also, if it counts for anything, the fan who votes the most between March 5th and 31st will win a Slash autographed guitar, so there's more incentive to vote! Keep in mind though, you can only cast ONE VOTE PER BAND PER DAY. Still, let's show our support, wouldn't it be cool to see Lion Ride ft. Slash? CLICK HERE TO VOTE, DO IT NOW, DO IT DAILY!!!!

Next up, might Out Of The Mouth Of Babes have new shows coming up? If you look at their MySpace page, they list two shows this spring, including one April 20th at The Oddfellows Hall, and another on May 6th at Foggy Notions, the latter of which apparently also includes Bring The Fallen. Now I haven't seen any announcements of either of these concerts anywhere else, not on Facebook, not anywhere. Sometimes when a band lists a new show on MySpace alone, I feel confident about reporting it as confirmed, I'm not so sure on these two though. So I'll wait for second word before I confirm these as official local concerts, but keep them in mind! It'd be great to see OOTMOB back live, all you old fans of As It Stands should take notice too!

Now, back to the local radio situation, and it appears all the attempts to make Sovereign Communications bring back the fired 99.5 YES FM DJs (including Bad Side's Melissa Krahnke and Jason Mapes) have not worked. And now, there's not even Tim Ellis in the mornings, as 99.5 has replaced the old "Soo Morning Crew" with "Kidd Kraddick In The Morning", a nationally syndicated radio show out of California. I really don't agree with YES FM's site calling this "the new Soo Morning Crew in town" when I doubt Kidd Kraddick has ever even been here, but hey, it's all business, they wanna hype this and get people to listen. But Tim and John Gilbert are still on the job, and apparently so is Rock 101's Scott Cook, who's now listed on YES FM'S personalities page! I don't listen to YES FM enough to know how he handles being on this type of station, but he's never sucked before, so he'll do fine! I half expected that Sovereign would use existing DJs to fill in the gaps from the ones they didn't rehire, and looks like I guessed right!

Still, this is a contientous issue for many, especially YES FM lovers and fans of the old "Soo Morning Crew", and the 2,249 members of the "Boycott YES FM" group are still pissed. But now the comments are mostly critical of Kidd Kraddick. I'm a "Scott and Brian" listener in my mornings, so I can't comment on Kidd's show, but even if he's good, people don't like change, and the Soo Morning Crew as we knew it were really good, so I can see why people are mad. I notice that group member Johnny Lewis has been pushing people to e-mail the FCC to file complaints on the supposed local monopoly, and it wouldn't hurt! Click here, look for Johnny's posts, and e-mail away if you want to bring this to the FCC's attention even more! Remember, the sale still isn't final. I know this isn't on the surface a metal story, but considering that it involves members of Bad Side, and now a Rock 101 DJ, it's worth discussing!

Also, just as an aside, if I had to replace Timmy and Lissa and all them with a nationally syndicated show, no way around it, I'd have gotten The Bob & Tom Show, which now has no local outlet with The Bear's demise. It may not fit YES FM's demographics, per say, but it was a very popular show locally, often very funny, and now we can't listen to it on normal FM radio here. Plus, it had listeners who would follow to 99.5 to listen to it, so on that level, it'd make more sense to pick up than a show that has never aired up here before. Just thought that was worth bringing up. I've been contemplating writing an editorial opinion piece on the SMS about the local radio situation for us rock/metal lovers, seeing as we only have two stations that air heavy music now (Rock 101 and WLSO on occasion), so I was thinking about discussing what I'd like to see happen in the future in terms of FM rock radio in Sault Ste. Marie. It may not happen, but it's something that I'd like to discuss!

And finally, if you see a copy of The Soo Profile magazine at a local establishment this month, you'll notice the presence of Woods of Ypres on the cover! Yes, they're the cover story in this month's issue, and you'll notice that the author is....me? Yeah, I've done some freelance work for them, I don't like tooting my own horn, but I've contributed to The Soo Profile a bit in recent months. But don't check it out for my work, do so cause it involves the Sault's own Woods of Ypres, who are the cover feature! It talks about the band's sound, past, and future, it's not a huge article, but it's pretty good! The more local press, the better! It is FREE at many local establishments, mostly restaurants, click here to find out where you can get The Soo Profile! Music aside, it's a nice magazine, discussing lots of local stuff and interests, you'll like it! It's now in the Other Local Metal Links too!

In my next post, I'll have new songs from a re-activated local metal band, and hopefully lots more! And maybe at some point soon, an opinion piece in local rock radio? You never know! I still have to review "Castle Stories", but school gets in the way whenever I try to give it a proper reading, damnit. Soon though! More news and updates are on the way real soon!

Weekend Concert Previews, Plus 97.9 The Bear & Radio Shakeup Updates

Hey guys, time to update the local metal universe once again! There's three metal concerts this weekend, and more local radio-related news, fans of The Bear and supporters of the fired 99.5 DJs might wanna check that out. But first, here are your local concert previews for this weekend!

We'll start in Sault Michigan for something NOT related to the radio stations: There's two concerts this weekend! Local hard rockers Riot! By Night are back this weekend for a pair of shows at Dondee Lanes! Nice to see them somewhere other than The Frog! No cover charge has been announced, both shows (tomorrow night and Saturday night) have a listed start time of 8:00 PM. If you like some modern rock with feeling, Riot! By Night should fit the bill, they have a bunch of really good musicians, and though we still don't have audio to share, they've played live enough times to pretty much guarantee a good show! Check out more from Riot! By Night at their official MySpace page! If I had more to say on these two shows, I would!

And finally, back in Sault Ontario, a popular tribute band are returning to the area! Who Made Who, The Ultimate Tribute To AC/DC will be playing the Soo for the first time since May of last year when they rocked The Canadian Nightclub! This time, they'll be at Nite-Life Dance & Comedy Club, which you may remember under it's prior monikers GLOW and The Other Place! Actually, this might be the first metal show at what is now Nite-Life since Lion Ride played there in December 2008, but don't quote me on that. But now it's all fixed up and different, so look out for some new stuff if you go! And really, who doesn't love a hard hitting night of AC/DC classics? Tickets are a touch pricey as far as bar shows go, $10 in advance or $15 at the door, but considering their show last year, it'll be worth it! A start time of 9:00 PM is listed on the Facebook event page (confirm your attendance there!), but I'd expect they wouldn't play until later.

I'm not sure if I'll be at this concert, but all signs point to a really fun show! They are quite a solid cover band, the guitarist pulls off Angus' look and mannerisms really well, the band sound enough like the real thing, and they'll get a crowd moving! I saw them in May, I felt really young amongst the older crowd, but meh, I had fun! Hopefully a big crowd turns out! Check Who Made Who out at their official website, and for a preview, here's a live clip of Who Made Who playing "Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap)" at a Toronto show in 2008!



Just as a side note, I will likely be pulling two local concert venues: The Grand Theater and The Verdi Hall, from the venue contact info on the left of the page and moving them to the "Other Local Metal Links" soon unless bookings pop up for either venue in the next few months. The Verdi hasn't hosted a local metal show since Stillbroke's big show there last April, and The Grand (much to my puzzlement) hasn't had a metal band playing there to my knowledge since Sense of Truth played that free Skate4Cancer show last May. Hopefully both get back in the swing of things, they're very nice venues!

Now, radio time! The uproar among Yes FM fans has been stealing most of the thunder, but I fear that the fate of 97.9 Classic Rock: The Bear is getting lost in the shuffle, so I'd like to bring that to everyone's attention again, plus some new stuff I've seen. Now when Sovereign Communications (Rock 101's parent company) bought Yes FM and the 10 other Sault/Iron Mountain/Marquette stations from Northern Star Broadcasting, they didn't pick up one, and it was The Bear. Apparently if Sovereign bought The Bear from Northern Star, they'd violate FCC laws about regional radio monopolies. According to David Helwig's story on SooToday, Northern Star wants out of local radio, but we haven't seen any official statements confirming that.

Here's what else we know about The Bear's fate so far: Northern Star Broadcasting fired 16 employees, including The Bear/Yes FM DJs Jason Mapes (Bad Side's guitarist) and John Gilbert, just before the sale. When Sovereign hired on 10 of those 16 employees, John got his job at 99.5 back, Jason did not. Because The Bear wasn't part of the deal, neither are affiliated with The Bear anymore. Jason changed the name of what was previously The Bear's Facebook group to simply "Classic Rock", with any vestiges of 97.9 removed. John Gilbert posted this on his Facebook page as his job description as on-air DJ with The Bear, ending February 2010: RIP Bear . . . you were a good friend . . . today was my last day, will miss you, Alice, but I hated those bats. No wonder I have no hair . . . Sounds kinda grim for The Bear, doesn't it? Last I heard, The Bear was still broadcasting with Bob and Tom and Alice Cooper still running as scheduled, but I don't know how long that will last. The optimistic side of me hopes a buyer picks it up and saves it, cause even if the reception was patchy, it was still a very good station! But the realistic side of me isn't so sure. If I hear anything more on 97.9 The Bear's future, you'll hear it here! Just in case, listen to it as much as you can now while you can!

Just as a personal comment, it's stuff like this that makes me wish Sault Ontario had it's own FM rock station. If The Bear does die out, we'll just be left with Rock 101 and, IF it's the right block/show, WLSO, as the only full area rock stations. Both are great, but sometimes you like to change the station if a song comes on you don't like, or something. There is Energy Rock Radio, which is awesome, but you need a computer to listen to it. The twin Saults both have country, adult contemporary, oldies, and Christian stations, why can't we both have a rock station each? The Canadian content regulations don't bother me at all, it'd just be nice to have options, and there'll be less for us rock lovers and metalheads if The Bear leaves us. Who's with me on that? (And before someone suggests Sirius XM satellite radio, what local connection does THAT have?)

As for the Yes FM fiasco (which does have a metal connection, as two of the fired DJs are Melissa and Jason from Bad Side), the Facebook group dedicated to boycotting Yes FM until they and the other fired DJs get brought back now has a grand total of.....1,154 members!!! The 99.5 lovers are pissed now, and rightfully so! There's now talk of boycotting everything from 99.5 sponsors to EVERY station that Sovereign owns until they're brought back. Also, most local news outlets have picked up on this story, including SooToday, SooNews.ca, The Soo Evening News, and The Sault Star, click on each to read the articles! Most notable though is an interview that Craig Huckerby of SooNews.ca conducted with one of the laid-off employees (identity hidden), which you can read here! If anything else major comes up, I'll let you guys know! But just as a final note, I've seen some people ignorantly blaming Rock 101 for this mess, like they went in themselves and took over 99.5. No they didn't, their bosses did. Don't drag Scott & Brian and all them into this, blame the higher-ups!

That's all for now, I hope to have lots more news and updates real soon, keep your eyes peeled! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Sense Of Truth), News On The Local Radio Station Buyout/Firings, And More!

Sorry for the lack of a post last night, hardcore studying for a history test. Weekend concert previews are coming tomorrow, and hopefully more news to boot, but today, we have a big story coming out of the world of local radio. Stay tuned for that, but first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

I could have swore they were gonna be in-studio for the forseeable future, but hey, we thought the same about Garden of Bedlam before they booked an upcoming show, so yeah, here's what I know so far! According to new local band Groove Committee's Facebook group, local hard rockers Sense of Truth are apparently returning to the stage on February 26th! The show will be at The Canadian Nightclub, with support from Groove Committee. Guitarist Steve Myers has since confirmed the show on the band's Facebook group. This will be Sense of Truth's first concert since backing up Ultraviolence last month at Coch's Corner! I could have swore they wouldn't be back live anytime soon thanks to the recording of their EP, but hey, any concert news is welcome! I won't say I can go cause the last 3 times I got excited about a Sense of Truth concert, it backfired when something came up or I went away that same weekend. Let me just say this: If I can go, I will be one happy headbanger! I'll keep you posted as I hear more!

As for that band Groove Committee, they appear to be the new project from former Scary Uncles guitarist Matt Sibilo. I can't confirm with any definite accuracy if they'd be "hard rock" enough for the SMS, but the band does suggest that they could play Pearl Jam and Led Zeppelin live...as well as Ween and Modest Mouse. We'll have to see about these guys! Check out their Facebook group at this location!

Now let's discuss the local radio situation, which sure has a lot of people up in arms. Sovereign Communications, the local company that owns Rock 101, Oldies 93, and two local AM stations, has purchased even more of the Upper Peninsula radio universe from Northern Star Broadcasting, including two more local stations: 99.5 YES FM and Big Country 105.5, as well as AM station Talk Radio 1400. 97.9 Classic Rock: The Bear will remain under ownership of Northern Star Broadcasting to avoid FCC violations for Sovereign's concentration of the local market, though reports suggest that Northern Star are getting out of the broadcast business, so The Bear's days could be numbered. The new purchases will not impact Sault Ontario radio stations, WLSO, or any local Christian/adult contemporary stations, as they aren't owned by Northern Star. On the surface, there may seem to be nothing drastically different, as they haven't announced (yet) that any of the new stations will be getting any format changes. So rest easy, Rock 101 fans, nothing's going on there! But here's where we should be concerned:

4 on-air personalities from 99.5 YES FM have been laid off amid this mess. How does this impact us, a metal-centric blog? Well, two of the laid off personalities are Bad Side frontwoman and guitarist Melissa Krahnke and Jason Mapes. As you may know if you listen to YES FM, Melissa's one of the DJs on the Soo Morning Crew, while Jason manned The Afternoon Drive block on the station, as well as DJing on The Bear. I admittedly don't listen to 99.5 most of the time, mainly because of my own musical tastes. But when I do listen, I notice the good work, intelligence, and professionalism that they (and the other fired DJs, Paul VanWagoner and Scott Nason) had over at YES FM. Especially when no just reason was given for the firings, it makes you wonder what a local company was thinking in firing local radio personalities. Is there some "new direction" excuse? Are they planning top to bottom changes? Do they not like Bad Side? I don't know, but answers would be appreciated.

I know some of you guys listen to 99.5 YES FM, Bad Side, or both, so I encourage you to join the cause to hopefully get Sovereign Communications to rehire everyone let go, or at least give us a good reason why they did what they did. A few Facebook groups have popped up in support of the fired DJs, the biggest of which has over 640 members! Click here to join it and voice your opinion! Hopefully our voices can be heard! Also make note of The Bear's situation. If it's true that Northern Star wants out of radio, then The Bear is likely on it's last legs. It would either have to be bought by another radio company, or go out of business all together. I'm a fan of The Bear, as are many of you I'm sure! Jason's a great DJ over there, they air lots of great classic songs, plus they have Bob and Tom and Alice Cooper too! Someone should start a group to support saving The Bear, cause we need all the rock we can get, and it'd be a shame to lose 97.9 over something like this! Make yourselves heard! Also, check out SooToday's article on the whole local radio mess by clicking here! (Also, if you're gonna boycott anything, don't boycott Rock 101, they have no part in this, their superiors do. Boycott the new purchases for not having the DJs you miss.)

(EDIT: 1:23 PM) I think we have some more news about the radio mess: Apparently Sovereign Communications bought the old Northern Star stations for the physical assets rather than personnel. The employees were fired before the sale by Northern Star, and were not picked up by Sovereign because, and I quote "there are not as many jobs available, because staff is already in place." So there was staff already in place at Sovereign in the stations you JUST bought. That does not compute. Yet there was no firings from the stations they bought in the same deal in Iron Bridge and Marquette. Uh huh. No word on The Bear's status yet. Read the new article from The Soo Evening News at this location!

Now back to Sense of Truth. The concert wasn't why I mentioned I had news on them on Monday, I didn't hear about that until this morning. No, I had stuff about the recording of their EP! I've heard more than what I'm telling you, but I'm only going to report on what they've announced. Monday, Sense of Truth hit the studio with Miguel Gauthier at Stereo Soul Studios to record their debut EP, which will have 6 songs! Drummer Ryan Haryett has mentioned to be on the lookout for photos and maybe the odd video, so make sure to stay tuned to their Facebook group for anything like that! That's all I had on the Sense of Truth front! Should be a good spring/summer with new Sense of Truth and Garden of Bedlam releases coming out, both of which will get lots of press and my own reviews when they come out! I'll keep you posted!

And finally for today, Woods of Ypres updates! Firstly, you know the track listing on your copy of "Woods IV: The Green Album"? Get out your erasers, David Gold has decided to alter, lengthen, or shorten five of the track names! Here's what's different: "Shards of Love" now has the subtitle "(Hurt Forever)", "Dirty Window Of Opportunity" is now "Into Exile", with the subtitle "(Can You Get Here In 10 Days?)" still in place, "And I Am Pining (For You)" has had the "And I Am" removed, "To Long Life In The 'Limbo Union'" is now "Our Union (In Limbo)", and "Move On! (The Woman Will Always Leave The Man)" has had it's subtitle completely removed. Make edits of that where necessary so you're up to date! I even edited my review of W4 to reflect this. Thanks to this topic on the band's forum for the update. Speaking of "Woods IV", David's latest topic post on the band's forum hypes to make sure to buy and listen to the album between March 20th and June 19th, as this is the band's spring themed album, after all! He says "Let it rain! We're all in this together. ...We'll have a party at the end." Hey, I like parties! Buy the album, it's a real experience!

That's all for now, more news coming very soon! Thanks everyone!