More Weekend Concert Previews, A New Local Punk Band, And An Archive Interview!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of veteran local journalist and concert videographer Mike Caruso, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 77. You can read his self-penned obituary at this link, which confirms that he is survived by his son Chris, sister Rose, a niece and multiple nephews, and their extended family. There will be no funeral services, but arrangements are entrusted to the O'Sullivan Funeral Home, and donations to the Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie in his name would be appreciated. Mike was a mainstay of Sault Ontario news via his association with Craig Huckerby's local news websites (LTVNews, SooNews, Local2, SaultOnline, and FirstLocalNews) over the years, with his camera frequently rolling for articles and features. Mike was an ardent supporter of local music, and he filmed countless bands at nightclubs, charity events, and festivals over the years.

While videos uploaded directly to the news sites are obviously long gone, Mike uploaded dozens of concert videos to his YouTube channel from 2010 to 2020, capturing a wide swath of local musicians in their element, often focusing on veteran cover acts, and he remained supportive even amidst his more recent health issues. Mike also acted in the first six seasons of the local Rogers TV soap opera Tami. My interactions with Mike were largely just brief pleasantries at concerts, but he was a good man who did so much to promote local musicians and the Soo at large, and he will be missed. R.I.P. Mike!

Today's post otherwise wraps up this weekend's concert previews, plus a surprise interview find, and to start, here's our preview of a show from a debuting local band and new addition to our links, namely Dos Amigos! A spinoff/sister band to both The Inner City Surfers and Bookclub, Dos Amigos (whose name and branding is inspired by the movie Three Amigos) feature singer/guitarists Dustin Jones and Mikey Hawdon in another collaborative project. If you're familiar with their other band work (let alone Mikey's acoustic exploits on his uke), you should be right at home here, and they will make their local concert debut TOMORROW NIGHT at The Whisky Barrel! Apologies for the short notice, the show was only announced this week alongside the band's public launch. This new project doesn't have public videos yet, but two "Reels" are circulating on personal Facebook pages, and you can see Mikey & Dustin covering Blink-182 and Bad Religion in them.

What I heard sounds good, and definitely would seem to indicate a lean more into punk than Bookclub tend to play, so definitely track those "Reels" down for a preview of TOMORROW'S unplugged action on Gore Street! Two more shows were announced on personal postings, but I'll wait for public advertising of them before covering them here, unless none is forthcoming, then they'll get the short notice treatment. TOMORROW's debut of Dos Amigos goes down at 8:00 PM at The Whisky Barrel with a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more on Dos Amigos!

Next up, here's the last known local hard rock concert for this weekend, which will see former Haggith/Eclipse frontman Curtis McKenzie make his debut at Beck's Bar TOMORROW! While best known for playing at The Dive since resurrecting his solo project, this will be a prime opportunity for Curt to unleash his hard and alternative rock covers on a new audience and locale, so head to the former Vibe Lounge on Goulais Avenue (near Millie's Mini-Mart) tomorrow to hear some solid covers in a familiar but still new locale! Tomorrow's show is in Beck's 3:00-7:00 PM matinee timeslot, and precedes that night's separate concert from Tex Riviera & The Ride (Curtis isn't "opening" for The Ride, these are separate concerts on the same day, but you can stick around to see both if you choose). Early start aside, this has a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Curt live!

Finally for today, here's a surprise YouTube discovery, namely a video upload of a text interview, and it was with late Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold! This dates back to November 27th, 2004, shortly after the release of their second CD "Pursuit Of The Sun & Allure Of The Earth", and was conducted by "Lockeed" of the old online metal magazine Lunar Hypnosis. Almost two decades later, 'zine founder Joe Mlodik re-published it in video form for his his YouTube channel Joe's Metal Mancave this past September, with music supplied by his Wisconsin-based ambient solo project Noctilucant. The interview is literally screenshotted in from Lunar Hypnosis, and the contrast isn't ideal to read the text even at full screen, but you'll see David discuss the early response to "Woods II", how he described their sound at the time ("summer black metal" is what he called it), the inspiration behind their name, ...

...then-recent band member departures, the launch of his own label Krankenhaus Records, and their 2005 plans, including their unreleased cover of Bathory's "Lake Of Fire", early teasers of "Woods III", and their next lineup additions. As a bonus, three Lunar Hypnosis reviews of Woods' first two CDs are screenshotted at the end, with "Greg B" giving their first two CDs a 7/10 and 8/10 each, and "Steak Eyes" giving "Pursuit..." a 7/10. Not the easiest interview to read visually, but it's great to see someone republish an old 'zine interview like this, let alone on Woods of Ypres, and it's interesting to see how things were going early in Woods' Toronto era with two decades of hindsight! Check it out for yourselves below, and R.I.P. David!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Rhythm & Brews), A New Video Interview, And More!!

I wasn't planning to double up with posts on this Saturday, but a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT came to my attention, and we'll fill things out with a lengthy new video interview with a familiar face, and the surprise cover songs he was involved with! Here's what you should know!

Local hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will return to The Cozy Corners Tavern & Grill (well, outside of it) in nearby Barbeau to cap off their Oktoberfest celebrations TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only announced their involvement via their Facebook page on Wednesday, but the venue's Facebook page had been plugging the band as headlining for well earlier than this week. Rhythm & Brews debuted at The Cozy Corners at 6800 East 15 Mile Road in July for the Dunbar Dirt Road Dash, and TONIGHT's show will similarly be for a special event, with this Oktoberfest being a fundraiser for the Hospice of the E.U.P. in Sault Ste. Marie, so don't bypass that wonderful cause! Rhythm & Brews' established hard rock covers and likely Van Halen flourishes will be capping off Oktoberfest TONIGHT at 9:00 PM outside of the venue, and a bonfire, cornhole tournament, stein hoisting contest, and more will be ongoing from 2:00 PM onward

Also don't forget the smoke-off that began this morning, and again, sorry again about the late notice! I believe admission is free for Oktoberfest, with donations and funds from the smoke-off and internal events going to the Hospice, and of course, expect a 21+ age limit given the beer emphasis. 9&10 News is calling for cloudy weather from 9:00 PM-11:00 PM before showers are projected to set in, so hopefully Rhythm & Brews and the crowd escape the rain! No preview videos of Rhythm & Brews yet, alas, but visit the above links for more on TONIGHT's festivities!

Next up, here's a 50 minutes long video interview with former Gates of Winter/Woods of Ypres guitarist Bryan Belleau! Conducted remotely last month by Tyler Fleming of the Pensacola, Florida doom metal band October Noir, he hosts a YouTube interview series called The Noir Hour, which launched in the summer and has roughly posted an interview a week since. The interview is primarily based around Bryan's two year stint with Woods of Ypres (though Gates of Winter come up), and includes questions about Bryan's life in British Columbia nowadays, how Bryan met David Gold & joined Woods of Ypres with the rest of Gates in 2008, experiences working with & learning from David, Woods' influence and reach in the past decade, how he got involved in a cover of "Wet Leather" featuring Bam Margera (more on that at post's end), his folk/jazz music with his wife Melinda out west in the last few years, seeing bands cover Woods of Ypres songs at the Ypres Metal Fest in the Soo in 2012, ...

...his reactions to David's death the previous year, his relationship with David after leaving the band, Bryan's thoughts & perceptions of his album with the band (2009's "Woods IV: The Green Album") and some songs individually, the emotional impact of Woods of Ypres' late-period songs, the personal qualities & positive impact of David's mother Esther (a.k.a. Mama Gold), his musical development while recording with Woods, what Bryan knew about the "Home" single (he was told that the songs were "Woods IV" leftovers), the personal reasons that led to Bryan amicably leaving the band before their 2010 American tour, the wide-ranging friends Bryan met through Woods of Ypres, his views on the impact of his stint with the band, and how involved he wants to be in metal nowadays, especially now that he is a father with different priorities.

Solid interview with Bryan coming across as very humble & appreciative of both his time in Woods of Ypres and the kindness he's felt from fans of his, the band's, and David's in the past decade, and while Tyler was an acknowledged late bloomer to Woods fandom, you can tell he was thrilled to talk to Bryan and get his insight! Some more talk about Gates of Winter, even if just some more details on the Gates of Ypres 2008 tour and/or why Lee, Brian, and Steve progressively left, would have been interesting, but Bryan definitely hit most notes non-local Woods fans will wanna hear. Give the interview a watch for yourself below!

To close, what was that about Bryan recording a cover of "Wet Leather" with Bam Margera that I mentioned earlier? I assume this flew under the radar because Bryan isn't locally based anymore, but in April of last year, Bryan collaborated with Matt Lidwin of the Milwaukee goth metal project 616 to remotely cover "Wet Leather", with Bryan on guitar and Bam (formerly of Jackass fame and his band Fuckface Unstoppable) singing chorus vocals, alongside former HIM drummer Mika "Gas Lipstick" Karppinen. 616 have strong HIM overtones, and Bam was a major fan of theirs already, so the shoes fit! Clearly a good working relationship was also established between Matt and Bryan, as the two worked together on another 616 cover earlier this year, tackling Type O Negative's "Everything Dies" last month, a song that Bryan mentioned in the Noir Hour interview was tentatively planned for a Woods of Ypres covers album that never made it to the studio.

Both 616 covers are on all major streaming services, I have them linked/embedded here via their YouTube channel. Great hearing new metal material from Bryan for the first time since Gates of Winter's last public "Perhelion" teasers in the mid-2010s (I miss them), both songs suit Matt's (and Bam's) vocal ranges well, and the covers are faithful but with some extra flourish and effects to help them stand out a little. Well recorded and produced, and if you don't mind the lyric repetition of "Wet Leather", it'll be easy to hop on board with that cover. Give them a listen above & below!

That's definitely all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

David Gold's Final Interview, The Launch Of SMC Radio, And More Recent News!!

Another month is upon us, so let's kick off the merry, merry month of May with a new news post to catch up on more of the recent backlog! This includes a few assorted recent updates, a surprise new internet radio station from an originating source you may not expect, and leading off, a poignant interview with a prominent local musician that I've never seen before. Here's what you should know!

If you subscribed to the former British metal magazine Terrorizer, you may have read what was purported as the final interview with Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold in issue #219 from February 2012. Terrorizer wasn't as available locally as magazines like Revolver or Decibel before publication ceased in 2019, so this easily may have bypassed even diehard fans, but it was posted onto the Woods of Ypres FanClub Facebook group by member Parker Caldwell last week, so now we can read it without hunting down this issue on eBay! Click here to read the whole thing, I recommend doing so in full screen mode or with a zoom. The interview was conducted by Terrorizer journalist Adrien Begrand just one week before David's death on December 21st, 2011, which makes David's remarks even sadder, as he reflected on how he hoped for more from the band personally & commercially.

David does reflect on recording "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", their shift to doom metal, and how recording each of their albums affected him emotionally, but he is candid about his mindset after a decade of working in and promoting Woods of Ypres without finding a true change in lifestyle or financial security. I don't wanna quote anything directly because this seriously deserves to be read verbatim. It is a sad read knowing what happened a week afterwards, but David still held out hope that this album would change things for Woods of Ypres, and it did, though who could have guessed under what circumstances. Read the whole article above, and thanks to Parker for uploading this in full!

Next up, here's a neat discovery that some of you may be long familiar with: St. Mary's College has launched an internet radio station! The Catholic high school at 868 Second Line East is now home to SMC Radio, which first aired in October of last year exclusively on Stationhead, which you can hear at this link or via the mobile application when the station is online (i.e., not weekends, at least not yet). Spearheaded by teacher Mario Rocchetta, SMC Radio's genre seems to be primarily top 40/contemporary hits, but they have aired themed programming blocks and listener requests, and on-air DJs (all students) appear to have some say in the rotation. Hard rock/metal-wise, the Friday afternoon show Lunch with Laur did air a Hair Nation episode in February, with a special all-Poison/Bret Michaels episode following in March, which is very relevant given recent coverage of the station (more on that in a bit!)

In the past week, SMC Radio has gotten spotlighted in this article by The Sault Star's Brian Kelly and via matching press releases on SooToday and SaultOnline, so what can we learn there? The Sault Star article features comments from student DJ Hailey Laberge (who plays a lot of classic rock and underground indie music on air), graphic designer Nicholas Legacy, and Mr. Rocchetta, who also noted that some popular broadcasts have seen fellow St. Mary's faculty sharing their own favourite songs on air, and the hope is for involvement with the station to count towards an academic credit. The press release pumps up a lot of the station's exposure and reach so far, while also noting the Instagram video linked below, where Bret Michaels himself highly praises the station & staff. Also, Mario Rocchetta is a big fan of Poison & Bret, even singing with Bret in Sault Michigan n 2016!

Full disclosure, this was written on a Sunday when the station was offline, but kudos to Mario and the Knights students for putting something like this together! Outside of Algoma University's defunct podcasting series, Sault Ontario school radio wasn't really a thing before now, and SMC Radio updates their social media accounts way more frequently than Laker Radio in Sault Michigan! I think it would help if they both got 24/7 autoplay rotation & added the station to other platforms like TuneIn, but they're on a good trajectory, and hopefully their on-air content keeps a strong and diverse focus! Give Bret's shout-out a watch below, and tune in to SMC Radio on Stationhead during the week to see what's on air!

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A post shared by SMC Radio (@smcknightsradio)

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual for these short-form story blocks, these are in alphabetical order by artist or company name:

 

• Local concert promotion agency and pop-up venue host Dryer Fire are plotting a full post-pandemic return, as per this SooToday article by Chris Belsito on Friday! The Nicole Dyble-led company (which succeeded her old venue The Gore Street Cafe in 2018) did promote sparingly at The Klub last year, but she is hoping to regularly book events on a more normal schedule again this year. She has launched a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo to get $5,000 to book five shows in mid-2022, and has gotten booking requests from touring acts. Hopefully things run smoothly, it'd be great to see Dryer Fire healthy and in full operation again!
• Bands are being sought for this year's Sault Pridefest's Loud & Proud Family Fun Day at The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center, which will take place on Sunday, July 17th at 1:00 PM. Hard rock bands did play at this LGBTQ+ festival event pre-pandemic, including The Din in 2017 and Re:Born in 2019, so the door's open for SMS friendly acts to return. Message organizer Amanda Zuke at this link or via the Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Tuesday for more information!
• While the band still has not detailed their full lineup or sound on social media, personal Facebook posts confirm that new Sault Michigan rock band The Nameless (who opened for Buddy Repperton & The Camaros at Three One Three on Ashmun last month) are a quartet featuring singer/guitarist Joshua LaCoursiere and Tantrym Tyme alum Michael McLeod on bass. The identities of the other two members are not out yet, nor is any real indication of their sub-genre or set beyond who they opened for, but we'll let you know when more is confirmed, and check out some pre-show photos on their Facebook page!
  

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck & Fort Creek), An Unreleased Woods Of Ypres Song Clip, And Much More!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to apologize for missing a late notice concert this past weekend, as local hard/funk rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns played at The Water Tower Pub on Saturday night. The band never promoted the show on Facebook publically, but the venue announced it on ultra late notice that day (personal Facebook posts indicated that the Stallyns were late replacements for an unidentified act). I hope the show went well, and I profusely apologize for missing this one on here, I'd have covered the show if it had even one day's notice! Last weekend was a nightmare for late notice shows, alas. Now, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, an unreleased song clip, and much more in today's news post!

Local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek will make their debuts at two different downtown venues this spring, as they'll head to Shooters Downstairs Lounge on Dennis Street on Saturday, April 16th before rocking Soo Blaster on Queen Street East three weeks later on Saturday, May 7th! Both were confirmed via separate concert poster uploads on the band's Facebook page over the last few days The Shooters gig next month is one of many Saturday night shows that this venue has been booking since their re-opening in February, helping give cover-centric bands on the weekend circuit another venue to play at, and clearly Soundcheck's show there went well if they're going full steam ahead! Soo Blaster may seem like a very large venue for one band alone, but Fort Creek definitely seem to be approaching it as a bigger deal, with advance ticket sales, a guitar draw, and even the live debut of an original single from their planned EP!

Both of Fort Creek's upcoming concerts are 8:00 PM affairs with 19+ age limits, and while the Shooters show next month has no announced cover charge, the Soo Blaster concert in May has tickets running for $5 in advance, $7 at the door. If you want to buy tickets ahead, call the number on the poster or head to Trio Auto Supply at 20 Second Line East (the band did not specify if Soo Blaster would have any, or if you could set something up by contacting band members directly). Visit the above links for complete details on both of these shows, and stay tuned for more from Fort Creek!

Next up, aforementioned local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge themselves for their second show at the Memorial Gardens-adjacent nightclub on Saturday, April 23rd! While not yet confirmed by Soundcheck (who usually begin plugging their own shows on Facebook the week of, sometimes the day of), Shooters themselves announced the concert via their own Facebook event page on Sunday, so we have an uncharacteristically large amount of advance notice for this one! Yes, I am well aware of their Reggie's shows this weekend, but those are being saved for this weekend's concert previews due to only being announced this week, so check back on Thursday or Friday. Again, it's definitely a good sign that Soundcheck's Shooters debut went well, as the venue is ramping up their cover band bookings (albeit on Saturdays only), so their return seems very welcomed!

Like with Fort Creek on the 16th, you can take in Soundcheck's old school blend of hard rock, classic rock, and country covers on the 23rd at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge, but please be mindful of any and all extant public health recommendations at Shooters, especially as it's not a massive venue. Visit the above links for more details, and look for our preview of their late notice Reggie's shows later this week!

Also, here's something I'm surprised I've never addressed before on the SMS: A 45 second snippet of an unreleased Woods of Ypres song! Preliminarily titled "Song Five" as per the iTunes library used in the video, this was posted to Earache Records' Instagram page way back in May 2017 during the label's 30th anniversary celebrations. The caption says that this an "unreleased Woods Of Ypres song from Woods 5", but remember that this could be a song from the cancelled "Woods V: You Were The Light", a five song EP recorded locally in 2010 before their false breakup and signing with Earache, after which they reclassified that EP as "Woods 4.5" (but never released it) and began work on the "Woods V" we all know and love. To date, three of the songs from "You Were The Light" have surfaced: two were put out on 2011's "Home" single, while a remix of "Accounting For Your Cruelty" was officially posted online by frontman David Gold that year. Is "Song Five" the closing track of that cancelled EP?

In any event, potentially putting out "Woods 4.5" and/or unreleased Woods of Ypres content has been teased by Earache on Instagram before, but if you're at all active in the Woods of Ypres Facebook community, you'll know that David's mother Esther (a.k.a. Mama Gold) has an obviously deep interest in her son's music and legacy, and there have been occasions in the past where it seemed like she wasn't aware of/unequivocally on board with Earache's plans. While the hardcore fans would obviously want to hear this song (and more?) in full, I'd definitely want all parties in agreement. What we hear in the clip sounds promisingly dark and fitting of Woods' doom era, and give it a listen for yourself below!

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A post shared by Earache Records ♠️ (@earacherecords)

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

 

• On Saturday, local goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore launched a new Facebook page to replace their previously deleted Facebook page, which Tyler implied was not his choice (I'd presume the content of many of their songs/albums were flagged on both of C.T.W.'s prior Facebook pages). So far, the page just features photos, videos, and links to concerts, music, and photos from their 2010s heyday, but Tyler did "promise a special little treat or 2 for everyone throughout this year". No idea what that's hinting at, but stay tuned for updates!
• After just two new episodes following their unexplained winter hiatus, local metal radio show Metal Morpheus aired reruns for the past two Sundays on The Borderline, specifically last year's doom metal & goregrind episodes. No word on why Josh didn't produce new episodes the last two weeks, but hopefully the fact that he went a few months with reruns or nothing at all and came back is a good sign that Metal Morpheus will return at some point. In case that is Sunday, tune in to The Borderline then at 9:00 PM!
• Local indie punk quintet The Northwest have confirmed that they are working on a new EP called "All In", and the first single will be entitled "Long Hair (Longer Nights)", with a release coming next Friday! Presumably that'd be April 8th, as April 1st would be this Friday. You can pre-order the single (which they say is "a post-lockdown anthem") on Spotify at this link, so stay tuned for updates, and get more at The Northwest's Facebook page!
  

 

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

Our Recap Of The Last(?) Episode Of Metal Morpheus On The Borderline!!

Today on the SMS, let's finally cover the final(?) episode of the Metal Morpheus radio show on local internet radio station The Borderline! As you may know, Metal Morpheus ran for an hour (give or take) on Sunday nights at 9:00 PM from July-December of last year, with host/local metal singer Josh Amendola typically featuring a genre or national scene each week, with at least one metal act with local membership per episode. However, following a heavily revised version of October's all-local episode on December 5th, the series fell into reruns for a month, and no new episodes have been posted on the station website since re-airing the power metal episode on January 9th. I don't know what happened to Metal Morpheus, especially given that Josh was very early into a planned series of alphabetical spotlights of the scenes in various countries, and he was improving as an on-air personality as time went on, so hopefully he isn't 100% done!

The possibility exists that Metal Morpheus is just on an indefinite hiatus, and hopefully we see Josh pick things back up for the series in some form when the time is right! If not, ending with the Soo Metal episode is a good way to go out, even if it was severely altered from what originally aired! I never recapped the October version on the site due to only catching up to it in the timeline after it was taken down. Alas, I do apologize for that, but how would I have known that it'd be deleted and overhauled? Just as a disclaimer, Josh does reference both the SMS and myself in this episode, and while he did ask me for suggestions of local bands to play on air last year and for input on how episodes turned out, I never knew he was going to make an all-local episode. I was as surprised as everyone else! As of this writing, I have never been on The Borderline in any on-air or behind-the-scenes capacity.

As for the revised Soo Metal episode, it runs for just over an hour, and it starts with Josh playing defunct local alternative rock band (and Papa Fogals Chair predecessors) Sulfur's song "Our Glass Universe" (0:05) from their 1997 CD "How Empty I Am". Next, we get a song by old school local hardcore punk band The Big Kahunas with their original studio recording "The Fighting Princess Club" (3:55), before abruptly switching gears to inactive Vancouver grunge trio Denderah with their song "Sweetness" (5:50). I've never heard of Denderah, but their frontman Kwin Cymons is a Saultite, so his band's material clearly found its way to The Borderline's rotation before passing my radar! They're a solid group, give their album a listen at their Bandcamp page! A rare Sault Michigan act hits the episode next via inactive progressive metal project Life's Eclipse's song "Not Dead But Dreaming" (9:05).

Fondly remembered local hardcore punk band Fistmagnet's cover of "Live To Die" (17:15) is next, followed by local/London instrumental prog metal band Hiroshima Mutant Mindframe's song "All Roams Lead To Roads" (20:10) from their self-titled album. Prominent and dearly missed local hard rock quartet Garden of Bedlam follow with the title track from their full length album "Everything Will Die" (23:15), while the second half of the episode begins with death metal quartet The Bear Hunters' song "Transcend Judgement" (28:20) from 2020's "The Dead Testament", conveniently followed by ex-guitarist Josh Stephney's old hardcore band Bring The Fallen with the title track of their posthumous EP "Stand Before" (34:40). This episode's only live cut is next, courtesy of defunct local metal band Sativa Rose with their lengthy original song "Bellows of the Beast" (39:10).

Juno Award winning local/Toronto blackened doom metal band Woods of Ypres come next with their dark ballad "Finality" (48:10) from their final studio album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", before heading back to Sault Michigan for defunct local epic death metal band Integrated System of Machines' song "Road To Valhalla" (52:10) from their 2008 album "Apocalyptic Visions". The episode ends with one more song by Denderah, namely "Natal Lies" (57:35), and no, neither this episode nor the last 100% new one from the previous week left any hints that the series was ending or taking a break. While Josh did leave some gaps regarding band members' full names or back stories (especially with Life's Eclipse given how we've covered them and Werehold Records over the years), this was an entertaining episode and showed how Josh was trying to expand the range of local artists!

Definitely give this and other episodes of Metal Morpheus a listen at the above links, as it is (was?) a good series and helped fill the metal void on The Borderline's scheduled rotation, and if Josh doesn't return to record new episodes, hopefully we hear more from him in some form, let alone more metal, hard rock, or punk-centric programming on the station! That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and more on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Garrett Rogers

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile, and in our last installment of this series of 2021, we're again looking at a randomly selected YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk musicians/concerts. Our random selection gave us quite a fitting channel to look at this month, given the extremely sad events of over a decade ago this month, so here's what you should know!

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Garrett Rogers (http://youtube.com/deformedpie) 

Owner: YouTube user Garrett Rogers, who I don't believe is from Sault Ste. Marie

Channel Timeline: Launched on May 24th, 2010; Videos uploaded from October 2015-July 2016

Channel Summary: A metal fan with a clear appreciation for defunct local blackened doom metal band Woods of Ypres, all but five of Garrett's uploads comprise of Woods of Ypres' entire studio catalog of original songs (as of 2021), all represented with the song alongside its album cover. The only songs not here from released albums are the cello cover of "Allure of the Earth" from that single, the Necramyth bonus disc from "Woods IV", and the producer's mix of "Finality" from "Woods V" on vinyl. Garrett's only non-Woods videos are still related, namely New Brunswick black metal band Thrawsunblat's 2016 EP "Metachthonia" (remember, Thrawsunblat feature the surviving members of Woods of Ypres' final lineup, including Joel Violette from "Woods V").
 
Why You Should Watch: If you love Woods of Ypres and have been mourning the 10 year anniversary of frontman David Gold's death this month (hard to believe it's been a decade already), then this channel will quench your thirst! Granted, this is a fan channel and not official through any band or label-linked account (I don't believe), so keep that in mind, but if you just want a convenient spot to hear the vast majority of Woods of Ypres' recorded output, keep DeformedPie in mind!

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

Woods Of Ypres - Deepest Roots And Darkest Blues: If you count the songs on the five canonical Woods albums + the "Home" single, you'll come up with one more song than Garrett uploaded. The discrepancy comes from his combining "Deepest Roots: Belief That All Is Lost" and "Darkest Blues: Relief That Nothing Can Be Done" from 2007's "Woods III" into one seven minute continuous track for his song uploads. There's no major break in between, so they blend together as one suite, as they were intended to on the album. These provide melodic black metal from the tail end of Woods of Ypres' Southern Ontario era that fans will still easily be able to, and the evocative lyrics certainly don't hurt this song's cause!

 

 

Woods Of Ypres - Wet Leather: Surprisingly, Garrett's most watched video is a song from the Thrawsunblat EP he uploaded, with "Fires That Light The Earth" garnering over 18,000 views! While a great band that carries the Woods torch very well, they're not local, so the most viewed Woods of Ypres video here is "Wet Leather" from 2009's "Woods IV: The Green Album", their only song here to crack 3,000 views (and by a healthy margin, at that). A nicely paced doom metal song best known from the "Life is just pain and piss..." lyrics, this is a fan favourite from their local era, and I'm not surprised it got a lot of hits on this channel!

 

Woods Of Ypres - Death Is Not An Exit: Given how the lyrical themes from 2012's "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" have been connected by fans to David's passing in December 2011, especially with that album's posthumous success and accolades, it made perfect sense to feature a song from the album here. Death, loss, and mourning are heavy themes on the record, but I went with "Death Is Not An Exit" here because it's less sorrowful and morose, and more optimistic about what David felt that death meant. I've had to reconcile that a lot myself, having lost my mother to cancer last fall. It's a shame that Woods of Ypres didn't get their true breakthrough until David was gone, but thankfully, his music never will be!

 

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! To kick off 2022 in this series, we're taking a look at another randomly selected single YouTube channel, that being from YouTube user Jon Tiberious (a.k.a. Late & Loud guitarist Jonathan Tiberi), whose channel features an array of musical content despite it's seeming brevity! Look for that on or around January 26th, and for more news and content on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

New/Old Video Uploads Related To Woods Of Ypres!!

Just a heads up for anyone who reads this post on the day it went up or shortly thereafter, but this was largely written during the great Facebook outage of October 4th, 2021, so I apologize if any of the links or photos in it are slightly awry. I did intentionally choose topics that aren't reliant on Facebook to write about, in the event that Facebook remained down, and while it was back at the time this post was published, it was still running sluggishly for me. In any event, this post is all about a long lamented local metal band via some recent YouTube uploads, so let's get this one rolling!

As some readers may recall, ex-Woods of Ypres drummer Evan Madden and late frontman David Gold's mom Esther were both interviewed a little over a year ago by metal singer, comedian. and NewMusicNation VJ Robbie Stevenson for his YouTube series Metal Health, with topics centering heavily on Woods of Ypres in both, as tinged with discussion on mental health, which Robbie is open about dealing with personally. If you liked those, then let's make it a trilogy, as Robbie interviewed Woods of Ypres' final lead guitarist Joel Violette for a 44 minute episode of Metal Health last week! Woods fans will recognize Joel from his 2010-2011 stint with the band, including appearing on the "Home" single, the Juno-winning "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", and the "I Was Buried In Mount Pleasant Cemetery" music video, while also playing in both Woods' final local concert and 2012's Ypres Metal Fest.

Since the "Woods V" release, Joel has focused on his New Brunswick-based folk/black metal band Thrawsunblat, with him on lead vocals & guitar alongside the surviving members of Woods' never-debuted final lineup. No one in Thrawsunblat is from the Soo (let alone Ontario), so we don't cover them on the site day to day, but if you like Woods of Ypres, you will like Thrawsunblat for their doomy black metal sound and nature influences, and Joel is carrying their musical torch very well. Likewise, Robbie is a good candidate to interview anyone related to Woods of Ypres, as you can tell by his shirt, his albums, even the name of his cat! After opening with discussion of patches and the Metal Health set, Robbie asks Joel about Thrawsunblat's upcoming EPs, how he adapted during the early stages of the pandemic, how Joel connected with David musically & ultimately joined Woods of Ypres, ...

...his first tour with the band, Thrawsunblat's vinyl releases & their sole live concert, and Joel's day job outside of music, but after Robbie runs through Woods of Ypres' history in 2011, they kinda wrap things up and just talk about whatever for the last 10 minutes or so. Sault Ste. Marie does come up when Joel talks about working with Miguel Gauthier at Stereo Soul Studios, plus touring through Northern Ontario, including their ordeal over a broken windshield travelling from the Soo. It's also worth noting that Robbie said that he was planning to do a four part mini-series on David Gold's life and legacy for NewMusicNation (details are about halfway through the video), which would definitely be interesting to see! This was a likable interview, and Robbie is more casual & in the element, but this was almost to it's detriment as it felt like there was a lot of stuff Joel could have talked about if only he was asked.

I also was somewhat out of the loop as to Robbie's evasive references to Woods' old label Earache Records (are their people liable to complain if they're openly criticized?) Still, a fun watch featuring two guys who are clearly easy talkers about anything that comes to mind, complete with lots of jokes from Robbie, so give it a watch below!

We'll close today with a new-ish upload of 21+ minutes of Woods of Ypres at the inaugural Northern Lights Festival at Club Rockit in Toronto back in June 2003! If this sounds familiar, it's because David posted all of this to his YouTube channel in 2007 in three different uploads, but YouTube user HairpieceForDogs combined it all into one upload in August & stretched it to wide-screen. The Northern Lights Festival was (according to David) "the 1st ever black metal festival in North America", and it featured a few other recognizable names, including Lansing veterans Summon (who later featured Sault Michigan native Mikey Bishop on drums), Krankenhaus Records signees Vanquished, and "Heart of Gold" tribute album performers Eclipse Eternal, among others. That said, I am not 100% certain on the Woods of Ypres lineup here, but David was still just their drummer.

Woods had a lot of membership turnover in their Windsor era, but this is late in Robin Cross' tenure as lead vocalist. The multi-camera footage features Woods playing their "Against The Seasons" cuts "The Shams of Optimism", "Crossing The 45th Parallel", "A Meeting Place & Time", and "Awaiting The Inevitable". Between the VHS camcorder quality (remember, 2003) and the unnecessarily stretched aspect ratio for the re-upload, this isn't a pristine way to witness Woods of Ypres, but live videos are scarce from their black metal era, and it's a very interesting & convenient way to see them at this primordial stage with a very receptive crowd! Give it a watch below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site by Thursday! Thanks everyone!