New Videos From Crush & A Woods Of Ypres Clarification!!

We made it to March 2026, so let's kick off the month with a post devoted to two different acts with a lot to get into, so here's what you should know!

It's been too long since we took a dive into Sault Michigan hard rock trio Crush's Facebook page, so what have the guys been up to in recent months? Well, aside from last month's show with About:Blank at The Savoy Bar, which neither band plugged on social media that I was able to find. On December 9th, they posted this brief video of an unidentfied band member greeting the statue of the French fur trader located inside Sault Ste. Marie's roundabout (that'd have been a bit of a climb up!), while another video from four days later during their St. Helen concert the previous month sees frontman Alex Traynor's surprise encounter with a lighter in an unexpected place. I can only assume that it was that road trip where Crush fell in love with the Big Boy restaurant chain, which became a running gag in posts over the winter! The next video sees guitarist Josh Fair play an acoustic Christmas song from December 19th.

Presumably titled "Randolph The Reindeer", this is jokey and somewhat ribald, so whether you want to watch it out of season or not, keep that in mind! Adding to the seasonality (apologies for the delay in getting to these), the Tarnished spinoff band posted a video called "What's Eating Santa Claus?" on Christmas Day, where a drunken and belligerent St. Nick has car trouble, drives to a gas station for smokes, goes to a bar, and gets into other antics. I would have to guess that the guys in Crush are familiar with the Trailer Park Boys, and it's an amusing video if you don't mind watching it 2+ months late! Lastly is their new 10+ minute video where the guys bake cookies, and to make things comically complicated, Alex is blindfolded, bassist Isaac "Iggy" Royer is listening to loud music on headphones, and Josh isn't allowed to talk (ie. see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil).

I'll let you guys find out how the cookies turn out, but there are definitely laughs to be had as Alex tries to tell Josh what visual signals to give Iggy so he can do the primary recipe, and hey, you don't see other local bands doing this! The video ends with the announcement of two upcoming concerts in May (at least these ones got announced!), but both will see Crush hit the road for downstate gigs in Ann Arbor and Battle Creek. Unfortunately, I can't embed the cookie one here because Facebook content matched the song that Crush used over the show announcements (Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe"), so give it a watch at this link, and here's "What's Eating Santa Claus?"!

Finally for today, I wanted to acknowledge the Milwaukee goth metal project 616's cover of Ozzy Osbourne's "Patient Number Nine" that made its way to major streaming services last month. On some streaming platforms, the song is labelled as "feat. Woods Of Ypres", which definitely caught fans of the defunct Sault Ontario blackened doom metal band by surprise. Things were clarified in a thread on the Woods Of Ypres FanClub Facebook group, where it was revealed that 2008-2010 Woods guitarist Bryan Belleau (who appears on "Woods IV: The Green Album") performed on the cover. This isn't a brand new collaboration, as Bryan previously covered "Wet Leather" and Type O Negative's "Everything Dies" with 616 in 2022, while this article plugging a podcast appearance from a year later indicated that Bryan's old Woods and Gates of Winter bandmate Steve Furgiuele was also remotely working on material with 616.

It's not clear how involved Steve is with 616 beyond that, but a comment implies that he (if not another former Woods alum) may be on the new cover too. Bryan unquestionably appears on 616's 2023 EP "The Living Dead Sessions" and he returned for this Ozzy cover, but why is it branded as featuring the band? Bryan (who lives and performs in British Columbia now) responded in the comment section, where he confirmed that while "it was filtered through Mama Gold" (late frontman David Gold's mom Esther), he "did not explicitly endorse Woods of Ypres at any point during the recording of this", and "the path forward will be solely my name". 616 frontman Matthew Lidwin said that "it was my ode to mention (the band) in the title" and "to pay my respects to the Gold family", and Esther defended Matthew herself, saying that "one song was 'influenced' by David's style", and that the "best compliment in life is when another, with admiration, copies a style".

When I gave my thoughts on the "Wet Leather" cover on the SMS at the time, I noted a definite HIM influence from 616, but Matthew's vocals on the "Patient Number Nine" cover really remind me Tobias Forge from Ghost. I don't get massive Woods of Ypres vibes from it (remember, Bryan only recorded one album with them), but it is definitely well performed and produced on all fronts, so if this seems interesting, definitely give it a listen below! I'd be a little more specific when tagging it in the future though, as Woods Of Ypres effectively = David Gold for most fans.

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

Double Down & Separate Wayz/Guilty Party Updates, Plus A New Video Interview!!

Before we tackle another round of weekend concert previews, here's a new news post on this Wednesday night, which includes lineup updates for some bands on the weekend rock cover circuit and a new interview discovery with a musician who had a brief but noteworthy stint in a local band, so with all of that said, here's what you should know!

We have some big lineup news from two (kinda three) local classic/hard rock bands, as Half Past drummer Johnny Amendola has joined both Separate Wayz and The Guilty Party, replacing Brent Royer. As per Separate Wayz' Facebook page on Sunday, Brent amicably left due to being unable to "commit (to) the amount we want to play in both bands" (not unlike why Steven left), and while the statement was only made on one of the two bands' pages and didn't directly say that Brent left The Guilty Party too, singer/guitarist Terry Eaton confirmed that he did in a Facebook e-mail yesterday. Brent had been a founding member of The Guilty Party last fall, and only just joined their sister band Separate Wayz three weeks ago, but he played just one weekend with each group before opting out. He's a talented musician (you have to be to drum and sing at once), and hopefully we see him in a new band soon!

The son of Headrush bassist John Amendola, Johnny has been a familiar face in local rock bands like Cherry Crush, Tripod The Dog, and Skeyes Of Seven since the mid-2010s, and he reportedly is gelling well with Terry, Jim, and Nicole so far, so we'll have to see how things go for the two bands in 2026 now that they have a drummer who is purportedly more available! Terry also confirmed that Johnny will take over for Glen Thomas behind the drumkit for Soundcheck's reunion gigs next weekend at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, which only makes sense. Stay tuned for more on the two full-time bands' next shows when they roll in, let alone Soundcheck next week!

Next up, here's the latest from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down, who confirmed on their Facebook page on Monday that this past Saturday's concert at Beck's Bar was their last with Mid Life Crysis bassist Lori Reinholtz as a fill-in, as their regular bassist Dan Beaupre is finally returning after being AWOL since the summer for medical and travel reasons. Apologies for erroneously covering that Dan was on bass for their show at Jay's Piston Broke Pub on December 12th, the band never said either way who was on bass that night. It will be good to have Dan back for their Water Tower Pub gig on February 21st, if not sooner! While we're on the subject, the band posted three videos from their Beck's gig on Saturday to their Facebook page, one with each regular band member on lead vocals. Alas, all three were shot vertically and none are full, but what was filmed?

The uncredited attendee filmed Double Down & Lori covering Collective Soul's "Gel" (with guitarist Joel Syrette on vocals) and Weezer's "Island In The Sun" (with drummer Ric Datson on vocals), but embedded below is the longest of the three, of their take on the Thin Lizzy version of the Irish standard "Whiskey In The Jar" with guitarist Beej Syrette on vocals. Nice sampling of their live sound with everyone singing well when called upon, and while I wouldn't have shot these vertically, the filmer at least got some close-up angles from all over the stage, including the band's view of Beck's! Give Double Down's new videos a watch above & below, and kudos to Lori and Alex for filling in with them since last fall!

Finally for today, I figured this was worth sharing, even if the musician in question was only briefly a local band member, and only became publically known as such after the band dissolved. As you may recall, after Woods Of Ypres frontman David Gold passed away in December 2011, it came out that he and guitarist Joel Violette had enlisted American musicians Brendan Hayter & Rae Amitay to serve as their new bassist and drummer the previous month. Obviously, their 2012 tour plans never came to fruition, but Joel would add both Brendan and Rae to the lineup of his studio-only black metal band Thrawsunblat, and Brendan appeared on their albums through 2019. Brendan is otherwise best known for his New England-based atmospheric black metal band Obsidian Tongue, who predated his brief Woods tenure and are still active today.

I bring all this up now because Brendan was interviewed about his career (including Woods Of Ypres) by Shayan S. of the Iranian/British interview series/podcast Iblis Manifestations last year! You can watch the whole hour+ interview below, but if you want to jump straight to the Woods section, that begins 34:40 into the 67 minute interview. Here, Brendan talks about how he and Obsidian Tongue got the chance to open for Woods of Ypres on their last tour in May 2011 and how he befriended David and Joel afterwards, how he got the bassist gig, and his perceptions of "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" before it came out. He outlined plans for him and Rae to drive to Ontario in January 2012 to rehearse with the band before flying to Great Britain for label dealings, a music video shoot, and European tour dates, which leads into how he processed learning about David's death and the lost opportunities therein.

It's interesting to hear how Brendan balanced his thoughts about grief and loss from his place in the band, especially as he didn't know David that well yet, and he approaches things at a very mature and respectful level while not asking for pity or playing the blame game. The Woods of Ypres section takes up about 15 minutes, and it's an interesting look into the tail end of the band's all-too-short run, so check our Brendan's entire Iblis Manifestations interview below, and black metal fans shouldn't bypass Obsidian Tongue!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Kelly Cristina & Chris Hubbard

After a slight delay due to the holiday long weekend and some sad losses, here is our final monthly feature post of 2025, namely this month's YouTube Channel Profile! As usual, this series looks at randomly selected YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk artists/concerts, and as the first selected channel only has one video period, I added a second channel with minimal content to round things out. As such, we're splitting things betwen the Twin Saults today, so here's what you should know from both channels!

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Kelly Cristina (http://www.youtube.com/@kekeitba)

Owner: YouTube user Kelly Cristina, a.k.a. kekeitba, who I believe is based out of Brazil

Channel Timeline: Launched on October 23rd, 2008; Only video uploaded on July 16th, 2014

Channel Summary: Kelly's only upload is a lyric video for defunct local blackened doom metal band Woods Of Ypres' song "Shards Of Love (Hurt Forever)", which led off their 2009 CD "Woods IV: The Green Album". While this is seemingly a redundant upload compared to fuller and more official copies of "Woods 4" elsewhere on YouTube and other services, note that the on-screen lyrics are in Portuguese, helping translate this post-breakup doom metal song for native speakers. There are a handful of Brazilian immigrants in the area, so note the translated lyrics if they are of use, and the song alone is a solid first sampling of their late-era doom sound!

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Chris Hubbard (http://www.youtube.com/@chrishubbard415e)

Owner: Sault Michigan hard rock guitarist Chris Hubbard, known from past local bands like Nixxon Dixxon, Splitshot, Trail's End, Hubbard, 415E, and Rhythm & Brews

Channel Timeline: Launched on May 19th, 2011; Videos uploaded from February 2016 to October 2024

Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for Chris' solo output (and branded for his eponymous Hubbard solo project), only four videos would make their way here, two being in-studio performance clips and one featuring his own build of the time machine part of the DeLorean from the Back To The Future movies. Chris' last video to date is a "Shorts" upload where he was promoting a 5150 Frankenstrat guitar body for sale, though I don't know if he successfully sold it in the past year or not.

Why You Should Watch: Despite his crystal clear talents on guitar, Chris' post-Nixxon Dixxon bands only posted videos to social media very scarcely, so if you want to see him actually shredding on camera, the two videos here are some of the surprisingly few ways to do so! Chris hasn't been super active locally as a live musician in recent months, but hopefully he surface again when the time is right, including revisiting his solo original material! The B.T.T.F. time machine video is a neat sampler of what Chris was working on, but it is a 15 second "part 1", and the teased next part did not follow .

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

Chris Hubbard Light Up The Sky - Van Halen Cover. Drums, Bass, Guitar ~EVH: Well known as a die-hard fan of Van Halen, Chris' first video here saw him cover "Light Up The Sky" (a deep cut from "Van Halen II") in studio. The instrumental cover saw Chris play guitar, bass, and drums at his home studio via stationary cameras, but he did not film himself playing the bass tracks. Chris absolutely nails this song on all fronts, supplemented by having the right EVH gear, and while I'd have framed his camera a little better, Roth-era Van Halen fans will absolutely appreciate the performance quality and musicianship here!

 

Messing around with Ernie Ball Music Man EVH Guitar ~ Chris Hubbard: Chris' most popular video (with over 147,000 views at press time), this 11 minute+ jam video from March 2016 was allegedly filmed with no warm-up shortly after he woke up that day. Keep that in mind when you watch this very skilled performance, both on a technical basis (look at his gear!) and for replicating Eddie Van Halen's tone and musical style, and viewers raved about how much they liked it in the comments. Chris is an excellent guitarist, one of the best in the E.U.P., and hopefully we see him back at it before long!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! We're leading off 2026 in this series in a big way, as our latest randomly selected YouTube channel will be that of prolific local/Barrie musician Mike Haggith! There will be a lot to cover, so look for that on or around January 26th, and stay tuned for New Year's Eve concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (HeadF1rst), New Videos, And Sault Michigan Updates!!

Tonight's post came together somewhat out of necessity due to a surprise SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so that is rounded off with some new videos and shorter notes, so here's what you should know!

Local hard rock quintet HeadF1rst will return to the stage TONIGHT at Shooters Downstairs Lounge as post-game entertainment after game 7 of the World Series! I apologize for the short notice, this show was only announced on the venue's Facebook page at 12:22 PM today. This may look like it came together on late notice to take advantage of the Toronto Blue Jays/Los Angeles Dodgers series going the distance, but guitarist Rainey Rancourt plugged it on his personal Facebook page on Wednesday, before we knew there would even be a game 7. In any event, HeadF1rst have not publically corroborated this booking on their Facebook page whatsoever. Shooters in general has really dialed back on hosting live bands this year, with HeadF1rst really being the only band of any genre to play there since the spring, so they're ideal to head back to Dennis Street to cap off the World Series in style TONIGHT!

This is a 19+ concert with no cover charge starting immediately after the World Series game ends, which is a bit of a leap of faith given how long game 3 went (18 innings running until about 3:00 AM). Assuming things aren't delayed like that again, HeadF1rst should take the stage between 10:30 and 11:30 PM given how games in the rest of the series have ended so far. In other words, this will be a shorter (but later) concert compared to a normal HeadF1rst gig, but fingers crossed that the Blue Jays can win the World Series TONIGHT to start the hard rock action on the right foot! Visit the above links for more details, and here's HeadF1rst live!

Next up, remember how I mentioned at the end of yesterday's post that a biography on local blackened doom metal band Woods of Ypres and frontman David Gold is now being written? Well, it got featured on CBC News Windsor yesterday, and the piece is now on YouTube! Posted to the book's YouTube channel (that has to be a first for here), this of course comes from the CBC affiliate of Woods of Ypres' initial hometown. David later moved the band to Toronto and then home to the Soo, but we haven't had a dedicated local CBC affiliate in over 20 years. The 2 minute piece by CBC's Dalson Chen reflects on how the forest off of Ypres Avenue in Windsor inspired the band's name, and how the band's legacy has grown among fans since David's passing in 2011. Author J. James and Glenn Fricker of Spectre Sound Studios (who worked on both of the band's first two albums) were both interviewed here.

We also hear from David's mom Esther Gold, who has been the strongest champion of her son's music career since, and accepted their Juno Award win in 2013 on his behalf. I like the paintings of him behind her for her interview clips! If the book is getting attention on the CBC, then you know things are really in motion for it, and while I'd have included more live performance video of the band, it's worth checking out for fans. Give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more on Deepest Roots: The Woods Of Ypres Story!

Also today, let's look at a new concert video from a more recent local extreme metal band, namely death/thrash metal trio Pillory from their album release party at Soo Blaster last month! This was uploaded to drummer Bret Shuttleworth's YouTube channel earlier this week, and it is their first video on Bret's channel with bassist Devon Lucier after their recording from July's Insurrection show was uploaded as audio only due to poor camera placement. Bret also said to "give a warm welcome to our new bassist" as this was his first channel appearance on video, though Devon was previously in Pillory briefly in 2014. At the release party, Pillory played every song from their new full-length album in order, followed by their cover of Sepultura's "Territory", but that cover and the final two originals did not make the cut for YouTube due to "an undiagnosed error with (Bret's) phone". In order, what can we see?

The video features "The Angst Of Existence", "Abhorred Apprehension", "The Curse of Eternal Sickness", "Wasting", "Sculptor of Cadavers", "The Passing", and "Specimen of Egotism". Bret's phone was set up from a stationary locale on the floor, capturing a good if somewhat tight angle of the guys in action, and with no pesky strobe lighting to blur out this time. I'll hold comment on the songs pending our review of "Old Soul" early next year, but the brutality is off the charts, so check out (most of) Pillory's release party set below, and stay tuned for more from them!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while (this time, all from Sault Michigan and the E.U.P.), and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

 

• I have moved local groove/thrash metal band Buddy Repperton & The Camaros to our inactive band links. The group last posted on their Facebook page in October of last year (itself their only post since mid-2023) when frontman David Waite noted his return to singing metal, only to blow out his voice. I don't assume that's why The Camaros haven't posted anything in over a year, but this band had a lot of promise for true original metal in the E.U.P., and hopefully we hear more from David, Doug, Brett, Jason, and Dennis in due course, in this band or otherwise!
• Regarding tonight's Exit 808 show at The Back Bay Grill & Games at Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley, they finally confirmed on their Facebook page earlier today that Molly Escherich will indeed be guesting with them on vocals, while Project 906 guitarist Joe Jenkins will also pop up tonight, as will a bassist named Brad, with other impromptu guests also possible. I have no idea who Brad is, let alone if he and Joe were replacing anyone in Exit 808 outright, but hopefully every performer involved delivered well for the post-Halloween "Fright Night On The Bay"!
• Speaking of Joe and Project 906, their Halloween concert at Huck's Pub & Grill in Rudyard last night went ahead with hand drummer Brian Duford playing the standard drumkit in place of Jason VanLuven, who was double booked with Unfortunate Sun at The Merch. They also welcomed young local guitarist Garrett Howland (son of former Steelhead guitarist Mark Howland) to play with them for a set, which reportedly went well! Visit the band's Facebook page to see photos from the gig, including what costumes that some members of 906 were wearing!

 

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

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!