We have a new news post on this Monday evening, which is half devoted to a new-ish band who you may remember seeing live last fall, while we also have lots of updates from a solo project, a new live concert video, and an apology for missing a show for previewing on the site last week. Here's what you should know!
We have a new local band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are noise punk duo No Funeral! You may recall seeing this band at a Dryer Fire-promoted event at Outspoken Brewing in October, and they were scheduled for last month's cancelled Matthew Nadon memorial concert, but aside from being described as an "indie noise" act, little was public about them unless you saw their October set. I knew from personal Facebook postings that former AlgomA drummer Jamie Vincent was one half of this band, but No Funeral shares far more in common musically with his mid-2010s grunge/punk duo Bad Back, but with two key differences: More of a chaotic post-hardcore bent, and that Jamie isn't the frontman here. Rather, their singer/guitarist is Connor O'Brien, who played guitar in the defunct Edmonton noise punk band Flint, of which Jamie was a member on bass from 2009 until he moved back to the Soo in 2012.
The fact that Connor isn't local may explain why we've only seen No Funeral in concert once, but this project's existence is definitely more on the local side of things than Edmonton, especially given the credits for... their debut album!? Yes, No Funeral's self-titled debut album (and if you believe Jamie's personal Facebook page, their "only" album) was released to their new Bandcamp page yesterday, and the description there says in more graphic terms that the band has been in the works for two years, with the album coming together within a two week span before coming out. The album was produced by Dustin Goodall at Unsalted Audio last fall, with Dustin supplying backing vocals, additional bass, and "musical saw", while Saultite author Mat Laporte guests on saxophone on the two closing tracks and also provided the album artwork. Much like Bad Back's Bandcamp albums, "No Funeral" is on sale on a "name your price" model.
I'll hold comment on the album pending our eventual review of it (I currently have it pencilled in for June given our current backlog), but if you miss Bad Back in particular, don't bypass No Funeral! Of course, connections to Flint will be obvious if you're familiar with that band from before Jamie moved back home (or if you've lived in Edmonton), so if you want to hear Connor & Jamie's prior output, do check out Flint's Bandcamp page, as I believe Jamie factors on all but their newest two songs posted there. As best as I can tell, No Funeral's only public online page is on Bandcamp, but give it a look to see what they bring to the table, and consider paying something for the album to support their work!
Next up, I want to apologize for a concert that we missed in this past weekend's concert previews, as local funk/hard rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns returned to The Kiln at Searchmont Resort for a matinee concert on Saturday. The band did not announce this show on their Facebook page in advance, and I only learned that it was a thing when a video from attendee TerriDollie Williams' personal Facebook page was shared to the band's seldom updated Facebook group yesterday. Sensing that this likely wasn't from their Searchmont gig in January, I learned belatedly that the resort's Facebook page plugged it on Friday. Still on short notice, but at least someone got the word out. I have to do better re: Searchmont concerts, especially with The Stallyns not always plugging their own shows on Facebook, so my apologies again, I'd have plugged it had I known! That said, how about that video?
TerriDollie filmed the band (minus saxophonist Josh Norling, who apparently missed the January Kiln show too) covering The Outfield's "Your Love" with Christina Speers on lead vocals. Not a supremely heavy choice, but everyone handles it well, and I'd hope most attendees were familiar with the original song! The video is vertically shot, but as the video is as much to highlight a young relative getting into the song as it is the band proper, I won't nitpick the angle. Cute watch in that respect too, so check it out below, and apologies again for missing The Stallyns at The Kiln... again!
Finally, here's the latest from newer local rap rock solo project Less Than Zero, so what have they been up to since the fall? First off, in November, project leader/ex-Winkstinger guitarist Jason Ladouceur changed the band's name in In The Sun. According to their Bandlab page on December 6th, the new name is intended to make the project "more inspirational", though their sound and even their existing logo remain unchanged. If you're Facebook friends with Jason, you'll know very well that he is always posting material for In The Sun, and at the moment, fifteen unique songs can be heard on Bandlab, many being tweaked as time goes on, so you can tell that this is a labour of love for him. In fact, under the name "In The Sun1", three songs are now up on Spotify, while a couple dozen videos can be seen on their YouTube channel, and Jason did tease late last year that he wants to release an In The Sun album in the near future.
Embedded below is a recent take of their song "Factory Reset" (all of their songs except a cover of Megadeth's "Sweating Bullets" are original). Jason's method of frequently posting these songs and then adding to/editing them over time is helping the songs sound heavier and more fully realized, so if you do check out In The Sun's songs, definitely listen to the newest instance of each song on Bandlab or YouTube, not the oldest ones unless you want to see the journey. Vocals can still come off as unnatural and not as aggressive as the music calls for, but again, Jason's always working on these songs, so I doubt he's done yet. Check out much more from Less Than Zero In The Sun above & below!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!
After a weekend trip out of town, I'm back home to play catch-up with recent news and notes as we enter September's final week! Today's post is half devoted to fallout from a major recent concert, but we're leading off with a new band and a new album release you guys should hear about, so let's get things rolling before the day drags on any longer!
We have a new local hard rock solo project (for now) to add to our band links, entitled Less Than Zero! This is the new project from former Winkstinger
rhythm guitarist Jason Ladouceur, who has moved back home and has been
working on Less Than Zero since at least July via their page on Bandlab (no sign of a Facebook page yet). Surprisingly, Less Than Zero are a rap rock project,
which might seem like an odd concept in 2022, but it's not unheard of
nowadays. Remember, The Apocalypse Afterparty already fly that flag, and
the now-inactive Stoned To Deaf favoured the sub-genre also. Jason has been very enthusiastic about Less Than Zero as of late, as Facebook friends will attest, and he does hope for this to expand beyond a solo studio project, with a Musicians Wanted Facebook group post on September 3rd looking for band members so they can play live in town.
Over a dozen original song demos are on Less Than Zero's Bandlab page, plus an off-subgenre cover of Megadeth's "Sweating Bullets", so head there to check those out. Jason handles vocals for the project, and he uses sampled drums at the moment. The songs on offer vary in heaviness, with some having a mild techno beat and others being straight up hard rock, and while there is definitely promise here, I do think Jason needs to dial in how his vocals sound, which often come across like overly processed spoken word than the more aggressive rapping that some of these sounds would seemingly call for. Interesting ideas though, and a change of pace in many respects, so give Less Than Zero a listen above!
Next up, here's a surprise new album release, as local alt/blues hard rock veterans Sykotyk Rampage surprisingly released their 67th canon studio album (and third of 2022) on Friday to their Bandcamp page! No sign of a matching Reverbnation upload yet, but their prior album "Scott's Pub & Crash Music" (also from this month) hasn't gotten one yet either, Entitled "Love Muffin", the album has a dark cover image reminiscent of some of their earlier releases in layout, if without their usual irreverence (for that, listen to the songs!) The album is another long one (if not as long as "WYRD Radio 2") with 20 songs that would require two CDs if released physically. Three of the songs are labelled as "Live22" at the end, implying that they are live re-recordings at The Cave, and with new songs on offer like "Doodahoopaloo" and "Circus of Konfusion" on offer, you know their usual blue Chinese metal crash punk stylings will be on full display!
As I said when I mentioned the release of "Scott's Pub & Crash Music", an SMS review of a new Sykotyk Rampage album is not imminent, as we only just reviewed "WYRD Radio 2" in July, but one or the other is tentatively pencilled in for January 2023. In the interim, "Love Muffin" runs for $7 on Bandcamp , and can be streamed for free there as well, so fans of the Beckers, Shane, and Tony won't wanna miss out above!
We'll close with news coverage & media from a major recent concert, namely the Marianas Trench/Trews show at GFL Memorial Gardens on Thursday night! I don't believe SooToday were on hand to cover the show, but the Sault Star's Jeffrey Ougler and SaultOnline's Mike Chikoski were present to get pictures for their respective publications, For SaultOnline's article (otherwise written by Craig Huckerby), Mike snapped 26 pictures, with thirteen being of Marianas Trench, seven of The Trews, three of local openers The Northwest, and three of front row fans during the headliners' set. The Sault Star's article has a little more said about the show itself, but less pictures (23), and not in the exact performance order, but there are nine of Marianas Trench, seven of The Trews, five of The Northwest, and two of fans. Solid pictures on both fronts with some really good angles!
In terms of videos, there is surprisingly only one public YouTube video that I've found at press time, and it's from The Northwest's set! This was filmed by the ever-prolific Christopher Paci for his YouTube channel, and while it was uploaded on Friday, further videos have not followed from the touring bands. He has staggered uploads before, so if more surface, we'll let you know. Chris filmed the local indie/punk quintet playing what appears to be either a new original song or a cover (if the latter, I couldn't make out the lyrics). Regardless, it features guitarist Greg Callaghan on vocals for the verses with Wayne Watkins on choruses, which is reminiscent of "Lights" from "All In", but not a match. The audio isn't overly crisp through the camera, which can be a hazard of shows at the Gardens, but Chris had a strong angle, and I'm curious to hear this song in studio form! Check it out below!That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes this week, plus this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Thanks everyone!
I feel like it's getting tougher and tougher to cobble together content for regular posts on the SMS. Hopefully things pick up at some point before I have to think about spreading out our "at least one post every three days" guarantee! To keep things fair in this all-video post, let's go in alphabetical order by artist name, starting with some new videos from prolific local punk musician Dustin Jones, as shared onto SooToday this month! Much like he did during the first major lockdown last spring, a cover by him (on guitar) and his daughter Jett (on vocals) was posted on SooToday to share with readers as a point of inspiration, this time tackling Jordan Clarke's "Freaks". Fun performance for what it is, and they even included lyrics to sing along with in the article proper! I can't embed videos from SooToday's video host here, but luckily, their other new video from Dustin was merely shared from Tidal Records' YouTube channel!
A live performance from Mission Control Studios, this is of an original song called "For Now" that was newly uploaded yesterday, though it's not clear whether this is just a solo song or if it will end up being on The Rising Tide's forthcoming new album. This is definitely a folksier song, but I can see it being adapted with the full band if that is at all planned. Well performned and sung, and SooToday again has lyrics if you want to sing along, but give Dustin's video proper a look below!
Next up, I was recently alerted to a few new YouTube uploads from veteran local drummer Brian Egglesfield's YouTube channel in the past month! You may recognize Brian from bands like Tripod The Dog and Screwge, and the latter band are kinda the focus here, as Brian uploaded three videos credited to that band from Rotaryfest Stage 1 at Clergue Park back in July 2013! In case you don't have a 2013 program handy, this technically isn't Screwge, rather the Toronto jam rock band Ground Zero, who co-headlined the Saturday lineup that year. As detailed in this YouTube video's description, Screwge were active locally from 1978-1981, with some members later moving down south and playing with Ground Zero through 1993, and the latter band held a one-off reunion here with Saultites Frank Fazi & Shane O'Connell taking part (I'm not 100% certain on if Brian drummed.) Ground Zero proper aren't hard rock centric, but they did cover at least one heavier song!
Brian's Screwge Ground Zero videos include covers of ZZ Top's "Gimme All Your Lovin'", George Thorogood & The Destroyers' "Move It On Over", and as embedded below, both Rod Stewart's "Hot Legs" and Goddo's "Sweet Thing" (nice to hear some classic hard rock Canadian content!) Despite an unzoomed and often crooked camera angle, the audio quality is really good, and the guys have a good fan-friendly sound on these classic covers. There is more to touch on from Brian's YouTube channel from other bands, but check out his Ground Zero videos above and below!
Also, here's a new solo performance video from veteran local hard rock solo guitarist Mike Cliffe's YouTube channel a couple of days ago! His first non-Christmas carol upload here in almost a year, this is an apparent original song called "Persuaders" with him on guitar playing alongside pre-recorded backing instruments, though the video proper is replaced by an AudioFumes card for the last minute. Solid performance of this spacey prog rock number, so give Mike's newest video a watch below!
We'll close by heading south to Sault Michigan for the latest from local hard rock quartet Tarnished! Publically speaking, we haven't heard much from them this month in a musical sense, but a Facebook page posting on January 18th did hint that they were "hard at work". At least partially, this relates to non-musical endeavours, including a video of a planned side series called "Tarnished Talks", where band members (Alex & Josh in the premiere's case) talk about something, starting with what they love about AC/DC. As well, they launched another pilot for a "Tarnished Plays" series where band members play a video game together, with Alex and Josh playing Fortnite in episode 1. Sounds like a fun way to stay busy during presumed pandemic-influenced downtime, and they do have creative observations about AC/DC! Tarnished have also launched a Patreon page for fans to back them and crowd-fund future band endeavours, with exclusive content planned there.
Their only new Facebook video in the last couple of weeks featuring the band on camera is this 33 second clip of Alex & Josh thanking everyone for crossing both the 200 followers threshold on TikTok and 600 likes on Facebook. Not too substantial, but length-wise, it's par for the course for their TikTok page. I should really give their TikTok page more of a look re: the SMS, as most videos there are not shared to or re-uploaded on Facebook, and despite the short video lengths, there is a lot of exclusive videos to see. Stay tuned on that front, but give Tarnished's AC/DC discussion a listen below!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new post of some kind by month's end! Thanks everyone!
