In this article:

-I share my experiance at a local show that I thought was going to suck and give you three new bands to check out. (Earth Tone, Iron Fish, The Perfect Influence)
-A review about an upcoming band based in Toronto, Ontario, JUKE
-A note about my absence
-Upcoming releases Christmas and New Years Edition
-A proposal for an addition to my articles while the "Bands to Look Out For" Section is out of commission.

Before I get started I wanted to mention and say to everyone of BGR's listeners and homepage viewers and anyone else that happens to randomly stumble across my news articles, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year... now run out and buy Twisted Sisters, "A Heavy Metal Chrismas" and make us all proud! Hah! 

An Unexpected Awesome Experience:

I had the wonderful opportunity to check out a couple of local bands at a small show that was put on a little while ago. I live in a small town, and generally speaking, I was really expecting this show to suck. However, I had nothing better to do on this particular Saturday night, and it was only a five-dollar cover to get in. What the hell! I went.

WOW! That’s all I can say. Definitely not what I was expecting.

Three bands played the duration of my stay; Earth Tone, Iron Fish and The Perfect Influence.

While Earth Tone proved to be one of the softer bands that played that night, I’d advise anyone out there who has musical tastes that stray into the rock scene to take a listen to them. They were still worth the listen to me. Unfortunately, for the time being, the band doesn’t have a Myspace.com address, nor do they have a website, but the lead singer of the band is keeping me posted and will let me know when they do have a website of some sort. I’ll make sure to post that up in a future article for you guys to read.

Iron Fish was by far my favorite band. They’re more on the edge of hard rock than anything, but were very impressive. They ended up doing a cover of a Black Crows song that came out pretty darn well. The band has a very talented front man who not only did vocals, but also played the keyboards for the band. (www.myspace.com/ironfishmusic)

The last band, The Perfect Influence, is a band that a lot of Rockers, Metal Heads and Punk fans have been getting into lately. I had to admit that they were pretty good and they had a lot of original material to back them. They were pretty damned good if I do say so myself. They were the hardest driven band that played at this particular show, and definitely did have my kudos. (www.myspace.com/theperfectinfluence)

Great show, great group of bands. If you have a second to check them out, please do. They’ll appreciate it, and I’ll appreciate it because it means there’s a chance that they’ll play more shows around here!

JUKE:

I had the wonderful opportunity to take a listen to another band from my area. It’s a band named “Juke”, hailing from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I was contacted a while back by the band’s bass player, Rick Zaida, who asked if I would give the band a listen. I did, and I loved what I heard.

I was sent a CD from these guys a while ago (and again, Rick, I apologize for not getting this done sooner), and I was extremely impressed by these guys. They have brought back the meaning and definition of old school rock.

The band has some pretty heavy and laid out bass riffs, which are combined with some really, really catchy guitar licks. Makes for an awesome combination and songs that are stuck in your head for hours to come after that. The lead singer, Mike Juke has vocals that can be pretty solid, or rather haunting, depending on what kind of a mood the band is trying to achieve in their songs.

Please, if you’re looking for a good band, and are a fan of old rock and old school metal, support these guys and give them a listen because you will not be let down at all. If you’re in the Toronto area, keep and ear and an eye out for them, because they’ll knock you off your feet. The band has been playing shows in the Toronto and Mississauga area. For dates and information about the band, check out www.myspace.com/juke.

Alright, here’s a little bit of information as to what’s going on with the normal “Keeping you in the Loop” news articles. Unfortunately, my computer is on its last legs. I think I might have explained part of this before, however, I’m going to explain it again. I use the all mighty Myspace.com to search for some new bands for talent, and seeing as my computer will no longer open Myspace Music pages, that kind of puts my “Bands to Look Out For” section of my articles out of commission. You’re all in luck though! My Christmas present to myself this year is a new laptop (and for those of you in the chat room who have been yelling at me for not liking MacBooks, you’ll be happy to know, that I have found a new love for them, and will be getting one)!

Upcoming Releases:

December 26, 2006:
Various Artists - Family Values Tour 2006 Live (CD) (The Firm)
Various Artists - Family Values Tour 2006 Live (DVD) (The Firm)

January 23, 2007:
Architect? All Is Not Lost (Blackmarket Activities/Metal Blade)
Atreyu - The Best Of... (Victory)
Beneath The Sky - What Demons Do To Saints (Victory)
Coldworker - The Contaminated Void (Relapse)
The County Medical Examiners - Olidous Operettas (Relapse)
Crowbar - Live: With Full Force (DVD) (Candlelight)
Dustin Kensrue - Please Come Home (Equal Vision)
Ektomorf - Outcast (Nuclear Blast)
Fear My Thoughts - Vulcanus (Century Media)
Fjord - Lives Lives (Eulogy)
Freya - Lift The Curse (Victory)
Impious ? Bloodline (Metal Blade)
The Network ? This is Your Pig's Portrait (Blackmarket Activities/Metal Blade)
Pelican - After The Ceiling Cracked (DVD/3" CD) (Hydra Head)

Mel's Proposal:

I have a proposal to all of you freaks out there, seeing as my "Bands to Look Out For" section of my articles is somewhat out of commission. I was thinking about having a little fun with my articles and having some emails from you guys featured in the articles. You guys could email me about whatever you want to. Comment on new CDs that were released, argue a point I have made in one of my articles (I know you guys want to), let me know about bands that are coming up because my retarded ass can't find any on my own right now, hell ask me for my womanly advice if you want; anything you want!

 Email me, let me know what you think. If I get enough people emailing me about the idea of it, regardless of whether they think it sucks or not, I'll still go ahead with it and post up their articles! Don't expect me not to give feedback about your comments in the articles either.

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