I would just like to point out before anything that this is the first anything that has been posted on our brand new site! What does everyone think? Fancy eh? Anywho;

SG Promotions, run by Stephen Grande of Know Where You Stand is known for throwing shows at Ajax’s only venue, The Top Shelf. These shows are generally known for awesome lineups, even better performances and one thing The Top Shelf has become infamous for; Violence.

Ajax as a city is not a very violent place though! I have lived here for almost 5 years now, in what people consider one of the worst parts, and the only time i’ve been approached on the street is someone asking me if I wanted any crack. Other than that one time, I have never had any problems with Ajax, and Ajax has never had any problems with me. This is the second time i’ve covered a show at The Top Shelf, and its also the second time i’ve seen something violent happen there. I’m honestly surprised shows are still being held there, and I pray that they will be still, as the lack of venues in the GTA is starting to become noticeable.

This particular show though I had very high hopes for; Every band on the bill was solid. Sleep When You’re Dead from Oshawa, TRBP’s BFF Of Soldiers and Saints, The new and improved Cedardale, Band Recommendation #2 Know Where You Stand and the always lovely As You Like Me. The only thing that could make this a shitty show would be the looming rain clouds overhead, but as far as I know, the weather was fine. Thats just me personally though, I hate when it rains, especially in the summer. It makes everything all musky outside, and on top of that, its usually luke warm. ANYWAYS! Onto the review.

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AS YOU LIKE ME – IN AJAX!!

SPONSORED BY:
PROMOS4AWARENSS & The Running Board Press

$5 @ THE DOOR

DOORS @ 7PM – ALL AGES SHOW
FIRST BAND GOES ON AT 8PM

ID WILL BE REQUIRED TO DRINK

BANDS OF THE NIGHT:

AS YOU LIKE ME
Toronto, ON

KNOW WHERE YOU STAND
Ajax, Ontario

CEDARDALE
Oshawa, ON

OF SOLDIERS AND SAINTS
Whitby, ON

SLEEP WHEN YOU’RE DEAD
Oshawa, ON

EVERYONE INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS THIS IS GOING TO BE AN AWESOME NIGHT!!!

Sponsored By:

PROMOS4AWARENSS
http://www.promos4awareness.com

THE RUNNING BOARD PRESS
http://www.therunningboardpress.blogspot.com

Wednesday night, Terrance Pettitt of Falling put on fundraiser show at the McLean’s Center in Ajax. I know the two questions that come to mind, and don’t fret because they shall be answered. One, when the fuck did the McLean’s Center let people play shows? They don’t, because they’re assholes. The only reason they allowed Terrance to book this was because it was a fundraiser show. A fundraiser for what, is the second question? A long time ago, Falling Forward played at the Groove Lounge. After their set, a $700 guitar was stolen by some asshole.

If you read this, we hate you.

The room that the show underwent in was very generous in size, albeit hotter than a sauna. In all fairness though, the weather was probably in the mid 20’s that day. Normally, I would be stoked that Ajax is finally stepping up and doing what a community center should be doing, meaning supporting the youth and their music scene. However, the night was plagued with noise complains and angry middle-Eastern women, causing the music to be turned down way further than it should be. Regardless, it is certainly a step for the McLean’s center, because I would never have expected them to allow a show, let alone a Hardcore one.

The booking of the show itself was riddled with switches and drop-outs, and was not set in stone into about a week before the event took place, I believe. Initially, the Fall of Melusine were supposed to play their final show that night along with Mary Belle, but they were both forced to drop off. Additionally, Shut Eyes were confirmed to play but also had to drop off due to schedule conflicts. Word on the street was that Kings in Vain were also supposed to play, but that didn’t end up happening either. Finally, a line up was confirmed, containing Off Topic, Jaded Voice, Longshot, Of Soldiers and Saints, and headlining were Falling Forward.

Interestingly enough, this show marked some sort of first occurrence for nearly all of the bands that played.

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Introducing As You Like Me from Vaughan, Ontario! If you have checked out one or two of our show review, you might have also caught our reviews of As You Like Me, as they have been a very busy band in the scene as of late. These guys and girl have only been around in the local scene for alittle while now and they have already accomplished quite a bit! Opened a show for Misery Signals, released an EP, toured across Ontario and have definitely won a few people over with their interesting take on Metalcore, and their already infamous cover of T.I.

So far TRBP’s encounters with As You Like Me have been all positive! We were able to catch them at The Bad Atti Tour back in April at The Hard Luck Bar, and once again at The Groove Lounge for the Misery Signals tour. We were even lucky enough to interview them! But we are having some unfortunate trouble with getting videos off of our camera. Hopefully we will be able to post something up soon though. Never the less! As You Like Me is a prominent force in our local scene, and they are probably the most modest people you will ever meet.

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It feels like I haven’t written a review in an eternity and what better way to end this unexpected hiatus then with a review for such a crazy show like this? Saturday afternoon, Andy & I had the pleasure of attending Misery Signals W/ Structures, Beheading of a King, Centuries Apart, As You Like Me, and last but not least On Burning Shores. I send my regards to Cameron Beck of Unreal Promotions for putting on yet another amazing show in Oshawa.

The night was certainly jam-packed with amazement, excitement, drama and injuries. Despite the more annoying parts of the show, it was definitely a night that one should not have missed, be it for the positive or the negative aspects of it. More details on the aforementioned drama shortly.

The music itself, held in our second home the Groove Lounge, was solidly driven by metalcore/hardcore, with a sporadic touch of death here and there. It was fairly exciting for the most part. While not one of the largest crowds I’ve seen in the Groove Lounge, there was no shortage of energy, although it is nowhere near the energy I witnessed the week before in Lindsay when I attended Uplift. That, however, is another story. Sadly, the crowd was not enough to break even in regards to the costs. Seriously people, if you expect promoters to continue putting on amazing shows like this, you’ll need to start coming out to them. Anyways, I digress as usual.

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I got an opportunity to check out a show that wasn’t filled to the brim with Metal/Hardcore bands on Thursday May 13th, 2010. I jumped on that opportunity like the boat leaving Canada once the zombies come for our brains after their run through the US. There were some familiar faces this time, and even some familiar bands, but needless to say, i’ve been going to The Groove Lounge so much lately that it really IS starting to feel like a second home.

The main sound that was present at this show was more along the lines of Pop Punk. Well, a band or 2 were heavier than that, but I think the main emphasis for this show was more on singing and melody, rather than screaming your balls off and 7 breakdowns in a row. It was a nice change! And every band on the bill was 100% on tonight, especially Estate of Grace, who I was able to check out at Kathleen Turner Overdrives last show! But more on that alittle later.

It seems like the turn out for this show was alittle weak, which is so unfortunate because it was such a nice break from all of the heavier bands that usually plow through Oshawa like a cheap hooker. People like what they know I guess. Just throwing out a huge thank you to Gillian of Pure Grain Promotions though for picking up this show and putting it on, because it was truly an amazing night full of amazing bands. All of these guys were pretty far away from home, and I would also like to thank them for giving Oshawa a chance. Estate of Grace, To Tell The Tale, In Lights, Tonight Tonight, Hope Atlantic and last but not least, Michael Froh; Thank you all for coming out!

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I actually came across these guys today! I have heard of them in the past, and even seen their Myspace plastered across the interwebs. Today I gave Like Animals a try, and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with sounds I heard!

Like Animals is a 3 piece band from Orillia, Ontario consisting of Will on Drums, Jamie on Guitar and Vocals and Jesse on Bass and Vocals. These guys draw influences from some very innovative and trail blazing bands and musicians such as The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mr. Bungle, Mike Patton, The Fall of Troy, The Mars Volta and more. Usually when a band lists off any of those influences i’m generally left unimpressed with the bi-product, but Like Animals has found a way to incorporate some of the best elements of these bands and contribute their own ideas to create a truly amazing sound.

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I was fortunate enough to attend one of the most nostalgic shows we will probably see in the Durham region in a very long time; Kathleen Turner Overdrives last show! This is a band that had a legendary impact on the old Dungeon scene back in the pre-2008 days.

The entire bill was pretty much an amalgamation of old and new not to mention; Of Soldiers and Saints, probably the perfect taste of what the post-Dungeon scene has to offer. Aurora’s very own Shortline Hero, providing us with a much needed comeback show since the aforementioned venue closed. In Lights, another newer band, catering to the more poppy side of things. The Go Time [ex-These Silhouettes] a surprising mix of Hip Hop and Hardcore and lets not forget Estate of Grace.

If you missed this show you should probably punch yourself in the face a few times, because it was probably the closest to a classic Oshawa show we will see in years, or ever at that.

The Groove Lounge is starting to become a second home, most of the shows I have gone to so far have been at this venue! Personally I am glad that they moved this show to Oshawa instead of its original location, or I would not have been able to attend. Unfortunately it conflicted with another show, nearly 3 minutes away from Groove, but when even attendees and bands from the latter show were able to make it out to watch some of KTO’s final show, which I thought was amazing. The lack of security at The Groove Lounge was disappointing though, as I firmly believe every show should have at least one guy to handle situations that get too out of control, fortunately there was only one fight tonight that broke out so not much harm done. Yes, they are entertaining, but not what these shows should be about.

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When it comes to Death Metal, it is something people can either love or hate. As for myself, I am in the giant demographic of indifference. I haven’t really heard enough Death Metal to condemn it completely, but from what I have heard throughout the years, I would definitely lean towards the hate side. The stereotypes that go into this form of music are full of misogyny and grotesque imagery or in alot of cases, tongue in cheek humor. Which kind of brings us to I, The Destroyer’s 4 track Demo.

I The Destroyer is a 4 piece Death Metal band from Pickering, Ontario. I use the term Death Metal as I feel there is not enough presence of “core” music for them to be considered Deathcore, and definitely not enough spastic blast beats and BPM to be considered Grindcore [genres describing them on their myspace page] I just feel that, even with the abundance of breakdowns ITD is more Death Metal than Deathcore.

The band is made up of 4 members; Andrew on Bass and Vocals, Dave and Bobby on Guitar and Vocals, and Jason on Drums.

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We are ALITTLE late with this week’s band recommendation, but I have been searching the internet for the past week trying to find a band I thought was awesome enough to showcase on the site; The Great Sabatini is this weeks awesome band.

They are a Metal [to say the least] band from Montreal consisting of Sean Sabatini , Steve Sabatini, Rob Sabatini and Joe Sabatini….I think i’m noticing a trend here.

To further elaborate on the genre these guys fall into, they are a Metal band, yes. But also so much more than that! Drawing on influences from Sludge Metal, Doom Metal, Grindcore and Post-Metal. Lots of Metal! But there is also some melody thrown in the mix aswell. These guys are an amazing group, and I will definitely try to attend one of their upcoming shows.

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