Monday, October 22, 2012

YouTube Channel Profile Series: WizardofOzz92 & hoopy31's Channels

It's time once again for our latest YouTube Channel Profiles! Our 24th & 25th featured channels in this monthly series, we're once again profiling and looking at YouTube channels featuring at least a 50% majority of local metal-relevant videos, and due to our first randomly selected channel only having two metal videos, we included a second one with just one video to fill out this entry. So, what videos and information should you know and see from this month's profiled YouTube channels? Read on to find out, and if I'm missing anything or have any mistakes, please let me know! (Edited on October 16th, 2013)
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WizardofOzz92's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/wizardofozz92)

Owner: Sault Ontario-area guitarist Austin Pine, formerly of The Shit

Channel Timeline: Launched on April 12th, 2009; Videos posted from that day until November 2009

Channel Summary: Intended to be a personal use channel with plans for solo guitar covers, Austin's videos are instead mostly of his local band work in 2009, including two videos of his old local metal band The Shit and a video of an unnamed acoustic trio covering the Rise Against song "Hero of War" in November 2009 at what looks like White Pines Collegiate & Vocational School. His other video is just of him and friends playing an NHL video game on an Xbox 360, and has no musical connections.

Why Should You Watch: I'd mainly watch to see some young local musicians at work, especially as these are the only public videos I've seen of either of Austin's bands, neither of whom I remember at public concerts. The covers are admittedly hit and miss, but it'd be interesting to have seen how far The Shit or the acoustic band could have went locally! Note however that Austin has made no uploads in almost three years, and hasn't visibly used his YouTube channel in over a year & a half, so keep that in mind when thinking about subscribing.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:


Phantom of the opera cover-The Shit : The oldest and most viewed metal video on Austin's channel, this is of his old band The Shit covering Iron Maiden's "Phantom of the Opera" circa June 2009 at what looks like a stage at White Pines Collegiate. Featuring Austin on lead vocals and rhythm guitar alongside lead guitarist Daeson Lesage (ex-Bring the Misery) and drummer Jordan Dubois, the guys don't do too badly on this Iron Maiden classic (especially with just three days to prepare), but Austin's vocals aren't rangy enough to flawlessly pull everything off, and it's not overly refined. The camera angle's also very far (and the backdrop's extremely bright), but musically, The Shit sounded good overall, especially on guitar!



The Day That Never Comes-The Shit!: The second video of The Shit on Austin's channel is of them covering Metallica's "The Day That Never Comes" at a jam session in November 2009. Featuring the same performers (though with Daeson Lesage now on lead vocals), the cover is noticeably messier and not as well put together as their version of "Phantom of the Opera" was, but it's apparently a better take than some earlier versions they attempted. Also, the video angle isn't great, with Austin often out of frame, and Jordan facing sideways while drumming, but at least the overall camera quality is better, and the latter heavy section of the song is much tighter than the softer first half!


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hoopy31's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/hoopy31)

Owner: YouTube user & Michigan resident hoopy31 (Real name unclear, last name possibly Hoopingarner)

Channel Timeline: Launched on October 1st, 2010; Videos posted from August 2012 onward

Channel Summary: I don't know a lot on hoopy31's identity or background, but he/she was in attendance for at least two major concerts at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino in the past year, including August 2012's Buckcherry concert and the Shinedown show from July of this year. However, his 4 other uploads are from the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival's stop in Clarkston, Michigan (outside of Detroit) in August 2013, including videos from Five Finger Death Punch, Job For A Cowboy, and Battlecross' sets.

Why Should You Watch: Because hoopy31 got some solid and varied videos of heavier Michigan concerts in the past year, and it was nice to see the channel get some extra use after an extended absence of video postings, so recent regulars of heavier Kewadin Casino shows should give this a look! Note that while the channel no longer has a 50% concentration of metal videos, it only had the Buckcherry clip when we first profiled it, hence it's inclusion.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

Buckcherry Crazy Bitch live Kewadin Casino: hoopy31's first video (and most viewed of the local ones) is of Los Angeles hard rock notables Buckcherry playing part of their hit song "Crazy Bitch" at the Soo Kewadin, along with a portion of Chic's "Freak Out" and some crowd banter from frontman Josh Todd, though the full song isn't captured. Buckcherry fans should like this video, which is energetic and shows Josh's chemistry well with the audience, but his singing is very patchy, and attendee heads do get in the way of the camera's otherwise solid quality. This show didn't have a ton of videos compared to Buckcherry's first stop here, so it's worth looking at on that basis alone!



Shinedown Simple Man Kewadin Casino 2013: The only other local concert video to date on hoopy31's channel is of Jacksonville hard rockers Shinedown's well recieved cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" at The Dreammaker's Theater (well, the last chunk of it), complete with lots of crowd interaction via singer Brent Smith, and he got a good angle of the song's performers! My main gripe is the auto-focus effect put on the video, which gives it an odd floaty effect, but the audio's really nice, and the crowd response is fantastic, so if you like Shinedown or that concert, this is worth watching!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! So, what's coming in November? Well, I'll be looking at two channels again (by completely random selection, of course), as the first channel I selected only had one video, so I picked another to fill it out. They are YouTube user BangoSkank666's channel (featuring one upload of a Gates of Winter song) and former Sault Ontario resident Mike Laprade's YouTube channel (featuring a handful of live and solo guitar performances), so look out for that next month, likely on or around November 22nd! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!

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