Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Death Rise & The White Knights

It's time once again for the fourth installment of our Defunct Local Band Profile Series, and for the first time, it's a double feature! Because the band I initially randomly chose for this month has no known audio online, I added a second band without available material to fill out this post, so it's a special two-for-one post today! So like with past months, these are profiles on two randomly selected defunct/inactive local bands from our metal/hard rock band links, with no prejudice or special selection for genre, membership, longevity, talent, quality, or prominence. Just as long as they have an internet page, they could be next. So let's begin this month's profile with our first band from the past! (Edited on August 21st, 2013)
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Death Rise

Genre: Punk/Metal

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics. E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you know of any omissions or errors to their lineup!)

Mathew Ladouceur* (Despised Eyes), vocals
Mike Ladouceur* (Skull After Betrayal, The Bear Hunters), guitar/vocals
Johnny Lowrie* (The Bear Hunters, Caveman Morrison), guitar/vocals
Adam Brett (Skull After Betrayal, Despised Eyes), drums

(The * refers to band members whose last names have since changed. Mathew & Mike's current last name is Vincent, while Johnny's last name is now Belanger.)

Audio/Video: None known from this band in particular, but members of Death Rise have produced likely similar music in other projects, notably Skull After Betrayal, Despised Eyes, The Bear Hunters, and Devastation of the Heavens, which each featured multiple members of Death Rise. Check the above links to hear them, but note that none feature the exact same instrument makeup as they had in Death Rise.

Info/Analysis: Death Rise only appeared to be active in the summer of 2006, and I don't believe they made it very far locally under this name. Members of Death Rise saw some local success as Devastation of the Heavens in the following months, but it's unclear from what is online as to how connected the two bands were. I'd assume that Death Rise evolved into D.O.T.H., but that's just a logical guess. Beyond two optimistic postings on their PureVolume page and a number of photos of the band, little was posted there concerning Death Rise. A Piczo page was also hyped, but if there was band info there, it's long gone. As stated above, your best bet to get a taste of Death Rise's sound is to check out band members' other projects, but from what I know of these guys, I imagine Death Rise couldn't have been too bad! Mike's a pretty good guitarist, and Johnny is talented at multiple instruments himself, but alas, I can't tell you much else. They sounded like they had some promise though, even if we don't have much to go on! However, their work lives on in a bunch of later bands, so check those out!
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The White Knights

Genre: 80's Metal/Modern Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics. The instrument makeup could be wrong. E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you know of any omissions or errors to their lineup!)

Ellyn White (Scattered), guitar?
Bill Merriman, guitar?
Charles Gibson (Fingerbone, The Pisstanks), bass?
Rick White (Frightlight, Redundant, Chronic Demonic), drums?

Audio/Video: I honestly have even less of an idea how The White Knights would have sounded compared to other bands I know their members from, but again, the above links could give you some ideas, so check them out! If I had to guess, I'd assume Fingerbone (later Half Past) would be the closest in overall sound given The White Knights' genre, but that's just an assumption. After all, Fingerbone/Half Past weren't known for 80's stuff, so who knows?

Info/Analysis: The White Knights were seemingly only active in the fall of 2007, and would have played a mix of classic and modern metal and hard rock, with a likely covers-heavy setlist. The name "The White Knights" was likely an allusion to Rick and Ellyn's last names, while the "Knights" part became a running theme for the band, including knighted stage names like "Sir Beer Drinker of Gord's House". With postings & topics on their Facebook group now removed, little exists online concerning The White Knights. They previously had a website on the now defunct Geocities (that was my source for Charles Gibson's involvement in the band), but it was only sparsely updated to my knowledge. Members of The White Knights later regrouped in two new bands, The Pisstanks and Scattered in late 2007, both with Redundant frontman Justin Langlois, but connections between the three bands aren't clearly stated online. Though I can't share much about The White Knights in terms of sound or bio, their members have clear talent, and it'd be interesting to see what music they would have produced had they stayed together!
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Hope you guys enjoyed this month's profile! Kinda hard to get information on bands who weren't active for long without known music to share, but I did my best to tell you guys what I could! That's all for now, but stay tuned tonight for a new news post, hopefully with Sevendust fallout, new Woods of Ypres updates, and much more, plus weekend concert previews and our next Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! Thanks everyone!

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