Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Unleashed

It's time once again for our latest Defunct Local Band Profile, and for what is likely the last time of 2012, we're looking at a broken up or inactive band from Sault Michigan in this monthly feature series! As always, these profiles look at the history, happenings, material, and other information relating to one or two defunct or inactive local metal/hard rock bands, and this month's choice made some waves as a young local presence in their late 2000s run, so read on below for what you need to know, and if anything's missing or incorrect, please let me know!
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Unleashed

Genre: Hard Rock/Punk

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics)

Isaac Terrian, vocals/bass
Jacob Hotlen (Tantrym Tyme), guitar/formerly drums
Chris Verhaagh, drums

Jack Slater (415E, 7/47, The Highest of Fives), guitar
Eli Reilly (Beyond the Surface), guitar
Maddy Lama, bass

Audio/Video: Only two known videos of Unleashed exist in a publically viewable form, both from performances at The Sault Theater in the late 2000s. The first comes from an August 2008 concert, when their original lineup (Terrian, Slater, Lama, and Hotland) covered Pop Evil's "Somebody Like You", as uploaded to Guitar Studio rock camp director Joey Beairl's YouTube channel. The other video, which we're sharing here, is from a Sault Theater event the following summer, where their then-current lineup (with Eli Reilly & Chris Verhaagh now on guitar & drums) covered the Judas Priest classic "Breaking The Law". As uploaded to ex-guitarist Jack Slater's YouTube channel (albeit on a further camera angle), you can check out this cover video below!

   
Info/Analysis: Unleashed were a young Sault Michigan hard rock band that were active from 2008 to 2010. One of many young rock groups formed through local guitarist Joey Beairl's Guitar Studio rock camp, they were primarily visible at Guitar Studio events & at local summer music festivals, including sets at The Sugar Island Music Festival & the Brimley Whitefish Festival, among other events. Though young in age (the members were mostly preteens when they formed), Unleashed did attract positive notices locally, even gaining some coverage in The Soo Evening News in 2009! Public band updates stalled after June 2010 postings on their Facebook page, and they likely dissolved that summer, with some members moving on to newer local music acts. Unleashed seem to be one of the bigger successes from recent Guitar Studio acts, and though the members who still play live have grown a lot since the late 2000s, they did show talent for their ages! Their videos are rough around the edges though, with stiff stage presences, monotone singing, and some errors, but remember, the guys were around 12 years old when they started. Unleashed had some promise, but hopefully their former members realize their potential and continue to build on it in the coming years!
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I hope you guys liked this month's defunct profile! Next month in this series, we'll return to Sault Ontario for our second-last profile of 2012 in this series, and through completely random selection, we'll be taking a look at Amethyst, one of the more prominent late 1980s-early 1990s metal bands in the local scene! Despite their age, they have material online and a posthumous band page, so hopefully I can pull the right material together to make this another entertaining installment of this monthly series, so stay tuned for it on or around November 10th, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews and more in the next little while! Thanks everyone!

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