Sunday, May 10, 2015

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Pillory

While I rock out at this year's Swampstravaganza, here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, our monthly look at one or two (one this month) defunct/inactive local bands that we randomly selected from our listings on the SMS! This month's selection is a popular (though too short lived) metal band from the early 2010s that had a lot of promise, so give this month's Defunct Local Band Profile a look below!
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Pillory

Genre: Thrash Metal

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

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

Robert Sartini (Crimson Crusade, The Issues), vocals/guitar
Josh Amendola, guitar
Devon Lucier (Crimson Crusade, The Dirty Few), bass
Bret Shuttleworth (The Issues, Lazer Queen, Brutaly Fatal), drums

Andres Duchesne (The Bear Hunters, The Issues, Social Suicide), guitar
Jonathan Tiberi (Late & Loud, The Daybreak Johnnies), bass 
Cole Royal, bass
Tyler St. Amour (Them, Fountain of Betrayal, Bring The Misery), bass

Audio/Video: Pillory recorded and released one EP entitled "Cringe At The Cross", which came out in December 2013 to mark the one year anniversary of founding guitarist Andres Duchesne's sudden passing. Though now out of print, it and various jam session and rehearsal videos can be seen on Robert's YouTube channel. Live concert videos are in shorter supply, but here's Pillory playing their song "Fatal Woods" from their first concert in November 2012!



Info/Analysis: Launched in May 2012, Pillory were a rare recent example of a full thrash metal band in Sault Ontario, helping them garner a solid following on that basis before ever playing a public concert. The band's concert debut was at The Locals Attack at The Canadian Nightclub on November 26th of that year, but tragedy struck the band when guitarist Andres Duchesne suddenly passed away the following month. However, Pillory stayed active, recording their EP in early 2013 & releasing it that December in Andres' memory. After being absent from the stage for most of 2013, partially due to guitarist & bassist searches, Pillory re-emerged for a handful of Oddfellows Hall appearances that winter with new members Josh Amendola & Tyler St. Amour, but some later announced sets never took place, and the band quietly disbanded in August 2014.

Pillory had a fast and brutal sound that was a welcome change of pace, and they had a lot of talent and ambition, but they hit some bad luck to say the least, and it's a shame they only played a few concerts. Robert & Bret had good chemistry, and while neither has recent public band work that we've seen, hopefully they turn up again in the near future! Also, R.I.P. Andres, you are still missed!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, we've randomly chosen a Sault Michigan band to look at next in our order, that being defunct metal project Traces (a.k.a. The Gaia Syndrome), but as we don't project having enough info on them for a full profile, we'll likely fill it out with defunct Sault Ontario punk band The Bottom Half (featuring current Northwest and Cross Dog members.) Look for all of this on or around June 10th, and stay tuned for our Swampstravaganza review and more soon! Thanks everyone!

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