Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Nebraska Arms

A new news post is coming, I promise, but first, here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Our monthly spotlight of one or two randomly chosen defunct or inactive local bands takes us to one Sault Ontario punk band once again, keeping with a recent trend for our selections from this side of the border (we haven't had a solo profile of one Sault Ontario hard rock or metal band since August.) That said, this band burned bright during their local run, so here's what you should know on them!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nebraska Arms

Genre: Alternative Punk/Indie

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members:

Guy Thiffault (The Hangdowns, The Business Suit Trappers), vocals/bass
Wayne Watkins (Northwest, The Small Town Rivals), guitar
Dave Prendergast (Gilmour, The Mark Rand Band), guitar
Adam Sauve (Talk Shit, Renderware), drums

Audio/Video: Nebraska Arms released one CD during their original run, 2009's "We'll Never Sleep Again", which is unavailable in full online, but their their Sonicbids and MySpace pages feature material from the album. Three years after the band fell inactive, they also put out a self-titled digital EP on Bandcamp featuring 5 songs that re-released some material from "W.N.S.A.", though not all of them made the cut in 2013. For videos, there are scattered YouTube channels with footage of Nebraska Arms in action during their heyday, though none have a huge amount on their own. Here's a music video for their original song "I Was A Writer"!



Info/Analysis: Spiritual successors to the earlier alt-metal quartet Renderware, Nebraska Arms rose to become one of the most prominent local punk bands of the late 2000s. After playing their first major concerts in the fall of 2008, the band soon became a frequent sight on local stages, opening for bands like SNFU, The Flatliners, and The Artist Life during their active run. Their later months saw some battle of the bands success as well, with Nebraska Arms making the finals of 2009's Kiss Battle of the Bands and finishing in second at 2010's Sault College Battle. After falling inactive in mid-2010, the band held a one-off reunion following the sudden passing of frontman Guy Thiffault in December 2016, playing a short set at Guy's tribute show at The Rockstar Bar alongside guest bassist Mark Rand. Though their active run wasn't especially long, Nebraska Arms rightfully attracted a solid following with their energetic and catchy originals helping them stand out in the local scene!

Fans of the modern day A Dire Setback will be right at home with Nebraska Arms' up-tempo punk originals like "Lighthouses" and "Art of Science", with Guy's soaring vocals complimenting Wayne & Dave's solid guitar melodies, though some songs could sound a little similar to each other. Definitely check out Nebraska Arms for more from their eventful local run, as well as members' later bands like Northwest and The Business Suit Trappers!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, our random selection will fittingly take us to the band that headlined the aforementioned Guy Thiffault tribute concert, namely local punk cover supergroup Bin Hawdon & The Taliband! Their choice was 100% random, but it is a very interesting coincidence, so look for that on or around May 10th, and stay tuned for more news this week! Thanks everyone!