Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Kush Wood

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, as we shine a light on another local metal, hard rock, or punk act from the past, as randomly selected from our inactive band links! This month's choice is a more recent solo act who had a lot of promise despite never being a live act, so here's what you should know on them!

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Kush Wood

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/General Viejo, Costa Rica

Genre: Alternative Rock/Grunge

Lineup:

Kristien Woodcock, vocals/guitar

Audio/Video: Kush Wood released four studio singles to major streaming services like Spotify in 2020 & 2021, namely "Intent & Design", "Love Replace This", "Down The River", and "The Passage Way", while a separate original song named "Weathering Change" was posted to their Bandcamp page in 2016. Most of Kush Wood's media was otherwise posted to their YouTube channel, which mostly features solo acoustic covers by Kristien, though you can hear versions of unreleased originals like "The Shade" and "The Open Highway" here. A solid amount of covers that lean to 1990s alternative rock acts are also present, though his cover of The Stone Temple Pilots' "Plush" is a Soundcloud exclusive from their singer search.  Here is Kristien's playing "Love Replace This" in one of his last YouTube uploads from 2020!

Info/Analysis: Launching the Kush Wood Facebook page in December 2015 while working in Costa Rica, Kristien originally put out solo cover recordings, but he did post two original songs to Bandcamp before the project went inactive after July 2017. After an almost 3 year hiatus, a now-long haired Kristien resurrected Kush Wood in March 2020 with a Patreon page and plans to release new originals on major streaming services. New songs and performance videos followed for the next year, but Kristien has only posted thrice since the spring of 2021, all to share posts not about Kush Wood. It's a shame that Kush Wood fell inactive again, as Kristien had a good thing going with well produced throwback originals that felt like a modern take on the grunge era, and in a town that had bands like No Arrow and Haggith, he'd have gotten a good reception had Kush Wood played live gigs!

Kristien also has a versatile range for melodic tones and grittier effects, and his songs adapt well to acoustic and electric styles if songs like "The Passage Way" are any indication, so hopefully we haven't heard the absolute last from Kush Wood! Give their originals and covers a watch/listen for yourself to see what you think!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around April 10th with our second Sault Michigan profile of 2023, as our latest random selection is early-mid 2010s hard rock cover trio Power Slug! Look for that next month, and for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!