Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Room 206

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, as we again shine a light on a randomly selected local metal, hard rock, or punk band of the past, in order to feature and promote them and their run for modern readers! This month's choice is quite a notable one for punk fans around in the 1990s and early 2000s, so here's what you should know on them!

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Room 206

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie/Toronto, Ontario

Genre: Punk

Lineup:

Mike Yorke (Totally Confused), vocals/guitar
Dave Bahun (The Inner City Surfers), guitar
Brad Lacell (The Role Models), bass
Allan Watson (BookcluB), drums

Audio/Video: Room 206 released their only album "2 Innies & 1 Outie" on cassette tape in 1994, and while that release is long out of print, Mikey Hawdon (a fan of Room 206 and frequent bandmate of their alumni) re-released the album on vinyl and to major streaming services in December of 2021 via his inactive boutique label Soolebrity Records. Outside of that release, they contributed an original named "Good Enuff" to Barely Legal Records' compilation CD "Punk: The Next Generation" in 1995, and later still, "Last Stance" on 2003's Tidal Records compilation "Junk In The Trunk", and they had many other unreleased songs, notably including "I'll Be Around" (a.k.a. "Sit & Drool"). Their full reunion set at Soo Blaster in April of this year can be seen here, but here's a rare video of them covering Fugazi's "Waiting Room" at the former Princess Theater in February 1995!

Info/Analysis: First active in the mid-late 1990s, and originally comprised of then-St. Mary's College classmates, Room 206 became one of the more prominent local punk bands of the era, as documented in Paolo Colasacco's book "Going Underground", where they played numerous local gigs and opened for the likes of The Ripcordz and SNFU. Adding Dave Bahun on guitar after their debut tape came out in 1994, Room 206 later moved to Toronto to collectively pursue their music career, but as is common for local bands from the 1990s, there isn't much media online today to document their run as it happened (though they have more than most of their contemporaries). Aside from their brief studio reunion in 2003, Room 206 took a 2+ decades long stage hiatus, ending when they reunited to play at Allan's stag & doe in April 2025, though the "2 Innies & 1 Outie" re-release helped bring their name back out into the limelight a few years prior.

Members' collective work in bands like The Inner City Surfers, Brad Example & The Role Models, and BookcluB has more modern documentation, but Room 206 carved a strong niche with their high energy skate punk attack in the 1990s on songs like "I'm Feelin' Fine" & "My Trip", with some welcome dalliances into power pop and alternative on some tracks, and they would have been a highlight of any local punk gig of the time! Hopefully their reunion gig in April isn't the absolute last time we see Room 206, as they still have a lot of drawing power and talent to go around!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! For the first time this year, we'll actually be looking at a Sault Michigan band in this series next, namely the recently dissolved punk band The Sole Aggressors, so watch for that profile on or around October 10th, and for more weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!