For our penultimate Defunct Local Band Profile of 2026, we're again shining the spotlight on a defunct or inactive local metal, hard rock, or punk act that was randomly selected from our band links, and in a sense, this profile is nine years in the making! I had originally tapped this act for a profile in this series in 2017, not realizing they had recently came back from an inactive spell, so I shifted gears at the time. In 2026, however, they haven't been active on social media in over five years, and their number has been called again, so here's what you should know on this Tuesday night!
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Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie/Thessalon/Elliot Lake, Ontario
Genre: Pop Punk/Emo
Lineup: (Members not in their last lineup are in italics. I do not know what Oliver's last name is. Let us know if you can fill in that blank!)
Darren MacDonald, vocals/guitar
Aaron Gasparetto (The Undead Warriors), guitar
Oliver ??????, guitar
Mike Kyle (Sibling, Shit Liver), bass
Don Henderson, bass
Kristan Surge (OBCD), drums
Joey Graham (The Undead Warriors, Kaepora Gaebora), drums
Audio/Video: While a Mayadevi-era studio album named "The Great Panic Attack" was once planned, most surviving material comes from their work as a 2010s solo project. The best surviving source for media is Darren's 184Films channel, which features dozens of acoustic covers and originals, including a handful of free "albums". Public media of the full band is limited to two videos filmed by Kenneth Coventry for YouTube at Central Algoma Secondary School in Desbarats, including Ashoka At The Show playing an apparent original song named "Modest" unplugged at a fashion show in 2008 with Darren, Oliver, and Joey on stage. Featured here is the plugged-in & full colour Mayadevi-era cover of Fall Out Boy's "Dance, Dance" (with Don in place of Oliver) from 2007 at a CASS Cafe event, but check out Ken's channel for more contemporary videos, including solo performances by Darren that are not tied to the band! Of other band members, OBCD likely had the most musically in common, though the heavier Shit Liver far outlasted them.
Info/Analysis: Originally active from circa 2005-2008, Mayadevi (named for the mother of Buddha) was primarily seen as a live act at CASS Cafe events during members' teenage years, though they once teased playing sets at Oddfellows Hall concerts. The band changed their name to Ashoka At The Show (another reference to a Buddhist figure) circa 2007, and after a few years writing and performing strictly under his own name, Darren resurrected the AATS name for his music in 2013. He would post music frequently through April 2020, though he did take some extended breaks in the late 2010s, and also began focusing on e-gaming videos for NHL video games on a newer channel that once featured music as well. Ashoka At The Show updates ceased during the first pandemic lockdown (ironically considering it was a solo project), though Darren did post NHL 21 videos on their Facebook page upon its release until February 2021. Despite spending most of their active run as an acoustic solo act out of our coverage range, Darren is a talented singer and guitarist, and it would be neat to see Ashoka back at The Show!
Darren managed to get 10,000+ views on seven YouTube videos (three being Avenged Sevenfold covers), and he has a good singing voice, an ease on camera, and solid guitar skills that were all evident even in his CASS Cafe performances with the full band, and his original compositions were also promising, if clearly not fleshed out as much as old Mayadevi fans may have once hoped for. Give his Ashoka At The Show videos a watch, and hopefully we hear more from Darren down the road!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around December 10th when we look at our last randomly selected past local band of 2026, and it will be 2009-2014 and 2018-2021 local horror punk band Frightlight! Look for that next month, and for more news and notes on the site shortly! Thanks everyone!
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