Lots Of Defunct Local Band Link Updates & Deletions!!

Today's news post is a little different, but by no means lacking in information, and it constitutes some long overdue updates to our defunct band links, as a number of past local bands listed on the SMS have seen their primary link deleted, either by band members directly or via the closure of the site that the page was hosted on. I was able to salvage some names, but not all, and you will find information on the first 12 links below in alphabetical order! All are from Sault Ontario unless otherwise stated:

• I have changed the link for mid-2000s local punk band A Fall From Innocence due to the deletion of their page on Bandspace, a music networking service that quietly shut down without any visible warning in early 2017. I now have them listed via their MySpace page, which barely has enough surviving material to warrant a present link. Hopefully everyone's doing well nowadays, and don't miss alumni Wayne Watkins & Marc Santos with their current band Northwest once they can play live again!
• I have changed the link for late 2010s black metal solo project Abhorrent Forest from their  now-deleted Facebook page to their Bandcamp page, which still hosts copies of their three studio albums. As one of the few acts to carry the black metal flag locally, I hope Old Man Wyrn resurfaces with new music of some kind!
• I have removed early 2010s Sault Michigan acoustic hard rock band All The Dirty Words In One from our band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook (and only online) page in the last few years. A.T.D.W.I.O. had some promise, and hopefully Josh, Cody, and Dan are still working on new music in some form!
• I have removed mid-2000s ska punk band Break The Violence from our defunct band links due to the quiet deletion of their Tripod page at some point in the last few years. In this case, this isn't a massive loss, given that most of the band would form the far better regarded As It Stands shortly afterwards, so be sure to check them out!
• I have removed early 2000s Sault Michigan death metal band Bludgeoned's posthumous Reverbnation page from our defunct band links due to it's quiet deletion in the last couple of years. Given their original run was two decades ago, we should be glad this existed at all, but hopefully the guys are still active in music!
• I have changed the link for 2000s-early 2010s metal cover trio Caveman Morrison from their now-closed website to their Facebook group. Tym's Flash-heavy band and solo websites were well made and useful for content, but his musical and personal approaches have evolved so much since then. Look for Tym Morrison's next live-streamed solo concerts on Tuesday & Thursday!
• I have changed the link for mid-2000s noise metal duo Das Skalpell Kampf from their now-deleted Facebook page to their Bandcamp page, which still hosts two original songs and relevant band information. "Fonzy" and "Chachi" had an intriguing thing going with their extreme metal attack, and hopefully the guys have new music in the works in some form, regardless of stage name!
• I have changed the link for late 2000s metal band Despised Eyes from their now-deleted Facebook page to their MySpace page, which still has barely enough material to be a replacement. It would have been nice to see Despised Eyes pick up where D.O.T.H. left off, but hopefully everyone's still musically active!
• I have sadly removed early-mid 2010s classic/hard rock band Havadder from our inactive band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook page in the last couple of years. Other official pages survive, but they have nothing of substance that is publically viewable, alas. Jason and crew had a good 7 year run, and hopefully we hear more music from their wide array of band members!
• I have changed the link for early-mid 2010s progressive metal solo project Hiroshima Mutant Mindframe from their now-deleted Facebook page to their Bandcamp page, which still hosts their 2014 self-titled EP. Project-leader Matt Parr has since moved back to his hometown of London, where he has since joined the alt-rock quartet Czech Hotel, so give them a listen to see what he's been up to!
• I have removed mid-2010s punk supergroup Killer from our defunct band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook page in the last few years, and I don't believe they had a page elsewhere. Non-seasonal successors to the one-off Rude-Offs from Toystock IV, this band had an impressive lineup, but never got off the ground in 2016 as planned. Look for members in Destroilet, Treble Charger, and Bone Yard once the pandemic ends (hopefully!)
• Lastly for now, I have removed 2005 local punk/emo band Murder By Romance due to the deletion of their Tripod (and only surviving online) page at some point in the last few years. An all-female punk band in this era was definitely intriguing in concept, and hopefully their members are still musically active in some form!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Twisted Manikin & Break The Violence

With a slow news stretch as of late, let's break that up with this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Our monthly look at 1 or 2 randomly selected local hard rock, metal, or punk bands that, while not active at present, deserve a look for recent readers and fans to see what they did and what happened to them! This month's random choices are two short lived young bands from each side of the border, one with minimal surviving info and one with no media, hence the dual profile this month. Without any further adieu, here's what you should know on both!
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Twisted Manikin

Genre: Hard Rock/Punk

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

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

Samantha Raycroft, vocals/bass
Jordan Gendreau (Half Stupid), guitar
Aaron Sheppard, drums
Matthew Lapointe, guitar  

Info/Analysis: A short lived band that was only visibly active in 2008, Twisted Manikin were a self-identified hardcore/punk trio that had teased plans "to show everyone their style of originality and hard work" which sounded like "deliverance." Though Samantha & Jordan had previously played together in a separate band the previous year, Twisted Manikin never played an announced concert before Samantha moved from the area in late 2008, with the band dissolving around that time. Videos of two band members jamming can be seen at this link & this link, as well as the video below of their full trio lineup playing their last original named "The City Is Burning", and while the quality is mixed, you can sense promise! Though more recently known as a drummer, Jordan's a strong guitarist, and the song has a catchy hard rock bite, but Samantha is very hard to hear on vocals. Give Twisted Manikin a look above & below, and hopefully everyone stays active musically!


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Break The Violence

Genre: Ska Punk

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics; Ex-member Keith's last name is not recorded on their Tripod page. If you can confirm it, let us know!)

Garrett Masters (As It Stands, Out Of The Mouth Of Babes), guitar
Angelo Huckson (As It Stands, Out Of The Mouth Of Babes), bass
John Mignacca (As It Stands, Skeyes of Seven, Dillinger), drums
Nathan Bouliane (As It Stands, The Outside Lights), saxophone
Ryan Van Scoy, trumpet
Keith ?????, drums

Audio/Video: No media of Break The Violence is known to publically survive, but their Tripod page once had four linked audio demos (including a song named "Bleed") that they called "crappy demos" & "bad recordings", but they posted them anyway as it's all they had. Given their thoughts on the recordings, the guys probably don't mind that they're no longer publically available. Members' later projects largely did not retain a ska punk influence, but were certainly an improvement musically.

Info/Analysis: Likely the immediate predecessor band to the 2005-2014 hardcore quintet As It Stands, Break The Violence united four future members of that band & trumpet player Ryan Van Scoy in a ska punk outfit. Formed by alumni of The Crossed & Second Guess, the band was only visibly active for a few months in early 2005, wherein they mostly hinted at future plans and targets for band positions, oddly indicating publically who they had asked. The band never played live before dissolving that year & regrouping as the emo (and later hardcore) group As It Stands. While the guys far outdid this project with A.I.S., it'd be interesting to hear how Break The Violence would have sounded, especially as a ska punk band with permanent horn instrument players, and I would be curious to hear their old demos!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! This series will return on December 10th with a single-band Sault Ontario profile to end the year, and through random selection, we'll be looking at the defunct "derd rock" band The Issues, featuring Winkstinger and Pillory alumni! Stay tuned for that next month, and for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!

Meet The (Inactive) Local Punk Bands!! Part 2

It's now about time for our second feature on defunct and inactive local punk bands to roll into our coverage (more specifically, punk bands with surviving and substantial online pages), and we have much more to come from here! Like our Facebook-centered first installment on Brain Tuel, The Fever Tops, For July, and The Inner City Surfers from Sunday, today's punk band feature focuses on bands with primary pages on specific sites (Reverbnation and Tripod today), and another theme emerged as we wrote this, as all 4 bands are successors to more successful local bands, so read on below for what you should know on each! Like before, the bands are listed in alphabetical order.

First up, we're adding defunct local ska punk band Break The Violence to our links, and they may be familiar as the likely predecessors of dormant local hardcore quintet As It Stands! Visibly only active in early 2005, their lineup includes current(?) A.I.S. bandmates Garrett Masters, Angelo Huckson, and John Mignacca on guitar, bass, and drums respectively, alongside saxophonist Nathan Bouliane (As It Stands' old emo-era bassist) and trumpet player Ryan Van Scoy, while a drummer named Keith (last name not given) played with them at one point as well. There's not a lot of concrete bio information on their Tripod page, and I don't think Break The Violence ever played live, but Garrett, Angelo, and John had previously played together in a band named Second Guess. Four songs were posted on their page too, but none can be played because the files are apparently all corrupt (which could be for the best, as the songs are labelled as "bad recordings".)

It's near impossible to know how Break The Violence would have sounded, but seeing as they had horn instruments, they were definitely going all in with the ska punk theme! While we know now the talents of most of the members (Ryan's a wild card), this was early in their local music runs, so they can be forgiven for any shakiness if media ever turns up. Interesting to see how things stood before As It Stands, so check out Break The Violence above!

Next to add to the site is Mayadevi, a defunct local punk band that some of you may remember from their 2005-2007 run! Their lineup always included now-Elliot Lake based solo musician Darren MacDonald on vocals & guitar, while lineups included current Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle and drummer Kristan Surge in late 2006 & early 2007, later to be replaced by Joey Graham and Don Henderson respectively, while Joey's former Undead Warriors guitarist Aaron Gasparetto played with Mayadevi at one point. Originally founded as Darren's solo project, the band had plans for a CD named "The Great Panic Attack", and had teased upcoming appearances at The Oddfellows Hall and at school concerts, though it's unclear if any of the Oddfellows gigs took place. Though Darren's solo acoustic music is quite prolific, I've only found one video of Mayadevi themselves, from one of their last sets at a CASS Cafe event in December 2007, and it captures their cover of Fall Out Boy's "Dance, Dance", so how do they sound?

While I'm not a Fall Out Boy fan, Darren, Joey, and Don show some good skill here, but the vocals are a bit wavery, and their stage presences weren't too established yet. Darren's music has matured and improved over the years, but it's nice to see where things began! For reference, many of the above musicians have also played with Darren in his later acoustic band Ashoka At The Show, which he resurrected last year as well. Check out the Mayadevi video below, and read more on the guys at their Tripod pages (here & here!)



Closing with some more familiar local punk bands, let's mention Mayadevi bandmates Mike Kyle and Kristan Surge's later band OBCD, a late 2000s local punk band that could be considered the predecessors to local/St. Catharine's death metal trio Shit Liver! Though musically very different (OBCD played alternative/ska punk with no known growling), their lineup featured the entire current Shit Liver lineup, with bassist Mike being joined by Josh Penno & Matt Baic (both on guitar and vocals), and only Kristan didn't follow to the later band. Though only active for about a year from 2007-2008, OBCD were a frequent sight as openers at all ages shows during their run, including sets opening for The Rebel Spell, The UK Subs, and The Flatliners, last being seen opening for The Farrell Brothers at The Speak Easy in July 2008, with Shit Liver launching two years later. There's no surviving media of OBCD that I've heard of, but I remember them having a good punk intensity, and it'd be nice to come across some videos or audio from their short run! Check out more from OBCD at their Reverbnation page!

Finally for today's punk band showcase are local punk quartet The Scary Uncles, who were among the more successful new punk bands from 2007-2010 in the Soo area! Essentially predecessors to Redundant, both bands featured singer/guitarist Justin Langlois (also of The Thrill Junkies), with their lineup rounded out by bassist Andrew MacDonald (Fitswitch, Glunk!), and drummer Mark Mullin, though their earlier lineup included second guitarist Matt Sibilo (Redefined). Runners up in the 2008 Skid Row Battle of the Bands, The Scary Uncles opened for notable bands like SNFU, Reel Big Fish, and Less Than Jake during their run, along with playing at the Foggy Notions' re-opening concert in December 2009, featuring at events like Froshapalooza & Skate 4 Cancer, and opening for The Mark Rand Band in their last show at the end of 2010. Though studio recordings were undertaken during their run towards a debut CD, I don't think it was ever released, but Justin's current band Redundant plays some Scary Uncles-era tracks like their original "Labatt 50".

On the surface, there's not a lot of major differences between The Scary Uncles and Redundant beyond the absence of the White brothers, but that's definitely not a bad thing, as the guys have a lively Green Day-inspired punk sound that fans of traditional punk will love, and some of the Uncles' songs even have a more aggressive bite (like on "Cripple" embedded below), and more spread out vocal roles, as seen on the appropriately named "Andrew's Song". Check out more from The Scary Uncles at their MySpace, Reverbnation, and Supernova pages, and see videos of their trio lineup at Justin's YouTube channel!



I hope you guys liked our newest feature to roll in defunct punk bands to our links! Our next punk band feature will be later this week, and we'll likely focus on bands with primary surviving pages on CBC Music and Sonicbids, which will likely revolve around Burn The Past/Downshift, Glunk!, Nebraska Arms, and The 12 Gauge Ready, so look out for that, more news, and concert previews soon! Thanks everyone!