Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Halfway Loaded

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, again letting us spotlight a randomly selected local metal, hard rock, or punk band from the past and all of their publically known accomplishments therein! This month's band didn't get too far off the ground despite a lot of promising videos, but their existence did portend bigger things for their singer and lead guitarist, so here's what you should know on them!

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Halfway Loaded

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hard Rock

Lineup:

Justin Grayson (Fort Creek, Tattoos & Scars), vocals
Shane Biron (Fort Creek, Tattoos & Scars), guitar
Ryan Mazzapica, guitar
Jesse Gottwald, bass
Dylan Newman (Mustang Sally), drums

Audio/Video: While Halfway Loaded never played a true public concert, they had a surprising amount of rehearsal and jam session videos online. Their Facebook page has over a dozen performance videos, including some acoustic videos of Justin & Shane foreshadowing their later work in Tattoos & Scars, while a handful of acoustic covers with them and Ryan also made their way to Shane's YouTube channel (later re-appropriated for Tattoos & Scars). Bands like Thriving Ivory, Slipknot, Oasis, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Saving Abel, Pop Evil, and Seven Mary Three were covered on video, but here's the full band covering The Stone Temple Pilots' "Plush"!

Info/Analysis: Publically launching in November 2016 under the name Too Far Gone, Halfway Loaded were seen at a handful of open mic nights at Coch's Corner in late 2016 but otherwise made their brief presence known from their aforementioned rehearsal and jam videos, not helped by their members largely being unfamiliar from past local bands at the time. After playing a private event in June 2017, their announced a planned name change to The Twin City Saints in August, but that never visibly went through. The band continued posting cover videos and photos of their gear through January 2018, but updates largely ceased afterwards, with the band citing life & work commitments for their lack of posts that October, and further postings were only made to promote Justin & Shane's new acoustic side project Tattoos & Scars and their brand new southern hard rock group Fort Creek in mid-2019.

While the pandemic delayed Fort Creek's debut as a public act until 2021, they have superceded Halfway Loaded in every way, and it's great to see that Justin & Shane finally got a live band off the ground! Halfway Loaded were certainly less southern rock-based than Fort Creek, but the similarities are obviously there, and while Justin & Shane now have more recognizable bandmates, Ryan, Jesse, and Dylan were talented components of the earlier group, who had a good and melodic handle on modern hard rock, and would have been an asset on local stages in the late 2010s! Follow Fort Creek and the recently relaunched Tattoos & Scars to see what Justin & Shane are up to nowadays!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around October 10th, and we have quite a big band to be randomly selected for next time, namely local acid jam/power pop/hard rock trio The Din! Look for that next month, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Turner Up), End Of Existence & Browbeat News, And More!!

Back to news today, and I sure have a stockpile of stories to get to! We have a lot of smaller news items and such waiting for some SMS love, and we'll get to more of them over the next couple days, but for now, here's what's on tap for today! We have a new video from a pair of local musicians, a drummer switch in a local band, and new songs from a local band, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!!

I recently recieved an e-mail from Chad Laroue, the manager of The Roosevelt Hotel on Korah Road. He told me that local classic hard rockers Turner Up are playing there on December 18th, with their planned show at The Vibe Lounge that night moved up a day to the 17th. The band haven't confirmed this yet, but The Rosie's new Reverbnation page confirms what Chad told me. It says there as well that they'll be there to "rock the Rosie" for their holiday bash. A 10:30 PM start time is listed there, with a 19+ age limit, and no announced cover charge. Should be fun to see them back there, even if it is out of the way from downtown! I'll keep you posted with updates from Turner Up, cause they're likely due to announce some new shows soon! Oh, and while we're on the subject, let's detail The Rosie's new page a bit too! On there, it lists some upcoming weekend dates for the next two months, along with some basic info about the venue, including some comments about how The Rosie's getting a facelift to help bring her back in demand where she belongs! Nice to see, and hopefully the concerts keep rolling in there! Check the above links for more details!

Next up, the long wait is finally over! After numerous date resets and postponements, Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids death metal trio End of Existence have finally released their new original songs from their "EP" onto their internet pages! Yes, the nine tracks from "Sun Is Gone" are now streamable in full online, including at their official website, their MySpace page, and their brand new Reverbnation page! If you wanna listen, I recommend Reverbnation or MySpace, as their website only has eight of the songs ("Ending" isn't posted there), and some or all of the songs might not work for you there. You need Apple Quicktime to play them there, and even if you have it, some don't load. Good stuff overall, reminds me of Integrated System of Machines a lot, but it goes in more extremes into both melodic patches and more extreme riffing! Orb Hearthstone has really developed well since the I.S.O.M. days, and it really shows on softer material like "Deathbed"! But on songs like "Inside You" and "Blood On My Hands", they're at their moshable best! Now because these are just posted online for free streaming, I won't consider this an "album" for review purposes on the SMS, but if it gets sold anywhere as an EP, you can bet on a review in the future!

For a video preview, check out more on End of Existence's new "Sun Is Gone" material at their official YouTube channel! There, you can check out another full song named "Crying Tomorrow", which starts off mellow, but it picks up in speed and heaviness around the middle! Solid track with some real emotion, and cool video effects to boot! Check it out below, and more at the above links!



Thirdly, it appears that Sault Ontario hard rockers Browbeat have parted ways with drummer Rick White. A reason for the switch isn't publicized, and though I have heard a reason from one person as to Rick's departure, I think it's probably best to not say it here without online sourcing. A new drummer has been obtained though, as their Reverbnation page has confirmed that Caveman Morrison/Bear Hunters drummer Johnny Belanger is now in Browbeat! Johnny joins his Caveman Morrison bandmate Dutch Vanderploeg on vocals/guitar in the lineup along with Rick's brother James on bass. Johnny's a great drummer, he should fit in nicely with Browbeat, and I can't wait to see them live again and hear more from their new lineup! Stay tuned for more Browbeat updates as they come in, including more new recordings of their original songs!

Finally for today, local experimental hard rock guitarist Mike Cliffe has uploaded one of his more recent original tracks onto his YouTube channel! Back on September 14th, I told you about his progressive instrumental track "Dog's Breakfast" that he recorded with Flat Stanley drummer (and former metal band veteran) Glen Thomas. Well, Mike added some cool psychedelic effects and some assorted photos to a video to go along with the song, and you can check out the results below! This is a very solid track that shows Mike and Glen's talents especially well, and it's heavy too! Hopefully they collaborate some more down the road, but for now, here's "Dog's Breakfast" again!



That's all for now, but watch out tonight for previews of this weekend's metal and hard rock concerts! And yes, we'll have a new news post of some type tomorrow as well, cause I have a bunch of stuff to get to. Thanks everyone, keep an eye out!