Showing posts with label heirless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heirless. Show all posts

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Kaepora Gaebora

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, as we again give a look at a local metal, hard rock, or punk band from the past, as randomly selected from our band links! This month's selection is a recent-ish extreme metal group featuring many familiar faces in their lineups that never got that far off the ground despite their promise on paper, so here's what you should know on them!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kaepora Gaebora (previously known as Debt To The Heirless and later renamed to Exploring Detritus)

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Death Metal

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

Dan Souliere (Bring The Fallen), vocals/guitar
Mitch Sirie (The Bear Hunters) vocals/guitar
Ryan St. Pierre, guitar
Justin Lam (The Bear Hunters, Jack Spades), bass
Anthony Boudreau (HeadFirst, Them), drums

Joey Graham (Ashoka At The Show, The Undead Warriors), vocals
Daeson Lesage (Bring The Misery), guitar
Jeph Brown, bass
Kevin Overton (Gates Of Winter, RedD Monkey), drums

Audio/Video: During their original run, Kaepora Gaebora wrote original songs with names like "Evolution By Force", "Misinterpreting The Deity", and "ABCDEFG", but I can only find two surviving videos from that era, including this 43 seconds-long jam session clip featuring their main 2016 lineup. For their 2022 relaunch, the since-renamed Exploring Detritus posted a bunch of jam session and rehearsal videos to their Facebook page, and even posted some (largely identical) content on TikTok and Instagram, but nothing advanced to a public reveal of a song name, let alone new concerts. Here's the then-Kaepora Gaebora playing their original "Death Spins" at The Oddfellows Hall in 2016!


Info/Analysis: Publically launching in the fall of 2015 as Debt To The Heirless, this new death metal band united veterans of the late 2000s and early 2010s local metal scene, taking their Kaepora Gaebora moniker in January from the wise owl in the Legend of Zelda video game series. Debuting at a house party in April 2016, the band's eventual permanent lineup (Joey, Dan, Daeson, Jeph, and Kevin) would play twice that spring at The Oddfellows Hall, opening for The Motherfuckers and at Bear Hunters drummer Johnny Belanger's birthday concert. Last seen opening for Foam at The New American Pub in June, the band went silent on social media until changing their name to Exploring Detritus that December, but updates slowed again and ceased in mid-2017. After some false starts, Dan Souliere relaunched Exploring Detritus in April 2022 with a brand new lineup.

Despite bringing back original drummer Anthony Boudreau and adding Bear Hunters alumni Justin Lam & (briefly) Mitch Sirie to their lineup, the revived Exploring Detritus only advanced as far as jam session videos, and last posted to Facebook that July. Regardless of name, Kaepora Gaebora were a promisingly heavy group that helped give a nostalgic comeback to some regulars in the scene, with a solidly heavy base and a welcomed focus on original material, and it's a shame that they didn't last longer either in the mid-2010s or in 2022. Follow the reunited Bear Hunters and HeadFirst to hear what most of their last lineup is up to nowadays, and hopefully Dan tries to launch another metal band in the future!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around April 10th when we profile another randomly selected defunct local band, and this time, it will 2013-2015 all-female hard rock band The Danger Cats! Look for that profile then, and for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!

Sunday, January 17, 2016

An Inactive Punk Band, New Videos, And More Assorted Updates!!

Today's post mostly collects some assorted news and notes, including new videos from a pair of local bands who have shared drummers, but we're kicking things off with a likely inactive band. Here's what you should know!

We'll start with info on a band that we'll likely be adding to our inactive band links soon due to a year's inactivity, that being local punk trio The Northern Tragedy. Nothing regarding their status has been publically announced, but the guys last updated their Facebook page on January 23rd of last year, and they haven't played live since March 2014. Active since late 2012, The Northern Tragedy were one of the most notable punk bands of recent years in the Soo, opening for bands like The Golers, Warsenal, and Skynet during their run, along with playing at 2013's Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands, and releasing two demo EPs. However, updates slowed down in 2014, and we've more recently seen singer/drummer Terrence Gomes in the alternative duo Infinity Grinder (who have been dormant as of late themselves.) Though their stage presences were often stiff, The Northern Tragedy had a fun modern punk sound and a lot of promise, and hopefully they re-emerge at some point! Best of luck to Terrence, Mike, and Corry in the future!

Next up, here's a new video from local hard rock quartet Skeyes of Seven, who have been busy working in studio with Deluca Sound Productions as of late! Though unlisted on YouTube, studio head Korey Deluca (Mannapool) shared it on the studio's Facebook page yesterday, so it's publically viewable through there. It's of frontman Cory Murchison tracking a verse, and while window glare gets in the way, everything sounds solid at this stage, so check it out below! For what it's worth, drummer John Mignacca moved to Sudbury last year, and it's yet to be established how that will affect Skeyes of Seven's future plans, if at all, but we'll keep you posted if something is announced!



Also today, here's some new heavier covers from a recent jam session by local pop rock veterans Cherry Crush! The band is featured in nine new videos uploaded to their YouTube channel on Thursday, and while they include covers from their usual wheelhouse (including songs by The Weeknd, The Swedish House Mafia, KC & The Sunshine Band, Wild Cherry, and Awolnation), four covers do fit what the site, including of Theory of a Deadman's "Bad Girlfriend", The Foo Fighters' "Everlong", Royal Blood's "Out Of The Black", and as embedded below, Volbeat's "Still Counting"! In the videos, Cherry Crush are represented by guitarist Jules Cote, bassist John Amendola, and his son Jonny (returning to replace Rico Calvano) on drums, with Jules on vocals for the most part (Taryn Bugyra recently left the band, so they have been looking for a new singer.) The audio is somewhat muffled on these videos, but Cherry Crush handle heavier tunes well, and it's nice to see them break them out on occasion!

Now, it's worth mentioning that Jonny's drum head (still?) displays the logo of his old band Skeyes of Seven. Has he just not updated his drum head yet, or has he returned to that band? If we get any public clarification, we'll let you know, but it's nice to see him back with Cherry Crush in any event! Give their new videos a look below, and hopefully they find a new singer in due course!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or website name:

  • New local metal band Debt To The Heirless have changed their name to Kaepora Gaebora, referencing the wise owl character from the Legend of Zelda video game series, as per their Facebook page yesterday. A reason for the name change wasn't announced, other than to say that the decision came as a result of their sound development & establishment of the band. The new name is somewhat out of left field, but with members of Bring The Fallen/Misery and Them in their lineup, don't bypass Kaepora Gaebora when they finally debut on stage!
  • This doesn't bear directly on local metal, hard rock, and punk news, but local news website SooToday launched a new layout and design today, which you may have already sampled on their sister sites in other cities. It'll take some getting used to, but it has a cleaner and more modern look, and things seem easy to find (including for entertainment updates), so give the new SooToday a look!
  • In a surprise find, unmastered rough mixes of the first three songs from Woods of Ypres' third album "The Deepest Roots & Darkest Blues" can be streamed on their page on the goth culture social networking site VampireFreaks! Though the page hasn't been regularly maintained by the defunct black metal band since at least 2007, the songs ("The Northern Cold", "Iron Grudge", and "Your Ontario Town Is A Burial Ground") still work perfectly, and it's interesting to hear these songs in their early unpolished form! Give them a listen above!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for last month's poll results and our new poll tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Sunday, September 13, 2015

A New Local Band, A Surprise Album Release, A Concert Preview, And More!!

Here's an informative news post for you guys on this Sunday night, including lineup additions for two upcoming concerts, a preview for a special Monday night concert, and a surprising new album posting, but first, here's a new metal band to check out!

We have a new local metal quartet to add to our band links, and they are Debt To The Heirless, who feature a number of familiar faces! Though finite band instrument roles aren't listed yet, their members include ex-Bring The Fallen guitarist Dan Souliere (nice to see him finally back in a new band!), alongside ex-Bring The Misery guitarist Daeson Lesage (who replaced Dan in that band in 2011), Them/Infamous drummer Anthony Boudreau, and ex-Ashoka at the Show drummer Joey Graham, who you may remember as Bring The Fallen's original drummer when they were still known as The Undead Warriors. We'll of course let you know when we know more about who's playing what, but remember that Dan used to sing lead with AtrophiA, and Anthony has played guitar in bands before. Debt To The Heirless are otherwise an unknown commodity as of yet, but given members' past band work, is a death/thrash metal sound far off? Intriguing lineup all the same, so stay tuned for updates as they roll in, and like them at their new Facebook page to get future updates!

Next up, here's a surprise, as inactive local/Toronto classical/punk trio RedD Monkey have posthumously released their third and final album (well, what was recorded for it) to their Bandcamp page! Entitled "Opus 2: Untitled", fans may remember that the Smeltzer successors had been recording a follow-up to their 2012 CD "All Baroque" (which was "Opus 1"), and previewed it at a Toronto concert in June 2013, but updates never followed before they went on hiatus early last year, their one-off Toronto gig this February notwithstanding. Featuring their final full lineup (singer/guitarist Steve Mozarowski, his brother Pete on the cello, and Joe Bumbacco on drums), the album was engineered by producer/Infinity Grinder guitarist Brad Griffith, who also handled their 2010 debut EP "Thought Control Tower". "Opus 2" also features "Mister" on guest keyboard (as far as I can tell, it's not Honest Job's Mister Tahti, we'll let you know if we get more confirmation on his identity.)

Officially, "Opus 2" was not finished, but there are still 9 completed and posted tracks on Bandcamp, more than on their debut, though it's not clear how much is missing from the intended final product. Unlike Lion Ride's posthumous posting of their incomplete final CD, this album is available for sale on a "name your price" model, so might this be the subject of our newest CD review on the SMS, and our first ever RedD Monkey album review? Find out soon, but it's great to finally have RedD Monkey's final album out in some form, and stream or buy it above!

Also, here's a preview for a special Monday night concert TOMORROW, as local grunge/punk solo project Telephone & Address will return to the stage to open for Victoria, British Columbia psych-pop band The Backhomes at The Gore Street Cafe! The latest in a series of folk-alternative concerts at the downtown cafe/laundromat, this will be Telephone & Address' first concert of the fall season, and his lo-fi punk originals should fit in well tomorrow with The Backhomes' spacey blend of alternative folk! It should be noted that Chris Shoust planned to have his newest Telephone & Address album ("Monster") pressed this month, and he did have a release party for "Rust Orchid" at The Gore Street Cafe in February, so might there be new material of some kind to take in tomorrow night? Be there to find out! This ALL AGES concert will begin at 7:00 PM tomorrow, and it's under the venue's usual "pay what you can" model. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and here's Telephone & Address live last year!



Finally, here's some new lineup updates regarding two of Destroilet singer/new local concert promoter Brenton Ellis' upcoming shows, so what should you know regarding them? In terms of this coming Thursday's Broomfiller-headlined concert, the local openers will apparently be pop punk quartet Stereo North & classic metal quintet Project 421, both making their New American Pub debuts! Both were confirmed on the Facebook event page on Friday. Solid fit to open the proceedings next week, so don't miss them on Thursday! The other show with a new lineup addition is the Dusty Tucker-headlined show at The Rednecks Saloon on October 7th, which Brent has newly taken on after original promoter Mitch Sirie ended his local concert promotion work again in July. The show had been advertised to feature the now-defunct Danger Cats since the spring, so who's taking their place to join Gnaeus as openers?

While Danger Cats alum Paula Panther suggested Stereo North on the Facebook event page (and sarcastically confirmed that they were getting back together to open beforehand), Brent has since confirmed that Montreal punk trio The Nailheads are the new third band, marking their first local concert appearance since a Roosevelt Hotel metal night four years ago! Surprising, but it keeps the diverse genre blend alive, and The Nailheads' old school sound will find a good audience! Note that a fourth band slot to be announced is still listed, but that dates back to Mitch's promoting tenure and might not still be planned. Things are shaping up well, so see the above links for more info, and kudos to Brent for taking this one on!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!