Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Damage Inc.

Well guys, this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile has a change of band. I'd originally planned to look at Kitchener hard rock project Malicious Side Effect due to the members' past work with local guitarist Keith Conway, but on further research, I found out that was in a different older band named Camaro, so it wouldn't fit the series to look at M.S.E.. Instead, I've bumped my planned band for next month (our second tribute band in this series) to today to look at, and like our past selections, this band features at least one Saultite in their past and/or present lineups, even though they're not regionally based. Read on below for this month's profile! (Updated on November 27th, 2014)
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Damage Inc. (Lethbridge, Alberta)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; ex-members in italics. The lineup information is incomplete regarding the identity of Damage Inc's first drummer[s]. E-mail me if you can fill in any blanks!)

Mark Di Giorgio (vocals/guitar)
Oleg "Ole Gus" Usykov (guitar)
Paul Melanson (bass)
James Nagy (drums)

Mick Friday (bass)
????? (drums)

Official Facebook page: http://facebook.com/damagedmetallica
Official website: http://www.damageinccanada.com/
 

Local Info: Damage Inc. is the newest project from Sault Ontario native and talented multi-instrumentalist Paul Melanson, who's been a steady sight in his current home of Lethbridge, Alberta since the mid-late 2000s. You may recognize him from his most recent original band Caste of Shadows,  but he's also attracted notice for his guitar & bass work in bands like Daemon Rage, Igniter, and Gravity Crash, along with work as a singer and guitarist in older local bands like Malediction, Gutwrench, and Under The Gun. Paul's busy with his current bands, but he's keeping things heavy, so if you're out west, give his bands a look!

Band Bio: Launched in May 2012, Metallica tribute band Damage Inc. are a self-described "hard-hitting tribute to heavy metal's most successful act." They played their first live gigs in Lethbridge in October 2012, and have since played numerous solo and joint concerts in the Lethbridge & Calgary areas, including events in British Columbia, shows with other tribute bands, and even coinciding with the Calgary Stampede. Their lineup has been stable since their live debut, save for Mick Friday's injury-related exit in May of 2013, when Paul Melanson replaced him. Still frequently seen across Alberta, Damage Inc. show no signs of slowing down! When it comes to tribute bands, they do have the musical side of things well to match up with Metallica, but Mark Di Giorgio's vocals aren't a perfect fit (they almost sound more fitting of a full on NWOBHM band.) Metallica fans who can't see the real thing should enjoy Damage Inc. though, as they have a solid and very heavy take on the original songs!

For videos, frontman Mark Di Giorgio has two different YouTube channels of their live concerts (here and here) to sample Damage Inc.'s live show, where you can see the band's live skill, including Paul's bass talents! I chose this video of Damage Inc. covering "Master of Puppets" to feature here, as it's pretty solid overall (despite some minor lyrical flubs), so give it a look below!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! Next month's profile will be our last before we update past installments in November, and it will look at inactive Illinois metal band Life In Shadow, whose frontman was current Bury Your Demons bassist (and Sault Michigan native) Scott Mills! This will be out first profile in this series since January to look at a band with a Yooper alum, so watch out for it on or around October 26th, and stay tuned later today for weekend concert previews! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Garage Inc. & Savage Roar

It's December 10th, which means it's time for our final Defunct Local Band Profile(s) of 2011! As always, this series outlines a local band that is either broken up or has been visibly inactive for at least one year, but this month, we're profiling two such bands, as the first one I RANDOMLY chose didn't have enough material to warrant a solo profile. That said, this month's selected bands range from a Sault Michigan solo project to a short lived Sault Ontario band with a lot of familiar faces, so let's get these profiles going, and if there's any errors or omissions, please let me know! (Updated on August 19th, 2013)
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Garage Inc.

Genre: Metal/Hard Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics. This information may be inaccurate or incomplete. E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you know of any omissions or errors to their lineup!)

Craig Murphy (After-Shock), vocals/guitar
Brian Lester (No Shadows Cast, After-Shock), guitar
Kyle McKey (Sailor's Tongue, Full Circle, Stillbroke), bass
Gavin Prosser, drums
Jacob Rendell (Blues Harvest, The Pesto Shirts), vocals
Ryan Seabrook (Quite Frankly), vocals/guitar?
Josh Donofrio (Thin Ice, Blues Harvest), bass

Audio/Video: None to speak of, although their official website features a setlist from early 2005 that included two original songs & covers ranging from Metallica & AC/DC tracks to songs by Green Day & 3 Doors Down, along with some potentially amusing theme song parodies. There's no material on their website, and knowing the paths most members took musically after Garage Inc.'s breakup, it may be hard to pinpoint their sound. I'll assume that guitarist Brian Lester's solo project No Shadows Cast would be the most similar, but I may be wrong.

Info/Analysis: Presumably named after the Metallica album, Garage Inc. were a local metal band that existed under many different formations between 2004 & 2006. They became a decently frequent sight at local school concerts & events in 2005, and they also took part in the Live Air anti-smoking concert at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion in mid-2006. Updates on Garage Inc. are hard to source (especially from 2004 & late 2005), but they apparently ended at some point in 2006 due to creative differences. I'm sure Garage Inc. had a lot of talent, but what surprises me the most is the bands that former Garage Inc. members joined after leaving (notably Blues Harvest, Thin Ice, & Craig Murphy's solo work), as they mostly divert away from the metal that Garage Inc. were known for. That said, it's a sign of how diverse they are as musicians, and hopefully we'll hear some of Garage Inc.'s output down the road! Give them a look at the above links!
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Savage Roar

Genre: Industrial/Thrash Metal

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Members: (E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you have any additions or corrections!)

Solomon "Sol Daddy" Blake, all instruments

Info/Analysis: Savage Roar (formerly known as Shishiku) was a solo metal project masterminded by former local guitarist & MMA fighter Solomon Blake, a.k.a. Sol Daddy the Red Headed Ninja. Active from roughly 2006-2009, Sol planned to record & release original metal material for use with comic artwork of his, but nothing was ever directly released to the Savage Roar MySpace page before band activity dried up in the spring of 2009. However, Sol did post three videos featuring his solo guitar work in 2008 & 2009 onto his personal MySpace page, though all were sadly deleted with the recent MySpace layout changes, including some vlogs and fights of his. Featuring some original guitar riffs & jamming, he did show some clear talent as a metal guitarist, though there are rough moments and some repetition. It's too bad Savage Roar didn't expand too much further, but check out his posted guitar videos at the above links, and I did upload his heaviest video "Sol Daddy Plays The B'Twang" to our YouTube channel as well, so give it a look below!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! After a run of three two-band profiles in the last 4 months of 2011, I'm happy to say that we're starting 2012 off with a bang in this series, as I've randomly selected a very notable band from recent years for next month's profile, that being defunct local death metal quintet Bring The Fallen! This should be a great look back at one of recent history's more notable local metal bands, so watch out for that on or around January 10th! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news over the coming week! Thanks everyone!