Keeping our busy post schedule rolling as we enter a new work week, here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This monthly feature series again looks at a local metal, hard rock, or punk act that was randomly selected from our band links, and this month's selection is full of familiar faces that you may recall seeing at a few scattered Sault Ontario gigs in the early-mid 2010s. Here's what you should know on them!
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Skeyes Of SevenHometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Genre: Hard Rock/Metal
Lineup: (Members not in their last full lineup are in italics)
Cory Murchison (Sense Of Truth, Bullet Train), vocals/guitar
Ron Baxter (Sense Of Truth), guitar
Kyle Sweet (Short & Sweet), guitar
Alain Fletcher (Half Past, Parabol), bass/formerly guitar
John Mignacca (As It Stands), drums
Mike Mannarino (Tripod The Dog), bass
Chris Thompson (Frightlight, Fitswitch), drums
Johnny Amendola (Soundcheck, Separate Wayz), drums
Audio/Video: Skeyes Of Seven were working on a debut EP (to be named "Stare At The Sky") at Deluca Sound Studios in 2014 & 2015, and while it never saw a proper paid release on CD or streaming, you can hear all six intended songs on their YouTube channel. Original songs named "Destination Unknown", "No One Cares", "Differences", and "Anything At All" were among songs that either didn't make the cut for or came after the EP sessions, while they did tackle select Sense Of Truth originals live, like "Crawling". Outside bands like Slipknot, Stone Sour, Breaking Benjamin, Tool, Audioslave, Mastodon, and Avenged Sevenfold were among Skeyes of Seven's cover range. Select additional videos exist on the band's surviving channels as well as Mike's and the SMS' YouTube channels. Here they are playing their song "Treading Water" at their last concert!
Info/Analysis: Sporadically active from 2012-2020, Skeyes Of Seven effectively replaced the shorter lived but more frequently seen Sense Of Truth upon their debut, with two past (and future) members of Half Past also being part of their initial lineups. Cory, Ron, Al, Mike, and Johnny debuted this new band when they opened for Anvil at The Canadian in July 2012, but would only play one further gig (with Garden of Bedlam at The Rockstar Bar in April 2013) before Mike moved out of town and Johnny left the band. With Al moving to bass and John Mignacca coming on board on drums, Skeyes of Seven ended a two year stage hiatus at May 2015's final Swampstravaganza at The Canadian, and played at one of the Gonqshow events at The Algonquin Pub the following month. Another two year hiatus followed, and the band (now with Kyle Sweet on second guitar) played their final show when they opened for Project 421 at The Canadian in November 2017.
Skeyes Of Seven resurfaced briefly in July 2020 when they entered "Detonate" into Corus Radio's $20,000 Summer Song contest, but they would not return in a public capacity after the pandemic restrictions eased up. Despite their longevity, Skeyes Of Seven were full of unrealized potential given their talent, experience, and modern hard rock sound, including technical and unexpected cover choices, and it's a shame that we only saw them five times in just over five years (all in support slots), let alone never got the full EP release. Most members have been active in newer bands in the 2020s, so follow them to see what they've been up to since, but hopefully Skeyes of Seven return down the line, and R.I.P. Chris!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, our latest random selection will give us a solo act for the third time in four months, and this time, we're looking at local progressive/hard rock musician and podcaster Mike Cliffe's dormant original solo project! Look for that on or around September 10th, and for a new video-heavy post on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!






















