Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Beyond Haven

It's time for our penultimate feature post of September, and as expected, it's this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! As always, this monthly feature looks at a band that is based out of town, but happens to feature one or more past/present Sault Ste. Marie residents in any of their lineups. This month's band isn't the most well known to Saultite audiences, but they have a lot going for them, and they deserve the attention, so read on below for this month's profile, and make sure to check out our latest news post from this afternoon (featuring Buckcherry videos, Haggith videos, and updates on our recent layout edits) below this one! (Updated on November 26th, 2014)
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Beyond Haven (Barrie, Ontario)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; ex-members in italics)

Brian Vain (vocals/rhythm guitar)

Matt Davey (lead guitar)

Jeff Dumais (bass)

Dan Smethurst (drums)

Jason Graham (lead guitar)
Mark Sandy (bass)
Dan DeBiasio (drums)

Official website: http://www.beyondhaven.com
Official MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/beyondhaven
Official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/beyondhaven

Official Reverbnation page: http://www.reverbnation.com/beyondhaven

Official SoundCloud page: http://www.soundcloud.com/beyond-haven

Official SignMeTo page: http://signmeto.roadrunnerrecords.com/artists/beyond-haven-2

Local Info: As far as I know, the only member of Beyond Haven with local ties is former lead guitarist Jason Graham, who was born and raised in Sault Ontario! Online information is in short supply about his local past before moving to Barrie, but through conversations with Frightlight guitarist Rick White, I learned that he played with Jason in local bands back in the day such as Lev-Rage and Small Town Trap, along with other Fitswitch alumni. No media of these bands are posted online that I can tell, but Rick told me that bands he and Jason were in did win some battles of the bands, which is pretty cool, and thanks again to Rick for telling me about Jason's local past!

Band Bio: Beyond Haven formed in February 2007 when childhood friends Brian Vain & Dan DeBiasio joined forces in mid-2007 as a songwriting project before enlisting Jason Grahan & Mark Sandy to complete their full lineup. From then on, they became a steadily growing sight in the Barrie hard rock scene, releasing a self titled demo in June 2008 and their debut full length album "New Era" in May 2009, while opening for major bands like Anvil, Finger Eleven, and State of Shock. After a short breakup in 2010, Brian & Jason relaunched the band later that year, finally returning to the stage in May 2011 with many new shows and recording plans, including a set opening for Finger Eleven, hopes for an upcoming tour run, and the release of their second album "Don't Back Down" in 2013, though Jason quietly left the band in October 2012. Stay tuned to band pages for continued updates as they continue to build their name in the Southern Ontario hard rock scene!

From what I've seen and heard of Beyond Haven, they definitely show a lot of talent and diversity in their hard rocking originals! Their "New Era" CD has a lot of entertaining songs that touch on both the heavy and softer aspects of their sound well, and I like seeing Brian's deeper singing applied with the sound they have on their albums! Sort of a mix of Scott Weiland and Zakk Wylde, if I had to describe it. Their old and current lineups seem to have a lot of chemistry, and Jason contributed well with heavy and melodic riffs, and some nicely played guitar solos, though their songs don't take a lot of huge risks. Songs like "Cautious Mind" & "Unchained" demonstrate their sounds really well, but they do seem like a group that might have been more timely in the 1990s (which isn't a criticism, I love 1990s music!) It's too bad Jason never brought Beyond Haven back home for a concert, but hopefully they continue to bring their grunge influenced hard rock sound to Ontario stages for a long time to come, and definitely give them a look or listen!

For media, both of Beyond Haven's full length albums are available on iTunes at this location for around $10, though I can't confirm if either is available in CD format widely at present. Their first demo is definitely out of print, but their MySpace page has all 4 tracks available to stream, so check the above links for those and more previews of the band's original songs! For videos, there are a handful of Beyond Haven videos floating around YouTube, but the best place to see them is off of frontman Brian Vain's YouTube channel, which features a decent selection of videos from both of their incarnations, including some covers and promo clips. Here's a compilation of their current lineup playing their song "Drive" at a show earlier this year, and check the above links for more on Beyond Haven!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! In our last profile in this series before we update/correct the vast majority of them in November, we'll be looking at Lansing, Michigan metal quintet Genocya (featuring former Sault Michigan resident Matt Cunningham), so look out for just our seventh Sault Michigan-focused profile in this series on or around October 26th! That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews either tomorrow or Friday! Thanks everyone!