Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Operation: Killdozer & Batteries Not Included

For this month's installment of our Defunct Local Band Profile Series, we're looking at 2 bands for the eighth time in the past nine months due to the first selected band having a limited amount of surviving information. Also, as we're straddling the end and beginning of two of our cycles for which city to cover in the series (1-1-1-1-1), we're looking at two Sault Ontario bands in the same month for the first time since 2010, but there's some solid talent within this month's bands, and a lot of familiar faces, so read on below to check out these new profiles!
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Operation: Killdozer

Genre: Extreme/Hardcore Metal

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members:  (Members not in their last full lineup in italics. This information may be incorrect. Message me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you have any additions or corrections!)

Jason Bourcier (Winkstinger, Fitswitch), vocals
Jesse Cook (Jack Spades, The Elements), guitar
Ryan Disano? (Caveman Morrison, Winkstinger), bass
Jonas Gasperas (Winkstinger, Soldiers of Misfortune), drums
Justin Lam (The Bear Hunters, Jack Spades), bass 

Info/Analysis: A short lived metal band that was active in the spring of 2009, Operation: Killdozer united alumni of Soldiers of Misfortune, Fitswitch, and D.O.T.H. for their debut at the YMCA Battle of the Bands at The Grand Theater on March 20th, 2009, where they placed fourth out of seven bands. After the departure of bassist Justin Lam, Killdozer played one last live concert on May 5th at The Grand when they opened for hardcore punk legends SNFU. The band is presumed to have disbanded that summer, while the band's instrumental members formed Winkstinger the following year, even retaining some Killdozer originals with new lyrics. Amusingly limiting Facebook group posts to self-deprecating insults, Operation: Killdozer had a lot of brutal promise and talent from their only live dates, and Jason's vocals fit nicely, but they didn't last long enough to see how far they really could have went. At least Winkstinger's early 2010s run kept the same style and intensity going, but check out Killdozer's only surviving public video below, which is of their original "Pieces of You" at the battle, which became Winkstinger's "Where'd We Go Wrong"!


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Batteries Not Included

Genre: Hard/Classic Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members:

Ian Connell, guitar/vocals
Keith Gagnon (Free Beer), guitar/vocals
Ryan Gray (Free Beer), bass/vocals
T.J. Case (Asylum Country, Jack Spades), drums

Audio/Video: No media of Batteries Not Included is known to exist online in a publically viewable form, and while their website features pages for media and setlist links, all have expired or were never updated. It should be noted that a SooToday article by David Helwig said that that the band covered Metallica, AC/DC, and Ozzy Osbourne at a July 2004 date at the Bellevue Park Bandshell, but that's our only direct material hint. For reference sake, Keith and Ryan's mid-2000s metal band Sindicate likely shared the most similarities with B.N.A. out of the members' later projects. 

Info/Analysis: Batteries Not Included were a young hard rock band that formed in late 2003, and they were likely active through early 2005. Primarily playing outdoor events in 2004 at venues like The Roberta Bondar Pavilion & at Bellevue Park (though their site teased a Foggy Notions appearance), activity stalled after their last website updates that August. I can't really judge Batteries Not Included given the lack of media, and I'm not familiar with Ian musically, but the rest of the band has proved their talent since, and much like Garage Inc., they expanded on that into far more successful (and mainly lighter) projects in the coming decade, so be sure to follow their more recent music work!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! We'll have yet another two band installment next month due to the first randomly selected band having minimal surviving information, but we'll kick things off back in Sault Michigan, so who's next in this series? Defunct Sault Michiagn hard rock band Riot! By Night (featuring Absolute, Oddfellow, and Elipzis alumni) and the short lived Sault Ontario metal project Face First, whose members co-formed Changing Waves a few months after their run! Watch out for these profiles on or around May 10th, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews shortly! Thanks everyone!