Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Twisted Manikin & Break The Violence

With a slow news stretch as of late, let's break that up with this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Our monthly look at 1 or 2 randomly selected local hard rock, metal, or punk bands that, while not active at present, deserve a look for recent readers and fans to see what they did and what happened to them! This month's random choices are two short lived young bands from each side of the border, one with minimal surviving info and one with no media, hence the dual profile this month. Without any further adieu, here's what you should know on both!
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Twisted Manikin

Genre: Hard Rock/Punk

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

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

Samantha Raycroft, vocals/bass
Jordan Gendreau (Half Stupid), guitar
Aaron Sheppard, drums
Matthew Lapointe, guitar  

Info/Analysis: A short lived band that was only visibly active in 2008, Twisted Manikin were a self-identified hardcore/punk trio that had teased plans "to show everyone their style of originality and hard work" which sounded like "deliverance." Though Samantha & Jordan had previously played together in a separate band the previous year, Twisted Manikin never played an announced concert before Samantha moved from the area in late 2008, with the band dissolving around that time. Videos of two band members jamming can be seen at this link & this link, as well as the video below of their full trio lineup playing their last original named "The City Is Burning", and while the quality is mixed, you can sense promise! Though more recently known as a drummer, Jordan's a strong guitarist, and the song has a catchy hard rock bite, but Samantha is very hard to hear on vocals. Give Twisted Manikin a look above & below, and hopefully everyone stays active musically!


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Break The Violence

Genre: Ska Punk

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics; Ex-member Keith's last name is not recorded on their Tripod page. If you can confirm it, let us know!)

Garrett Masters (As It Stands, Out Of The Mouth Of Babes), guitar
Angelo Huckson (As It Stands, Out Of The Mouth Of Babes), bass
John Mignacca (As It Stands, Skeyes of Seven, Dillinger), drums
Nathan Bouliane (As It Stands, The Outside Lights), saxophone
Ryan Van Scoy, trumpet
Keith ?????, drums

Audio/Video: No media of Break The Violence is known to publically survive, but their Tripod page once had four linked audio demos (including a song named "Bleed") that they called "crappy demos" & "bad recordings", but they posted them anyway as it's all they had. Given their thoughts on the recordings, the guys probably don't mind that they're no longer publically available. Members' later projects largely did not retain a ska punk influence, but were certainly an improvement musically.

Info/Analysis: Likely the immediate predecessor band to the 2005-2014 hardcore quintet As It Stands, Break The Violence united four future members of that band & trumpet player Ryan Van Scoy in a ska punk outfit. Formed by alumni of The Crossed & Second Guess, the band was only visibly active for a few months in early 2005, wherein they mostly hinted at future plans and targets for band positions, oddly indicating publically who they had asked. The band never played live before dissolving that year & regrouping as the emo (and later hardcore) group As It Stands. While the guys far outdid this project with A.I.S., it'd be interesting to hear how Break The Violence would have sounded, especially as a ska punk band with permanent horn instrument players, and I would be curious to hear their old demos!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! This series will return on December 10th with a single-band Sault Ontario profile to end the year, and through random selection, we'll be looking at the defunct "derd rock" band The Issues, featuring Winkstinger and Pillory alumni! Stay tuned for that next month, and for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!