Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Nowhere Fast & The Mourning Glory

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles, as we continue our monthly spotlighting of defunct and inactive metal, hard rock, and punk bands from the Sault Ste. Marie area for current readers, all as randomly selected from our band links. This month is a double profile due to the first band having no posted material, so we added a second band with little information to round things out. Both are intriguing bands that never realized a fuller potential, so here's what you should know on each group!
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Nowhere Fast

Genre: Alternative/Punk Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (It is unclear whether "Kel" in the band photo on the right is Andrea's replacement or successor in Nowhere Fast, or if that was actually her nickname. Let us know if you can fill in any blanks!)

Andrea Croft, vocals
Rhiannon "Rhi" Jones, guitar/bass
Jess Walls, drums

Audio/Video: No media of Nowhere Fast ever made it's way to the band's Tripod page, but postings there note that they were planning to cover acts ranging from Rise Against & Switchfoot to Sarah MacLachlan and Peter, Paul, and Mary, and they also had plans to write original material. However, as a band without a full time bassist at last update, they may not have been ready to release any recordings when they dissolved.

Info/Analysis: Only visibly active in the spring of 2005, Nowhere Fast never advanced past their Tripod page for public updates, but they did showcase a strong sense of humour throughout, and they did seem to have plans in place to progress the band. It's a shame that Nowhere Fast never got too far off the ground, as an all-female alt-punk band would have been a stand-out attraction in the local scene in the mid-2000s. I'm not familiar with any of the girls from other local bands, but hopefully there's material out there!
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The Mourning Glory

Genre: Progressive/Hard Rock/Blues

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members:

Glen Thomas (Soundcheck, Flat Stanley, The Peace Vibe), all instruments
Tony Kajnar (Flat Stanley, The Peace Vibe), guitar

Audio/Video: This studio project was intended to focus on Reverbnation & iTunes distributed original material inspired by bands like King's X, Rush, and Porcupine Tree. Plans were to record with a number of guest musicians, but aside from 6 solo demo recordings by Glen on Reverbnation, nothing followed on either platform. That said, Glen did share this video of him playing the Mourning Glory original "Elastic Man" onto his YouTube channel in August 2012, so you can get a rough sense of how the band sounded!



Info/Analysis: Launched by veteran local rock drummer Glen Thomas in March 2012, The Mourning Glory saw a partial return to Glen's hard rock band work of the 1980s. Aside from adding his long-time bandmate Tony Kajnar in 2013, updates were sporadic at best, last coming in January 2016 on Glen's forum. This project is not to be confused with the classic/hard rock cover band Mourning Wood, who Glen drummed for from 2015-2017. Their rough demos showcase a promising brand of bluesy hard rock with some real creativity, but they could have used cleaner recording quality. The ambition was there, hopefully Glen revisits this material!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! This series will return on or around July 10th when we take a look at another randomly selected local band from the past, but not as far back as you may think, namely local indie/alternative quartet Bizotic! Look for that next month, and for more news and notes on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!