Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Highway 63

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, continuing our monthly spotlight features on defunct or inactive local metal, hard rock, or punk bands from our band links! This month's band is our first Sault Michigan of 2021, but I just want to emphasize that the band in question was randomly selected when we wrote up last month's installment on February 9th, eight days before frontman Henry Switzer's passing. The timing is entirely coincidental, but hey, this does give us a chance to look back on his mid-late 2010s band work once again, so here's what you should know!

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Highway 63

Genre: Classic/Hard Rock
 
Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

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

Henry Switzer (Monkey's Uncle), vocals/guitar
Nathan Switzer (Heavy Lies The Crown), guitar/formerly bass
George Belleau (Full Throttle, Hawk Junction), bass
Ron Suchey (Monkey's Uncle, RamWagon), drums)

Ryan Kitzmiller (RamWagon, Full Throttle), guitar
Chris Leask (Power Slug, Blind Baby), bass
Justin Lawless (Absolute, NoXcape), drums
Russell Mayer (The Mama's Boys), drums
Brian Drumheller (The Mama's Boys, The Hixx), keyboard

Audio/Video: Though Highway 63 did tease working on original material in studio (including a demo in early 2015), surviving material from Highway 63's run is largely in the domain of live concert videos, which you can find on the band's Facebook page, both via official postings and via comments from fans & shares from personal Facebook pages. Here's Highway 63 covering John Mellencamp at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin in 2016!

Info/Analysis: Succeeding frontman Henry Switzer's short-lived band Sir Charge upon their public launch in March 2014, Highway 63 was Henry's last major local band before his death last month, with him and his son Nathan the only constant members. Named after the H-63 highway from the Soo to St. Ignace, Highway 63 fittingly played both communities frequently at their respective Kewadin Casino lounges, as well as select other E.U.P. venues, and even taking a road trip outside of the area on occasion. Their best known lineup (the Switzers, Chris, and Ron) were frequently seen from late 2014-early 2018, before a series of personnel changes occurred into the following year. Highway 63 updates slowed entering 2020 due to the pandemic and Henry's health issues, with their last concert taking place outside of Henry's business Hank's Body Shop in August to send off Nathan before he moved downstate.

As fans of Henry's extensive local music work (especially the very similarly comprised Monkey's Uncle) will attest, Highway 63 were a fun band with a strong handle on their range of covers, and always had a fan-friendly nature suited to both heavy rockers and dance floor hits. Henry's vocal and guitar abilities were always top notch, Nathan was a fine compliment to his dad, and they always had solid bassists and drummers throughout their run. Highway 63 had a good run, but hopefully we hear more from their surviving members in the near future, and R.I.P. Henry!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! We'll return to Sault Ontario to kick off a new 2-1-3-1-2-1 cycle between the Twin Saults next month, but as the first randomly selected band doesn't have much information or media, I have picked another band with a similar lack to round things out. As such, we'll be looking at late-2000s thrash metal band Time Of Ruin and 2010s punk band Programmed To Fail! Look for these on or around April 10th, and for more news on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!