Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Heavy Head

After a weekend concert preview-induced delay, here is this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, continuing our regular looks at local metal, hard rock, and/or punk bands in our inactive band links! This month's randomly selected band gives us some very familiar faces in a union doomed to a short lifespan, so here's what you should know on them!

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Heavy Head

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hard/Pop Rock

Lineup:

Mike Gaetano (The Suicide Kings), vocals
Jesse Cook (Handsome Sandwich, The Wyld Stallyns), guitar
Daniel Horton (Spades GT, Haggith), bass
Johnny Belanger (Handsome Sandwich, The Bear Hunters), drums

Audio/Video: Heavy Head released no studio material, but they did have at least two original songs despite their brief lifespan, one entitled "Mikey Doesn't Whiskey". Their diverse array of covers included Blink-182, NOFX, and Sublime sharing a setlist with The Black Crowes, The White Stripes, and (believe it or not) Maroon 5, among others. Videos aren't plentiful from Heavy Head's run, but I did film them covering Walk The Moon's "Shut Up & Dance" (yes) at The Canadian and, as featured here, their other original "5 AM" at The Oddfellows Hall!

Info/Analysis: Launched circa January 2016, Heavy Head were a supergroup formed shortly after The Suicide Kings' dissolution, debuting the following month with a headlining gig at The Rockstar Bar. After just that show, they performed in the VM Radio Battle of the Bands at The Canadian Nightclub, but did not advance to the finals. Facebook updates stopped in April, but Heavy Head did press on for a few more months, including two multi-band events at The Rednecks Saloon and an appearance at Johnny's birthday concert at The Oddfellows Hall in May. That was their final official set, but members did perform together at a public jam session in November before dissolving for good. Heavy Head had a good thing started with an excellent lineup of talented & familiar local musicians, and while their cover range wasn't as hard rock-centric as with Mike's Suicide Kings work, that at least helped them stand out as their own entity!

Having seen them at their second and final concerts, I did notice a big improvement in chemistry and stage presence, plus a dialing back of the pop rock covers, and a cover of Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" didn't end well at the battle. Mike's solid vocals and the instrumentalists' established skill was a good mix, and it's unfortunate that Heavy Head didn't last into 2017, but follow members' current project to see what they're up to in the 2020s!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! To end 2022 in this series, we'll look at another randomly selected local band, this one a more recent pick with some more familiar faces, namely local power rock quintet Re:Born! Look for that on or around December 10th, and for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!