Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Ted Olson

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, continuing our monthly look at a local metal, hard rock, or punk act who is no longer publically active, in order to spotlight their run and activity for current readers! Today's randomly selected project is from a very familiar face to readers who follow the small original metal scene in the E.U.P., so here's what you should know about his solo work!

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Ted Olson

Hometown: St. Ignace, Michigan

Genre: Metalcore/Progressive Metal

Lineup:

Ted Olson (Heavy Lies The Crown), all instruments

Audio/Video: Not counting his output with Heavy Lies The Crown, guitarist Ted Olson has released no albums of his solo material, but you can hear studio quality and jam session original recordings from his solo project's active run across his Facebook page (2018-January 2020) and YouTube channel (anything later). Aside from a playthrough video of H.L.T.C.'s "Choke" and a "thank you" video for YouTube viewers, everything relates to Ted's original compositions (complete, teasers, or otherwise), typically played on his favourite headless guitars made by Strandberg or Kiesel. Here's Ted playing his 2021 original song "Odin"!

Info/Analysis: A few months prior to the public launch of his band Heavy Lies The Crown, Ted created a Facebook page for his solo pursuits in mid-2018, later clarifying in January 2020 that content there would be "mostly crappy idea videos". A YouTube channel followed that September, for which his H.L.T.C. bandmate Brandon West helped out in filming some videos with a higher production value. A healthy stream of solo performance videos and original compositions followed through mid-2021, including the song "Devoured" with guest singer Darien Deilami (of the Oklahoma metal band Xeropthalmia), but Ted has not updated his solo accounts since November of that year. Of course, he has focused on Heavy Lies The Crown ever since,but fans of that band will be right at home with Ted's technical and brutal solo work, which often touches on more of a progressive/djent influence than H.LT.C. does!

While typically short, Ted's solo songs like "Pulse" & "Aurora" show him at a strong skill level with heavy riffs with some well balanced melodies that fans of Sault Ontario bands like Convergence and PROV3RB5 will be into, so do check out Ted's solo work to hear what he brought to the table sans Brandon & crew, but look for more from Heavy Lies The Crown soon!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Our next randomly selected local band will take us north to Sault Ontario for a band that we only belatedly rolled into our links in January, namely 2014-2020 blues/hard rock cover trio Mojo! Look for that on or around August 10th, and for more news and notes on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!