Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Sell This!

After a weekend concert preview-induced delay, here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, as we again take a look at a band or solo project from our inactive band links, as randomly selected! This month gives us slight deja vu, as it's an early 2020s solo project with industrial metal influences again, but still very distinct and original as local bands go, so here's what you should know on them on this warm Sunday morning!

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Sell This!

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/Winnipeg, Manitoba

Genre: Classical/Industrial Metal

Lineup:

Pete Mozarowski (RedD Monkey), all instruments

Audio/Video: When launched out of his then-Winnipeg homebase, Pete released their debut EP "The Cancer Stage of Capitalism" on Bandcamp in December 2020, followed by a full length album named "Isn't This A Democracy?" in 2022, which featured two guest spots by guitarist/bassist Eric "Elow" Loewen and a bonus track for paid buyers. The "Live 2023" single (not live in concert, recorded live) begat the release of their final EP "Empires Everywhere!", released on CD and mp3 in January 2024 after Pete moved back to the Soo. As far as I am aware, Pete never launched a YouTube channel or a social media account to host videos of Sell This!, leaving Bandcamp as their only online presence to hear their music, but luckily, Bandcamp now allows you to embed albums on websites like this, so here's the opening song of their sole local release!

Info/Analysis: Best known as the cellist in the 2009-2015 local/Kelowna/Toronto hardcore punk band RedD Monkey (fronted by his brother Steve), Pete fell dormant as a live/original musician in the late 2010s, but re-emerged in the 2020s while living in Winnipeg via Sell This!. Self-described as sounding like "if Trent Reznor sang for Apocalyptica", Sell This! were distinguished by leftist & politically charged lyrics relating to societal decline, and Pete was even interviewed about the project on Winnipeg college radio station CKUW 95.9 in 2023 shortly before he moved, but the interview is no longer streamable. After Pete came back home, he played Sell This!' only local concert at the former Distraction (still located upstairs then) in January 2024. This concert also served as the release party for "Empires Everywhere". which was played in full that night. Possibly owing to Sell This!' lack of a social media presence beyond Bandcamp, this concert was the project's final public act, and they appear to have fell inactive later that year.

Sell This! had potential and a locally unique sound and lyrical bent that fans of the current Realignment Project should take to, but of course, the presence of a cello distinguishes this (and RedD Monkey prior) from any other rock bands of the past 15 years. Pete was never a super rangy singer, but he developed a lot of confidence and expression by 2023, and he was good at shaking up styles of songs while getting messages across. With improved production and possibly a full band, Sell This! could have made larger local waves, but there is something here for industrial and noise rock fans, especially if the political slant doesn't bother you, so give their back catalogue a listen, and hopefully we hear from Pete again down the road!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around August 10th, and after a two month spell of industrial-tinged solo projects, our next randomly selected band will actually be a band, namely 2012-2018 hard rock quintet Skeyes Of Seven, so look for that next month and for more news and notes on the SMS this week! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Molten Imp

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! To cap off the first half of 2026 in this series, our latest random selection takes us to a talented and creative early 2020s solo project from a familiar face in the metal community, so here's what you should know!

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Molten Imp

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Industrial Metal/Noise Rock

Lineup:

"Lord Unterbiss Von Wigwaus" Boyd Rendell (AlgomA, BeeFMouTH), all instruments

Audio/Video: Boyd put out four digital singles (complete with buyer-exclusive bonus tracks) on Bandcamp in 2021 and 2022 that were compiled into the 2023 compilation album "Bloom Closing", while they factored on the "Pyrolytic Punishment" split with inactive local goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore in 2023, and released one final standalone single, "Diesel On The Steamship I & II" in 2024. Much of Molten Imp's studio catalogue can also be heard on their Soundcloud page and YouTube channel, plus some instrumental electronic performances not directly tied to Molten Imp by name on the latter, though anything posted on their Facebook page (let alone their original Bandcamp page) has long since been taken down. Here's the title track from their second single "Constable Sewage"!

Info/Analysis: Quietly launched in 2019 (shortly after Algoma went inactive) but only going public two years later, Molten Imp are Boyd's most recent musical project, taking things into a far more industrial and post-rock bent than his bands were, while relishing in dark and cryptic social media promotion. A one-time signing to Mike Haggith's MorningStar Records who even experimented with Patreon backing and fan contests, Molten Imp teased the occasional collaboration with other artists, including work with Twistory's Josh Amendola as a songwriter, but a planned live debut at October 2022's Garbageface/No Funeral concert from Dryer Fire did not come to pass. Public updates slowed down by late 2023 as Boyd left Facebook, with June 2024's "Diesel On The Steamship" single being their last public act. I did prefer Boyd's band work for heaviness, but Molten Imp showed a different side of him, with many songs leaning more into electronica and drum-and-bass than metal, though a darker ambiance permeated regardless.

Molten Imp let Boyd stretch with experimental effects, samples, and a lean towards deconstructing the songs on offer. It's hard to explain, but for local bands, the only really equitable one that I can cite is The Realignment Project, and they don't even dabble in extreme metal and harsh vocals. Creative stuff on the whole, so don't bypass Molten Imp, as they have a lot of music that will appeal to a lot of tastes!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile Series! Things return on or around July 10th when we look at another randomly selected local band of the past, and as fate would have it, we're staying industrial via another solo project, namely local/Winnipeg industrial/classical act Sell This!, so look for that on or around July 10th! That's all for now, but stay tuned for this weekend's concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: HeadFirst

After a slight delay, here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, as we're again taking a look back at a local metal, hard rock, or punk act that was randomly selected from our inactive band links, in order to spotlight them for current readers! This month's selection only just dissolved a little over a month ago, but they packed a lot into their almost three-year run, so here's what you should know on them!

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HeadFirst (later known as HeadF1rst)

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hard/Classic Rock

Lineup:

Carson "Red Jettison" Hiltz, vocals/guitar
Raine Rancourt (Raincourt), guitar
Liam Dinsmore, guitar
Claire Jeffrey, bass/vocals
Anthony Boudreau (Stones & Crows, Them), drums/vocals

Audio/Video: HeadFirst released their debut EP "Head Trauma" independently in July 2024, and while the very-DIY CD copies are now out of print, you can still hear it on major streaming services, as well as their full-length May 2025 follow-up "Road Trippin'". That album was was released through Mike Haggith's own MorningStar Records with professional packaging, and even received a few music videos. HeadFirst often limited their own social media videos to teasers and shorter clips, but fan-shot videos (including by us on our Facebook page) can be found relatively easily, even though the HeadFirst name is used by multiple other bands, hence putting a 1 in their name later on. Here they are playing "Little Darling" at Rotaryfest's Second Stage in 2024!

Info/Analysis: Publically launching in July 2023, this union of rising young local musicians brought their 1960s-1980s influenced blend of originals and covers to the stage for the first time at Reggie's Place that November. They quickly became a prominent and well received sight as both headliners and support bands in the mid-2020s, which saw them play at Rotaryfest Stage 2, Pridefest, and Toystock in both 2024 and 2025, as well as 2024's Go Skateboarding Day and ARCH Run and 2025's Northern Vibe Festival. Also seen opening for the likes of Blood Opera, Woodhawk, and Selias, and even travelling to Sudbury for a few gigs, you may also know them as the only band that Shooters Downstairs Lounge was even booking by last year, even getting their own special menu items! Officially altering their name to HeadF1rst in early 2025, band activity slowed down over the winter, and they disbanded following a farewell concert at Beck's Bar last month.

HeadFirst displayed clear talent and range for a band of their relative youth, while honouring the classic eras in their cover choices and original material! Red was an infectious presence as frontman, Raine is a very skilled lead guitarist, and everyone paired well together, though not everyone was universally animated during concerts. I did prefer HeadFirst's heavier songs, but especially on "Road Trippin'", they spread their wings to tackle other sounds and genres, so mind that going into their two releases, but there's a little something for everyone there. Hopefully the guys all turn up in new active projects soon, including Anthony's new band Stones & Crows!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around June 10th, and we'll have more news and notes on the SMS this week! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Sailor's Tongue

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, and after a two month spell of randomly selected bands who were on the higher end for heaviness and notoriety here and afar, this month takes us to an accomplished past group who didn't have an extended run, but still played some big events and had a lot of promising original material. Here's what you should know in this monthly feature post!

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Sailor's Tongue

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hard/Blues Rock

Lineup:

Kyle McKey (The Ghost Town Cryers, Stillbroke, Mocombo), vocals/guitar
Blake Jackson, guitar
Liam Seymour (Lime, The Rising Tide), guitar
Jeff Brown (Turner Up), bass
Dean McKey (The McCartney Years), drums

Audio/Video: In conjunction with their set at Rotaryfest's Second Stage in July 2013, Sailor's Tongue released their only EP named "Pierced" at that event. This was intended to be a limited-run sampler for a formal full length album that never came to fruition, to the point that certain songs were labelled as demos. While "Pierced" is long out of print, you can stream all seven songs and a few select non-EP cuts that may have been planned for the full album across both the band's Reverbnation page and drummer Dean McKey's Soundcloud page. Limited videos from their 2010s reunion gigs can be found on YouTube, including this video of the guys playing "BootScattered" at their 2013 Stage 2 set!

Info/Analysis: Evolving from prior local bands named Pix N' Stix and Edge City, Sailor's Tongue were originally active locally from roughly 2005-2009, where they played headlining dates at former venues like Foggy Notions and The Nicolet Tavern, and made the finals of 2007's Bon Soo Battle of the Bands, while honing originals that would later appear on "Pierced". Gigs slowed down after Dean moved to London for university in 2007, but the band (with Liam initially replacing Blake) would reunite in 2012 for special events, including the final two LopLops-curated Second Stages at Rotaryfest on Queen Street East. Despite their public album plans, they fell inactive again by 2014 when Kyle moved out of town himself, though the band reunited to play at Rotaryfest Stage 1 in 2019, making them the first Stage 2 band to ever graduate to the main stage.

 

A well varied outfit who could deliver hard rock grooves while also featuring blues, southern rock, and funk influences on various songs like "Float" and "Doctor John", the McKey brothers and crew had good chemistry, distinct vocals, and a casual stage presence that would have lent them well had members stayed in town long enough to allow more momentum to gather as a live and studio act. Kyle & Dean have privately worked on songwriting for Sailor's Tongue since the band dissolved, and hopefully we haven't seen the last of them on a local stage, but follow members' current projects 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! This series will return on or around May 10th, and we'll have more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone! 

Defunct Local Band Profile: Gates Of Winter

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, and for a second straight month, I have randomly drawn a very prominent local metal band whose name is Ga___ Of ______! I don't plan stuff like this, but it does give us another high profile local band of the past who accomplished a lot in their run, so here's what you should know on them!

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Gates Of Winter

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Progressive/Death Metal

Lineup: (Members not in their last full lineup are in italics. This doesn't include session drummer Jon Morrison, who recorded during the "Perihelion" sessions but never joined the band)

Lee Thomas Maines, vocals/guitar
Bryan Belleau (Melinda, iT), guitar
Steven Angelo Furgiuele, bass
Brian Holmes (Machines Dream), keyboard
David Gold (Woods of Ypres), drums

James Chiverelli (Kalle Mattson), drums
Kevin Overton (RedD Monkey, Smeltzer), drums
Jonathan Harvey (Chronic Demonic), drums

Audio/Video: Gates of Winter released a self-titled demo EP in 2005, but it is not available on streaming services, and was basically disowned by the band due to its recording quality, their musical evolution, and the usage of programmed drums. They more famously put out their sole full-length album "Lux Aeterna" in 2008, which is on major streaming services today. A studio copy of their non-album single "Torment" exists but is not currently online. Songs and teasers from their unreleased EP "Perihelion" were sporadically posted in the 2010s, but as Gates Of Winter perfected the material and became heavier & more technical, they often took these files down, and also limited video uploads from their 2000s run as a live act despite a lot of well shot and recorded live videos existing from the era. Their YouTube channel does host select videos from back then, including this one of them playing "Winter Flight" at one of their final gigs at The Grand Theater in 2008!

Info/Analysis: Launching in 2003 and becoming the biggest homegrown metal band of the mid-late 2000s, Gates of Winter were mainstays of local concerts for the next four years, including headlining the first two Second Stages at Rotaryfest and sharing the stage here and afar with notable bands like Quo Vadis, Wolven Ancestry, and Fuck The Facts, along with headlining many shows at venues from The Oddfellows Hall to LopLops to Algoma University. Harbouring a stable lineup aside from their drummer position, the band played their last three local gigs after putting out "Lux Aeterna", all at The Grand Theater in mid-late 2008. Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold joined behind the kit that year, also adding his new bandmates to Woods' lineup. The "Gates of Ypres" era ended for both bands by early 2009, with Gates of Winter going on a year's hiatus, before returning (sans any drummer) in 2010 as a studio-only project.

 

With Bryan and Steve moving out west, and Brian eventually leaving the band outright, the now three-piece Gates of Winter pushed forward on their follow-up album "Perihelion", but updates on the album (later EP) got more and more sporadic, and the band last updated social media with new activity in 2019. Gates of Winter were the first local headlining band that I ever saw in concert back in early 2005, and they always impressed with their intricate and dark brand of metal that called to mind bands like Katatonia and Amorphis in their original run. Extremely talented group of guys that always operated very professionally and with a drive to improve musically, and it's a shame that the "Perhelion" sessions never reached a public finish line, as they were cranking up their progressive and death metal bonafides on the teased material. Hopefully Lee, Bryan, and Steve resurface when the time is right, they have been missed!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, our latest randomly selected band of the past will be hard rock quartet Sailor's Tongue, so look for that profile on or around April 10th! That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and more on the SMS soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (BookcluB), Without Compromise Updates, And Much More!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family & friends of veteran local musician Paul Leclair, who passed away yesterday of complications from cancer at the age of 74, as per numerous personal Facebook postings. While not a hard rock or metal musician, Paul will be familiar to many from his work as singer/guitarist in local bands like Midway, Moonshadow, and (most recently) Dorian Grey, who played classic rock at local venues for over a decade and were gigging as recently as last summer. For many years, Paul was the secretary-treasurer and vice president of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 276, and was a key asset in helping local musicians of many stripes to work through business, contract, and insurance dealings, as well as to get work visas put together to be able to perform/tour in the United States. He was occasionally referenced in SMS posts via his union work.

While I never had the honour of meeting Paul, we were briefly slated to judge a battle of the bands together alongside Soundcheck's Terry Eaton at the former Rednecks Saloon (Nicolet Tavern) way back in February 2015, but it was cancelled when the larger VM Radio Battle of the Bands was scheduled to begin less than two weeks later. He was a good and very knowledgeable person who helped so many local artists over the years through the union, and he will definitely be missed. R.I.P. Paul!

Today's post otherwise catches us up on some recent news, but first, here's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as local alternative/punk cover band BookcluB will rock The Machine Shop TOMORROW NIGHT when they open for online page-less local Tragically Hip cover band The Luxury as part of the Bon Soo Winter Carnival! Apologies for the short notice, we first learned of this show late last week via Bon Soo social media advertising. Modern day concerts outside of the opening ceremonies at Bon Soo rarely cross our radar, but this is an exception, and this special mid-week concert is reportedly being held "to show our appreciation" to Bon Soo supporters. This will be BookcluB's second publically advertised gig of 2026 (last seen at The Kiln last month), but you may have seen frontman Mikey Hawdon and bassist Dustin Jones playing outside of The Machine Shop as Dos Amigos this past weekend!

Alas, I only heard about this outdoor gig via a Facebook "story" (one of the posts that vanish from that strip on your news feed after being viewed once or twice), so here we are. I wish bands wouldn't rely on "Stories" (a couple have been posting new videos as "Stories" that are impossible for me to link to in posts), but I do apologize for missing that here. You can see the full BookcluB experience with their fan friendly and unique range of covers TOMORROW NIGHT! Note that the picture attached to the band's Facebook post plugging TOMORROW'S show includes guitarist Brandon Ruch, who moved out of town last fall, so I don't 100% know if they just used an old band photo or if he is actually returning to the Soo for this gig. As for The Luxury (featuring Tripod The Dog, Billy Bastards, Redefined, Sidekicks, and Late Shift alumni) they deliver a faithful and talented take on Hip classics from the 1980s and 1990s, so don't bypass them!

While tickets were reportedly briefly on sale early, TOMORROW'S indoor show will be FREE with a Bon Soo button ($12) or jacket tag ($8), and if you don't have one yet, they will be on sale at Mill Square if you come out. This is an all ages show at 8:00 PM. Should be a fun mix of covers (especially for Tragically Hip fans) TOMORROW at Bon Soo, so visit the above links for more details, and here's BookcluB live!

Finally for today, here's a band we haven't talked about in way too long on here, namely local rap metal project Without Compromise! I admittedly slacked in covering them for months on end, and I apologize for that, but it didn't help that project leader (and former Winkstinger guitarist) Jason Ladouceur quietly left Facebook last year. However, Jason is still working on Without Compromise, and has continued uploading music for the former Less Than Zero to its Bandlab page and YouTube channel! A lot of his newer music and art has been along the lines of the evolution of intelligence and consciousness, and he has seemed to embrace AI as tech, so keep that in mind. In listening to Jason's newest material, the music is getting more varied, with metal songs mixed in symphonic and electronic elements, and while his vocals are still a work in progress (and sometimes buried in production), he is applying them in different roles and methods of singing.

 

I won't pretend to understand the artistic ethos of Without Compromise in the past year, but there is definitely talent on display, and Jason can still shred when the song calls for it! He has seemed to play down the rap aspect (at least for his own vocals) in his newest songs, but note that his song "Todayz" seems to include an AI model of Eminem rapping. There's promising music to check out here, so dig through their Bandlab and YouTube content above to see what he's been up to, and here's one of Without Compromise's newer uploaded songs, "In The Darkness"!

 

 

That's all for now, but stay tuned for much more on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Garden Of Bedlam

Here is our second Defunct Local Band Profile of 2026, as we again spotlight a defunct or inactive band of Twin Sault's past, and as ever, this group was randomly selected from our links. Our first Sault Ontario profile of the year gives us one of the biggest homegrown metal bands of the past 20 years, so here's what you should know on them!

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Garden Of Bedlam

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Metal/Hard Rock

Lineup: (While it is fairly well known now that the late Chris Thompson drummed with Garden Of Bedlam briefly in 2007, the band's public launch came after he left)

Erik "Buzz" Boissineau (Barfly, Changing Lanes), vocals
Josh Belleau, guitar
Evan Belleau, bass
Derek Turner (Even Flow, Papa Fogals Chair), drums

Audio/Video: Garden Of Bedlam released a self-titled EP in 2009 followed by their full-length album "Everything Will Die" in 2011, both on CD. Despite the band's high profile, neither release is circulating on most major streaming services as of 2026, so the best place to hear their studio catalogue online is their Reverbnation page, though be advised that the 2009 EP is batched as one 15 minute file there. Numerous videos from the band & fans can be seen on YouTube, including via three different official YouTube channels and Josh's personal channel, and we shot videos of them often in their run for YouTube as well. Here's the music video for their 2009 song "The Truth Will Set You Free"!

Info/Analysis: The biggest active and regularly gigging local metal band of the early 2010s, Garden of Bedlam (named as an opposite of "Garden of Eden") debuted in early 2008 and quickly became a prominent sight on local stages over the next six years. Along with multiple headlining concerts, Garden of Bedlam opened for high profile touring bands like Kittie, Airbourne, Anvil, Fuck The Facts, Novembers Doom, and most prominently, Kiss, winning the honours to open their 2010 Essar Center concert at December 2009's Kiss Battle of the Bands. Two-time headliners of Rotaryfest Stage 2 in the early 2010s, Garden of Bedlam were also seen at multiple Hempfests & on the road in Sudbury and Quebec, and were very visible at charitable events and in local media interviews in their heyday. Band activity slowed to a crawl after 2013, only surfacing for a 2014 stag & doe and to headline Go Skateboarding Day in June 2015.

 

Despite promising to "see you soon" after their Go Skate Day set, no public updates on new band activity followed, and they amicably disbanded by 2016. Always a lively and very proficient band for modern hard rock fans with a heavier edge, Garden of Bedlam were a welcome sight on local stages via fan favourite original songs like "Shallow" and "New Rain", with Buzz's soaring melodic vocals gelling very well with the Belleau cousins and Derek throughout their run! Also, kudos to the guys for helping turn local fans on to Volbeat just before their mainstream breakthrough in this continent! Hopefully we will see the guys reunite at some point in the future, or at least get their albums on streaming platforms!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, we're not straying far in the alphabet or in scope, as our next randomly selected band will be inactive local progressive/death metal band Gates of Winter! Look for that on or around March 10th, and for weekend concert previews on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Exit 808

It's time for our first Defunct Local Band Profile of 2026, and we're starting the year with a bang, as this month's randomly selected band is a high profile E.U.P. group who just broke up last fall after two eventful years together. Here's what you should know in our latest look back at the run of a past local metal, hard rock, or punk act!

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Exit 808 (previously known as Double Jack)

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Genre: Hard Rock

Lineup: (Members not in their last full lineup are in italics. Exit 808 were increasingly known for enlisting guest musicians in concert as band member availability fluctuated, but these performers are not listed here. Also, note that the band did imply that bassist Brad Pringle was a new member during their last concert, but he wasn't credited as such in the Facebook post announcing their breakup)

Amy Beach (Shift, Wild Fate), vocals
Dillion Semasky (Infathom, Half A Man), vocals
Nathan Webber (Crush, Tarnished, Lift The Broken), guitar/vocals
Alex Zimmerman, guitar
Blaze Beairl (Heavy Lies The Crown), bass/guitar
Jackie Moon (Molly & The Other Guys), drums

Melvin Willis (Stoned Ape Evolution), guitar
Will Robbins, guitar
Isaac "Iggy" Royer (Crush, Tarnished), bass/vocals
Myke Young (Division Of Sanity), bass

Audio/Video: A covers-only band under either of their names, Exit 808 were well filmed across their two year run, with dozens of live videos featured on their Facebook page. Once Dillion joined, the two singer format was juggled with songs featuring him and Amy sharing or alternating vocals as song needs dictated, with acts like AC/DC and Joan Jett to Evanescence and Volbeat to even Eminem & Rihanna and Tone Loc covered during their shows! Videos from their debut gig can also be seen on guest singer Molly Escherich's YouTube channel, while a studio cover of Black Sabbath's "N.I.B." was recorded and posted online on April 1st, 2024. Here's one of the better quality videos of Exit 808 live with both Amy and Dillion, of them covering Seether's "Gasoline" with (I believe) Spun's Bob Libick on guest bass at 2024's Rally In The Valley in Ewen!

Info/Analysis: Debuting as Double Jack in November 2023, their original lineup (Nathan, Isaac, Melvin, and Jackie) claimed third place in that month's inaugural Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands, but lineup turnover would quickly follow, and by the spring of 2024, only Jackie was left from who we saw at the Arts Center. They also changed their name to Exit 808 that March, due to an existing cover rock band named Double Jack downstate. Unique among local rock bands for having two dedicated lead vocalists of different genders, let alone the wide age ranges in their lineups (Amy is Blaze's mom!), Exit 808 would begin regularly playing local shows along with gigs in the central and western U.P. by the summer of 2024, including some in the Lower Peninsula, and they networked well with bands on these tour runs, with some of their members often filling in with them.

Despite Nathan's return to the band last year, live dates for Exit 808 got more sporadic by the summer of 2025 due to members' outside commitments, and they opted to amicably disband after their Halloween concert at The Back Bay Grill & Games in Brimley. A strong band with some unique covers and a lot of collective talent, Exit 808 trekked a lot of miles in their two years together, and they delivered a familiar sound with distinct visual and sonic touches to help them stand out among their local cover brethren, while also making fans and friends while touring out west. Hopefully everyone lands in new bands when able, and/or reunites when the time is right!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! We're heading north to Sault Ontario for the first time in this series next month, and we have a heavy hitter to get randomly selected next, namely 2007-2015 local hard rock quartet Garden Of Bedlam, so look for that on or around February 10th, and for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: The Guitar Gangsters & Choking On Appendages

It's now time for our final Defunct Local Band Profiles of 2025, and this month, we're doubling up, as the first randomly selected band doesn't have a lot to say from their brief run, so I added another random act in a similar state to fill things out. One is quite a stacked group who weren't destined for a long run, and the other is a promising solo project with a minimal online presence, so here's what you should know on both!

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The Guitar Gangsters

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hard Rock/Metal

Lineup:

Erik "Buzz" Boissineau (Garden of Bedlam), vocals
Tiffany Stocco (The Knuckle City Dusters, Stegadeth), guitar
Jesse Cook (Handsome Sandwich, Jack Spades, Winkstinger), guitar
Mike Bird (Papa Fogals Chair, Sulfur), bass
Derek Turner (Even Flow, Garden of Bedlam, The Wyld Stallyns), drums

Info/Analysis: A late 2019 supergroup paying tribute to Danish hard rock band Volbeat, The Guitar Gangsters notably united multiple former members of Garden of Bedlam, Jack Spades, and Papa Fogals Chair, with this being the first time that Buzz & Derek played together in a local band since Garden of Bedlam's last gig in 2015. The Gangsters played live just twice, at J.D. Pearce's final annual Halloween party at The Rockstar Bar on November 1st (see them below covering "Heaven Nor Hell"), and at The Asylum in Sudbury on November 29th alongside Tiffany's then-Distillers tribute band Coral Fang. Their prospects were likely always short term given that Buzz and Tiff weren't living in town then (let alone the incoming pandemic), but this stacked lineup delivered Volbeat classics really well at their sole local gig!

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Choking On Appendages

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hardcore Punk/Death Metal

Lineup:

Mikhal Muto (Hails, Agnosticism), all instruments

Info/Analysis: Separate from his acoustic folk punk output as Agnosticism, prolific young punk/rock musician and concert promoter Mikhal Muto released the EP "Macabre" from his heavier solo project Choking On Appendages in May of last year via Bandcamp. This and a YouTube posting of the album remain C.O.A.'s only public acts, possibly due to Mikhal's other commitments with multiple bands, though note that he has vanished from Facebook in recent months. Easily the heaviest project that he's worked on since emerging as a local musician (complete with some growled vocals), Choking On Appendages delivered a lot of brutal promise in their four song EP, even with way too short song lengths, and hopefully Mikhal revisits this project in the future!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Next month in this series, we'll kick off 2026 back in Sault Michigan for our next randomly selected profile, and it's another recent one, namely 2023-2025 hard rock cover band Exit 808! Look for that on or around January 10th, and for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile: Stone Smyth

After a slight delay to cover an interview with the artist in question that I really should have noticed last year, let's get this month's Defunct Local Band Profile up before we focus on weekend concert previews! This monthly feature again looks at a defunct or inactive local band (as randomly selected from our band links) in order to spotlight them and their content for current readers, and this month's selection is bittersweet timing given that their founder and only permanent member passed away just two months ago. Here's what you should know on them! 

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Stone Smyth (previously known as StrykerGC and StonesmithGC)

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hard/Classic Rock

Lineup:

Troy Isaac (Angel Dust), all instruments

Audio/Video: A studio only project that had aspirations of playing live concerts and going on tour, Stone Smyth posted over three dozen original songs to major streaming services (one being a re-recording of Troy's "Local Steel" song "Cold Rain"), and while a formal album was never put on sale featuring their material, there's lots to hear, especially on their Reverbnation page and their YouTube channel. Songs on YouTube are generally accompanied by stock footage videos loosely themed around their lyrics (and often featuring attractive women), though later videos did feature some newly shot video. Note that the channel's later focus was shared by Troy's outdoor webseries Maverick Fish Hunter, reflecting his love of fishing and boating in particular. Here's one of their better late-era tracks, "My Blue Jeans"!

Info/Analysis: The final active music project from veteran local rock guitarist Troy Isaac (who passed away from cancer in September at the age of 63), Stone Smyth publically debuted in 2014 and began regularly posting new music to various platforms into the early 2020s. Originally known as StrykerGC, the project was named for his home studio & planned guitar company (hence the "GC"), with the Stone Smyth name inspired by blacksmithing, but with altered spelling and a space to distinguish them from Aerosmith. Aiming for uplifting and relatable lyrical content in their songs, Stone Smyth had planned to evolve into a live band with additional members, a full stage setup, and tour plans, but the pandemic curtailed their 2020 work, and despite teasing a future tour and live setlist as recently as the fall of last year, Troy's death came before things could fall into place as hoped, let alone before they could release an proper album.

Troy was a talented guitarist who made the most of his years of experience from B.C. to Germany with a good ear for catchy classic rock-inspired songwriting, and if you like the style of local musicians like Tym Morrison and SweetKenny, you'll be right at home with Stone Smyth's range of material! Not the rangiest singer, but he made the most of what he had vocally, and songs like "Psychonaut" and "Southern Steel" showed his wide range of influences. Stone Smyth even had tentative setlists for live shows planned out, so it's a shame that things didn't work out as hoped, but check out their music and Troy's Borderline radio interview to learn more! R.I.P. Troy!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around December 10th for its final installment of the year, but as the first band that I randomly selected has minimal information to utilize to fill out a post, I've added a randomly chosen band in a similar state to round things out. With that in mind, we'll be looking at 2019 Volbeat tribute band The Guitar Gangsters and 2024 hardcore punk solo project Choking On Appendages! Look for these next month and for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!