Defunct Local Band Profile Series: 20 Pack Of Marshmallows

It's now time for our latest monthly Defunct Local Band Profile, as we shine another spotlight on a local metal, hard rock, or punk band from the past, as randomly selected from our band links! This month's choice coincidentally features the former bassist of last month's profiled group (Acention), and while they didn't become concert staples outside of high school functions, they did plant seeds for big things to come from some of their members, so here's what you should know on them!

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20 Pack Of Marshmallows (also known as Manganese, Warning, Wanko Twist, The Curtis J. McKenzie Project, and Restricted Illusions)

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hard Rock/Grunge/Metal

Lineup: (Members not in their last full lineup are in italics. This information may be incomplete. Let us know if you can add any former band members!)

Curtis McKenzie (Haggith, Project 421), guitar/vocals
Daniel Horton (Spades GT, Haggith, Eclipse), guitar
Mikey Cachagee (Acention), bass
Daylan Dorricott, drums

Travis McKenzie, vocals/guitar
Darren Vlassoff, drums

Audio/Video: The best surviving place to hear songs from 20 Pack Of Marshmallows/The Curtis J. McKenzie Project is via Curt's old YouTube channel, which has old Dunnplugged concert videos of them playing covers, plus some early original songs. Now-deleted performances by the McKenzie brothers are linked on this page from their Wanko Twist-era Tripod site that confirm more song titles, along with Judas Priest covers. Notably, this prior project is where later Haggith originals like "Wanko", "Loverbeam", and "The Married Massacre" were first written and performed, and they were once planning to record an album named "Battle Royale" featuring their original material. Here is (as they were known then) Restricted Illusions playing "Kiss Me Goodbye" at Sir James Dunn Collegiate circa February 2010!

Info/Analysis: One of the final rock bands to come out of the Dunnplugged program before the Sir James Dunn/Bawating merger in 2010, 20 Pack Of Marshmallows (among its other names) continually featured Curtis McKenzie and Mikey Cachagee in their public lineups. Surviving material 15+ years on isn't plentiful beyond YouTube videos and what's left of their Tripod page, but Curt's 2008-2010 band work is very notable in hindsight for presaging the band Haggith, whose 2012-2016 run (including songs carried over from 2.P.O.M.) largely also featured Daniel alongside Mikey's brother Caleb, and continued the same grunge/hard rock path. Obviously, the guys were in high school then, so the quality of both the performances and the videos compared to what (especially) Curt & Dan have gotten up to since will be noticeably lesser, but the promise was definitely there, and it's worth looking up what they did then to see how they've evolved!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, we're heading a few years ahead in the timeline to look at a very prominent local act from the 2010s, namely 2012-2019 doom/stoner metal trio AlgomA! Look for that on or around July 10th, and for more news and notes on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

A New Band Page Discovery, Plus Plenty Of Recent News Items!!

We're back with some assorted news today, mostly to clear out recent shorter items that we haven't yet covered on here, but we are leading off with a new discovery of a band page relating to some recently prominent musicians (and brothers) that we never covered on here, so here's what you need to know!

In looking up recent Project 421 guest singer Travis McKenzie's past music work, I came across a website for one of his old bands, so what should you know? We technically already have this band linked on the site under their last name 20 Pack of Marshmallows, but among short lived stints under the Manganese and Warning names, they were first called Wanko Twist from their 2008 inception until around mid-2009. Travis sang lead and played guitar in this era of the band, and at the time, he was joined by his older brother Curtis (of Haggith & Project 421 fame) on guitar, Darren Vlasoff on drums, and while Wanko Twist didn't have a bassist, Curtis' long time bandmate Daniel Horton served as their manager. There's obvious Haggith connections to their sound and set, with Haggith originals such as "Wanko" (naturally) and "Loverbeam" starting in this project, but their sound didn't attain a direct grunge influence until their brief run as Manganese. An album named "Battle Royale" was once planned, while they did play some Dunnplugged gigs at the former Sir James Dunn Collegiate under this name.

It's interesting to read up on Curt's past band work, which had a lot of ambition and effort. and while none of the Wanko Twist videos linked on their site survive, songs played by this band under their later 20 Pack of Marshmallows incarnation can be seen on his YouTube channel. From what is currently available, you can see the talent and promise from the McKenzie brothers and their collaborators, so give them a look at the above links, and read more about this band's eventful run via Curt's solo Facebook page!

Finally for today, here's nine assorted shorter updates from the last while, as we clear out many recent items! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist, event, or website name:

• A post on local goregrind label Blood Shed Productions' Facebook page on May 11th by Brutaly Fatal frontman Austin McCrae indicated that the label was "planning on having a show at The Oddfellows (Hall)", and were seeking performers and sorting through details, though a date wasn't announced there. Whether this is connected to Heavy North Entertainment or will be an independent show is yet uncertain, but stay tuned for potential details!
• Sault Michigan metal band Chained Memories have announced that they are "a failed project" & "no longer a band", as per a post by drummer/founder Mike Rynberg on their Facebook page on Sunday, which cites various personal differences for their breakup. Chained Memories had been active off & on since 2009, but never managed to fully get off the ground, or even post live material during their run. Original Eastern U.P. metal bands haven't had an easy go lately, but hopefully everyone stays active in music, and best of luck to Mike, Ryan, Sean, Chris, and other former members in the future!
• Though local goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore won't be playing live again until next month, they're still busy, as leader Tyler Gibson announced on their Facebook page on Sunday that their upcoming demo album "Welcome To Earth" is complete! Whether that refers to the sessions or full pressing isn't clear yet, but keep an eye out for it this summer!
• The Jack Spades EP release show at The Rockstar Bar on Friday was covered by SooToday's Donna Hopper for this article (entitled "Jack the planet!") that was posted online the next day. Solid write-up, and there's also very nice photos of the bands, though they're all in black and white, and none are from Johnny Belanger & Jesse Cook's acoustic set. Click here to see 7 photos of Jack Spades, 5 of Project 421, and 3 of The Elements!
• On Friday, organizers of the annual Sault Michigan benefit concert festival LemmaFest updated this year's Facebook event page to clarify some recent news, including that bands will be confirmed this coming week, other events and themes are in the works, and that fans shouldn't worry about a recent minor setback, with weather the only pressing concern this year. I didn't hear any negative rumours, but good to know things are going alright, and stay tuned for more!
• I have read recent Facebook personal postings concerning a new Sault Michigan band named Nose Dive that has been playing live gigs in the area recently, and their lineup features singer/guitarist Fran Blackwood (Electric Motor Fish), ex-Clownsack bassist Tony Rogers (most recently of No Decision), and Power Slug drummer Bob Helsten. The lineup is promising, but I have yet to find an online page for them, nor confirmation of their sound/genre. If we hear anything, we'll let you know!
• Local/St. Catharine's death metal trio Shit Liver will head back to Cochrane, Ontario in late June for another set at their annual Touch of Death Metal & Punk Fest, as per the event's Facebook page. Awesome to see them back this year, so keep it in mind for next month if you're in the area! For reference, London death metal band D3athcharg3r (featuring the Soo's own Steve Rhodes & Andrew Angelic) have also been confirmed, which is awesome too!
• SooToday's current poll on their website poses this question: "Would you listen regularly to a local Internet radio station?", with choices including variations of "Yes" relating to where you'd be listening, along with "Nope, not interested." It's not clear yet whether this is an early feeler towards a Village Media-launched station, but over 55% of voters have chosen "Nope" as of this writing. If you want to show your support either way, vote above, as this could work well if it's a serious thought!
• According to posts on their Facebook page over the weekend, local hard rock band The Suicide Kings were joined by Wishbone drummer Brent Royer on temporary vocals for most of their weekend at The Rednecks Saloon, after Mike Gaetano bowed out due to strep throat complications. Brent has lead vocal experience from bands like Settle For Silver and the original Turner Up, so hopefully he was a solid fill-in, and I wonder if anyone got any footage?

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes soon, plus this month's YouTube Channel Profile on Thursday! Thanks everyone!

A Possible New Local Concert & Concert Venue, More Concert Videos, And Much More!

How's everyone doing? In what could be the last post of the month, I have scattered news stories to share with everyone today! One of those days, nothing super major, but there's enough stuff I haven't mentioned here before to warrant a new post! And we'll start with some intriguing possibilities, for a concert and for a venue!

Firstly, the concert: Toronto metal band Skull Fist are looking to play here in May! They have a "TBA" date listed for here on May 8th during a short Northern Ontario tour stretch, and you know what that means: They need a venue! If you wanna know how these guys sound, expect a really cool classic metal sound, they sound straight off an old vinyl record, and that's not a bad thing! They describe their sound as "chariots ripping through The Great Lakes" and named their E.P. "Heavier Than Metal", and really, doesn't that sound promising in itself? They'd fit very nicely here, especially with the popularity the classic-sounding bands have here, so why not help them get a booking?! If you're interested in booking Skull Fist for a concert here on May 8th, send them a message A.S.A.P. at their official MySpace page! Remember, the more metal, the better, and these guys bring it in spades! I'll keep you posted if I hear more!

...speaking of bands looking to play here, when I was browsing the MySpaces of bands looking for a show here in the coming months, I noticed something intriguing: New Brunswick experimental hard rockers Cop Shades, who are hoping to play here on August 8th, have none other than locals Sykotyk Rampage listed as playing with them on that show! Not kidding, check out their MySpace page! A very promising sign, just one problem though: No venue yet. Help make this show happen, click here to send Cop Shades a message if you want to book them and Sykotyk Rampage for August 8th!

Next up, might we have a new local concert venue? Maybe, maybe not, and I'll explain. According to a topic on The705Scene forums, Twist N' Shout Bar & Grill on McDonald Avenue is getting a four day trial run for concert bookings, with the potential to become a regular concert venue if the shows are successful. The four dates in question are four consecutive Saturdays: April 24th, May 1st, May 8th and May 15th. Now I don't know full details, but if all goes well, we'll have another venue to hit up for shows! And who's playing on those Saturdays? We don't know, and that's where you come in. If you or your band are interested in playing one of those Saturdays, or you know someone that is, e-mail pegu66@hotmail.com to show your interest! Hopefully we can get a metal band or two on one of those weekends, so we can rock another local venue! Remember, the original topic is at this location, but because The705Scene forums are now restricted from view to non-members, you'll have to log in or sign up to check it out.

Next up, we have some new (well, new to the SMS) videos from local concerts of past years! Firstly, YouTube user osXzealot uploaded another clip from this past December's Three Days Grace concert at The Essar Center online! It's of their performance of the song "World So Cold", and the audio is pretty good, but it was filmed from very far away, looks like a seat in the far corner. That combined with their on-stage lighting, and you cant even make out the band! Still, the audio makes up for it, check out the video below!



The other new video I have is actually an old concert clip from The Oddfellows Hall! You don't see much videos from shows there, and especially not many of this quality! It's a two minute clip of the now broken up Sudbury hardcore band Three For Fallacy (remember them?) performing their song "Best Before Dates" in support of Blind Witness on August 21st, 2008! I've seen this video twice online: YouTube user katefantham uploaded it on YouTube the day after the show, while Three For Fallacy guitarist Kai Kinos uploaded a better quality version of the same clip onto Vimeo, though it's not as reliable to watch. Things that strike me about this video: I like their lighting, frontman Kyle Blake's attire is....interesting, and the crowd is really small. Where is everyone? Still, it's great quality for an Oddfellows Hall show, usually videos I see from there are very dark and/or choppy! Check it out below, and Kate also uploaded their performance of "Eleda" onto YouTube, click here to take a look! Always great to find old concert clips like this!



Two more items to get to, and it appears that Social Play have lost another member. Apparently, bassist Tiffany Emmerson has also left the former Browbeat. This leaves frontman Dutch Vanderploeg as the sole remaining member, and he's still looking to get the band back out there! He's looking for a dedicated hard rock bassist and drummer each, and having equipment is not a requirement, he has a bass and drums. He really wants to get Social Play going and play live again, and I'm sure many of you want to see Dutch back on stage, like myself! So if you play bass or drums, or know of someone that does, message Dutch on Facebook today!!! Let's not make it another year before their next show!

And finally, I meant to mention this days ago, but it slipped my mind way too many times. Popular heavy metal website Metal Storm has recently ran it's annual Metal Storm Awards, and this year, there was a local connection! In the category of Best Black Metal Album of 2009, the sixth place finisher was none other than.....Woods of Ypres, for their newest release "Woods IV: The Green Album"! Now technically, this was a doom metal album and the black metal days are behind them, but who am I to argue semantics when they got this kind of press? David Gold and company were just 10 votes out of third place, with first place going to Immortal's new album, "All Shall Fall"! Even though they didn't win, it's awesome to see "The Green Album" continue to grow and gain attention! Buy "The Green Album" today!!

That's all I have compiled for today, but mark my words, there's more on the horizon! This weekend will have my review of Garden of Bedlam's concert this Friday, along with any news and updates I come across throughout! And next week, stay tuned for my review of Integrated System of Machines' debut album, and much more! Keep your browsers pointed here!