Past local bands who you never hear about anymore...

[xethicx]

Thunder Bay has had soem SICK bands over the years without a doubt. Any genre, so many age groups and so many levels of talent have come and gone over the years.

There are amazing bands that people talk about all the time like Unbound, Headcramp, Strychnine and more but what about all the rest who seem to be forgotten. Lets hear about some local bands that rocked outside of the seemingly most popular names mentioned often. Here are a few that I really enjoyed and really do miss seeing. These are some older bands, ill leave the more recent to the younger people in here.

1. TWICE OVER - Honestly my favourite local band of all time. It was Harris, Nathan, Shelley and later on James. This band ruled. They opened some classic shows back in the day. Sno-jam and so many others. I miss that band. I actually listened to the demo the other day. Skate punk with attitude and a tonne of great melody.

2. LTO - a VERY close 2nd place to Twice over these guys fuckin ruled. Metal influenced skate punk. Dan, Scott and James ruled. These guys were fuckin awesome. I honestly dont think I missed even one of their shows.

3. PETER FUZZ - Now these guys took a lot of crap for being "alternative" back in the day but fuck could they write a good song. Great pearl jam / alice in chains type stuff. Cant recall all the guys names. I know there was Kyle and Kelly, cant remember everyone. Awesome band.

DYSTOPIA - Before Mike and Jamie Hochins had Unbound they had Dystopia and I personally thought this band kicked alot of ass. Straight up 80's style thrash metal. No frills, no breakdowns, just balls and more balls. Loved those guys.

ANIMOSITY - If this band was around right now or if they had even been around 3-4 years ago they would be the most popular band in this town. They sounded a lot like Pantera, maybe heavier at times. They even covered Pantera flawlessly on many occasions. These guys were a little older and I dont recall their names but FUCK could they play. They actually had a video and a CD too. If anyone has a copy of the cd i would love to rip it and put it online for everyone in this town's current metal scene to hear.

PHASERS ON STUN - Unbelievable indie rock. Phasers had easily the largest fan base of any local band in this town's history I think. Every single show they played was fuckin packed frm what I can recall. They had this way of just captivating their audience and making sure everyone had a killer time. I do believe a couple of them now play in THE PARKAS if im not mistaken. Amazing times at Phasers shows.

THE KIND - Awesome band from back a ways. I saw them a few times before they seemed to fade away. I know a few of them moved on to other bands, I still see a few of thm playing in great bands around town from time to time.

420 - The most diverse and original band in the history of this town in my eyes. They ruled all the time. Always killer and a blast to have a few beers while watching. They were definately a good times band.

I SHOT JR - the only newer band Ill mention as I said I wanted to leave most of them to all of you but this one was just too hard for me not to mention. I shot Jr and Grynd were like brothers, we played together so often and it was a blast. Mike went on to All that was left, Loyal She remains and With Regard, Eric went on to With regard and loyal she remains, John T went on to Greenroom, with regard and a whole pile more amazing projects, Derek formed a band down south whose name I cant recall and James went to Watching you Die and a succesful career outside of music. I loved this band.

and last but not least.
THE VIOLET HOUR - Before Mike Guerin went on to more industrial styled projects he played drums in a punk/indie/rock band called Violet Hour. My old band Grand 71 played many many shows with these guys and it was always good times. They just had so many amazing songs that just got everyone going and made sure the people in the crowd had a good time and went home humming their songs.

I have named a lot, maybe too many as I havent left many for anyone to comment on. If you were gonna name the same ones as me, give your thoughts on the same bands. There are also a lot of bands who broke up or disbanded far more recently that I didnt name because I thought Id leave it to all of you younger scenesters as I am a touch older than many of you. SO if you have some local bands you miss NAME EM!!!

[bloodpool]

JmBB - What shitty musicians. But what great jerks

I heard murphy got raped by bear dogs

[Casketkrusher]

I have that animosity cd.

[Jim too Grimm]

JmBB - What shitty musicians. But what great jerks

I heard murphy got raped by bear dogs

I heard it was just Jesus and Bunghole in Bear Dog costumes. As for JmBB's music, they we're truly remarkable. I really liked when Hob Ralford would come and sing for them.

That guy was a serious rocker.

JmBB put out 30 years of classics and they will go down as legends in my mind.

[Casketkrusher]

Moldy Feces Cum ,..er.....Malefecium
Not a black metal fan, so these guys never really did anything for me, but I do still have their demo and it still has little bits of fake blood on it.  Man, that fake blood got EVERYWHERE and it was SO sticky.


Any number of Renny's bands.  I remember Azagthoth, I think the only show they ever played (I could be wrong), they started out with this weird jazz bass intro and it was all slow, and I had no idea what the hell was going on, cause Renny was the crazy kid all covered in pentagrams and the "At Least I'm Not Christian" sticker.  Slow jazz bass intro continued for a couple minutes, and then Renny lets out this shriek, that had to have lasted at LEAST a minute and a half of.  It was the longest scream I've ever heard in my life.   I don't remember much about that show, cause I wasn't really there to see that band, but somewhere's I have their demo as well.


There's one band I'm trying to think of that opened a show over at 201 Syndicate, and they were the worst like, rapcore I've ever heard.  I know they had a tape demo, but I can't for the life of me recall their name.

[Dr.Destructo]

The guitar player for Animosity moved to So.Ont and went to school for classical guitar.  He's still in touch occassionally

[xethicx]

Keep em coming, im sure KC has a few local bands he misses. This is also for the younger bunch of you, im sure there are a lot of bands you all miss seeing that broke up more recently. Lets hear it.

As for Kevin and Jim, quit being stupid and name some bands, junk up some other thred. Im sure there are a few bands you guys miss seeing or liked a lot when they were around.

[Dr.Destructo]

I don't know, man...I can't think of any right now, maybe later...most of the bands that I loved are/were friends of mine so I'm still in touch with most of them.

What about 11TH HOUR!!  Cheesiest cover band ever with Jay Palmer on vocals (looked like Dave Mustaine, sounded like Dave Mustaine on every cover song he sung.)

[Dr.Destructo]

Oh ya... I definitely miss seeing Ray Ranta play.

He used to always give me a hard time.  I'd ask his gf for some ketchup on the table and he'd be all like "ARE YOU LOOKING AT MY WOMAN, BOY??" just joking around.  Great guy, great musician.  Getting a compliment from him was rare but pretty much the greatest compliment ever because he really knew his music inside and out and you know he didn't give compliments easily.

Ray's bands were the only non-metal band that I would actually go right up to the front of stage for just because they were so passionate and skilled.

--------

Also...Any band with both Aaron and Erik in it usually ruled.

[Jim too Grimm]

3 kings kicked ass

[carramrod]

Highest Order

MKA- Marku ruled

McGilvery Pipe Band

[moneyteeth]

3 kings kicked ass

scuba diving jimmy.

[Blakkstorm]

I'd love to see Blessing of Eventide come back.

[spacegrass]

Band-wich (the band sandwich)
charlie Moore on guit/vocals sometimes he'd dress in drag or in a pumpkin suit
my bro Al on bass
think the drummers name was Gavin
i belive they played only 2 or 3 shows- Joke bands are always a blast these guys were hilarious they even played frank zappa covers

Animosity-I still talk to all 3 of those guys. The singer Larry now plays in a band called Ground Zero(they do covers and a few originals).. guitarist Aaron is in Toronto teaching classical guitar and the drummer Kyle still jams a bit and is a phenominal drummist..Near the end of their being a band they were starting to get away from the whole "Pantera Thing" and were writing some really different sounding stuff then?? who knows shit happens i guess  They were always a pleasure to watch (and jam with)  

headcramp for sure..

[canadian paradox]

last time I saw headcramp was when they opened for offspring