The Thunder Bay punk and metal scene is a dedicated bunch of bands and fans that religiously support local and out-of-town bands at venues all over the city (primarily downtown Port Arthur.) In the summer, out-of-town bands often travel by car or van across country and regularly play live shows in Thunder Bay with local openers. The list of out-of-town punk and metal bands that have played live in the city is massive, briefly including bands like Morbid Angel, Cryptopsy, Cannibal Corpse, Exhumed, Despised Icon, the Dayglo Abortions, Fuck the Facts, Neuraxis, the UK Subs, and tons more. Soilent Green is coming here on Dec. 13th! In the winter, the extremely cold weather makes cross-country travel more difficult so there are usually a lot more "all-local" nights during the months of dec, jan and feb.
The music scene in Thunder Bay has existed from at least the 50s and 60s. One look at www.bandwiki.ca (an awesome list of bands and musicians from Thunder Bay) reveals how many bands have formed and disbanded in Thunder Bay over the last half a century. The punk and metal scene rose from early punk bands like the Negatives in the 70s/80s and a big list of bar bands to more original bands like noise bandits Nerve in the early 90s. And then came more and more bands that all have unique sounds, bands like Us or Them, the mighty Headcramp, Strychnine, Unbound, Against All, Mental Terrorizer, the list goes on for quite a while. As those bands broke up or dissolved, more bands began to take their place with bands in the early 21st century like Speedway Detectives, Faceless Hulk, Red Devil, playing dozens or hundreds of shows and building a strong fan base in and out of the city. Faceless Hulk and Norris went on tour to BC and came back with wicked tales of decadence. Faceless Hulk and Terrorhorse (London) are planning on touring in March so 2009 is already looking to be another kickass year for the local scene.
Currently, metal and/or punk bands like the Bottom Rockers, ROCK TRUCK, Blood Pool, Faceless Hulk, The Wayback, ROTM, and D.E.A.D. continue to record new albums and play awesome shows at venues around town like the Black Pirates Pub and Kilroys. Late 2008 will see the live debut of former members of Red Devil new band Death and Destruction which is a vicious new punk/metal band and the Thunder Bay metal and punk scene will continue to gain new bands and see an endless amount of out-of-town bands with dedicated punk and metal fans in attendance at every one. I know I missed listing a ton of bands in this article, but it's not meant to be a comprehensive list. For the most complete listing of Thunder Bay bands, go to bandwiki.ca on one of your internets. -Destructo, Dec. 5 2008