Soulbender is an American-Canadian hard rock band formed in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, in 2002. The band independently released their album ''

Soulbender Soulbender is an American-Canadian hard rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 2002. The band independently released their album '' Soulbender'' in 2004, which they reissued with four additional tracks through Rat Pak Records under the titl ...

'' in 2004, which they reissued with four additional tracks through Rat Pak Records under the title ''Soulbender II'' in 2014. Though the band underwent multiple lineup changes in that ten-year timespan, both releases featured the original five-piece incarnation of two Americans and three Canadians who previously played in several different bands respectively from Seattle and

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Nick Pollock Nicholas Pollock (born November 22, 1967) is an American guitarist and singer best known for his work with the Seattle grunge band My Sister's Machine. He has also played in various bands with other notable musicians, including Alice in Chains ...

(lead vocals), formerly of

Alice N' Chains Alice N' Chains was an American glam metal band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1986 by former members of Sleze. Toward the end of their run as Sleze, discussions arose about changing their name to ''Alice in Chains''. However, due to co ...

and

My Sister's Machine My Sister's Machine was an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1989. Its members were Nick Pollock (vocals, guitar), Owen Wright (guitar), Chris Ivanovich (bass), and Chris Gohde (drums). This band recorded and released t ...

;

Michael Wilton Michael F. Wilton (born February 23, 1962) also known as The Whip, for how fast his fingers "whip" around the guitar fingerboard, fretboard, is an American musician, best known for being a guitarist and songwriter in the progressive metal band Q ...

(guitar) from

Queensrÿche Queensrÿche () is an American progressive metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one Extended play, EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record ...

; Dave Groves (guitar), formerly of Tin Pan and Fallen Angel; Wes Hallam (drums), formerly of Assault and Fallen Angel; and Marten Van Keith (bass guitar).

History

Soulbender has chiefly been noted as a side-project of Michael Wilton, borne out of his desire to return the heavy metal sound that his main band

had drifted away from. After completing 17 original tracks, Soulbender played their first live show opening for Queensrÿche vocalist

Geoff Tate Geoff Tate (born Jeffrey Wayne Tate, January 14, 1959; he later changed his first name to Geoffery or Geoffrey) (Pp. 11, 48). is an American singer and songwriter. He rose to fame with the progressive metal band Queensrÿche, who had commercial ...

's solo band at the Experience Music Project in Seattle on June 22, 2002. They also performed at the very first Layne Staley Tribute later that August. With the addition of bass player Marten Van Keith, who also hailed from Vancouver according to Wilton,Interview with Michael Wilton at Metalshrine
the group released their self-titled debut album through Licking Lava Records in 2004 and they immediately began to tour in support of the album. Prior to the release of the album, Sefany Jones of

KNAC KBUE (105.5 FM, "Que Buena 105.5/94.3 FM") is a commercial radio station licensed to Long Beach, California, that serves the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It is owned by Estrella Media and airs a Regional Mexican radio format. Studios an ...

was given a demo CD of six songs. In her review, she wrote, "The overall feel of this album is entrancing, inasmuch as I would describe

Tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

." She also likened it to

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the Marilyn Manson (band), same-titled band he founded in 1989. Th ...

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, and

Michael Monroe Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm (born 17 June 1962), better known by his stage name Michael Monroe, is a Finnish rock musician who rose to fame as the vocalist and saxophonist for the glam punk band Hanoi Rocks and has served as the frontman ...

. Wilton said in an interview a year later that "a lot of people are apparently comparing it to

and

." Despite playing a couple sellout shows, the band has experienced much difficulty getting off the ground due to Wilton's Queensrÿche duties. Wilton compared this predicament to that of singer

Maynard James Keenan Maynard James Keenan (born James Herbert Keenan; April 17, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, philanthropist, record producer, and winemaker. He is best known as the singer and primary lyricist of the rock bands Tool (band), Tool, A Perfe ...

, who pulls double duty with

and

A Perfect Circle A Perfect Circle is an American Rock music, rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool (band), Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle released three of their ...

, saying "I'll do a little tour here with one band and a little tour there with the other band." Van Keith was replaced in 2005 by bass player Chuck Miller, formerly of the band Peace and Silence. In 2007, Pollock and Hallam stepped down from their respective roles as vocalist and drummer and replaced by Travis Bracht of

Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is the Christianity, Christian and Islam, Islamic belief that Jesus, Jesus Christ will return to Earth after his Ascension of Jesus, ascension to Heaven (Christianity), Heav ...

and for a brief spell

Van Williams Van Zandt Jarvis Williams (February 27, 1934 – November 28, 2016) was an American actor best known for his leading role as Kenny Madison in both Warner Bros. television detective series '' Bourbon Street Beat'' (1959–1960) and its sequ ...

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. Bracht had previously worked with Chuck Miller in Peace and Silence. Later that year, Ray Hartman replaced Van Williams on drums and Soulbender released a song called "Loaded" on ''Unleashed 3'', a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

of songs by various artists from Rat Pak Records. They also performed at the sixth annual Layne Staley Tribute along with Daughtry in 2007. In 2008 and 2009, Wilton said he was "six songs into" finishing a second album. By this time, he said that

Tim "Ripper" Owens Timothy S. "Ripper" Owens (born September 13, 1967) is an American heavy metal singer who currently performs with KK's Priest, Spirits of Fire, the Three Tremors and "The Tim Ripper Monster Energy Big Band". He first gained attention as the ...

had assumed vocal duties. In 2011, Wilton said, "I actually have 75% of the Soulbender 2 written so it will get finished I just don’t know when." In 2014, the original members of Soulbender reunited and signed a world-wide distribution deal with Rat Pak Records. On September 30, 2014, they released Soulbender II, a remastered version of their original album with four new songs. In 2018, a

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...

campaign was set up for Marten Van Keith after he was diagnosed with

throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...

. On January 13, 2020, Queensrÿche announced on their

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page that Van Keith had died from the cancer.

Members

;Last line-up *

– guitar *Dave Groves – guitar *

– vocals *Wes Hallam – drums *Marten Van Keith – bass guitar (died 2020) ;Former members *Chuck Miller – bass guitar *Ray Hartman – drums *

– vocals * Travis Bracht – vocals ;Touring members *Van Williams – drums

Discography

;Studio albums * ''

'' (2004) ;Other appearances

References

External links

* {{Authority control Alternative metal supergroups American alternative metal musical groups Canadian alternative metal musical groups Musical groups from Seattle Hard rock musical groups from Washington (state) Heavy metal musical groups from Washington (state) Musical groups established in 2002