The last line-up of Burst of Silence featured Ryan Hollingworth on vocals, Chris Ansley on guitar, Jamie McGinnis on drums and Mike Presseiary on bass. That line-up changed name to Sinsick in late 1995. Jamie and Mike ended up leaving the band by lack of time to commit. Curtis Langridge was living with Ryan and Chris at the time and came (back) on drums, while Ryan’s old friend Dave White would become the bassist. They recorded their first demo in January 1996 at Mainway Studio in Burlington, the same studio that Burst of Silence had used 3 times.

They played their first show at Corktown Tavern in Hamilton, opening up for 72 Heavy (featuring members of Ryan’s later band 7inch). They continued on playing local shows in Hamilton and then extending to Chicago, Indianapolis and Detroit, often including Burst of Silence songs in their setlist. One of the notable shows the band played was Ryan Kennedy’s two day Southern Ontario Hardcore Festival (later known as the Oakville Hardcore Festival) on March 13th and 14th of 1998. Sinsick played the first date of the fest at the Oakville YMCA along with Grade, The Swarm, Removal, Pride, Acacia, and The Tet Offensive. Near the end of the band’s existence, in late 1998, March Through Records contacted Ryan about putting out the unreleased Burst of Silence album “Burning”. After hearing the Sinsick demo, he became interested in putting out a Sinsick album as well. The plan was to re-record the demo plus three new songs and put it out on CD and vinyl. Neither releases happened and Ryan moved away and took a break from music altogether. Possibly their last show took place at the Beasley Skate Bowl in Hamilton on October 3rd 1998. Sinsick was over. The only song to surface was “Shadows”, from the demo, which was included on “The Sound and the Fury” compilation by Redstar Records. Paul and Brendan got the song while Sinsick was still active, but it ended up taking 2 years for the compilation to finally come out in 1999.

Download the Sinsick demo

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