User:DarkRiverSide/sandbox

Dark River Side was a Canadian heavy metal band from Montreal, Quebec. The group was formed in 2009 by guitarist Darius-Cristian Roman and keyboardist Youssef El-Khatib, along with bassist Francis Grenier, drummer Dominic Binet, vocalist Dominic Brunet, and rhythm guitarist Étienne Saindon all joining a year later in 2010. Youssef El-Khatib went on to replace Dominic Binet on drums after having a sports related injury, while Étienne quit the group in 2011 to form deathcore band Along The Wires, who was replaced by Bilal El-Khatib on rhythm guitar, Youssef's younger brother. Vocalist Dominic Brunet was replaced by female vocalist Joel Essiambre in 2012. The group has played many concerts and has released three albums. The band is now defunct and has not performed since 2013.

Formation and early years (2009–2010)
The band was formed in 2009 when keyboardist Youssef El-Khatib met guitarist Darius-Cristian Roman. Being really close friends, they started playing covers of classic metal bands such as Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, Pantera and ACDC. They played their very first concert at their school covering the song Lying From You by Linkin Park. The duo eventually got into playing heavier types of music and decided to form a metal band after having met bassist Francis Grenier. Shortly after, the group hired Dominic Binet on drums, Étienne Saindon on rhythm guitar and Dominic Brunet on vocals. The band started covering classic 80's metal hits such as Enter Sandman by Metallica and Thunderstruck by ACDC, and immediately became a crowd favorite act at the annual Sophie-Barat show. They quickly gained popularity as being the main act of the concert, usually playing at the very end. The band's name Dark River Side was inspired by the fact that the practice sessions took place until late night in a studio, to which the door from where the band would exit would lead to a river, Dominic Binet eventually came up with the name.

New lineup (2011)
In 2011, rhythm guitarist Étienne Saindon left the band to form deathcore band Along The Wires, which led to Youssef El-Khatib taking his role on guitar. A few months later, during a concert in April, the band got a call from drummer Dominic Binet being in the hospital from a sports related injury, Binet could not perform and the band had to find a replacement. Luckily for them, Youssef El-Khatib was also a drummer and knew the set, while solo guitarist Bilal El-Khatib was in the crowd at the time, he was asked to fill in for the band as rhythm guitarist. The concert went on smoothly, as Bilal El-Khatib was officially hired as rhythm guitarist since that night, while his brother was the new drummer.

Metal Rocks (2011)
In summer of 2011, the band released their first instrumental single Metal Rocks. Written and produced by the two brothers in their home studio, is was their very first original composition.

Rec014 (2011)
The band's biggest hit Rec014 was written by Darius-Cristian Roman and then finished off by Youssef on drums and Bilal on guitar. It would eventually become their most popular song. The track has two alternate version's of the mid guitar solo, originally written by Darius and modified by Bilal.

Augury collaboration (2012)
In February 2012, the band invited special guest Augury vocalist Patrick Loisel to perform Metallica's Master of puppets and Pantera's Cowboys from hell. The concert ended up having one of the band's biggest crowd.

Dominic Brunet's departure (2012)
During late 2012, vocalist Dominic Brunet left the band to pursue other interests. The band decided to hire female vocalist Joel Essiambre.

Express-Show (2012)
In december 2012, the band played one of their biggest concerts, Express-Show at the Émile-Legault auditorium, with a crowd of 15,000 spectators.

Joel Essiambre's departure (2013)
In early summer of 2013, new vocalist Joel Essiambre left the band. The group was unable to find a new vocalist and guitarist Darius decided to fill the role. With Youssef on backing vocals, the band was now a quartet.