Foundry Town Survivors
“Three Sisters”
Directed by Mark Tomorsky & Bruce Gebhardt
Add date – 8/1/2025
About Foundry Town Survivors
The working class, unknown futures, industrial landscapes, mundane heartbreak: this is what life looks like in Foundry Town. But what does it sound like? Enter Mark Tomorsky and Tommy Johnsmiller—longtime friends and musical partners in crime who found themselves fully immersed in the heyday of the Detroit music scene and haven’t stopped making music since. Rubbing elbows with some of the biggest Rock and Roll names to come out of Michigan—an eclectic mix from the Motown and garage rock scenes of the 60s and 70s—served as the ideal foundation for a distinct Foundry Town sound. Like painters wielding a brush, examining the world with the perceptive eyes of true creatives, they craft vivid portraits of life, telling rich stories that are both comfortingly familiar and soul-stirring in unexpected ways. No longer located in the same city, Tomorsky and Johnsmiller have curated a unique back-and-forth collaborative style, so when they do come together, magic happens. “Time stands still” when they’re in the studio, says Johnsmiller. Each song manifests differently, and they devote themselves to each one wholeheartedly, giving every delicate ballad and roaring rock anthem a well-deserved moment in the spotlight.
About “Three Sisters”
Sometimes, a song is so haunting, so powerful, and so tremendously petrifying that it almost feels like it’s already been written into history. The shipwreck Foundry Town Survivors detail may be fictional, but the “Three Sisters” are frighteningly real: a maritime phenomenon no one wants to encounter. Given the Foundry Town mythos—the way Michigan, and by extension the Great Lakes, are ingrained into their identity—surprisingly, they haven’t tackled a haunting nautical tale before. But they certainly tackled this one. Their sonic reimagining of traditional sea shanties is right on the money, so deeply evocative that it feels like the wave is crashing down on the steamship right then and there. Each sonic element churns like the storm itself as the song progresses, laying out the woefulness of the journey and its abrupt end: thunderous drums, slippery slide guitar, blazing minor chords, soaring harmonies, brooding background vocals—it’s all there. As the three sisters, ferociously alive, “join their hands” and wreak their natural havoc, a harrowing acceptance floats to the surface. There’s nothing these sailors can do but brace for impact, pray, and wait for their humanity to wash away.
About the “Three Sisters” Music Video
No longer just a myth or old sailors’ folklore, the “Three Sisters” music video brings this chilling phenomenon to life—playing out the story in real time and putting ethereal, ghostly faces to its unassuming name. Tomorsky and Johnsmiller serve as omniscient narrators, stepping in to tell the calamitous tale from the safety of the future. Even one of humanity’s most impressive technological advances (at the turn of the 20th century, at least) is no match for the untamable power of Mother Nature. These brave sailors, led by a valiant captain, are simply trying to make a living out on these dangerously unpredictable, massive bodies of water—but these three mysterious, villainous, ruinous female succubi have other plans. Watching the waves swallowing up this boat—and everyone on it—evokes a fear that’s almost impossible to put into words. It’s pure devastation. Seeing the wreckage sprawled across the shore, nothing but scattered pieces of metal and an unfinished log fluttering in the breeze, leaves viewers with a heavy, lingering sense of awe, and likely, a tinge of relief that they’re watching from the safety of dry land.