press release
- March 2004
...a weewerk weekend excursion!...
Great Lake
Swimmers and The Barmitzvah Brothers
play Ottawa, Wakefield and Montreal, 26-28 March 2004
together, separately, and with other fine bands
Friday 26 March - Ottawa - Club SAW, 67 Nicholas, 8:00 pm, $6
The Barmitzvah Brothers, Great Lake Swimmers,
The Acorn
Saturday 27 March - Wakefield QC - Black Sheep Inn, 9:00 pm, $7
Great Lake Swimmers open for A Vertical Mosaic and
Beef Terminal
Saturday 27 March - Montreal - La Sala Rossa, matinee
The Barmitzvah Brothers, Women With Kitchen
Appliances, Monstre
part of CBC Brave New Waves anniversary celebrations
Sunday 28 March - Montreal - Zeke's Gallery, 3955 Saint-Laurent, 7:30
pm, $5
Great Lake Swimmers
Great Lake Swimmers make wonderfully
understated, heart-wrenching music. Led by songwriter-vocalist Tony Dekker,
their haunting sound finds its roots in vintage folk and alt-country colourings,
shaped by accordion and piano, lap steel and acoustic guitar, with a voice
that seems to come from the walls. The ten elegaic tracks of their debut self-titled
album were recorded in an abandoned grain silo near Port Colborne, Ontario,
and include ambient sounds ranging from a chorus of crickets to the Toronto
subway.
Band news: Great Lake Swimmers were voted Favourite Roots/Folk Artist at the
2004 Canadian Independent Music Awards. The overwhelming critical praise for
their CD across Canada and abroad landed it a spot on Exclaim! magazine's
Top Ten Roots/Folk releases of 2003, described there as "the most captivating
combination of ghostly vocals, hypnotic songs, and environmental atmospherics
since the first two Cowboy Junkies albums." The album will also be released
in Europe on Fargo Records on 22 March, followed by a European tour for the
band.
The Barmitzvah Brothers are a
band of teenagers from Guelph, Ontario, who make eccentric, experimental pop
from unusual and home-made instruments. Their eclectic style fuses elements
of traditional folk, polka, bluegrass, rock, klezmer, punk, and more, and
ranges from upbeat to melancholy. They occasionally sing in Hebrew, not because
it is their native language, but because it sounds beautiful. Their second
full-length record, the magical Mr. Bones' Walk-in Closet, released by weewerk
in November 2003, displays a more reflective side of the band than their art-punkish
debut The Night of the Party. Tunes such as the heartfelt folk-country "Mercury,"
the soulful "The Commute," and the fightin' "Show Promoter Dan" are already
staples on college charts across the country. In live performances the core
trio - Jenny Mitchell, Geordie Gordon and Little Johnny Merritt - are joined
by hockey-stick-wielding percussion duo The Lethargians and sometimes by an
unruly, rambling orchestra.
On this tour we share stages with some other great indie talents: in Ottawa
with The Acorn (Kelp Records); in Wakefield with Noise Factory recording artists
Beef Terminal and A Vertical Mosaic; and in Montreal with the fabulous Women
With Kitchen Appliances and Monstre (Alien8).
Read, see and hear more about Great Lake Swimmers and The Barmitzvah Brothers
on our website at www.weewerk.com. weewerk is a salon for contemporary art
and underground music - and now an independent record label - based in the
Toronto apartment of visual artist Germaine Koh and indie-music agitator Phil
Klygo.
Please direct enquiries to Phil or Germaine at weewerk, tel. (416) 365-7056,
info@weewerk.com
...all the URLs your heart desires...
Great Lake Swimmers: www.greatlakeswimmers.com, www.weewerk.com,
songs at www.newmusiccanada.com/genres/artist.cfm?Band_Id=11087
The Barmitzvah Brothers: www.barmitzvahbrothers.cjb.net, www.weewerk.com,
songs at www.newmusiccanada.com/genres/artist.cfm?Band_Id=8898
The Acorns: www.threeacorns.com, www.kelprecords.com
A Vertical Mosaic: songs at www.newmusiccanada.com/genres/artist.cfm?Band_Id=7832
Beef Terminal: www.beefterminal.com, www.noisefactoryrecords.com,
songs at www.newmusiccanada.com/genres/artist.cfm?Band_Id=6173
The Black Sheep Inn: www.theblacksheepinn.com
Brave New Waves: www.bravenewwaves.ca
La Sala Rossa: www.casadelpopolo.com