| The Weakerthans |
The Weakerthans performing in Winnipeg, 2007
|
| Background information |
| Origin |
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Genre(s) |
Folk punk
Indie rock |
| Years active |
1997–present |
| Label(s) |
Epitaph, ANTI-, G7 Welcoming Committee |
| Associated acts |
Propagandhi, Broken Social Scene, FemBots, Greg Graffin, Christine Fellows, Jim Bryson, Constantines, Sarah Harmer, Painted Thin |
| Website |
The Weakerthans |
| Members |
John K. Samson
Jason Tait
Stephen Carroll
Greg Smith |
| Former members |
| John P. Sutton |
The Weakerthans are an award-winning[1] four-piece (and sometimes six-piece[2]) Canadian indie rock band that blends punk rock with folk rock.
History
The band was formed in 1997 in Winnipeg, Manitoba by John K. Samson, after he left the punk band Propagandhi to start a publishing company. Samson joined forces with bassist John P. Sutton and drummer Jason Tait, and created The Weakerthans as a vehicle for a more melodic and introspective brand of songwriting than that of Propagandhi.
One origin story for the band's name, as quoted in the liner notes of Fallow, is a line from the 1992 film The Lover: "Go ahead, I'm weaker than you can possibly imagine."[3] The band's name may also refer to a Ralph Chaplin quote from "Solidarity Forever": "What force on Earth can be weaker than the feeble strength of one?" The band alludes to this line in the song "Pamphleteer" from the album Left and Leaving.
The band's debut album, Fallow, was released in 1997 on G7 Welcoming Committee Records, and garnered positive reviews from Canadian music critics.citation needed Guitarist Stephen Carroll, formerly of Painted Thin, subsequently joined the band, and Left and Leaving was released in 2000.
The Weakerthans, with support from Jim Bryson, at a 2007 concert in Toronto
In 2003, the band moved to Epitaph Records and released Reconstruction Site. The album was met with rave reviews[4] from Canadian and international critics for its ambitious combination of punk, rock, folk, country and sonnets. It also became the band's best-selling record to date, as well as its airplay breakthrough on Canadian radio. It was the second Weakerthans album to be produced by Ian Blurton.
Sutton, who played on all three of the band's first albums, left in August 2004 and was replaced by Greg Smith.
In 2005, Left and Leaving was named one of the ten best Canadian albums of all time in Chart magazine's reader poll.[5] In the same poll, Samson wrote the capsule review for another top ten finisher, The Lowest of the Low's Shakespeare My Butt, which he cited as a major influence on his own music.
Reunion Tour was released on September 25, 2007 in North America by Epitaph and ANTI-. The band released a video for "Civil Twilight", which consisted of a single, unbroken camera shot of the band on a Winnipeg Transit city bus.[6]
Epitaph also re-released the Weakerthans' first two albums, Fallow and Left and Leaving, in Canada on November 6, 2007.[7]
Chart performance
Reunion Tour debuted at #22 on the Nielsen SoundScan chart for Canada in its first week of release, and at #4 on the alternative/modern rock chart.
The Weakerthans became the first band in the history of CBC Radio 3's R3-30 charts to reach #1 with two different songs. The band's cover of Rheostatics' "Bad Time to Be Poor" reached #1 the week of June 21, 2007, and "Civil Twilight", the lead single from Reunion Tour, hit the top spot the week of November 15, 2007. As of December 2007, "Civil Twilight" is tied with Arcade Fire's "Black Mirror" as the longest-running #1 in that chart's history. "Civil Twilight" was also the #1 song in The R3-30's year-end Top 100 chart.
Members
Samson performing in Winnipeg, December 2007
Current members
Former members
Live show help
MacKinnon and Poirier also have their own band, FemBots, and were previously associated with the bands Dig Circus and Hummer. Both Bryson and Fellows are solo artists in addition to touring with The Weakerthans.
Discography
Albums
Compilations
- Return of the Read Menace (1999, G7 Welcoming Committee)
- Hopelessly Devoted to You Vol. 3 (2000, Hopeless/Subcity Records)
- "Watermark" (from Left and Leaving)
- "Confessions of a Futon Revolutionist (Country Style)" (previously unreleased)
- Hopelessly Devoted to You Vol. 4 (2002, Hopeless/Subcity Records)
- "Past Due (Pre-Reconstruction Site acoustic version)" (previously unreleased)
- "Aside" (from Left and Leaving)
- Hopelessly Devoted to You Vol. 6 (2006, Hopeless/Subcity Records)
- "Diagnosis" (from Fallow)
- "Aside" (from Left and Leaving)
- Operation: Punk Rock Freedom (2003, Hopeless/Subcity Records)
- "Watermark" (from Left and Leaving)
- "Confessions of a Futon Revolutionist" (from Fallow)
- Chulksmack Soundtrack (2004, Epitaph Records)
- "The Reasons" (from Reconstruction Site)
- Punk-O-Rama Vol. 9 (2004, Epitaph Records)
- "Plea from a Cat Named Virtute" (from Reconstruction Site)
- Punk-O-Rama Vol. 10 (2005, Epitaph Records)
- "The Reasons" (from Reconstruction Site)
- Take Penacilin Now (2005, G7 Welcoming Committee Records)
- "My Favourite Power Chords" (alternate version of Left and Leaving's "My Favourite Chords")
- Wedding Crashers Soundtrack (2005, New Line Records)
- "Aside" (from Left and Leaving)
- Help: A Day in the Life (2006, Sony BMG)
- "Utilities" (previously unreleased)
- The Secret Sessions (2007, Zunior)
Related albums
Side projects
- Samson frequently collaborates with his wife, Christine Fellows.
- Tait has recorded and performed with Broken Social Scene.
- Tait, Samson, and Fellows collaborated with poet and filmmaker Clive Holden on his multimedia project Trains of Winnipeg.
- Carroll appeared on The Details' Draw a Distance. Draw a Border.
- In 2006, all of the Weakerthans except Samson performed on Greg Graffin's second solo album, Cold as the Clay.
- In 2000, the Winnipeg Free Press released a spoken word album by Catherine Hunter that included a bonus track featuring the Weakerthans doing backing instrumentation while Hunter read her poem "Rush Hour".
Awards
In Montreal, October 2004
Won
- Outstanding Independent Album – Reconstruction Site – Western Canadian Music Awards (2004)[1]
- Outstanding Songwriter – John K. Samson – Western Canadian Music Awards (2004)[1]
- Artist of the Year – The Weakerthans – Verge Awards (2008)[9].
Nominations
See also
References
External links
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