Walking tuned

My Father And The Hunter

“I have cried to bigger men than you, I have lied to better friends than you.” – There’s something painfully beautiful in the words of Simon Ward and the music of The Strumbellas.   It provokes the human reaction to heartfelt music, a lonesomeness that can only seemed to be soothed by listening to songs over and over again. “Take my pride, break my word, take my heartache, all my life, all that hurt, all that heartbreak, it’s gonna bring me down.”

“I miss those dreams, those ones we used to have, oh I miss my friends, oh I miss my dad, I don’t want to die but it’s everywhere I go.”  Conceived in Lindsay, Ontario, but born in Toronto, The Strumbellas are equal parts small town dream and big city gumption. It’s strange, perhaps, that Canada’s biggest city is home to its alt-country scene, but The Strumbellas rebel yell is a natural extension of the sound honed by Toronto stalwarts Royal City, The Sadies, Cuff the Duke, The Wilderness of Manitoba, and One Hundred Dollars.   Principal songwriter Simon Ward likes to say that his heart is in his hometown but his head is in the city, or vice versa. He's not sure which.

“The devil put the barracuda spirit into me.”  Sensitive singer-songwriters beware: this ain’t your meemaw’s country music. The band brings wheat field harmonies and arena-ready thunder to back rooms and festival stages alike, sounding bigger and louder than any band with a banjo deserves to sound. Folk wisp and country twang are nowhere to be found as the seven-member band pounds out a bluegrass-inspired indie rock that rivals punk and hardcore for sweat, blood, and ruckus. 

“I lost my father to the hands of Jesus, breaks my heart dad you won’t meet my son, and I get so scared dad that I’ll be just like you, spend my life as a loaded gun.”  All this energy, however, is in the service of something even larger: the big pop hook. Ward often says he doesn’t want to make music for other musicians, and so he stuffs his thunderous country stomp with stick-in-your-head verses and monumental choruses. Along the way he details more than just love lost and won, with lyrics ranging from God to go-getters, and the little bit of life we get to lead before we’re gone. 

“We walked in the night past the pines, the graveyard told stories of everyone’s lives, we walked in the night past the pines, and every day I still go back to that time.”  The Strumbellas’ debut album, My Father And The Hunter, is an introspective snapshot of where the band has been until now.  After seeing the group at The Dakota Tavern over a year ago, Cone McCaslin came on board to produce the album.   Recorded at Blue Rodeo’s coveted Woodshed Studio in the fall of 2011, as well as Metalworks, it’s the harvest of seven talented friends, some whiskey and a few rounds of euchre. Harmonies, stomps, hollers, claps and gang vocals unabashedly abound as the songs weave their stories throughout the album.

“Watched the caribou for days, swam across the Great Lakes, slept around an open fire, chasing demons to the pyre, I broke my home, broke my home, left for dead.” My Father And The Hunter is a beautiful harmonious dichotomy between melancholy heartbreak on songs Carry My Body, Diane, Windsurfers, Underneath The Mountain, Left For Dead and The Bird That Follows Me, versus blow-the-barn-doors-off spunk on The Sheriff, Lakes, Sailor’s Blues, Rhinestone, I Just Had A Baby, and Pistol.  Dance, cry, put your fist through a wall, call someone you love – expect to feel it all.  Check out the mini-doc for The Bird That Follows Me in-studio recording here.

“Don’t lose your pistol, well that’s what he said, cause there’s a war and we’ve been forced to wear our head upon our feet.”  Since the release of their 2009 EP, which was peppered with accolades from Toronto weeklies and a proclamation from the CBC as a “band to watch,” The Strumbellas have religiously slogged it out in the Toronto and Southern Ontario area, building a zealous following.  Regular residencies over the past year at The Cameron House, showcases at Canadian Music Week and NXNE as well as festival appearances in the area, have all been integral to helping The Strumbellas build their sound. “I believe in death, cause death has always won the last hand.” 


The Strumbellas are:
Simon Ward – vocals, acoustic guitar
James Oliver – banjo, ukulele, piano, vocals
David Ritter – piano, organ, percussion, vocals
Jeremy Drury – drums, percussion
Isabel Ritchie – violin, viola, vocals
Jon Hembrey – electric guitar, mandolin
Darryl James – bass

My Father And The Hunter Tracklisting:
The Sheriff
Lakes
The Bird That Follows Me
Rhinestone
I Just Had A Baby
Left For Dead
Windsurfers
Sailor’s Blues
Pistol
Underneath The Mountain
Diane
Carry My Body

www.thestrumbellas.ca
www.facebook.com/thestrumbellas


Management:
Joanne Setterington 
Ph. 416.703.5217
E. joanne@indoorrecess.com

Booking Agency:
Julien Paquin for Paquin Entertainment
Ph. 416.962.8885
E. julien@paquinentertainment.com


The Sheriff

I Just Had A Baby

The Bird That Follows Me

The Strumbellas eponymous EP was self-recorded, handmade, and self-released in September 2009. Featuring a stripped down, early version of the band’s current sound, the EP contains five golden cuts that sparkle with banjo, fiddle, and clarinet. Early versions of “Underneath a Mountain” and “I Ain’t Tryin’ To Die” make their first appearance here, along with bluegrass barnburner “Indiana” and the rare ballad “Carry My Body”. 

Well-reviewed by Now Magazine, Imprint, and various blogs [we should name one or two], The Strumbellas EP captured the band’s young sound and established them as up-and-comers in Toronto’s alt-country scene. A handful of copies of the limited run are still available at shows and via email. An electronic copy is available for sale at The Strumbellas Bandcamp.


Indiana

The Strumbellas eponymous EP was self-recorded, handmade, and self-released in September 2009. Featuring a stripped down, early version of the band’s current sound, the EP contains five golden cuts that sparkle with banjo, fiddle, and clarinet. Early versions of “Underneath a Mountain” and “I Ain’t Tryin’ To Die” make their first appearance here, along with bluegrass barnburner “Indiana” and the rare ballad “Carry My Body”. 

Well-reviewed by Now Magazine, Imprint, and various blogs [we should name one or two], The Strumbellas EP captured the band’s young sound and established them as up-and-comers in Toronto’s alt-country scene. A handful of copies of the limited run are still available at shows and via email. An electronic copy is available for sale at The Strumbellas Bandcamp.


Underneath A Mountain

“It takes something special to make a room shaped something like a laundry chute, feel

like a theatre.  The Strumbellas are a band that seems to know what that special quality
is, because from their first song to their last, they transformed the small Railway Club
into a blazing amphitheatre” – VANCOUVERWEEKLY.COM

 Since the release of The Strumbellas’ eponymous 2009 EP, which was peppered
with accolades from Toronto weeklies and prompted a proclamation from the CBC
that they are a “band to watch,” the six-piece group has been slogging it out, earning
their stripes through residencies at The Cameron House and most recently a month of
Home.Sweet.Home Tuesdays at The Dakota Tavern.  The band also left the proverbial
nest in 2012, making new fans with two cross-country tours as well as playing a plethora
of festivals including CMW, NXNE, Pop Montreal, Eaglewood and Hillside in Guelph,
which by all accounts was the equivalent of their cotillion ball.

“The Rivoli was too small to contain the crowd trying to get in to see bluegrass-gospel-
punks The Strumbellas launch their debut disc, My Father And The Hunter” – NOW
MAGAZINE

 Conceived in Lindsay, Ont., but born in Toronto, The Strumbellas are equal parts
small town dream and big city gumption. Sensitive singer-songwriters beware: this ain’t
your meemaw’s country music. The band brings wheat field harmonies and arena-
ready thunder to backrooms and festival stages alike. Folk wisp and country twang are
nowhere to be found as The Strumbellas pound out a bluegrass-inspired indie rock that
rivals punk and hardcore for sweat, blood, and ruckus. 

“The Strumbellas conjure an alt-country Canadian landscape in which home is a

beacon, the graveyard looms large, and it all ends with a piano dirge to carry a body and
bury it slowly”  - THE STAR PHOENIX 

“The album is full of high energy, earnest folk music, coupled with darker-tinged gothic
folk” – EXCLAIM! MAGAZINE

The Strumbellas’ 2012 debut album, My Father And The Hunter, offers a beautiful,
harmonious dichotomy between melancholy heartbreak on songs Carry My Body,

Diane, Windsurfers, Underneath A Mountain, Left For Dead and The Bird That Follows
Me compared to blow-the-barn-doors-off spunk on The Sheriff, Lakes, Sailor’s Blues,
Rhinestone, I Just Had A Baby and Pistol.  The album, which was produced by Cone

McCaslin and recorded at Blue Rodeo’s coveted Woodshed Studio, is the harvest of
talented friends, some whisky and a few rounds of euchre.  Harmonies, stomps, hollers,
claps and gang vocals unabashedly abound as the songs weave compelling stories
throughout the entire album.  Dance, cry, put your fist through a wall or call someone
you love – expect to feel it all. Check out the mini-doc for The Bird That Follows Me in-
studio recording here.

The group recently headed south of the border to record with West Coast producer
Ryan Hadlock (The Lumineers, Metric, The Strokes, Gossip) at Bear Creek Studio near
Seattle.

“If 2012 was their year to introduce themselves to the larger Canadian audience, 2013

will surely be their breakout year.  Chances are, we’ll all be much more familiar with The
Strumbellas sooner rather than later” – BEATROUTE

 The Strumbellas: Simon Ward – vocals, acoustic guitar / David Ritter – piano, organ,
percussion, vocals / Jeremy Drury – drums, percussion / Isabel Ritchie – violin, viola,
vocals / Jon Hembrey – electric guitar, mandolin /Darryl James – bass.

