The Weakerthans

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The Weakerthans
The Weakerthans performing in Winnipeg, 2007
Background information
Origin	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Genres	Folk punk, indie rock, post-punk
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Epitaph, ANTI-, G7 Welcoming Committee, Sub City
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.

Contents 1 History 2 Chart performance 3 Members 3.1 Current members 3.2 Former members 3.3 Live show help 4 Discography 4.1 Albums 4.2 Compilations 4.3 Related albums 5 Side projects 6 Awards 6.1 Won 6.2 Nominations 7 References 8 External links

[edit] 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.

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]

In February 2009, the band participated in Barenaked Ladies' annual Ships and Dip cruise.^[8] In a subsequent interview with Canwest News Service, Samson clarified that the band would be taking some downtime over the summer of 2009 before deciding when to start working on their next album.^[8] Shortly afterward, Samson announced a series of solo 7" releases about Manitoba roads, which he plans to release over the next 18 months. The first, City Route 85, will be released on October 30 through Epitaph and ANTI-.^[9]

[edit] 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 album reached #181 on the United States Billboard 200.^[10]

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 2009^[update], "Civil Twilight" remains 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 for 2007.

[edit] Members

[edit] Current members

• John K. Samson (lead vocals, guitar)
• Jason Tait (drums, percussion, vibraphone, keyboards)
• Stephen Carroll (guitar, pedal and lap steel, keyboards)
• Greg Smith (bass)

[edit] Former members

• John P. Sutton (bass)

[edit] Live show help

• Jim Bryson (general support). Joined as of September 10, 2007^[11].
• Christine Fellows (keyboards/background vocals)
• Dave MacKinnon (keyboards)
• Brian Poirier (acoustic guitar and backing vocals)
• Tyler Greenleaf (trumpet and trombone)
• Rusty Matyas (general support) – performed with the band for the 2009 Rolling Tundra Revue^[12]

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; Fellows is married to Samson.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

• 1997: Fallow
• 2000: Left and Leaving
• 2001: Watermark EP
• 2003: Reconstruction Site
• 2007: Reunion Tour

[edit] Compilations

• Return of the Read Menace (1999, G7 Welcoming Committee)
  • "Ringing of Revolution" (Phil Ochs cover)
• Sub City: Take Action Sampler (1999, Hopeless/Subcity Records)
  • "Everything Must Go" (alternate version)
• 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)
  • "Bad Time to Be Poor" (Rheostatics cover)

[edit] Related albums

• John K. Samson – Slips and Tangles (1993), Little Pictures (1995, 2006)

[edit] Side projects

• Samson frequently collaborates with his wife, Christine Fellows.
• Tait has recorded and performed with Broken Social Scene and Do Make Say Think
• 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".

[edit] Awards

[edit] 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)^[13].
• ECHO Songwriting Prize – "Night Windows" (2008)

[edit] Nominations

• Best Alternative Album – Left and Leaving – Juno Awards (2001)
• Video of the Year – "Psalms for the Elks' Lodge Last Call" – Western Canadian Music Awards (2004)^[1]
• Alternative Album of the Year – Reconstruction Site – Juno Awards (2004)
• Video of the Year – "The Reasons" – Juno Awards (2005)
• 2008 Polaris Music Prize — Reunion Tour

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Weakerthans

• The Weakerthans
• The Weakerthans at MySpace

v • d • e The Weakerthans Members John K. Samson • Jason Tait • Stephen Carroll • Greg Smith • Former member: John P. Sutton Discography Fallow (1997) • Left and Leaving (2000) • Watermark EP (2001) • Reconstruction Site (2003) • Reunion Tour (2007)