The Barstool Prophets were a rock band formed in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, in 1989 and active throughout the 1990s. The members were bassist Glenn Forrester, singer/songwriter Graham Greer, guitarist Al Morier, and drummer Bobby Tamas. In 1995,

The Georgia Straight ''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools, ...

called them "one of the best guitar-rock bands to emerge in Canada since

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...

History

Originally known as the 'Wallflowers', the band changed its name due to avoid confusion with the American band of the same name. They moved to Ottawa to attend university and, in 1992, independently released their first album, ''Deflowered''. They landed tours with

Odds Odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. Odds also have ...

, 54-50, Moist, and

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, then opened for

Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and bac ...

. Along the way, they sold 8,000 copies of the album and built a solid fan base. In 1994, the band was signed to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

and released ''Crank'' in 1995. This album initially produced two hit singles: "Mankindman" and "Paranoia", which charted in the top-10 in Canada. The videos for both songs got heavy rotation on MuchMusic and "Paranoia" was used in the soundtrack for the 1995 film ''

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''. They played the MuchMusic stage several times, toured with

Junkhouse Junkhouse was a Canadian rock band, formed during 1989 in Hamilton, Ontario. They released three albums during the 1990s, which spawned numerous charting singles in Canada. They initially disbanded in 1998, and reformed for various one-off shows a ...

and

Headstones A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, da ...

, and landed a US distribution deal. A third single, "Little Death (Oh Mary Mary)" charted and sales hit 50,000, certifying the album gold. Barstool Prophets released the third album, ''Last of the Big Game Hunters'', in 1997. From this album, "Last of the Big Game Hunters", "Upside Down" and "Friend of Mine" all charted in the top-20. They spent the next two years touring, with

I Mother Earth I Mother Earth, or IME, is a Canadians, Canadian rock band. The band formed in 1990 and reached its peak in popularity in the mid-to-late 1990s. After an eight-year hiatus, the band reunited in 2012. Between 1996 and 2016, I Mother Earth was among ...

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and Big Sugar. Between non-stop touring and the turmoil of record label mergers and losses, the band members had had enough and broke up in 1999. Greer went on to produce two solo albums: ''Moonlight Graham'' and ''Graham Greer''. Morier released three solo albums: ''Ensemble'', ''Distance'' and ''Images''. In 2015, Barstool Prophets reunited to play a concert in Ottawa in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the release of their first album. They played another concert in 2016 and four in 2017. Their most recent show was in 2018.

Discography

Albums *''Birdman'' (1992, as 'Wallflowers'), Independent *''Deflowered'' (1993), Independent *''Crank'' (1995), Mercury Records (#63 Canada ) *''Last of the Big Game Hunters'' (1997), Mercury Records *''Greatest Hits'' (2015), Stool Sample Music

Singles

References

External links

Barstool Prophets Site

Graham Greer's site

Al Morier's site

* {{Authority control Canadian alternative rock groups Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 1999 Musical groups from Ontario Cornwall, Ontario 1989 establishments in Ontario 1999 disestablishments in Ontario