Chalk Circle was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band formed in 1982 in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

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 ...

. The band originally consisted of lead singer and guitarist Chris Tait,

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

Brad Hopkins,

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

Tad Winklarz and

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Derrick Murphy.

History

Formed in Newcastle, Ontario, Hopkins and Tait were paired with Terry Miller and Stani Veselinovic in 1982 as The Casualties. The band briefly changed its name to The Reactors and then to New Addition in 1984, and finally settled on the name Chalk Circle, taken from

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

's play ''

The Caucasian Chalk Circle ''The Caucasian Chalk Circle'' (german: Der kaukasische Kreidekreis) is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a b ...

''. The band recorded a demo single "The World" (b/w "Black Pit") on cassette and played the Toronto area, subsequently winning the

CASBY Award The CASBY Awards were a Canadian awards ceremony for independent and alternative music, presented annually by Toronto, Ontario radio station CFNY, currently branded as 102.1 The Edge. CASBY is an acronym for Canadian Artists Selected By You. The ...

for Most Promising Non-Recording Group in 1985. After signing to Duke Street Records in Toronto,Alan Niester, "Go slick and commercial". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', January 20, 1986. their 1986 debut release was a six-song EP called '' The Great Lake''. Produced by

Chris Wardman Chris Wardman is a Canadian music producer, musician and songwriter. Wardman was a founding member of Blue Peter, and was their lead guitarist and main contributing songwriter. Wardman was also a member of Breeding Ground in the late 1980s. Wardm ...

, it was recorded at Manta Sound in Toronto and Quest Recording Studio in Oshawa. The band's style saw them positively compared to British and Irish

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

bands of the era, including U2, Echo and the Bunnymen and

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...

. The lead single "

April Fool April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may ...

" became a hit single in Canada, along with another single "Me, Myself and I". The band produced videos for both tracks which were regularly featured on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

, and the EP went on to become Duke Street's biggest seller at that time. They received a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

nomination for Most Promising Group at the

Juno Awards of 1986 The Juno Awards of 1986, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 10 November 1986 in Toronto at a ceremony hosted by Howie Mandel at the Harbour Castle Hilton Hotel. CBC Television broadcast the ce ...

. Their second release was a full-length album entitled ''

Mending Wall "Mending Wall" is a poem by the twentieth-century American poet Robert Frost (1874–1963). It opens Robert's second collection of poetry, '' North of Boston'', published in 1914 by David Nutt, and it has become "one of the most anthologized ...

'' released in 1987, with the inspiration for the title coming from

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloq ...

's famous poem. Recorded entirely on digital equipment, the crisp sounding album featured another Top 10 Canadian single "This Mourning", a blistering commentary about nuclear politics in the '

ray gun A raygun is a science-fiction directed-energy weapon that releases energy, usually with destructive effect.Jeff Prucher, '' Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction,'' Oxford University Press, 2007, page 162 They have variou ...

' era ( Reagan Era) era of the late 1980s. The album would later be reissued with a cover version of

T-Rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

's "20th Century Boy", which also became a Canadian hit single. The band's final album was 1989's ''As the Crow Flies'', which spawned two singles, "Sons and Daughters" and "Together".Mitch Potter, "Not easy to corner Chalk Circle's psyche". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', December 20, 1989. It also included the song "Blue Heaven", which included guest vocals by labelmate

Jane Siberry Jane Siberry ( ; ; born 12 October 1955) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, known for such hits as " Mimi on the Beach", "I Muse Aloud", "One More Colour" and "Calling All Angels". She performed the theme song to the television series ''Maniac Ma ...

. The album was engineered by

Michael Phillip Wojewoda Michael Phillip Wojewoda is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has been nominated for eight Juno Awards and has received one for Recording Engineer of the Year and one for Producer of the Year. History Wojewoda began recording bands ...

, who received a Juno nomination for Best Recording Engineer at the

Juno Awards of 1990 The Juno Awards of 1990, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 18 March 1990 in Toronto at a ceremony in the O'Keefe Centre. Rick Moranis was the host for the ceremonies, which were broadcast on ...

. Citing 'creative differences', the band broke up in 1990, and Tait formed the indie band Big Faith with Fergus Marsh, Michael Sloski and

Ken Greer Kenneth William Greer (born 25 July 1954) is a Canadian guitarist and keyboardist. He is one of the founding members of the Canadian rock band Red Rider. Biography Greer is the youngest of seven children born into a musical family in Toronto, ...

. In 2006,

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

released a Chalk Circle

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

compilation as part of its 20th Century Masters series. The release prompted the band to reconvene after 15 years and in February of that year, they began rehearsals at the

Cherry Beach Cherry Beach (originally Clarke Beach Park) is a lakeside beach park located at the foot of Cherry Street just south of Unwin Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is on Toronto's outer harbour just east of the Eastern Gap. It was once connected ...

rehearsal studios in Toronto in anticipation of possible reunion shows. On June 17, 2006, Chalk Circle played a reunion gig at

Lee's Palace Lee's Palace is a rock concert hall located on the south side of Bloor Street West east of Lippincott Street in Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The two-floor facility in The Annex neighbourhood has a long history prior to being adapted in Sept ...

in Toronto. In recent years they have played additional shows including on October 1, 2011 and December 12, 2015, with

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

at the

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

in Toronto, and on November 12, 2011 in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

for the first time in 20 years at

Corona Theatre The Corona Theatre (french: Théâtre Corona), in Montreal, Quebec, Canada is located at 2490 Notre-Dame Street West in the Little Burgundy neighbourhood of the borough of Le Sud-Ouest. It is one of several vintage movie theatres in Montreal wh ...

. Most reunion concerts feature

Jason Sniderman Jason Sniderman is a Canadian musician and businessman. He was one of the chief executives of Sam the Record Man, He also played keyboards on a number of rock music albums, performed with the band Blue Peter, and later released several albums unde ...

on keyboards instead of Winklarz. The band played their most recent reunion concert on March 7, 2020 at a fundraising concert for

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

."What's On". ''

'', March 5, 2020.

Discography

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chalk Circle Musical groups established in 1982 Musical groups disestablished in 1990 Musical groups from the Regional Municipality of Durham Canadian alternative rock groups 1982 establishments in Ontario 1990 disestablishments in Ontario Westpark Music artists Reagan Era