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 ...
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 ...
, formed in 2009. The band consists of Future Shark (a.k.a. Trevor Barnes) (vocals), Dark Science (a.k.a. Patrick Guay) (vocals), Apsobibi (a.k.a.
Evan Cranley
Evan Cranley is a Canadian musician based in Montreal, Quebec. He records with the bands Stars and Broken Social Scene, although he considered joining the band Metric before finally joining Stars.
Musical career
Early on, Cranley was in the band ...
of
Stars
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
) (R&B vocals), and Ripples (a.k.a. Stephen Ramsay of
Young Galaxy
Young Galaxy is a Canadian indie pop/dream pop band formed in 2005 in Vancouver, whose members are husband and wife, Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless.
History
Young Galaxy formed in Vancouver as a duo including Stephen Ramsay and Catherine ...
(production and hype-man) and features the studio skills of Liam O'Neil, formerly a member of
The Stills
The Stills were a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2000 and disbanded in 2011.
History
The band's original lineup consisted of lead vocalist and guitarist Tim Fletcher, guitarist Gregory Paquet, bassist Olivier Corbeil and dru ...
.
History
The group had the idea to form the group while car pooling to
ball hockey
Ball hockey is a team sport and an off-ice variant of the sport of ice hockey. The sport is also a variant of one of several floor hockey game codes but more specifically a variant of street hockey.
Ball hockey is patterned after and closely r ...
. While initially it was just going to be a faux hip-hop act, they started doing DJ sets around Montreal, eventually putting together a live show.
After doing a few shows "freestyling" someone had videotaped one of these shows, with Apsobibi doing a chorus about Montreal's public bike system,
BIXI Montréal
BIXI Montréal is a public bicycle sharing system serving Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
Launched in May 2009 by Public Bike System Company (PBSC), it is North America's first large-scale bike sharing system and the original BIXI brand of systems. PB ...
. A producer at
CJAD
CJAD (800 AM) is a commercial radio station operating in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The station has an English language news/talk radio format and identifies itself on-air as ''CJAD 800''. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it has a daytime power ...
in Montreal came across this video and asked if the band could do a studio version that they could play on the air. After shooting a video for the track, it went viral hitting 7,000 plays in two days and 38,000 to date. The song was seen as a local hit and was recognized nationally. The band played the
Osheaga Festival
The Osheaga Music and Arts Festival (french: Festival musique et arts Osheaga) is a multi-day indie music festival in Montreal, Quebec, that is held every summer at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène. The festival takes place on six stages ...
that summer and were played on
CBC Radio
CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
and
MusiquePlus
Elle Fictions (stylized ELLE Fictions) is a Canadian French language specialty channel owned by Remstar Media Group. The channel broadcasts general entertainment programming targeting young adult women.
It was first established in 1986 as the mus ...
as well. It was touted as Montreal's "Song of the summer" as well.
"The Bixi Anthem" was named the number 4 song of the year by the ''
Montreal Gazette
The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
'' in their year-end wrapup.
The band have made mention of recording new Montreal themed songs. "''We have a song called 'J'imagine,' about the golden era, if you will, of Montreal, from '67 to '76."'' Future Shark said to the
Montreal Mirror
''Montreal Mirror'' or just ''Mirror'' was a free English language alternative newsweekly based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada which was distributed every Thursday. It had a circulation of 70,000 and reached a quarter of a million readers per week.
...
"You know, Nadja Comaneci scoring seven perfect 10s, the metro system, the Expos."
The group made "It's BBQ Time" its next single, releasing it just in time for Saint-Jean-Baptiste on June 24, 2011.
In June 2012, there was mention of ''J'Imagine'' possibly being released. On July 28 the video, filmed once again by Who is KK Downey? director Darren Curtis, was uploaded to
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, in time for the start of the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
. It was praised for its use of "Montrealisims". According to the
Montreal Gazette
The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
, "references include the
Big O
Big O or The Big O may refer to:
Fiction
* ''The Big O'', a 1999 Japanese animated TV series
Mathematics and computing
* Big Omega function (disambiguation), various arithmetic functions in number theory
* Big O notation, asymptotic behavior in ...
,
Youppi
Youppi! ( or , French for wikt:youpi, Yippee!) is the official mascot for the Montreal Canadiens, and former longtime mascot of Montreal Expos. Youppi! wears an exclamation mark, "!" instead of a jersey number.
History
Youppi!, a creation of ...
,
Jean Leloup
Jean Leclerc (born May 14, 1961) is a French-speaking Quebecer, Québécois singer-songwriter and author from Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Canada. He is popularly known as Jean Leloup (which he likes to translate to John the Wolf), a s ...
,
Mitsou
Mitsou Annie Marie Gélinas (born September 1, 1970, in Loretteville, Quebec) is a Canadian pop singer, businesswoman, television and radio host, and actress. She is credited as Mitsou Gélinas when acting, but records simply as Mitsou (the Fre ...
,
Jacques Villeneuve
Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve ( born 9 April 1971) is a Canadian professional racing driver and amateur musician who won the 1997 Formula One World Championship with Williams. In addition to Formula One (F1) he has competed in various ot ...
,
Nick Auf der Maur
Nick Erik Auf der Maur (April 10, 1942 – April 7, 1998)Downey, Donn. ''Montreal columnist chronicled cancer fight'', A1. '' The Globe and Mail'', April 9, 1998. was a Canadian journalist, politician and "man about town" boulevardier in Montre ...
,
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are ''The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (novel), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and ''Barney's Version (novel), Barney's Versi ...
,
the Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They p ...
,
July 1
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor.
* 552 – Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeat the Ostrogoths in Italy, and the ...
the Ice Storm
''The Ice Storm'' is a 1994 American novel by Rick Moody. The novel was widely acclaimed by readers and critics alike, described as a funny, acerbic, and moving hymn to a dazed and confused era of American life.the Referendum,
poutine
Poutine () is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. It emerged in Quebec, in the late 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, though its exact origins are uncertain and there are several competing claims regarding it ...
,
balconville
''Balconville'' is a bilingual play by Canadian playwright David Fennario. It is a two-act drama that is considered to be Fennario's best known play. Balconville was the first bilingual play in Canadian theatre history, and about a third of the ...
Drinking In L.A.
"Drinking in L.A." is a song by Canadian electronica collective Bran Van 3000, released as the band's debut single in 1997. It was the last song to be recorded for the band's debut studio album, ''Glee'' (1997). Of the song, James Di Salvio has ...
,
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...
and the Alouettes. As usual, the boys have a mad-styling video to go with the dope jam".
Because of Apsobibi's commitment to
Stars
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
* The Bixi Anthem (June 8, 2010)
** Directed by Darren Curtis
* It's BBQ Time (June 24, 2011)
** Directed by Darren Curtis
* J'Imagine (July 28, 2012)
** Directed by Darren Curtis, produced by Jared Curtis
See also
*
Evan Cranley
Evan Cranley is a Canadian musician based in Montreal, Quebec. He records with the bands Stars and Broken Social Scene, although he considered joining the band Metric before finally joining Stars.
Musical career
Early on, Cranley was in the band ...
*
Young Galaxy
Young Galaxy is a Canadian indie pop/dream pop band formed in 2005 in Vancouver, whose members are husband and wife, Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless.
History
Young Galaxy formed in Vancouver as a duo including Stephen Ramsay and Catherine ...