Fat Man Waving 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 ...

folk-rock band from Ottawa,

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 C ...

,"Fat Man Waving goodbye". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...

'', June 3, 1996. active from 1987 to 1996. The band had a diverse, unclassifiable style which drew on folk, rock, Celtic and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

influences, which made them popular with music critics — in 1990, '' Musician'' named them one of the 12 best unsigned acts in the world"Fat Man Waving on the hazards of big hype". ''

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 pa ...

'', July 13, 1995. — but left record labels unsure how to market them effectively. The band's core members were Rebecca Campbell on vocals,

Peter Kiesewalter Peter Kiesewalter is a Canadian arranger and multi-instrumentalist who plays sax, clarinet, keyboard, and accordion. Career In the 1990s, Kiesewalter was a member of the Ottawa-based bands Fat Man Waving"Fat Man Waving goodbye". ''Ottawa Citizen' ...

on piano, keyboards, accordion and clarinet, Fred Guignon on guitars, James Stephens on bass guitar, fiddle, viola and banjo and Ian Mackie on drums and percussion. Many of the band members were also associated with other projects. Kiesewalter and Mackie were also members of The Angstones, Campbell toured and recorded as a backing vocalist for

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 M ...

and in the folk music vocal trio Three Sheets to the Wind, and Guignon was a member of the alternative rock band Mystic Zealots. The band released its debut album, ''Fat Man Waving'', independently in 1989. They subsequently recorded several non-album singles, including "Sons & Lovers" and a cover of "Waiting for the Moon" for the

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics including human rights, environmental issues, p ...

tribute album ''

Kick at the Darkness ''Kick at the Darkness'' is a tribute album to Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn, released in 1991. The title comes from a line in the song " Lovers in a Dangerous Time": "gotta kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight". The album w ...

''. They were the only Canadian band named to the top 12 in ''Musicians Best Unsigned Bands contest in 1990, which was judged by Lou Reed, Robbie Robertson,

Vernon Reid Vernon Alphonsus Reid (born 22 August 1958) is an English-born American guitarist and songwriter. Reid is the founder and primary songwriter of the rock band Living Colour, Reid was named No. 66 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's 2003 list of the ...

, Branford Marsalis and Lyle Lovett. They followed up with the album ''Parade'' in 1992. They won the award for Band of the Year at the Ottawa Rock 'n' Roll Music Awards in 1992, over Love Chain, Furnaceface,

One 2 One T-Mobile UK was a mobile network operator in the UK. First launched as Mercury One2One (stylised one2one) on 7 January 1993, the network was originally operated by Mercury Communications. one2one was purchased by Deutsche Telekom in 1999, w ...

and Crucial Moments. The band received strong airplay support from

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 ...

,"Fat Man no lightweight band: Nine years later, singer still working with original dream team". ''

Kingston Whig-Standard ''The Kingston Whig-Standard'' is a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is published five days a week, from Tuesday to Saturday. It publishes a mix of community, national and international news and is currently owned by Postmedia. It has ...

'', August 24, 1995. and frequently toured across Canada on the

folk festival A folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music. This list includes folk festivals worldwide, except those with only a partial focus on folk music or arts. Folk festivals may also feature folk dance or ethnic foods. Handicra ...

circuit. They signed to Aquarius Records in 1995, and released ''The Habit of Gravity'' that year. However, their primary champion at the label, president Keith Brown, soon left the company and the band found themselves without much marketing or touring support, and they decided to break up the following year. Campbell later reemerged as a solo singer-songwriter, releasing her debut solo album ''Tug'' in 1999 and following up with ''The Sweetest Noise'' in 2002. Mackie moved to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

to work as a foley artist in film and television. Kiesewalter is currently based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, where he is associated with the East Village Opera Company and the Brooklyn Rundfunk Orchestra."The Sound of Music Mashup; Peter Kiesewalter's new band pays very funky homage to the classic musical score". ''

'', November 2, 2011.

Discography

*''Fat Man Waving'' (1989) *''Parade'' (1992) *''The Habit of Gravity'' (1995)

References

{{Authority control Canadian folk rock groups Musical groups from Ottawa Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 1987 establishments in Ontario 1996 disestablishments in Ontario