The Dears are a Canadian

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band from

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 ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The band is led by the husband-and-wife duo of singer-guitarist

Murray Lightburn Murray A. Lightburn is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for The Dears. Lightburn has been called "the black Morrissey" due to his vocal similarity (and shared penchant for somewhat dark lyrics) to the ...

and keyboardist

Natalia Yanchak Natalia Yanchak is a Canadian musician who plays keyboards and sings in The Dears. She is also a blogger and speculative fiction and science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction ...

History

The band formed in 1995 and released their first album, ''

End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story ''End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story'' is the first album by the Dears. It was released in 2000 on Grenadine Records. "This is a Broadcast", "Heartless Romantic" and the title track were notable singles from the album. Critical reception ''Trouser ...

'', in 2000. Their orchestral, dark pop sound and dramatic live shows established The Dears as part of the then-emerging Canadian indie renaissance. The Dears performed in Toronto in October 2001 with Sloan. In 2001 and 2002, they released the EPs '' Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique'' and ''

Protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

,'' respectively, as well as a collection of unreleased songs, '' Nor the Dahlias''. In 2003 they released their second full-length album '' No Cities Left'', and a string of shows at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

'04 launched their international career. The Dears toured extensively across Canada, U.S., UK, Europe, Japan and Australia supporting the international release of '' No Cities Left'' and returned to the studio to record in 2005. '' Gang of Losers'' was released in 2006, and was well received by the press. The Dears have had high-profile gigs as opening act for Sloan,

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 ...

, Keane, The Secret Machines and

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...

, to whom Lightburn is often compared. Their music has been described as a cross between The Smiths and

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provoca ...

with Lightburn's singing voice being likened to Morrissey as well as Blur's

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (; born 23 March 1968) is an English-Icelandic musician, singer-songwriter and composer, best known as the frontman and primary lyricist of the rock band Blur and as the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual ...

. The complexity of the music and arrangements has also been compared to

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

, Jethro Tull and early

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

. The Dears' powerful live shows have been described as: "...the sonic equivalent of seeing the face of God." On July 10, 2007, The Dears' album ''Gang of Losers'' was named to the shortlist for the

2007 Polaris Music Prize The 2007 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 24, 2007 at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto. The winning album was Patrick Watson's ''Close to Paradise''. According to CBC News, "finalists were drawn fro ...

. The follow-up ''Missiles'' was released in the United Kingdom on October 20 and in North America on October 21, 2008. On February 15, 2011, The Dears released their fifth studio album, ''Degeneration Street''. The album was named as a longlisted nominee for the

2011 Polaris Music Prize The 2011 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 19, 2011

Band members

Current members

(since 1995) - vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion, bass *

(since 1998) - keyboards, vocals *Jeff Luciani (since 2010) - drums *Steve Raegele (since 2015) - guitar *Rémi-Jean LeBlanc (since 2019) - bass

Past members

*Clinton Ryder (2018) - touring bass player *Tessa Kautzman (2016-2017) - touring bass player *

Rob Benvie Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob ...

(2002–2003, 2009, 2016-2017) - guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, vocals *

Patrick Krief Patrick Krief is a Canadian musician and singer-songwriter, most noted as a former guitarist for The Dears. In 2004 he appeared on MTV Canada's ''Project Moose Catch''. He was a guest on ''Jonathan Ross's'' show in 2005. In 2006, he made appear ...

(2003–2008, 2010-2015) - guitar, vocals, piano *Roberto Arquilla (1997–2000, 2010-2015) - bass * Laura Wills (2008–2009) - touring keyboards, vocals *Jason Kent (2008–2009, 2017) - touring guitar, vocals, keyboards *Christopher McCarron (2008–2009) - touring guitar player *Yann Geoffroy (2008–2009) - touring drummer, keyboards * Lisa Smith (2008–2009) - touring bass player *George Donoso III (2001–2008) - drums, vocals *Martin Pelland (2001–2007) - bass, vocals *

Valérie Jodoin Keaton Valerie Jodoin Keaton is a Canadian photographer and musician. Photography career In 2001, Valerie Jodoin Keaton earned a degree in commercial photography at Dawson's Institute of Photography. In 2009, Jodoin Keaton published a book, ''Backst ...

(2002–2007) – keyboards, flute, vocals, percussion
Jonathan Cohen
(1999–2002) - guitar *Brigitte Mayes (1999–2002) - cello, flute *Richard MacDonald (1995–1998) - guitar *John Tod (1995–2000) - drums *Andrew White (1995–1998) - bass

Timeline

ImageSize = width:850 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:115 bottom:60 top:0 right:15 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1995 till:01/01/2020 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1996 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1997 Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:Keyboards value:purple legend:Keyboards id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums id:Strings value:drabgreen legend:Strings id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_Albums LineData = at:06/13/2000 color:black layer:back at:04/15/2003 color:black layer:back at:08/29/2006 color:black layer:back at:10/20/2008 color:black layer:back at:02/15/2011 color:black layer:back at:09/15/2015 color:black layer:back at:07/14/2017 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Murray text:"Murray Lightburn" bar:Natalia text:"Natalia Yanchak" bar:Richard text:"Richard MacDonald" bar:Jonathan text:"Jonathan Cohen" bar:Rob text:"Rob Benvie" bar:Patrick text:"Patrick Krief" bar:Jason text:"Jason Kent" bar:Christopher text:"Christopher McCarron" bar:Steve text:"Steve Raegele" bar:Andrew text:"Andrew White" bar:Roberto text:"Roberto Arquilla" bar:Martin text:"Martin Pelland" bar:Lisa text:"Lisa Smith" bar:Tessa text:"Tessa Kautzman" bar:Clinton text:"Clinton Ryder" bar:Rémi-Jean text:"Rémi-Jean LeBlanc" bar:John text:"John Tod" bar:George text:"George Donoso III" bar:Yann text:"Yann Geoffroy" bar:Jeff text:"Jeff Luciani" bar:Valerie text:"Valérie Jodoin Keaton" bar:Laura text:"Laura Wills" bar:Brigitte text:"Brigitte Mayes" PlotData = width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(19,-4) bar:Murray from:start till:end color:Vocals bar:Murray from:start till:end color:Guitar width:3 bar:Natalia from:01/01/1998 till:end color:Keyboards bar:Natalia from:01/01/1998 till:end color:Vocals width:3 bar:Richard from:start till:01/01/1998 color:Guitar bar:Jonathan from:01/01/1999 till:03/01/2002 color:Guitar bar:Rob from:08/01/2002 till:06/29/2003 color:Guitar bar:Rob from:05/06/2010 till:08/11/2012 color:Keyboards bar:Rob from:05/06/2010 till:08/11/2012 color:Guitar width:3 bar:Patrick from:03/02/2004 till:10/20/2008 color:Guitar bar:Jason from:09/30/2008 till:07/26/2009 color:Guitar bar:Jason from:09/30/2008 till:07/26/2009 color:Vocals width:3 bar:Jason from:09/01/2017 till:11/30/2017 color:Guitar bar:Jason from:09/01/2017 till:11/30/2017 color:Vocals width:3 bar:Christopher from:09/30/2008 till:07/26/2009 color:Guitar bar:Patrick from:05/06/2010 till:12/17/2015 color:Guitar bar:Steve from:12/18/2015 till:end color:Guitar bar:Andrew from:01/01/1995 till:12/31/1997 color:Bass bar:Roberto from:01/01/1998 till:09/30/1999 color:Bass bar:Martin from:10/01/1999 till:07/29/2007 color:Bass bar:Roberto from:10/01/2008 till:10/20/2008 color:Bass bar:Lisa from:09/30/2008 till:02/14/2009 color:Bass bar:Lisa from:09/30/2008 till:02/14/2009 color:Keyboards width:3 bar:Rob from:04/30/2009 till:07/26/2009 color:Bass bar:Roberto from:05/06/2010 till:12/17/2015 color:Bass bar:Tessa from:01/01/2016 till:12/31/2017 color:Bass bar:Clinton from:01/01/2018 till:12/31/2018 color:Bass bar:Rémi-Jean from:01/01/2019 till:end color:Bass bar:John from:start till:09/30/1999 color:Drums bar:George from:10/01/1999 till:10/20/2008 color:Drums bar:Yann from:09/30/2008 till:07/26/2009 color:Drums bar:Jeff from:05/06/2010 till:end color:Drums bar:Valerie from:01/01/2003 till:07/29/2007 color:Keyboards bar:Laura from:09/30/2008 till:07/26/2009 color:Keyboards bar:Laura from:09/30/2008 till:07/26/2009 color:Vocals width:3 bar:Brigitte from:01/01/1999 till:07/31/2002 color:Strings

Discography

Studio albums

* 2000: ''

'' * 2003: '' No Cities Left'' (No. 127 UK)"A Completely Biased Ranking of the 60 Best Canadian Indie Rock Songs of the 00s Part II"
''Vice'', Cam Lindsay Apr 10 2017, * 2006: '' Gang of Losers'' (No. 52 CAN, No. 77 UK) * 2008: '' Missiles'' * 2011: '' Degeneration Street'' (No. 37 CAN) * 2015: ''Times Infinity Volume One'' * 2017: ''Times Infinity Volume Two'' * 2020: ''

Lovers Rock Lovers' rock is a style of reggae music noted for its romantic sound and content. While love songs had been an important part of reggae since the late 1960s, the style was given a greater focus and a name in London in the mid-1970s.Larkin, Col ...

EPs

* 2001: '' Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique'' * 2002: ''

'' * 2009: ''iTunes Live from Montreal''

Compilation albums

* 2001: '' Nor the Dahlias: The Dears 1995-1998''

Live albums

* 2004: ''

Thank You Good Night Sold Out ''Thank You Good Night Sold Out'' is a live album by The Dears, released in 2004 on MapleMusic Recordings. Track listing # "Autotomy" – 11:17 # "C'Était pour la passion" – 5:28 # "End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story" – 5:58 # "Who Are You, De ...

'' * 2012: The Dears Live at Pasagüero - Mexico City, Mexico, 2010 (digital only, released by Arts & Crafts Mexico)

Singles

* 2004: "We Can Have It" * 2004: "Lost in the Plot" * 2005: "22: The Death of All The Romance" * 2006: "Ticket to Immortality" * 2006: "Whites Only Party" * 2007: "You and I Are a Gang of Losers" * 2008: "Money Babies" * 2010: "Omega Dog" * 2011: "Thrones" * 2015: "I Used To Pray For The Heavens To Fall" * 2015: "Here's to the Death of All the Romance" * 2017: "To Hold and Have" * 2017: "Of Fisticuffs" * 2017: "1998" * 2017: "I'm Sorry That I Wished You Dead" * 2020: "The Worst In Us" * 2020: "Heart Of An Animal"

Other contributions

* Syrup & Gasoline Vol. 2 (2001, Grenadine Records) – "Le pauvre chanteur (From The South Shore)" *''Acoustic 07'' (2007,

V2 Records V2 Records (or V2 Music; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007 and sold to IASin 2013. In the Benelux, V2 operates separately from PIAS, as the label bought itself out from ...

) – "You and I Are a Gang of Losers"

Awards and nominations

*2016: '' No Cities Left'' - Shortlisted: 2016 Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize (1996-2005). *2011: '' Degeneration Street'' – Longlisted:

2011 Polaris Music Prize The 2011 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 19, 2011

. *2007: '' Gang of Losers'' – Shortlisted:

. *2007: '' Gang of Losers'' – Nominated: GAMIQ Awards – International Career, Best Indie Rock Album, Best Concert categories. *2006: '' Gang of Losers'' – Nominated: CMW

Canadian Independent Music Awards The Canadian Independent Music Awards, also known as the Independent Music Awards or Indies, are national awards presented annually to musicians to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. They were first inaug ...

– Favourite Group category. *2006: ''Whites Only Party'' – Winner: CBC Radio 3's Bucky Awards – Catchiest Beat category. *2004: '' No Cities Left'' – Nominated in First Round: New Pantheon Music Award. *2004: '' No Cities Left'' – Nominated:

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 ...

– Best New Group category. *2004: '' No Cities Left'' – Nominated: CMW Canadian Independent Music Awards – Favourite Group category. *2003: '' No Cities Left'' – Nominated:

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 a ...

– Favourite Indie Release. *2002: '' Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique'' – Winner: MIMI (Montreal Independent Music Initiative) Awards – Best Production category. *2001: ''

'' – Nominated: CMW Canadian Independent Music Awards – Best Alternative Album category. *2001: ''

'' – Nominated: MIMI (Montreal Independent Music Initiative) Awards – Best Album, Best Concert (June 2, 2000), Best Pop Artist categories.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dears, The Musical groups established in 1995 Canadian indie rock groups Musical groups from Montreal English-language musical groups from Quebec Arts & Crafts Productions artists MapleMusic Recordings artists Bella Union artists Albert Productions artists Dangerbird Records artists