Major Maker is 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 ...

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, formed in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 2006 by

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n-born

Todor Kobakov Todor Kobakov (born September 19, 1978) is a Bulgarian-Canadian composer, producer, arranger and pianist based in Toronto, Ontario. He is best known for his solo piano album Pop Music, his commercial and film scores and for his collaborations with ...

and singer-songwriter Lindy Vopnfjörð.

History

Founding

Their track "Rollercoaster" was used in a Maynards candy commercial, which led the company to be inundated with requests for the name of the band. The commercial was viewed more than 77,000 times on

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 ...

and was written about in the ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

'' and in ''

Marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

'' magazine. The duo wrote the song initially for the 30-second ad, calling it "Maynards Candy Song", but after its popularity they wrote two-and-a-half minutes more of the song, retitled it, and released it for digital download in July 2007. The single "Rollercoaster" entered Billboard's Canadian Hot 100 Chart and peaked at number 57 after 12 weeks on the chart. They also licensed the song "Talk to You" to

Telus Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voi ...

, which was unreleased until Lindy Vopnfjörð uploaded the song on his YouTube channel.

''All Illusion'' (2006)

Their 2006 debut full-length release ''All Illusion'' was recorded and mixed in Kobakov's house. Their 2007 EP ''People Carrier'' includes two remixes of "Rollercoaster", one by

Small Sins Small Sins, formerly The Ladies and Gentlemen, is the Toronto-based indie rock act of Thomas D'Arcy. The project's studio recordings are mainly created by D'Arcy with the aid of synthesizers, and then performed on stage by the full band. History D ...

and one by Sofia Scandalli.

Members

Kobakov, who by age 20 had completed a music performance degree in classical piano at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, has written film scores, including for the movie ''

Young People Fucking ''Young People Fucking'' (distributed as ''YPF'' in US and UK markets) is a 2008 Canadian sex comedy film directed by Martin Gero, who co-wrote it with Aaron Abrams. The film's story is told in a linear fashion, alternating through a series of si ...

''. He has done string arrangements for such artists as

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 ...

and

Sarah Slean Sarah Hope Slean (born June 21, 1977) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, composer and musician. She has released eleven albums to date (including EPs and live albums). She is also a poet, visual artist, and occasional actress. Career Major recordi ...

. He has also toured as part of the live band for Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton and Small Sins. Separately, Kobakov has released three albums under the name Cy Scobie, and a classical piano album called ''Pop Music''. Vopnfjörð has also released several solo albums, most recently ''Young Waverer'' in 2013. He has played all over Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom throughout his career. He achieved his first number one single on

CBC Radio 3 CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music. The service, which lanuc ...

's ''

The R3-30 CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music. The service, which lanu ...

'' charts in May 2013. For live shows, Kobakov and Vopnfjörð are joined by

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 ...

Thomas D'Arcy Thomas D'Arcy is a Canadian singer and songwriter born in Guernsey, Channel Islands. D'Arcy's family immigrated to Toronto, Ontario in 1981. He has been a member of indie rock bands The Carnations, All Systems Go!, Small Sins, Another Blue Do ...

of Small Sins,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ist

Ian LeFeuvre Ian LeFeuvre is a Canadian musician, record producer and songwriter. Early career He was initially a member of the Ottawa alternative rock band Fun for Malakaï in the early 1990s, until the band broke up when drummer Peter von Althen moved to Tor ...

of Starling, guitarist Steve Krecklo of

The Carnations The Carnations were a Canadian indie rock band started in 1995 by Thomas D'Arcy on lead vocals and bass, and Stephen Krecklo on vocals and guitar. It expanded in 1996 to include Nathan Rekker on guitar and vocals, and Patrick Conan on drums. H ...

, 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 ...

John Ocerbian from

Sarah Harmer Sarah Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist. Early life Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musician's lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sist ...

's band.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

official site *
Major Maker
on

{{Authority control Canadian indie rock groups Musical groups established in 2006 Musical groups from Toronto 2006 establishments in Ontario