Rusty is a Canadian

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 1994 in

Toronto 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 ...

, Ontario, Canada. The band earned a 1996

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 in the category Best Alternative Album for ''Fluke''.

History

Rusty's origins are in One Free Fall, a band from

Wolfville Wolfville is a Canadian town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, located about northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax. The town is home to Acadia University and Landmark East School. The town is a tourist destination du ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

who moved to Toronto in 1988. That band's core members were vocalist Ken MacNeil, guitarist Sandy Graham, bassist Jim Moore and drummer Bob Vespaziani. That band signed to independent label

Handsome Boy Records Handsome Boy Records was a Canadian independent record label founded in 1994 in Toronto.Art Bergmann Arthur Frank Bergmann (born February 8, 1953 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who was one of the key figures in Canadian punk rock in the late 1970s.Michael Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack and Jason Schneider, '' Have ...

on a cover of "Prisoners of Rock 'n Roll" for the

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

tribute album '' Borrowed Tunes: A Tribute to Neil Young'', but broke up in 1994 before achieving any notable success. Following their breakup, MacNeil, Moore and Vespaziani joined with former

Doughboys Doughboy was a popular nickname for the American infantryman during World War I. Though the origins of the term are not certain, the nickname was still in use as of the early 1940s. Examples include the 1942 song "Johnny Doughboy Found a Rose in ...

member Scott McCullough to form Rusty, and recorded the EP ''Wake Me'' in 1994. A video for the song "Wake Me" would become a minor hit 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 ...

. Released on Handsome Boy Records, the EP was popular on Canadian

campus radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produce ...

, and led to a major label distribution deal with

BMG Records Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music com ...

for their full-length album ''Fluke'' in July 1995. Vespaziani left the group and was replaced by Mitch Perkins. Led by the hit single "Misogyny", which featured a video consisting of clips from Canadian filmmaker

Bruce LaBruce Bruce LaBruce (born January 3, 1964) is a Canadian artist, writer, filmmaker, photographer, and underground director based in Toronto. Life and career LaBruce was born in Tiverton, Ontario. He has claimed both Justin Stewart and Bryan Bruce as ...

's film ''

Hustler White ''Hustler White'' is a 1996 film by Bruce LaBruce and Rick Castro, a satirical black sex comedy about gay hustlers and their customers on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. It stars Tony Ward and LaBruce in an addition to the Q ...

'' as well as Canadian singer

Danko Jones Danko Jones is a Canadian hard rock trio from Toronto. The band consists of Danko Jones (vocals/guitar), John 'JC' Calabrese (bass), and Rich Knox (drums).Fluke Fluke may refer to: Biology * Fluke (fish), a species of marine flatfish * Fluke (tail), the lobes of the tail of a cetacean, such as dolphins or whales, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ...

'' was the band's commercial breakthrough, also spawning the single "California", and earning a

nomination for Best Alternative Album. The album was 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 ...

, who also played guitar on the tracks "Groovy Dead" and "California". In 1996, the band contributed a cover of "Let's Break Robert Out of Jail" to the compilation album ''

A Tribute to Hard Core Logo ''A Tribute to Hard Core Logo'' is a 1996 album, which was released as an unofficial soundtrack to Bruce McDonald's film '' Hard Core Logo''."Rock albums don't need movies they were written for". ''The Province'', December 5, 1996. The film is a ...

''. Also in 1996 the song "Punk" was included on soundtrack to Chris Farley's movie ''

Black Sheep In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more comm ...

''. The band's follow-up album, ''Sophomoric'', was released in February 1997, including the singles "Empty Cell" and "Oh No Joe". Perkins left the band that year and was replaced by former

Bootsauce Bootsauce was a Juno Award-winning Canadian rock band based in Montreal. The band was composed of Drew Ling (real name Drew Thorpe) (vocals), Pere Fume (real name Perry Johnson) (guitar), Sonny Greenwich Jr. (guitar), Alan Baculis (bass guitar), ...

drummer John Lalley. Perkins left the group due to creative differences and released an electronic album independently with Andrew Massey under the name "Blu Pernu". This year the band also contributed a cover of "Scratches And Needles" by

The Nils The Nils are a Montreal punk rock band formed in 1978 by Alex Soria. The Nils first gained local notoriety upon the 1982 release of a five-song demo entitled ''Now''. Their self-titled debut album was released to critical acclaim in 1987, and e ...

to the compilation album "Scratches & Needles - A Tribute to the Nils" from Magwheel Records. In 1998, Rusty released their third full-length album, ''Out of Their Heads''. In May 1999, it was revealed that the band had broken up. The band played their farewell show on November 25, 2000 at The Opera House in Toronto.

Reunion, new album

In 2011, Rusty reunited for the 2011

NXNE North by Northeast (or NXNE) is an annual music and arts festival held each June in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival's main focus is live music, but it also includes an eSports gaming tournament, comedy, a conversations series, a flea marke ...

festival. The band continued to perform occasional shows in the following years. In December 2017, the band launched a crowdfunding for a new album through

PledgeMusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...

. The band released the new album, titled ''Dogs of Canada'', on June 23, 2018."Rusty Return with Their First Album in 20 Years"
''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', June 29, 2018.

Discography

Albums

* ''

Fluke Fluke may refer to: Biology * Fluke (fish), a species of marine flatfish * Fluke (tail), the lobes of the tail of a cetacean, such as dolphins or whales, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ...

'' (1995) * ''Sophomoric'' (1997) * ''Out of Their Heads'' (1998) * ''Dogs of Canada'' (2018)

EPs

* ''Fluke'' (1994)

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rusty Canadian alternative rock groups Musical groups from Toronto Musical groups established in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 2000 1994 establishments in Ontario 2000 disestablishments in Ontario