The Balconies were a Canadian
alternative music Alternative music may refer to the following types of music:
*Alternative rock
*Alternative pop
*Alternative R&B
*Neo soul, sometimes known as alternative soul
*Alternative reggaeton
*Alternative hip hop
*Alternative dance
*Alternative metal
*Chris ...
trio formed in
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
,
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 Ca ...
. The band originally consisted of siblings
Jacquie and Steve Neville, and Liam Jaeger. The group has performed with bands such as
Cold War Kids
Cold War Kids is an American alternative rock band from Long Beach, California. Band members are Nathan Willett (vocals, piano, guitar), Matt Maust (bass guitar), David Quon (guitar, backing vocals), Matthew Schwartz (keyboards, backing vocals, ...
,
Mother Mother
Mother Mother is a Canadian indie rock band based in Quadra Island, British Columbia. The band consists of Ryan Guldemond on guitar and vocals, Molly Guldemond and Jasmin Parkin on vocals and keyboard, Ali Siadat on drums, and Mike Young on ba ...
,
Devo
Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...
,
Peter Bjorn and John
Peter Bjorn and John are a Swedish indie pop/rock band formed in Stockholm in 1999, named after the first names of the band's members: Peter Morén (vocals, guitar and harmonica), Björn Yttling (bass guitar, keyboards and vocals) and John Eriks ...
,
USS,
Sloan,
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 ...
,
Wide Mouth Mason
Wide Mouth Mason is a Canadian blues-based rock band, consisting of Shaun Verreault (Lead Vocals, Guitar) and Safwan Javed (Percussion, Backing Vocals). Former bassist Earl Pereira was also co-founder of Wide Mouth Mason. The band hails from S ...
,
Big Sugar,
Tokyo Police Club
Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2005, it consists of vocalist and bassist Dave Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook, and drummer Greg Alsop. The band found early success with the ...
,
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilitie ...
, and
Sam Roberts Band
Sam Roberts (born October 2, 1974) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has released seven
albums. His debut EP '' The Inhuman Condition'', reached the Canadian charts in 2002. He and his bandmates have released three albums as Sam Roberts a ...
.
History
Jacquie and Stephen Neville had been playing music together since their early teens. Jacquie first met Liam Jaeger at the
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...
in 2005 while they were both studying classical music. The group formed in late 2007. They released their self-titled debut album in 2009. It was recorded and produced by Carlin Nicholson of
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D ...
. They played in Ottawa bars, and later their music changed, as they did, maybe they just grew up.
In late 2010, the band relocated to
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 ...
. That same year, the Balconies won
Live 88.5's
Big Money Shot which gave them a development package of $75,000, workshops with other music industry leaders, radio airplay, and numerous performance opportunities. Upon winning the development package, The Balconies were able to work with recording producer/engineer
Jon Drew
Jon Drew is a Canadian record producer and recording engineer based in Toronto, Ontario. He has produced the albums of Polaris Music Prize winning band Fucked Up and Juno Award nominated Tokyo Police Club. He has also worked on the albums of Can ...
to record and release an EP titled ''Kill Count'' in 2012. During this time, the band also played at several North American music festivals such as
South by Southwest
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 Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...
,
Canadian Music Week
Canadian Music Week (or CMW) is an industry conference and music festival held over ten days in Toronto and Ontario, Canada.
History
Canadian Music Week began in 1981 and has grown to become one of Canada's largest and most influential media a ...
,
North by Northeast
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 mark ...
,
Ottawa Bluesfest
Ottawa Bluesfest is an annual outdoor music festival that takes place each July in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. While the festival's lineup historically focused on blues music at its inception, it has increasingly showcased mainstream pop, ...
, and Culture Collide.
In 2013, The Balconies played a series of notable European music festivals including
MIDEM
Midem is the acronym for Marché International du Disque et de l'Édition Musicale, which is organised annually in and around the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France. The trade show, organized by Reed MIDEM, a subsidiary of Re ...
,
Liverpool Sound City
Liverpool Sound City is an annual music festival and industry conference in Liverpool, England. Founded in 2008 by Dave Pichilingi (also founder of Modern Sky UK), Sound City was located in Liverpool City Centre venues, such as The Kazimier, T ...
, and
The Great Escape Festival
The Great Escape Festival is a three-day music festival held in Brighton and Hove, England every year in May. It is operated by MAMA Festivals and showcases new music from a variety of genres. The festival was founded in 2006 and roughly hosts ...
. The Balconies also continued to tour Europe that year, opening for rock band,
Rival Sons
Rival Sons is an American rock band formed in Long Beach, California, in 2009. The band consists of Jay Buchanan (lead vocals), Scott Holiday (guitar), Dave Beste (bass guitar) and Michael Miley (drums). They are joined by keyboard player To ...
. The band's second album, ''Fast Motions'', produced by
Arnold Lanni
Arnold David Lanni (born May 4, 1956) is a Canadian record producer and former member of Frōzen Ghōst and Sheriff. He wrote Sheriff's most successful song, " When I'm with You."
History
Lanni was a founding member of Canadian rock band Sher ...
, was released via Coalition Music/
Warner Music Canada
Warner Music Canada is the Canadian division of Warner Music Group. The label previously operated as WEA Music of Canada, Ltd. (French: ''WEA Musique du Canada, Ltée''), often shortened to WEA Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of WEA Internationa ...
on January 28, 2014.
The Balconies appeared in an episode of
CBC's ''
Cracked
Cracked may refer to: Television
* ''Cracked'' (British TV series), a 2008 British comedy-drama television series that aired on STV
* ''Cracked'' (Canadian TV series), a 2013 Canadian crime drama series that aired on CBC
* "Cracked", a Season 8 ( ...
''. The episode features the band getting caught in a shooting at a downtown nightclub. The episode aired October 7, 2013.
Shortly after Stephen Neville left the group in 2016, The Balconies released their third album, ''Rhonda''.
In late 2017, The Balconies announced that they were dissolving their act on their 10th anniversary. Along with a series of final concerts in Toronto and Ottawa, they also put out a previously unreleased studio album, ''Show You'' (recorded in 2012), and did a re-release of their 2009 debut album. They played their final show at The 27 Club in Ottawa on February 3, 2018.
In 2018, Jacquie Neville announced that while the band would no longer tour, the members would be moving more towards music production working under the name The Balconies Collective.
Members
*Jacquie Neville – guitar, vocals
(2007—2018)
*Liam Jaeger – drums, guitar, vocals
(2007—2018)
*Stephen Neville — bass
(2007—2016)
Discography
Albums
*''The Balconies'' (2009)
*''Fast Motions'' (2014)
*''Rhonda'' (2016)
*''Show You'' (2017)
Singles and EPs
*''Kill Count'' (2012)
*"Kill Count (French Version)" (2012)
*"Do It in the Dark" (2012)
*"Money Money" (2016)
*"War" (2016)
*"Rhonda" (2016)
Music videos
*"Do It in the Dark" (2012)
*"The Slo" (2013)
*"Good and Ugly" (2014)
*"Boys and Girls (2014)
References
External links
FacebookTwitterYouTubeInstagramBandcamp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balconies, The
Canadian alternative rock groups
Musical groups from Ottawa
Musical groups established in 2007
Musical groups disestablished in 2018
2007 establishments in Ontario
2018 disestablishments in Ontario