Tim Kingsbury (born 1977) 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 ...
musician and member of the
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
Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...
. He plays
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
,
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 ...
, and occasionally keyboards.
Early life
Kingsbury spent his early years living in and around
Guelph
Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...
,
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 ...
. He comes from a musical family; his mother Birdie was a pianist and a music director and Parkwood Gardens Community church in Guelph, and Kingsbury sang in the church choir.
After piano lessons as a child, Kingsbury stopped playing music until a friend of his mother gave him a guitar when he was fourteen. He began to teach himself to play and write music.
Kingsbury attended John F. Ross in Guelph
where he began playing in bands when he was sixteen.
Christian rock was an early influence for Kingsbury,
especially the music of pioneering American Christian rock artist
Larry Norman
Larry David Norman (April 8, 1947 – February 24, 2008) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Christian rock music and released more than 100 album ...
.
Kingsbury cites his later influences as
Pavement and Palace and
Dinosaur Jr
Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984, originally simply called Dinosaur until legal issues forced a change in name.
The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter), Lou Barlow ...
.
He played with
Gentleman Reg
Reg Vermue is a Canadian indie rock singer from Guelph, Ontario. Born in Trenton, Ontario, he has recorded music under the stage names Gentleman Reg and Regina Gently. His musical style has been compared to Elliott Smith, Aimee Mann, The Smiths ...
while in high school, only playing one show outside of Guelph.
Career
After high school, Kingsbury moved to Ottawa where he played with a number of bands such as the Killers and Geoffrey Pye, before joining Clark the band. While in Ottawa he met
Jeremy Gara
Jeremy Gara (born June 6, 1978) is a Canadian drummer from Ottawa, Ontario. He is most well known as the drummer of the band Arcade Fire. Gara is an active performer in a number of other projects, including work as a solo performer.
Career
Ga ...
. The two played together in a band in Ottawa and would later move to Montreal and play together in The New International Standards, Arcade Fire and Kingsbury's solo project, Sam Patch.
Kingsbury moved to Montreal in 2001.
Kingsbury had a hard time finding full-time work with a band and made ends meet by working as a telemarketer for a pharmaceutical company.
At the same time, he played in a number of bands, including the New International Standards.
The New International Standards included
Richard Reed Parry
Richard Reed Parry (born October 4, 1977) is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, best known as a core member of the Grammy Award-winning indie rock band Arcade Fire, where he plays a wide variety of instruments, often switching ...
,
Annesley Black and
Mike Feuerstack
Michael Feuerstack is a Canadian indie rock musician, who has been associated with the bands Wooden Stars and Snailhouse.
Snailhouse was essentially a solo project with multiple contributing artists, including Julie Doiron of Eric's Trip, with ...
. The band was active for about two years. It was Parry that brought Kingsbury into Arcade Fire.
Arcade Fire
Kingsbury began to play with Arcade Fire in 2003 after the break-up of the band's original membership. Although Kingsbury primarily plays bass in Arcade Fire, he also plays guitar and sings.
Guelph continues to be a contact for Kingsbury and the fellow members of Arcade Fire. Arcade Fire performed at Guelph’s
Hillside Festival
The Hillside Festival is an annual three-day, five-stage (including one kids' stage) summer festival occurring in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, hosting musicians, spoken word artists, workshops and more. The Hillside Festival occurs in late July on Gue ...
in 2005, a performance Sam Baijal, artistic director of Hillside, credits with giving the Festival a huge boost in popularity.
Other projects
Kingsbury also toured and recorded with Montreal band
Wolf Parade
Wolf Parade is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2003 in Montreal. The band released three full-length albums before taking a five-year hiatus in 2011. They announced their return in 2016, releasing a self-titled EP in May of that year, and a ...
as a bassist, appearing on the album the 2005 album ''
Apologies to the Queen Mary
''Apologies to the Queen Mary'' is the 2005 first full-length album by Canadian indie rock band Wolf Parade.
Background
Songwriting and vocals are split between guitarist Dan Boeckner and keyboardist Spencer Krug.
According to interviews with ...
''. He has also been involved with the bands
Clark
Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...
and The New International Standards in addition to recording as a solo artist.
Sam Patch
In August 2015 he launched a side project under the name "Sam Patch" along with fellow Arcade Fire member
Jeremy Gara
Jeremy Gara (born June 6, 1978) is a Canadian drummer from Ottawa, Ontario. He is most well known as the drummer of the band Arcade Fire. Gara is an active performer in a number of other projects, including work as a solo performer.
Career
Ga ...
and Toronto artist
Basia Bulat
Barbara Josephine Bulat (born April 13, 1984), known as Basia Bulat (), is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter. She is known for performing with an autoharp.
Early life and education
Bulat grew up in Etobicoke, Ontario where her mother was a mu ...
. He played his first show as Sam Patch at Montreal's ''Bar Le Ritz''. Kingsbury began writing music while on tour with Arcade Fire and recorded the album ''Yeah You, and I'' post-tour, with Gara, Bulat. John McEntire of the bands
Sea and Cake, and
Tortoise
Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a turtle shell, shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, ...
and fellow Tortoise member
Doug McCombs
Douglas McCombs is an American musician who plays bass and guitar with the instrumental rock band Tortoise and leads the instrumental band Brokeback. He is also the longtime bassist for the rock band Eleventh Dream Day. In 1997, he formed Pullma ...
also appear. Kingsbury named the project after an early 19th-century daredevil by the same name.
Sam Patch
Sam Patch (1799Johnson, Paul. ''Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper'' (New York: Hill and Wang, 2003) . – November 13, 1829), known as "The Jersey Jumper", "The Daring Yankee", or the "Yankee Leaper" became the first famous American daredevil after su ...
, also known as the Jersey Jumper, would jump from bridges, buildings and other heights, including the Niagara River at the base of the Falls. Patch met his death in 1829 attempting a stunt at Rochester's High Falls.
Kingsbury recorded the song "In to Trouble" for the film 2020 film ''
Pieces of a Woman
''Pieces of a Woman'' is a 2020 drama film directed by Kornél Mundruczó, from a screenplay by Kata Wéber. The film stars Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, Molly Parker, Sarah Snook, Iliza Shlesinger, Benny Safdie, Jimmie Fails, and Ellen Bursty ...
'', and in 2021 released the song as a digital single.
References
External links
Profile of Tim Kingsburyfrom an article by Elizabeth Goodman in ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsbury, Tim
1977 births
Living people
Canadian people of Scottish descent
Canadian indie rock musicians
Musicians from Guelph
Musicians from Montreal
Arcade Fire members
Male double-bassists
Grammy Award winners
Canadian rock bass guitarists
21st-century Canadian multi-instrumentalists
21st-century Canadian bass guitarists
21st-century Canadian double-bassists
21st-century Canadian guitarists
21st-century Canadian keyboardists