Zeus is a

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 ...

-based 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 signed to the Arts & Crafts record label. Its members include Rob Drake, Carlin Nicholson, Mike O'Brien, and Neil Quin. The band have released three albums and one EP since 2009. They have also served as the backing band for Canadian musician

Jason Collett Jason Collett is a Toronto-based Canadian singer-songwriter. He has released six solo studio albums, and is a former member of Broken Social Scene. His latest album, ''Song & Dance Man'', was released in February, 2016. Early life Collett was bo ...

History

O'Brien and Nicholson were childhood friends from

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...

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 ...

, and played in one another's first bands along with Afie Jurvanen. When Jurvanen was recruited by producer

Howie Beck Howie Beck is a Canadian musician, mixer and producer based in Toronto, Ontario. He has been nominated for three Juno Awards in Canada on three occasions for Adult Alternative Album, Engineer of the Year and Producer of the Year (2017). History Be ...

to play guitar for

, Jurvanen brought along O'Brien and Nicholson, who had learned Collett's album ''Idols of Exile'' in its entirety before their audition. The band he brought to Collett, which called itself "Paso Mino" consisted of Jurvanen, Michael P. Clive, and current Zeus members O'Brien and Drake, with Nicholson commonly acting as sound technician. After several years performing behind Collett, as well as performing original material and releasing the album ''Good People'', Paso Mino dissolved when Michael P. Clive left the band to pursue a career as a professional chef, and Jurvanen began a new solo project under the name "

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

". O'Brien and Nicholson began recording together, joined for the original sessions by Dave Azzolini, Jess Grassia and Taylor Knox (The Golden Dogs). Their personal history went back to high school when they formed the band The 68's. Neil Quin (ex-The Golden Dogs) was soon added, completing the Zeus lineup. The members of Zeus continue as Collett's backing band. and toured with Jurvanen in a revue style tour Bonfire Ball Revue, when he described Zeus as sounding like The Band behind Collett, and sounding like

Crazy Horse Crazy Horse ( lkt, Tȟašúŋke Witkó, italic=no, , ; 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota war leader of the Oglala band in the 19th century. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by wh ...

behind Bahamas".

Releases

Their debut EP ''Sounds Like Zeus'' was released by Arts & Crafts in June 2009, and includes a cover of the

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 ...

song " That's All". The band's debut album, ''Say Us'', was released 23 February 2010. A

vinyl LP The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

was released two weeks ahead of the CD release. ''Say Us'' was included on the 2010 Polaris Music Prize long list, but failed to advance to the short list. In March 2010, the band performed at the

SxSW Music Festival 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 ...

with long-time collaborators

and

. The band released two 7" singles, "Hot Under The Collar" b/w "Aeroplane" (7 December 2010) and "Permanent Scar" b/w "The Darkness" (12 April 2011). The second album ''Busting Visions'' was released in March 2012 entered the album charts at number 73 in Canada. It was preceded by the single "Are You Gonna Waste My Time?". Zeus' third full-length album ''Classic Zeus'' was released on Arts & Crafts on 2 September 2014.

Band members

* Rob Drake (2009–present) * Carlin Nicholson (2009–present) * Mike O'Brien (2009–present) * Neil Quin (2009–present)

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

:1. "Hot Under the Collar"

References

External links

Zeus
official site at Arts & Crafts {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeus Musical groups established in 2009 Musical groups from Toronto Canadian indie rock groups Arts & Crafts Productions artists 2009 establishments in Ontario