King Cobb Steelie 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 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 music they produc ...
band formed in 1991 from
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 C ...
,
["Sonuvafreakin' Eh!"]
''Dropd'', Review by Darren Kerr of July 18, 1997 concert in Vancouver. and later based 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 anch ...
.
The band's most successful single was 1997's "Rational",
from the album ''
Junior Relaxer''. Their music fuses elements of
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
,
grunge,
[Barclay, Michael; Schneider, Jason; Jack, Ian. ''Have Not Been the Same: The CanRock Renaissance, 1985-1995''. ECW Press, 2011] funk,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
and
dance. The core of the band is singer/songwriter Kevan Byrne and bassist Kevin Lynn. A variety of other collaborators, including Sam Cino, Al Okada, Gary Dutch, Geoff Walton, Steve Clarkson, Mike Armstrong, Nathan Lawr,
Don Pyle and
Michelle McAdorey, have contributed to individual albums.
History
In 1993 the band, named for a special kind of toy
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
, released its self-titled album, which fused
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...
with dubstep sampling.
In 1994 the band was signed to the EMI label, and released the followup album ''
Project Twinkle''.
The album received a
Juno Award nomination for
Alternative Album of the Year at the
Juno Awards of 1995.
Following ''Project Twinkle'', the band also performed a number of
improvisational shows under the pseudonym Junior Relaxer, which would become the title of their third album in 1997. The album's lead single, "Rational", was the band's biggest hit, and garnered the band a
MuchMusic Video Award
The iHeartRadio MMVAs were an annual awards show broadcast on Much to honour the year's best music videos that was last held in 2018.
Originally debuting in 1990 as the Canadian Music Video Awards, the awards were renamed in 1995 to the MuchMu ...
nomination for
Best Video at the 1997 MMVAs.
In 1999, as Junior Relaxer, the band gave a number of performances at Rancho Relaxo in Toronto.
Percussionist Robin Easton participated as drummer 14 in the
Boredoms 77 Boadrum performance which occurred on July 7, 2007 at the
Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park
Brooklyn Bridge Park is an park on the Brooklyn side of the East River in New York City. Designed by landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the park is located on a plot of land from Atlantic Avenue in the south, und ...
in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York.
That year King Cobb Steelie released an album, ''Destroy All Codes''.
After several years of only occasional activity, the band played a 20th anniversary benefit show at
Lee's Palace
Lee's Palace is a rock concert hall located on the south side of Bloor Street West east of Lippincott Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The two-floor facility in The Annex neighbourhood has a long history prior to being adapted in September 198 ...
in Toronto, Ontario on April 16, 2011 with proceeds going towards
Ontario Hands & Voices, an organisation dedicated to supporting families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing. In the fall of 2012, the band re-released ''
Project Twinkle'' on
Pheromone Recordings
Cadence Music Group, formerly MapleCore Ltd., is a music company founded in 1999 and located in Toronto, Canada. Cadence Music Group has multiple divisions, five record labels Cadence Recordings, Open Road Recordings, Pheromone Recordings, Physi ...
and performed the album live in its entirety at the
Horseshoe Tavern
The Horseshoe Tavern (known as ''The Horseshoe'', ''The 'Shoe'', The 'Toronto Tavern' and The 'Triple T' to Toronto locals) is a concert venue at 370 Queen Street West (northeast corner of Queen at Spadina) in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and ...
and at Van Gogh's Ear in Guelph as part of the Stay Out Of The Mall XI festival.
On December 12, 2013 King Cobb Steelie released ''Goodbye Arcadia'', a four-track EP. This was their first new material in nine years. That year they performed a concert in Toronto as part of the Long Winter concert series.
In April 2022, member Mike Armstrong passed away from a cardiac event.
Discography
* ''One's a Heifer b/w Duotang'' (1991)
* ''
King Cobb Steelie'' (1993)
* ''
Project Twinkle'' (1994)
* ''
Junior Relaxer'' (1997)
* ''
Mayday'' (2000)
"10 Albums That Are Perfect For A Rainy Day!!!"
''Bloody Disgusting'', By Jonathan Barkan on August 28, 2013
* '' Destroy All Codes'' (2004)
* '' Goodbye Arcadia EP'' (2013)
See also
*Music of Canada
The music of Canada reflects the diverse influences that have shaped the country. Indigenous Peoples, the Irish, British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada. The music has also subsequently been ...
*Canadian rock
Rock music of Canada is a wide and diverse part of the general music of Canada, beginning with American and British style rock and roll in the mid-20th century. Since then Canada has had a considerable impact on the development of the modern ...
*List of Canadian musicians
This is a list of Canadian musicians. Only notable individuals appear here; bands are listed at List of bands from Canada.
0-9
*347aidan - rapper
A
* Lee Aaron – jazz and rock singer-songwriter, also known as "Metal Queen"
*Abdominal – hi ...
* List of bands from Canada
* :Canadian musical groups
References
External links
*
*http://www.kingcobbsteelie.net/
{{DEFAULTSORT:King Cobb Steelie
Musical groups established in 1991
Canadian indie rock groups
Musical groups from Guelph
1991 establishments in Ontario
Canadian grunge groups