The Super Friendz are a 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 from Halifax,

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 ...

. They were initially active between 1994 and 1997, before reforming in 2003. Contemporaries of Sloan, their early work was on Sloan's

Murderecords Murderecords is an independent record label that releases the music of the Canadian rock band Sloan. Originally formed in 1992 to produce just the records of that band, it later released work of other bands including Eric's Trip, The Hardship ...

label.

Career

The Super Friendz were formed in 1994 by three King's College students Charles Austin (vocals and bass), Matt Murphy (vocals and guitar), Drew Yamada (vocals and guitar). Until 1996 the band had no permanent drummer, at various times

Chris Murphy Christopher Scott Murphy (born August 3, 1973) is an American lawyer, author, and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Connecticut since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States Hou ...

(no relation to Matt) of Sloan, Cliff Gibb of

Thrush Hermit Thrush Hermit was a Canadian alternative rock band active in the 1990s, known for their "highly energetic, humorous, and unpredictable performances," as quoted by Vice News. History Thrush Hermit was formed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1992 by Jo ...

, and

Dave Marsh Dave Marsh (born March 1, 1950) is an American music critic, and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of ''Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as ''Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone (magazine), ...

filled the role until Lonnie James was chosen as a permanent member. In 1994, The Super Friendz released the cassette ''Sticktoitiveness'' independently, and the single "By Request" on Murderecords, and later toured Canada with Sloan.Michael Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack and Jason Schneider, (2011) '' Have Not Been the Same: The Can-Rock Renaissance 1985-1995''. (10th anniversary ed.)

ECW Press ECW Press is a Canadian book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named ''Essays on Canadian Writing''. They started publishing trade and scholarly book ...

. . pp. 486-488. The band's first album, ''Mock Up, Scale Down'' was released on Murderecords. The singles "10 lbs.", "Karate Man" and "Rescue Us from Boredom" were released from the album, which was a

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 ...

nominee for Alternative Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 1996. ''Mock Up, Scale Down'' was reissued in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1997 on March Records under the title ''Sticktoitiveness''. ''Mock Up, Scale Down'' was again reissued on Murderecords on vinyl as a 2xLP in 2013. In 1996 the band contributed the song "Blue Tattoo" 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 ...

'', and released the EP ''Play the Game, Not Games'' on Murderecords. The songs on ''Play the Game''—especially the contributions of Austin and Yamada—were significantly more experimental than on the album. The band's second album, ''Slide Show'', was released in early 1997. Critical response to the album was highly favourable, although some identified signs of creative tension in the album's diverse array of styles. By August, the band had broken up."Local: Super Friendz act cancelled at festival". ''

Kingston Whig-Standard ''The Kingston Whig-Standard'' is a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is published five days a week, from Tuesday to Saturday. It publishes a mix of community, national and international news and is currently owned by Postmedia. It has ...

'', August 19, 1997.

Post-breakup

Matt Murphy later re-emerged with a new band called

The Flashing Lights The Flashing Lights were a Canadians, Canadian alternative rock band, active in the late 1990s and early 2000s. History The Flashing Lights was founded by Matt Murphy (Canadian musician), Matt Murphy, as a side project, performing around Halifa ...

. He has also played with the bands City Field and

Cookie Duster Cookie Duster is a Canadian indie rock band, who were briefly active in Toronto in the late 1990s before reforming with some new members in 2012. History Originally formed in the late 1990s by Brendan Canning and Bernard Maiezza after the diss ...

, and starred in the film ''

The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico ''The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico'' is a Canadian mockumentary film released in 2005. Written and directed by Michael Mabbott, the film stars Matt Murphy, a musician previously associated with the bands The Super Friendz and The Flashing ...

''. In 2015, he formed a new band, TUNS, with Chris Murphy and Mike O'Neill. Austin and Yamada launched the project Neuseiland with

Joel Plaskett William Joel MacDonald Plaskett (born April 18, 1975) is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was a member of Halifax alternative rock band Thrush Hermit in the 1990s. Plaskett performs in a number of genres ...

, then of

. Austin is now a recording engineer and producer in Halifax, and has contributed to albums by Buck 65, Matt Mays, Joel Plaskett, Garrett Mason and many others. Yamada later toured with O'Neill and others, before leaving the music industry full-time to pursue post-secondary education. James went on to release two critically acclaimed solo records on Teenage USA, as well as recording and touring as a drummer in

Royal City Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ...

. In late December 2002, the Super Friendz came back together for a special holiday reunion. The band recorded a reunion album, ''Love Energy'', which was released in 2003. A small tour followed in September.

Discography

*''Sticktoitiveness'' (1994) *''Mock Up, Scale Down'' (1995) *''Play the Game not Games E.P.'' (1996) *''Slide Show'' (1997) *''LoveEnergy'' (2003)

References

External links

The Super Friendz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Super Friendz, The Canadian indie rock groups Murderecords artists Musical groups established in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 1997 Musical groups from Halifax, Nova Scotia Canadian power pop groups Musical groups reestablished in 2003