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The Weakerthans | |
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 The Weakerthans performing in Winnipeg, 2007 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Winnipeg,Manitoba, Canada |
| Genres | Indie rock,folk rock,alternative,post-punk,emo |
| Years active | 1997–2014 (on hiatus) |
| Labels | Epitaph,ANTI-,G7 Welcoming Committee,Sub City,B.A. Records |
| Members | John K. Samson Jason Tait Stephen Carroll Greg Smith |
| Past members | John P. Sutton |
| Website | The Weakerthans at theWayback Machine (archived September 30, 2020) |
The Weakerthans are a Canadianindie rock band fromWinnipeg. The band, led byJohn K. Samson, has released four studio albums and is currently inactive.
The band was formed in 1997 inWinnipeg,Manitoba byJohn K. Samson, after he left the punk bandPropagandhi to start a publishing company. Samson joined bassist John P. Sutton and drummerJason Tait of Red Fisher, another band from Winnipeg's punk scene,[1] and created The Weakerthans as a vehicle for a more melodic and introspective brand of songwriting than their previous projects.
The origin of the band's name was explained, in 2004 by Samson, as having come from "a few places." One was a line from the 1992 filmThe Lover: "Go ahead, I'm weaker than you can possibly imagine." Another was a line from Ralph Chaplin's union anthem "Solidarity Forever": "What force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one?" The band includes this line in the song "Pamphleteer" from the albumLeft and Leaving.[2]
The band's debut album,Fallow, was released in 1997 onG7 Welcoming Committee Records, and garnered positive reviews from Canadian music critics.[3] GuitaristStephen Carroll, formerly ofPainted Thin, subsequently joined the band, andLeft and Leaving was released in 2000.
In 2003, the band moved toEpitaph Records and releasedReconstruction Site. The album was met with positive reviews[4] from Canadian and international critics for its ambitious combination of punk, rock, folk, country andsonnets. It also became the band's best-selling record to date, and in September appeared on the !earshot National Top 50 Chart as a result of significant airplay on Canadian radio.[5] It was the second Weakerthans album to be produced byIan Blurton.
Sutton, who played on the band's first three albums, left in August 2004 and was replaced byGreg Smith.
In 2005,Left and Leaving was named one of the ten best Canadian albums of all time inChart magazine's reader poll.[6] In the same poll, Samson wrote the capsule review for another top ten finisher,The Lowest of the Low'sShakespeare My Butt, which he cited as a major influence on his own music.
Reunion Tour was released on September 25, 2007 in North America byEpitaph andANTI-. The band released a video for "Civil Twilight", which consisted of a single, unbroken camera shot of the band on aWinnipeg Transit city bus.[7]
Epitaph also re-released the Weakerthans' first two albums,Fallow andLeft and Leaving, in Canada on November 6, 2007.[8]
In February 2009, the band participated inBarenaked Ladies' annual Ships and Dip cruise.[9] In a subsequent interview withCanwest News Service, Samson clarified that the band would be taking some downtime over the summer of 2009 before deciding when to start working on their next album.[9] Shortly afterward, Samson announced a series of solo 7" releases about Manitoba roads, which he planned to release over the next 18 months. The first,City Route 85, was released on October 30, 2009 throughEpitaph andANTI-.[10] After a second EP,Provincial Road 222, in 2010, the project instead evolved into Samson's first official solo album,Provincial.
In January 2010, the band announced that they would release a live album,Live at the Burton Cummings Theatre, on March 23.[11] At the same time, they also announced that they were recording material withJim Bryson for his albumThe Falcon Lake Incident, which was released on October 19, 2010.[12] In the same year, they were the subject ofCaelum Vatnsdal's documentary filmWe're the Weakerthans, We're from Winnipeg.[13]
In July 2015, media began to report that Tait had announced the band's breakup onTwitter.[14] The band's social media accounts have been updated in accordance to the claims, defining themselves as "cryogenically frozen". Both Tait and Smith collaborated on Samson's 2016 solo albumWinter Wheat, which Samson described as feeling in some respects like a new Weakerthans album.[15]
TheGimlet Media podcastHeavyweight, launched in 2016, brought fresh attention to the band by selecting "Sun In An Empty Room" from the albumReunion Tour as the show's theme and closing music.
Reunion Tour debuted at No. 22 on theNielsen SoundScan chart for Canada in its first week of release, and at No. 4 on the alternative/modern rock chart. The album reached No. 181 on the United StatesBillboard 200.
The Weakerthans became the first band in the history ofCBC Radio 3'sR3-30 charts to reach No. 1 with two different songs. The band's cover ofRheostatics' "Bad Time to Be Poor" reached No. 1 the week of June 21, 2007, and "Civil Twilight", the lead single fromReunion Tour, hit the top spot the week of November 15, 2007. As of 2009, "Civil Twilight" remains tied withArcade Fire's "Black Mirror" as the longest-running No. 1 in that chart's history. "Civil Twilight" was also the No. 1 song inThe R3-30's year-end Top 100 chart for 2007.
MacKinnon and Poirier also have their own band,FemBots, and were previously associated with the bands Dig Circus and Hummer. Both Bryson and Fellows are solo artists in addition to touring with The Weakerthans; Fellows and Samson are married. Matyas is a member of the bandsThe Waking Eyes andImaginary Cities.
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