The band was discovered when Brad Roberts recorded a demo of his original songs and sent the demo tape to a producer of a Canadian music festival. From there, the tape was passed on to A&R people in Canada, which led to a bidding war. After signing with BMG Records…
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Produced by John Leckie and mixed by Leckie and engineer Gareth Cousins, These Days , released in 1991, found the band experimenting with a harder rock sound, and spawned the band’s highest-charting singles, “I Am Here” and “You May Be Right”. It received the 1992 CASBY Award for Favourite Album,…
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The band continued to tour in the 1990s, although many line-up changes continued to occur, with only Dee and Grehan remaining as the consistent members. Sass Jordan bassist Stan Miczek joined in 1998 for the first of his 3 two-year stints with the band.
Although the band was popular on college radio in the United States, they never had a commercial breakthrough, and Warner dropped 54-40 in 1990. In 1991, the band released the compilation album, Sweeter Things . Also during that year, the band signed a deal with Sony and released Dear Dear…
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Though Sold for a Smile was a minor commercial success (with the “Downtime” video receiving substantial play at MuchMusic ), the album would be the band’s last, as the grunge/alternative movement of the 1990s faded in popularity. They would announce their breakup in 2000.
The band’s song ” I Go Blind ” was covered in the mid-1990s by American band Hootie & the Blowfish , and the cover was featured on the first soundtrack to the TV series Friends . The song also appears on two compilations released by the band: 2000’s Scattered, Smothered…
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Chokehold was formed in 1990 in Hamilton. Their first release More Than Ever was in 1991. This was followed in 1992 by a split EP with Crisis of Faith and the Life Goes On EP. Their rise in popularity paralleled that of other vegan straight edge bands such as Earth…
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One of their first shows was at a school Christmas concert in 1990
The brother duo of drummer Christian and guitarist Jagori Tanna met vocalist Edwin at their shared rehearsal space in 1990. Edwin asked the brothers to form a band with him, and the three came together in 1991, taking on Franz Masini as a bass player. The band came up with…
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Helix began the 1990s with Back for Another Taste , which Doerner contributed songwriting and guitar parts to. On tour, Helix brought in their first American member, Denny Balicky. As a touring member, Balicky was not featured in any of their music videos, but he did make significant appearances in…
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