artist Charge of the Light Brigade

Well it's another new year. Before we get into some of the stuff Charge might be up to in the coming year, we thought, damn, we did some pretty awesome things in 2011. The Defiant Ones came out in February, our first full-length album. Following up on our EP We Haven't Been Properly Introduced from the summer of 2011, the album gave us a chance to really stretch out and try a lot of different things. From the alt-punk riffage of opener "Last Door Down" to the spaghetti western bombast of the closing title track, it's wide-ranging and intense. Lithium Magazine gave it a rave review, saying we had "a rugged flare for bringing raw yet melodic sounds of alternative rock to life alongside the boisterous style of indie darlings like The National and Band of Skulls. 'The Defiant Ones' also features dynamic drum beats, punchy bass lines, jagged guitars, and haunting piano passages." ExploreMusic.com picked "Young Love" for an Indie Track of the Day, and CBC Radio 3 featured "The Real Heart". Late in the year, blogger T.O. Snob chose "Desdemona" as #4 for his Best Songs of 2011. Pretty sweet, and everyone seems to have a different fave. Find out more about the year in Charge (plus pics) at Luke's blog.

Charge of the Light Brigade is playing a great benefit show this Friday, December 2nd, for Toronto's Sick Kids Foundation. It's a great opportunity to help out children experiencing all kinds of challenges. Sick Kids is a landmark hospital, one of the leading institutions for advanced care for children. While we're fortunate to be living under a public health care system, there is always more that could be done. The Foundation is involved actively in research, child health, learning and care. We're glad to be a part of what's going to be a great night. I've been lucky to be involved in a few fundraisers around Christmas over the past couple of years, and they're always a great time. This one's organized by Toronto roots rockers The Alter Kakers. There's four bands playing, and it's happening at Lee's Palace this Friday. The order is us at 9:30pm, The Alter Kakers at 10:30pm, Little Creatures at 11:30pm, and Angela Saini and the Residents at 12:30am. Hope to see ya there!

Been an interesting summer with some pretty cool gigs. Amongst other shows, Charge of the Light Brigade played a boat, and a garage, neither of which I can say I've ever done before. Photos will be up in the next few days. They were both pretty damn fun. Being out in the middle of Lake Ontario rockin' it is a wild experience, and the garage show was something I'd never done back in my punk-rock high-school band days, so it was high time we got that off the ground. Played to a pile of people wandering by on their way to the Ex on a gorgeous sunny afternoon. Good times. Right now's pretty sweet, too. Charge is in rotation on CBC Radio 3, and we've picked up some great coverage and play this summer: - Lithium Magazine called the band "Canada's next indie rock sensation" - T.O. Snob picked The Defiant Ones for his best albums of the year so far - ExploreMusic.com picked "Young Love" as a featured track - InsideToronto published a long interview with the band - An eclectic playlist as chosen by us appeared at TheArtistMixTapes.com We've got a great show coming up with Clockwise at Mitzi's Sister on Thursday, September 15th. I'm teaching myself keyboards leading up to that gig, so believe me, this one's gonna be a treat. Or completely insane. Probably both. I've dabbled with keys a little over the years, but never tried to seriously incorporate them myself into performing. Our producer Marc Koecher is such a damned good keyboardist, what with the classical training and all, that it seemed silly to even try. But he's a busy man, and keys-types are a rare commodity out there these days. So what's a singer-guitar-slinger to do but add one more weapon to the arsenal? Mastering the art of switch-hitting between guitar and keys is the most challenging part, even more than singing with keys actually. But it's loads of fun, too, and opening up some new avenues for our songs. Can't wait to break this stuff out for real. Cya there!

We're playing Velvet Underground Saturday, May 1st. The show's gonna be a lot of fun. It's the band's first weekend gig, and we won't have another one for a little while as our bassist Jason is getting married and trooping off to Europe with his blushing bride.That Saturday's gonna be mad hectic. Zack's pulling a Toronto Phil Collins that night, playing first over at the Drake with Bella Clava before boarding his private jet to fly over to the Velvet for our set an hour later. The man, as you doubtless already know, is a machine. And at our show, Jason's gonna be pulling double-duty as well, playing with us and first with guests Clockwise. They'll be awesome, breaking out a set of pure power-pop before they head to the UK to play the International Pop Overthrow festival in Liverpool. There they'll be playing the legendary Cavern Club.... how cool is that? And their Velvet performance will top off a day of recording a wicked new track. And the next day, the Brigade boys head into the studio ourselves, pressing relentlessly forward on our debut full-length, The Defiant Ones.Phew.Everybody's working for the weekend, indeed.