biographical info
Fireweed began in the small Eastern Ontario town of Killaloe in 1992. The original Fireweed comprised of Jayson Bradshaw (vocals and acoustic guitar), Steve Gutoskie (electric and lead guitar), Chris Serratore (drums), and Bob Coulas (bass).
The release of their debut CD 'The Drinking Man' in 1994, brought the band positive press and considerable radio play across Canada (including our beloved CBC and DNTO) for their stark and honest portrayal of life in small town Canada. Building on the song writing and vocals of Jayson Bradshaw, the band delivered a fresh sound amongst the grunge-soaked musical landscape of the time.
Fireweed played extensively in the Ottawa valley and throughout Central Canada at fine establishments such as The El Macombo (Toronto), The Black Sheep Inn (Wakefield, PQ), and Zaphod Beeblebrox (Ottawa). As well, the band has had the pleasure of sharing stages with great Canadian bands like Blue Rodeo and The Pursuit of Happiness. However, the band enjoyed their hometown shows back in the Valley the most - and being adopted by our white water paddling community.
'The Drinking Man' CD has been out of print for several years - we hope you enjoy the music.
After a few years apart in the late 90s, Fireweed reformed and continues to play today with an altered line-up (see our Facebook group - search Fireweed - for more information and music). With this new line-up, The Fireweed Company released its follow-up CD 'As Long as you Know'. Along with Jayson and Steve from the original band, the new line-up includes Rob Bersan on bass and Mike Madigan on drums. We hope you also enjoy our follow-up CD which we are posting on CBC Radio 3 in the Fall of 2010.
We will likely stay pretty quiet during the winter months as we work on our next project of which we're very excited about. Stay tuned for something completely different!
Enjoy - and thanks for listening.
Fireweed
keywords: Pembroke, Barry's Bay, Wilno, Combermere, Ottawa