Empire Lights is a catalogue of songs performed by various combinations of musicians scattered between Stratford, Toronto and Montreal. Among the most active contributors are Tavo Diez de Bonilla, Matt Hartney, Andrew Johnston and Francois Turenne. The album Disgraceland was made while no one was looking.
archipelagos play fervent rock and roll, fiery lamentations, drunken hymns. They write songs with the heart of the forest floor and play them with the frenzied soul of the city.
They recorded their first record, Battles & Scars, over 5 freezing days in February 2007 at the Treatment Room in Montreal. After its release they toured all over eastern Canada, from Waterloo to Cape Breton.
archipelagos are set to release a TOUR E.P. this August to coincide with their upcoming cross-Canada tour, with limited copies being made. The new TOUR E.P will have three NEW songs from their as yet untitled L.P. which will be finished in January 2009! The TOUR E.P. will also have three songs off of last year’s record Battles & Scars.
I suppose that music has always been a large part of my life. As a child I was blessed to have a father who played great music. The likes of Paul Simon, Dylan, The Pretenders, Tom Pettty and the HeartBreakers, Miles Davis and many more resonated through the walls of our Kitchener-Waterloo home. I always knew that music would be something I would do, but I never expected it would take me the places that it has. Over the past decade or so, I have had the opportunity to tour Canada, The United States, and a small portion of Europe ( Secifically Belgium, Holland). Burt Neilson Band was the vehicle which took me to many of these places, but my heart has always been with the acoustic guitar, which is what I mostly concentrate on today…