The Warped 45s

THE WARPED 45s

Ryan Wayne McEathron and Dave McEathron grew up together in small town Ontario and the gritty authenticity of the songwriting of these first cousins can be traced to their family background. Dave and Ryan weren’t city kids who learned late to love and appreciate Gram Parsons. They have deep rural and blue collar roots (Ryan’s father was a truck driver, his grandfather a union leader at the General Motors plant in Oshawa), and their families were very musical.

To the McEathron clan, family jams meant musical gatherings, not home-made preserves. Jam sessions at their ancestral cabin near Algonquin Park had a huge impact on both Dave and Ryan. “When I was young I couldn’t wait to play guitar so I could play along with everybody,” recalls Ryan. “Then you want to get good enough that you can actually sing a song in front of all these people.” The thrilling vocal harmonies that are a signature of The Warped 45s, on disc and in performance, can in part be traced to these exuberant sing-a-long sessions.

The pair’s subsequent blue-collar work experiences also lend the ring of truth to songs like “(Bring on that) New Depression” and “Progress.” In the latter song, Dave convincingly adopts the persona of a worker at a garbage dump, and its timely observation that “we don’t build nothing and we call that the new economy” is perhaps the best socio-economic critique you’ll hear this year.

The previous solo songwriting experience of both Dave and Ryan has clearly stood them in good stead. Dave has extensive gigging and two solo albums under his belt (1999’s self-titled debut and 2007’s Passers By, Passers Through), while Ryan wrote and recorded his album (2007, Don’t Settle) during a two year stint in Australia.

The Warped 45s began in 2007 as a collaboration between Dave and Ryan, both singer/songwriter/guitarists. They soon joined forces with keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Kevin Hewitt, drummer Hamal Finn Roye and bassist Alex Needleman (who replaced original member Mark Gabriel). The new five piece roots rock / alt country band quickly developed a layered but warmly accessible sound, with multiple voices, harmonies, and diverse instrumentation.

A mere seven months later, (May 2008), The Warped 45s released their self titled debut EP, engineered, mixed and produced by John Critchley (Elliot Brood/ Dan Mangan). The six song EP scored rave reviews, garnered strong college radio airplay in Canada and the U.S., and had Exclaim! and Toronto’s EYE Weekly citing them as “Destined for Greatness in 2009.”

Arguably, 2009 was indeed a “great” year for the band. Spring 2009, The Warped 45s returned to the studio with producer John Critchley to record their first full length effort. In June, the band won the NXNE Roger’s Fan Choice award. They bought a van with the $10, 000 prize, toured the east coast of Canada, and signed with indie label Pheromone Recordings for a September 1 release of the new album titled 10 Day Poem for Saskatchewan, distributed in Canada by Fontana North.

This is a band with a formidable arsenal of musical weapons, as they feature four vocalists, two songwriters, and multiple multi-instrumentalists (how many groups do you know that include three mandolin players?). To further expand the widescreen sound of 10 Day Poem For Saskatchewan, they recruited such talented friends as Romney Getty and Annelise Noronha (backing vocals), J.P.Desaulniers and Alex Cheung (violin), Craig Smith (dobro), Andrew Penner of Sunparlour Players (lap steel) and award winning jazz trumpeter Brownman.

Fall 2009, while the record climbed the college charts and enjoyed play on CBC Radio One, Two and Three and other stations, the band flexed their touring muscles further.  They played extensively in Ontario, with bands like Elliot Brood and Drive By Truckers, then hit the road, driving west for the first time; 20 shows in 22 days, and came home to find 10 Day poem made a number of year end lists, including Exclaim’s top 10 records list.

The Warped 45s continue to build momentum in 2010. They graced their first magazine cover (View Mag) in January and earned more rave reviews from prestigious music magazines like Americana UK. The “Radio Sky” video, directed by Vincent Scotti, was picked up in February by CMT’s Wide Open Country and songs like “Why oh Why” and “”Radio Sky” are in radio rotation across the country and beyond, including CBC Radio Two Drive and Shore 104.5 in Vancouver. March 2010 saw The Warped 45s back on the East Coast, June saw the band touring extensively in the West, returning home to play The Hillside Music Festival and other great festivals this summer. November has The Warped 45s heading West on tour again, before settling into the studio to record their sophomore album in January 2011.

For more information, contact:

Email :       info@thewarped45s.com

Publicist:   Kat Stewart at MapleMusic Recordings                   tel 416 961 1040 x 277
Email:        kat.stewart@maplemusicrecordings.com

Manager:   Tina Cooper                                                          tel 647 885 4653
Email:        coopert5000@yahoo.ca

Label:        Kim Cooke at Pheromone Recordings                    tel 416 961 1040 x 239
Email:        kim@pheromonerecordings.com