It’s been long overdue (I know some of you are still waiting on that Cake album review for Pressure Chief – I’m not doing it), but here is the second installment of…

Bands I like

This week I’ll be talking about Winnepeg’s own The Weakerthans

I first heard The Weakerthans when I saw the video for “Our Retired Explorer” on Much Music. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a look. A guy lives underground in the Antarctic. The song is great to listen to as well. Many of you may be more familiar with their most recent single “The Reasons”:

I don’t know how to sing
I can barely play this thing
But you never seem to mind
And you tell me to back off

The single was released this past summer to great accolade among pseudo-intellectuals (read: music snobs) but pretty much ignored by mainstream media.

The Weakerthans are one of my favourites for two main reasons

The Reasons

1 – Lyrics
Okay, for all you cynics out there who think that Canadians have butchered the art of song-writing, put down the Avril Lavigne, put down the Nickelback, put down the Sum 41… you can pick up Celine Dion but only if you drop her off of something very tall into something very fattening. John Sampson of the Weakerthans might be the best lyricist I have ever come across (and he can SING too, so in your face Leonard Cohen!). The two words that immediately spring to mind when trying to describe Sampson’s style are ‘organic’ and ‘honest’. For a prime example of what I mean, check out “My Favourite Chords” or “Reconstruction Site”. All of the metaphors and similes and anecdotes are seemingly drawn from personal experience, and are so in tune with the small-town Canadian heart that I wonder if Gord Downie doesn’t shed a tear to hear them.

2 – Relative Obscurity
One thing I look for in a band is that they’re not incredibly popular. This may make me a music snob (read: stupid prick), but I think a certain level of poverty keeps a band honest. If you don’t believe me, look at bands like Weezer and Metallica that had HUGE fan bases until they got rich, alienating the fans that filled their pockets. There is a flipside to this though, because I have seen the bands that the hardcore music snobs listen to, and they suck. Yeah that’s right Bombs Over Providence, I saw you open for Flashlight Brown at the 360 and you guys suck. Hmm, imagine seeing System of a Down, except instead of hard-hitting, insightful lyrics, they’ve used a dart board and a dictionary, and instead of killer guitar riffs and bass lines, they’ve used a tenderizing mallet and an electric ukelele. That’s Bombs‘ live show. But we’re not talking about them.

The Weakerthans are obscure enough that I still get the satisfaction of knowing I can still impress my friends with them, but not so obscure that I can’t meet at least one cute girl at a party who’s got a copy of Fallow in her CD rotation and would I like to come back to her place to have a listen. The only thing that makes me sad is that they’re not so popular that they get to headline shows, and have to open for lesser bands.


Anyways, suffice it to say, The Weakerthans are a certified Crommunist pick. This isn’t head-banging like Muse or tear-jerking like… well… Muse. More toe-tappin’ like Cake, but without the American roots. If you’re looking for some tracks by which to judge them, here are a few suggestions:

- My Favourite Chords
- Manifest
- A plea from a cat named Virtue
- Leash
- Fallow
- Sounds Familiar


Stay tuned, hopefully something funny will happen and I can write about it. Until such an occurrence, I’ll keep writing these.