Soundwave Festival

Biography

Humility, refinement and dignity aren't words usually employed when describing the commercial success of a band. Yet, on these strengths, THE WEAKERTHANS first full-length Fallow spent 10 weeks anchored on the CMJ charts, landed them Album of the Year from Perimeter Magazine, and was named one of the 10 best albums of 1998 by CBC National Radio.

THE WEAKERTHANS sophomore effort, Left And Leaving, truly displays the band's maturity. Musically, it's more distinct than its predecessor; you can hear they made the record they wanted to make.

In 2003 and nearly three years in the making, Reconstruction Site incorporates the best moments of the band's previous two releases, it offers a clear blueprint for future efforts, built on Samson's instinctual mingling of liberal-arts smarts, poignant sketches of perceptive reflection, and a melodic infrastructure of pop and rock gestures. It is quite simply “an outstanding piece of work - literate, catchy, and emotional.” – Junk Media

THE WEAKERTHANS recorded their fourth album, Reunion Tour, in March 2007, in a recording studio built above a factory on the outskirts of Winnipeg, the cold prairie city where the band was born 10 years ago. The result is lush and energetic, infectious, unforgettable—Like Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska" or Tom Waits's "Bone Machine," the album is a collection of finely rendered portraits of fictional characters, none of whom you probably know but all of whom you'll recognize. Reunion Tour is not itself a reunion — THE WEAKERTHANS have never gone away — but it is a giant step forward for the band. There's a new confidence and comfort here, four musicians more sure than ever of who they are and what they want to say. "If today's great indie songwriters were a graduating high school class, Sampson would definitely get voted best all around."

The songs "Letter Of Resignation" and "Anchorless" were originally written for Propagandhi, the band which John K. Samson left to form The Weakerthans.