Up & Coming New Nashville- The Warped 45’s (With Exclusive Interview)

In less than two years together as a band, Toronto-based roots rockers The Warped 45s have been moving at warp speed creatively, rapidly turning heads and opening ears with their stylistically freewheeling and compelling sound. Their self-titled 2008 independent six-song EP scored unanimous rave reviews, garnered strong college radio airplay across both Canada and the U.S., and had such publications as Exclaim! and Toronto’s EYE Weekly citing them as “Destined for Greatness in 2009.”

Those predictions are being emphatically fulfilled this year, as evidenced by the $10,000 cash prize they took home in June by winning the Rogers Fan Choice Award for a triumphant performance at the North By Northeast Festival. The next step in their meteoric ascent is the September 1st release of 10 Day Poem For Saskatchewan. Out on the Pheromone Recordings label and distributed by Fontana North, this debut full-length album is a work of genuinely epic proportions.

Pigeonholing The Warped 45s sound is a slippery task best not attempted. As points of reference, consider the artists the band cite as musical touchstones - Wilco, The Band, Blue Rodeo, Steve Earle, Tom Waits - all of whom defy stylistic straitjackets. The Warped 45s incorporate country, gospel, folk and rock elements with seamless grace. 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 banjo 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.



That Nashville Sound- You have a very interesting band name, where'd it come from?

W45’s- The Warped 45s comes from the lyrics to one of Dave’s songs “Radio Sky”

“Let my headstone be my favorite jukebox
Loaded with the songs of my friends
Tuck the sheets of rain tight under my collar
By the headwaters of a hubcap stream
Rest my head beneath the rusted needles
Rustic hymnals and warped ‘45’s”

TNS- Describe your music, it has lots of different genres- what's the mission behind the music?

W45’s- “Why do we sing”? As Townes Van Zandt said, “For the Sake of the Song.” We certainly treat each song differently and open-minded. There are many instrument options within the band so we experiment to see what sounds work best for the song. I think the instrumentation then guides the song one way or another. As far as song selection we usually bring in a couple new songs a month and see which ones really seem to find their own groove with the band.

TNS- What's the career highlight for the band thus far?

W45’s- The career highlight this far for the band was receiving the Fan Choice award at the North By North East Festival in Toronto. The 10 000 dollar prize wasn’t so bad either.

TNS- What kind of music are you listening to? What's in your iPod?

W45’s- Currently listening to a few local artists. Elliott Brood and Justin Rutledge are fantastic song writers. Really true to the craft. So much great roots music coming out of Toronto right now so thankfully we don’t have to look very far. Also love the Drive-By Truckers. We are playing a show with them in November and there is always room for some John Prine. This list could get long so I’ll cut it off here.

TNS- What's next for you? Where do you hope to be career-wise a couple years from now?

W45’s- A couple years from now we hope to be making regular tours around North America and Europe. Every small town, village and city that’ll have us. Also, there are alot of great artists that we would be honored to share the stage with in the coming years.

TNS- Quick questions (which do you like best?): Opry or Opera?

W45’s- Cowboy Operas

TNS- Record stores or downloads?

W45’s Record Stores all the way. Nothing like cracking open a brand new CD or vinyl.

TNS- Fine dining or southern cooking?

W45’s- Southern cookin’- Nobody does it like Grandma

TNS- Baseball or fishing?

W45’s- Fishing with baseball bat fishing poles