Royal Canoe is a deadly band armed with falsettos, guitars, effects pedals, drums, sample pads, basses, tambourines, shakers and a five-keyboard super-weapon. Royal Canoe play lyrically sharp pop songs that move people and make people move.
It all began in 2006, when Matt Peters (The Waking Eyes) teamed up with some Winnipeg friends and musicians (Nathan Blanchard, Jo Snyder, Tom Keenan and others) to write a collection of songs. Many of the songs that emerged revolved around tragic characters, each treated with equal parts humour and tender endearment. “Kasparov” is a love song from the super-computer Deep Blue to chess champion Gary Kasparov, “Dear June” is about a Siamese twin who wants to go it alone and “Me Loving Your Money (Gonna See Us Through This)” explores the complexities of love…kinda.
Royal Canoe was born, and after some more collaboration the aptly titled album, CO OP Mode was completed. It was never to be played live. Ever.
Fast forward three years to 2009, when Peters finally found time to put together a band. He enlisted the limitless talents of Winnipeg musicians Bucky Driedger and Matt Schellenberg (The Liptonians), Brendan Berg (Tele) and the double-drummer assault of – Derek Allard (Tele) and Michael Jordan (The Liptonians).
Since first hitting the stage in September of 2009, the band has built a strong local following and shared the stage with bands like The Most Serene Republic (Arts & Crafts), Bend Sinister (Distort), Winter Gloves (Paper Bag), Forest City Lovers (Out of This Spark) and Young Galaxy.
On July 6 2010, the band officially released CO OP Mode in Canada on Head in the Sand Records and toured nationally in support. Almost immediately, the band hit the road again with a batch of new tunes, reinforcing themselves as one of Canada’s most dynamic live acts.
Always writing, the band is currently amassing demos in preparation for the follow up to CO OP Mode. With a solid line-up in place, an evolution in sound and a more unified front, the new songs are already generating excitement. This winter the band will release a digital-download single and video in North America and showcase much of their new material at Canadian Music Week and SXSW.