Sons of Freedom were a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band, consisting of vocalist James Newton, guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist Don Harrison, bassist Don Binns and drummer Don Short, formed in 1987 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The band took their name from the Sons of Freedom, a controversial Doukhobor

Doukhobor

The Doukhobors or Dukhobors , earlierDukhobortsy are a group of Russian origin.The Doukhobors were one of the sects - later defined as a religious philosophy, ethnic group, social movement, or simply a "way of life" - known generically as Spiritual Christianity. The origin of the Doukhobors is...

 activist group first in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

 and later in British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 in the first half of the 20th century. Their self-titled 1988 debut album was emblazoned with a prominent slogan from Canadian social justice

Social justice

Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...

 activist Nellie McClung

Nellie McClung

Nellie McClung, born Nellie Letitia Mooney , was a Canadian feminist, politician, and social activist. She was a part of the social and moral reform movements prevalent in Western Canada in the early 1900s...

, Never retract, never retreat, never apologise... get the thing done and let them howl.

The band's 1991 album Gump debuted on the Canadian campus radio

Campus radio

Campus radio is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively by students, or may include programmers from the wider community in which the radio station is based...

 charts (see Chart

Chart (magazine)

ChartAttack is a Canadian online music publication. Formerly a monthly print magazine called Chart, which was published from 1991 to 2009, the web version continues operation....

) at #1, ahead of Nirvana

Nirvana (band)

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

's Nevermind

Nevermind

Nevermind is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991. Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind was the group's first release on DGC Records...

, which debuted the same week at #2.

The band broke up in 1993, although they briefly reunited in 1995 to tour in support of a rarities compilation, Tex. Binns, Short and Harrison subsequently joined with Lee Aaron

Lee Aaron

Lee Aaron , is a Canadian rock and jazz singer. She had several hits in the 1980s and early 1990s such as "Metal Queen", "Whatcha Do to My Body", and "Sex with Love".- Background :...

 in the band 2preciious

2preciious

2preciious was a Canadian alternative rock band of the 1990s. The band consisted of Lee Aaron, guitarist Don Harrison, bassist Don Binns and drummer Don Short. The "three Dons" were all former members of the band Sons of Freedom....

.

In 2008, Jim Newton took a new project called Rat Silo. The band currently includes Don Binns (bass), Finn Manniche (guitar), Dave Osborne (keyboards) and Sean Stubbs (drums).

Discography

• Sons of Freedom (1988)

Track listing:

• 1. "Super Cool Wagon"
• 2. "Criminal"
• 3. "Mona Lisa"
• 4. "Dead Dog on the Highway"
• 5. "Holy Rollers"
• 6. "Shoot Shoot"
• 7. "Judy Come Home"
• 8. "Is It Love"
• 9. "Fuck the System"
• 10. "This Is Tao"
• 11. "Alice Henderson"

• Gump (1991)

Track listing:

• 1. "You're No Good"
• 2. "Dreamgirl #1"
• 3. "Call Me"
• 4. "Circle Circle"
• 5. "I Can See"
• 6. "USA Long Distance"
• 7. "I Don't Care Anymore"
• 8. "Jesus and Jim"
• 9. "Girl Can't Help It"
• 10. "Dreamgirl #2"

• Tex (1995)

Track listing:

• 1. "Walkie Talkie"
• 2. "I Want You"
• 3. "Hit It"
• 4. "Heaven"
• 5. "Yer Too High"
• 6. "I Believe"
• 7. "Sugar High"
• 8. "Blind Children"
• 9. "I'm Burning"
• 10. "Help Me"
• 11. "Underneath Yer Window"
• 12. "Wrong Direction"
• 13. "Best Friend"
• 14. "You Don't Belong"
• 15. "Don't Come Back"
• 16. "Blowakisstry This"

External links

• Official website
• Sons of Freedom at Myspace