Will Currie & The Country French is 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...

 indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 band from Waterloo, Ontario

Waterloo, Ontario

Waterloo is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is the smallest of the three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, and is adjacent to the city of Kitchener....

, consisting of singer and pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 Will Currie, 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 Dan Beacock, Fender Rhodes and percussionist Stephen Wood, drummer

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

 Aaron Mariash, bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

ist Daniel MacPherson, and Amanda Currie on vocals and saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

.

Biography

Will Currie & The Country French was originally conceived in early 2006 as a few songs written in a small glass room in the basement of the Music Faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University

Wilfrid Laurier University

Wilfrid Laurier University is a university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It also has campuses in Brantford, Ontario, Kitchener, Ontario and Toronto, Ontario and a future proposed campus in Milton, Ontario. It is named in honour of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the seventh Prime Minister of Canada....

. Currie later assembled a small troupe of fellow music students to form a piano pop band. They began to tour around southern Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, and in 2007 caught the attention of Jay Ferguson

Jay Ferguson (Canadian musician)

Jay Ferguson is a member of the Canadian rock band Sloan. He is the only member in Sloan who comes from Halifax, Nova Scotia....

 of Sloan

Sloan (band)

Sloan is a Toronto-based alternative rock quartet from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Throughout their 20-year tenure Sloan has released 10 LPs , two EPs, a live album, a "best of" collection and no less than thirty singles...

, who said they were the best live band he had seen that year, and signed them to his Murderecords

Murderecords

Murderecords is an independent record label that releases the music of the Canadian rock band Sloan. Originally formed in 1992 to produce just the records of that band, it later released work of other bands including Eric's Trip, The Hardship Post, Al Tuck, Stinkin' Rich, Hip Club Groove, The...

 music label.

Their debut EP, A Great Stage, was released in early 2008 by Murderecords. They toured western Canada with Sloan

Sloan (band)

Sloan is a Toronto-based alternative rock quartet from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Throughout their 20-year tenure Sloan has released 10 LPs , two EPs, a live album, a "best of" collection and no less than thirty singles...

 in September 2008. The two bands together recorded Will Currie's composition "Push Pins" in 2008, in which Currie duets with Jay Ferguson on vocals.

"Push Pins" won a 2008 CBC Radio 3

CBC Radio 3

CBC Radio 3 is a radio station that consists of two parts devoted to Canadian arts and music: a radio service which is available on Sirius Satellite Radio and streaming audio, and several daily and weekly podcasts from the CBC Radio 3 website...

 Bucky Award for Best Collaboration.

In the fall of 2009 Will Currie & The Country French toured eastern Canada with Vancouver's Dan Mangan

Dan Mangan

Daniel Mangan is a Canadian indie folk-rock singer-songwriter.-Early life:Mangan was born in Smithers, British Columbia. His family moved a fair amount, residing in both the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia - and primarily in his current home town of Vancouver...

.

The band a has a new album coming out 11 Oct 2011 titled "Awake! You Sleepers", under the label File Under: Music.

External links

• Country French official website