Bands & Activities

Gentlemen Husbands

Friday, June 17th - OLG Stage - 7:00pm

You've heard this story before. Best friends grow restless and feel suffocated by the confines of their small town, write music in basements at ungodly hours about leaving home behind and never coming back. Songs fueled by ambition and frustration, echoed by the youth of the city that kindly latch on to the band as hometown heroes. The band plays the local pub monthly and ends three years later due to too much alcohol consumption and giving up on the idea they're ever going to make it out alive.

Well, in the case of Cobourg, Ontario's Gentlemen Husbands the story is only half true. Instead of rotting away in the suburban wasteland they call home, the four big hearted musicians took their king size anthems to the road, where they quickly learned that their take on Rock n’ Roll was more than welcomed! Comprised of singer Rick Ballard, guitarist Ryan Hutcheson, bassist Jed Atkinson and drummer Dan Farrell, three of the four members were formerly in a hardcore band together before trading in their Norma Jean records for The Boss, sliding on their cowboy boots, and stomping out into the terrain of the cutthroat music industry. In their short time as a band, Gentlemen Husbands have played alongside Lucero, Murder by Death, Ron Sexsmith, Attack in Black, Saint Alvia and The Arkells. They have been hand picked to play festivals such as Cutting Edge Music Festival, SCENE Fest, NXNE, and CMW where their spastic and lively sets have sent audience members into a daze!

The band released their debut EP Something Along The Lines of... "A lesson in unproffesionalism" in 2008 to rave reviews. WGTS Magazine was quick to scribe "Gentlemen Husbands have delivered one of the most astounding EP’s I have heard in ages" while CBCradio3 exclaimed (It's like the best parts of Ryan Adams and The Strokes comined" and after their very first CMW appearance (at Lee’s Palace no less) ChartAttack.com reviewed, "You definitely haven't wasted your Friday night with them!" Their new collection of songs, a free four song demo available on their Myspace page, was mixed and mastered in L.A. by Jason Martin (Cold War Kids, Page France, SF59) and features the bands most eclectic writing to date! The lively recordings manage to capture the band's visceral live performances for the true parties they have become known to be but don't listen to me, see it for yourself. Gentlemen Husbands will be playing relentlessly this fall before locking themselves up in the early winter to record what will be there debut record as a 4 piece.