Bands & Activities

These Kids Wear Crowns

Saturday, June 18th - ArcelorMittal Dofasco Stage - 2:00pm

These Kids Wear Crowns latest album, Jumpstart, is the kind of album so big and infectious, it needs to be shared — blasted in the clubs, from car stereos, at beach parties, anywhere masses of people congregate and can dance, jump up and down, and shout out the lyrics. Their music is an aural energy drink, a strong-arm of happy friends yanking you to join in the fun.

These Kids Wear Crowns (TKWC) intended it to be that way. It’s understandable why. The albums lyrics have a sense of zoom, an I’m-on-my-way determination that epitomizes These Kids Wear Crowns’ original mind-set and resulting career trajectory.

The six-piece band, comprised of Alex, Alan, guitarists Joshua “Gypsy” McDaniel and Joe Porter, synthesist/programmer Matt Vink and drummer Josh Mitchinson, live in a musical era where pop and dance dominate the charts and can’t help but be influenced by it. “Almost everyone enjoys dance music of some kind and everyone can get up and dance,” believes Alex.

As a dance band, a unique configuration since “dance” usually implies solo or DJ or backing tracks, TKWC almost didn’t happen. Founding members Alan, Alex and Matt initially wanted to form an electro project, a three-piece dance band, just keyboards and vocals, but Josh messed that up. He heard their previous band, Goodnight Medic, which placed top 10 in 2008’s Seeds competition for Vancouver’s CFOX, and tracked them down – the connection was instant - they had to start a band together.

That fall — taking a leave from their day jobs — TKWC hit the road behind the EP. That’s when MuchMusic asked them to appear on the make-or-break show, disBAND. The 5-piece quickly recruited Gypsy from A Trophy Life to join the lineup as a second guitarist, and got the thumbs-up from the judges at the conclusion of the episode. “disBAND really made it clear to us that this was an option for us if we really wanted to go for it,” says Alex. “It was our chance for major exposure.”

EMI signed the band and released a reworked version of the EP in late-August 2010 with 8 songs, including “Fifa 99,” (the first song they ever played with Josh); the break-out single “Break It Up,” “Skeletons,” an acoustic version of “Break It Up” and a remix of “Holding On.” In the fall, the band returned to the studio to complete work on its first full-length.

There is nothing laidback about These Kids Wear Crowns. The music is nothing short of pumping. It is big and buoyant, can lift people’s spirits and bodies out of their seats. It’s the type of music that can make you pretend that summer is here and when that warm weather hits - prompt you to get out there and have some fun. Jumpstart is not only the launch of a new dance band, but the harnessing of youthful spirit.

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