Al Parrish

Al grew up in Toronto singing in church choirs and playing tuba in the high school band. A friend convinced him to join an after-school rock band by saying, "You play tuba, you could play bass,". So he did. His musical experience covers everything from pop, country, bluegrass, rockabilly, and rock & roll to heavy metal.

In 1989 that repertoire grew to include folk/roots when he and three friends created Brean Derg Muc, a Toronto-based, pseudo-Irish band that took the Ontario folk festival scene by storm and saw two years of brilliant success. Al's fondness for folk music outlasted the band, and after several years of freelancing with October Browne, Kirk Elliot, Aaron Solomon, Cape Breton singer/songwriter David Stone and many others, he was invited to join Tanglefoot and began playing with the band in January 1994. His arrival brought about a major infusion of energy for which Tanglefoot became known. Al plays a Lou Currah double bass nicknamed "The Beautiful Joe".

During the last couple of years of Tanglefoot's career, Al took up recording voice-overs for commercial television and radio, video games and movies through his agent, James Crammond at Nobel Caplan Abrams.

Al lives in Kitchener, Ontario with his wife and two youngest children. His two older children live in Toronto.