MUGSHOT

MUGSHOT ARE NOT, CONTRARY TO what I thought, a pop-punk band. Oh no, says singer Nicholas Keays."We are Toronto's mega-sexual rock bandits."
I see. How so?
"Can we say something cheesy about rocking your pants off?"
Why not?
MugShot's Get Well Soon disc does have pop-punk elements, but Keays must be right on some level, because I don't hate it. In fact, there are tunes on the record that have gotten stuck in my head for hours, and Keays's vocals sound a lot like Michael Jackson at times, lending a pervading sensation of fabulous to the record.
The quality of the voices is a nice change from the usual nasal offerings that normally accompany similar tunes.
Mugshot's show at the 360 tonight promises, at the very least, a topless drummer.
"He's guaranteed to be topless after the first couple of songs, and he's definitely in the best shape of all of us."
- NOW MAGAZINE

Toronto's Mugshot have signed an international deal with JTB Records, which will release their Pause And Reflect full-length debut in Canada and Japan on June 1.

The pop-punk foursome — who claim to be a giant mash-up of Jimmy Eat World, Usher and U2 — have recorded three EPs. The second one, Get Well Soon, sold more than 2,000 copies with virtually no distribution. The group were part of 2003's Warped Tour, featured in Rolling Stone and Now, played CBGBs in New York City and inked a deal with The Agency Group in both the U.S. and Canada.

JTB is a Canadian-owned international label based out of Toronto, but it also has an office in Japan and promises to give its bands access to the second biggest music market in the world. Owners John Attardo and Shawn Buckle have released four records, but Mugshot are their first Canadian signing.

Pause And Reflect was produced by Murray Daigle (Not By Choice, Cauterized). Mugshot will show off some of the songs from the album at a March 4 performance at The Speakeasy in Toronto.

—Phil Villeneuve

- Chart Magazine

For most independent Canadian bands, a trip to the U.S. for their first cross-border gig is something to remember. It's also something that's usually well planned, with required papers and work permits filled out in advance. But for Toronto renegade melodic punkers Mugshot, their first U.S. experience will be more memorable for how poorly planned yet incredibly productive it was. Call it guerrilla touring.

Having won an opportunity to play on a side stage at the Barrie, Ontario stop of the Warped Tour in early August through an online competition, the quartet ended up crashing three more dates.

"It was a crazy way to start touring in the U.S.," admits bassist/mouthpiece Nick Keays. "It gave us a little bit of a false impression because it was the Warped Tour and it was our first real taste of touring, doing consecutive dates that are far apart."

After a night of drinking following the Barrie show, the band decided on a whim (or an alcohol fuelled lapse in judgment) to drive to Detroit and try to "scam" their way onto a stage there. After convincing a surprisingly receptive and sympathetic American border guard to let them cross with a trailer full of gear and merchandise, the band tracked down tour founder Kevin Lyman, who rewarded their initiative with spots on a side stage he personally picks the bands for in Detroit and Milwaukee.

He couldn't offer them a spot on the tour's Cleveland stop but the band wasn't about to stop there. They showed up and found a stage to play. Over the course of three days, the band sold 400 copies of their five-song debut EP, Get Well Soon, and 100 T-shirts, including some to Face to Face, whose guitar player wore one at the Cleveland show.

"It was a pretty crazy trip," Keays says. "But we didn't really have anything to lose."
- Exclaim Magazine