Street Pharmacy

The ‘Street Pharmacy’ is a four piece reggae rock band from Welland Ontario. The band consists of Ryan Guay (vocals/guitar), Nate Triano (guitar), Brandon Ventresca (bass) and Danial Fretz (Drums). In 2006, after several years of playing and touring with in an assortment of different punk and hardcore bands, these 4 friends decided that it was time to write some songs with a fresh reggae sound.

The result: Infectious hip hop reggae rock that contains a little something for everyone.

During the summer of 2006, Street Pharmacy headed into the studio to record their first full length album entitled Self-Prescribed Feelgood. The album was recorded at Studio 282 in their home town of Welland in a mere 37.5 hours. Their first record was released in August of 2006 and has gone on to sell over 1500 copies to date.

After the release of their first record, Street Pharmacy decided to embark on a one year journey across Ontario, playing an average of 2 shows a weekend (just over 80 shows in total) while all members were completing their final year of university. Notable venues with packed houses and bus trips include Lee’s Palace (Toronto), Call the Office (London), L3 (St. Catharines), S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival, The Vinyl (Guelph) and a plethora of university parties.

On top of being weekend warriors of reggae in Ontario, lead singer Ryan Guay decided self finance a trip to London England in an attempt to learn about the workings of the music industry. While in London, Street Pharmacy’s first record caught the attention of Danny Mitchell (Heavenly Records) who quickly set up a few shows for Guay at the Legendary Hope & Anchor (Islington) and the Dublin Castle opening for the South African rock group City Bowl Mizers (Distributed by Sony). Enlightened, Guay returned home to Canada more ambitious than ever.

Their second record entitled Free Delivery was recorded during the summer of 2007 by Toronto-based producer Adam Tune (Matisse, These Three Cities). After hearing the band’s early demos, music industry veteran George Graves (Rush, U2, Constantines) of the Lacquer Channel offered his expertise in mixing and mastering ‘Free Delivery’ exclaiming “This band’s got it!”

Graves even went as far as comparing the Street Pharmacy’s unique arrangements to that of a young and modern day “Sting and the Police.”

Street Pharmacy’s sophomore album ‘Free Delivery’ was released on August 4th, 2007 with a packed CD release party of 550 people in St.Catharines at Arizona’s Tap and Grille Supporting acts for the release party included The Johnstones (Stomp) and the Ceremonial Snips (Union 2112). At a second all ages CD release party a week later, the band played to 600 eager fans with fellow Welland rockers Attack in Black (Dine Alone).

In the 21 days after their first release party, Street Pharmacy has managed to sell 1000 copies of their second record Free Delivery and over 500 t-shirts purely from their merchandise table and consignment deals made with Niagara and Toronto music stores. The band is currently in the process of pressing 5000 more copies of ‘Free Delivery’ which will be supported by a 21 tour of Eastern Canada planned for May/June of 2008 with Toronto rock group ‘These Three Cities’.

The momentum doesn’t stop there! A few days after their CD release party, the track “Sober State of Fame” which appears on their second record was played by Barry Taylor on 102.1 the Edge’s Indie Hour. After its radio debut on the Edge 102, Street Pharmacy started receiving air time on other notable stations such as 103.3 the Edge (Buffalo) and Sophie 103.7 (San Diego) where they won the “Unsigned Sunday’s” competition with 76 percent of the vote. The band also licensed 8 tracks for the independent film MsC: the Movie which has sold over 1000 copies to date and has also licensed tracks to the Speed Network Television Program “Dream Car Garage”.

Street Pharmacy was recently a finalist on Much Music’s season two of disBand.

In the near future, Street Pharmacy will be opening up for such notable Canadian Acts as Our Lady Peace, Mariana’s Trench, the Trews, Ill Scarlett (Sony) and Rebel Emergency. So whether you’re at their live show or cranking their tunes in your car, the Street Pharmacy always leaves you wanting more so fill your prescription today!