The Friendless Youngsters

Believe it or not, The Friendless Youngsters started when Tom Gibson and Geoff Wood met under the unlikely circumstances of playing in a disco cover band! Although it was a one-off gig for a friend's party, they began to write songs and perform them at open stages around Toronto. As the songs began to evolve, Sarah Ternoway and Graydon James were added to the lineup and they started playing the usual assortment of downtown clubs. They have also been interviewed and performed live on CKLN and CIUT radio where their debut CD Try to Play Nice has received airplay.

The do-it-yourself ethic has never been more embodied than in this Toronto band. In their five years together they have not only written their own songs, managed and booked themselves, and run their own website and record label, but they have also built or modified many of their own instruments, effects pedals, and amps. Likewise, they painstakingly recorded, mixed, and produced their own CD. When so much of themselves and their own style are put into their work, no wonder they ended up with something so unique. The result was just what they wanted - a polished sound ready for radio, but beckoning your heart and mind to listen deeper and dig down for the gems under the surface.

Surprisingly, despite this uniqueness their music is totally accessible; it's just more interesting than most and has more layers. An up-tempo pop song about throwing rocks through windows, a punky rock tune about excusing the narrator for hockey fighting, and a country ditty about a dirt bike-lovin', slowly dying child describe just the first three tracks of the album. They are all toe tapping, carefully crafted, and very catchy songs, but when you listen more closely, you begin to hear what they might really be saying beneath the pop veneer.