Victims of Charity

A bit about the Victims...
Victims of Charity started a couple of years ago when long-time friends John Thiffault and Julian Mainprize decided to get together and play some music. It was an odd pairing as the two had completely different musical backgrounds: Julian holds a BFA in Music and John has never taken a lesson in his life. After a few scotches and fantastic duo jams, they realized they had something special and very different. With John's love of alternate tunings and Julian’s obsession with odd time-signatures a whole new sound began to take shape. It was at that point that the two made the decision that if they were going to continue with the project, the goal would be to constantly challenge themselves. If the result was that they were the only two people on the face of the planet who wanted to listen to their music, so be it.

The duo soon felt, however, that as fun as a guitar-drum duo was, the music needed more. They had rich chords and intricate rhythms covered but needed more melody. So the search for a lead instrumentalist began with an add for a violin or cello player. The only response they got was from some guy in Welland, Ontario who proposed trying mandolin instead. That guy happened to be bluegrass mandolin virtuoso Jesse Cobb (Grammy nominated ex-Infamous Stringduster). Any hesitations the duo might have had initially with the concept of mandolin as the lead instrument quickly disappeared once they heard Jesse play. Mandolin was perfect. Jesse agreed to come on board as a Victim and write his own melodies on top of the existing creations. Eventually, Jesse started adding some of his own amazing compositions appropriate to the repertoire.

In the Fall of 2012, Jesse found bassist Rich Moore (Juno-nominated ex-New World Son). Rich had played with Jesse in another setting and agreed to fill-in last-minute on gig after a tumultuous relationship with a previous bass player came to a sudden end. The moment existing trio started playing with Rich, the vibe was totally different and the music instantly sounded better. In three rehearsals, Rich learned an entire repertoire of strange forms, odd time signatures and one-of-a-kind chord voicings, and hit the stage. Things gelled so well at that gig that Rich decided one wasn’t enough and agreed to come on board as the fourth Victim.