Westpoint

Toronto band Westpoint (Wednesday at the Roxy on Broadway) is about to take off, thanks to its debut full-length album Goodbye Rocket. "Catchy" and "big’’ are the key points here. The band of Mordy Marroch, Steve Andrews, Jeff Kenny, Brandon Robinson and Dan Walker have a sound that combines Harroch’s "infectious and passionate songwriting’’ with the band’s "massive and uplifting rock sound.’’ They were discovered by Haydain Neal of Jacksoul and recorded their debut last summer. They won the 2007 Toronto Independent Music Award for best rock/alternative band.
- The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix

Has anybody ever heard of Westpoint? No, not that West Point! Westpoint, the Toronto rock band that is playing here in town this weekend at Billy’s Outlaw Inn.


We hadn’t either, until their managment company got in touch with us, asking if we would like to interview. That interview hadn’t happened by press time, but we did listen to a few of their tunes at myspace.com. What’s it like? It’s rock music. Lots of guitar. Check ’em out Mar. 20 and 21. The website says Mar. 22 too, but the e-mail from their management company has only the two dates.
So that’s what we know about that.
- The Lakeside Leader - Slave Lake, Alberta

By Angela Hill
Friday March 28, 2008

The Heritage Inn was rocking March 15 as the award- winning bands, Westpoint, and Cold Driven flew in to entertain the snowboard cross crowd at Ezzie’s.

Westpoint’s music is a mixture of rock and alternative tunes that could easily be on the top 10 charts. One of their singles "In Her Twenties" off their new album Goodbye Rocket is very infectious with a sound similar to Hedley. Other singles such as "Promise" are softer and will appeal to the female listeners. The band recently won the 2007 Toronto Independent Music Award for ’Best Rock/Alternative Band’. They have performed with such greats as Hedley, and April Wine and they were discovered by Jacksoul frontman Haydain Neale. Their lead singer, Mordy Harroch, has never- ending energy and strong vocals that has no doubt aided in building a huge fan base.

- The Pincher Creek Echo - Pincher Creek, Alberta

Westpoint originally formed in Burlington in February of 2000 when guitarists Jeff Kenny and Steve Andrews came together in high school but it would take years to flesh out the band. By 2004, childhood friend Dan Walker (drums), Hamiltonian Brandon Robinson (bass) and Mordy Harroch (vocals) joined to complete the fierce fivesome and together create a modern rock powerhouse.

While the twenty-somethings still have to contend with their post secondary educations, the quintet refuse to let anything get in the way of the musical dreams they had as teens. School, day jobs and whatever take a backseat to the music.

"Our musical ideals have remained intact throughout our seven years - while the tunes that we have written have always had a good deal of variety to them, the goal has always been the same: to be the band with the best songs," ruminates Kenny, just back from an eight day jaunt into the Northern US. "Heading out on tour especially to the US was what we all felt was the logical next step for us and if my professors don't like me going on tour they can fail me. If the other guys' bosses don't like them touring, they can fire them because we're definitely not going to stop now."

"To this day though every scene kid complains about how shitty the music is in Burlington, but I feel we have one of the strongest and most diverse music scenes in North America and touring has only strengthened that opinion," he interjects. "Add Hamilton, Oakville, Mississauga and Toronto into the mix and it becomes somewhat of a juggernaut when compared to the scenes in other towns in North America."

Proud of his local roots, Kenny is even prouder of reviews that confirm the band's 2005 Love & Comfort EP - self-produced in a garage in Mississauga - sounds nothing like a garage recording. In fact, with a nod to the likes of Finger 11 and Idle Sons, Westpoint sounds ready for rock radio.

It's no surprise they recently hooked up with former Hamiltonian and Jacksoul front man Haydain Neale to record some new demos at his Toronto Megawatt Studio with hopes to secure some industry support and to take the band to the next level.

But Kenny assures that the band is based on songs and fueled by playing them live to whatever audience they can. If it's opening for bigger names or simply throwing the gear in the touring van and heading out on the road, Westpoint simply love to play.

"I think our greatest strength lies in the fact that while we might sound or look like a Much-On-Demand band at first, the deeper you dig into our group and personal histories, the more you will find that we're a diverse group of artists," explains Kenny. "Our tunes are big, hook-laden, produce rock music. I dislike recordings that sound intentionally under-produced. That doesn't mean that Westpoint can't deliver live. It just means that along with wanting to be the band with the best songs, we're out to prove that we can write rock music for the radio and appeal to the average listener while still being relevant to seasoned songwriters and musicians."

"First and foremost, the Westpoint show will be loud and full of energy," adds the guitarist. "I swear, I could live and die in rooms like The Underground for the rest of my life. I like playing that much."

"I think when you come to see Westpoint play the main thing you're going to take away, other than a bunch of songs stuck in your head, is the feeling of seeing something that is completely and utterly honest in terms of songwriting, performance and musicianship." - View Magazine (Hamilton) - By Ric Taylor.