Your New Friends

While wandering around the spectacle that was Nuit Blanche, I happened to run into a guy named Andy Mac playing with his band "Your New Friends" at the Museum of contemporary Canadian Art. I took a few shots of them, and Andy invited me to their CD release party @ Mitzi's Sister. So down I went last night, and grabbed a couple of images of the boys. I have to say this, do yourself a favour, and get to one of their shows. You're not going to be disappointed. They'll get yer ass moving! - John Madden

Your New Friends are here and ready to jam.

YNF mounted a show on Monday night at Caps Pub at North campus, playing a 45 minute set of upbeat music that had everybody out of their friends.

But who are Your New Friends?

Topher Harrison (vocals), Steve Gallant (drums), Andy Mac (guitar), Gavin Hardy (base), Stefan Milo (trombone), Adlar Gross (tenor sax), and Max Stanutz (trumpet) comprise the band formed out of Lakeshore campus music students.

They put together the band in October 2007 and started recording music, playing shows later.

The band went without a name for a long time, using the name ‘Sofa Sluts’ for the time being. But when Harrison went to put together a website for the group, it was time to get themselves an official name.

“Topher just said, ‘You know what? We’re just going to be called Your New Friends,’ and we all kind of laughed,” said Milo. “But it works. It seems like wherever we go, we meet new people.”

The group practices mainly at a house a few of the member lives in and at the school – but they don’t want to be known as a Humber band.

YNF plays gigs with other bands all over Toronto as often as they can, but don’t have any official plans for the future.

“I want to play with them as long as I can, as long as we keep writing music together,” said Milo. “Right now, we’re just looking for bands to play with and try and book our own shows – not just shows, but events.”

The band has earned a reputation as a party band and they’re okay with it. They like to dress up in costumes and have themes for their shows to further entertain their audience.

Amanda Bino, who accompanied her friend to the YNF show on Monday, definitely got the party vibe.

“They didn’t dress up in costumes for this show, but they just had so much energy that they got the crowd going,” said Bino. “I’ve seen pictures from their last show and they’re just ridiculous!”

YNF writes all of their songs together, each person writing what they want and then the entire group votes on it. Milo said this really helps to bring out their personalities in the music and it creates some really original stuff.

“It’s a hip-hoppy, funky jazz, sometimes afro beat and sometimes we get that swing feel in extended solos,” said Milo. “There’s a form to our music, but we still solo over it like it was a jazz standard.”

Harrison has been known to describe the band as “the illegitimate child of multiple artists from multiple genres – a mutt if you will, the lovable kind that you want to take home and care for.”

It’s clear from the support they receive from their fans that people do want to take care of them – and enjoy the love that emanates from the band in return.

“I think the audience can feel the love from us when we’re on the stage,” said Milo. “Our support comes from the people that want to listen to us. People can trust that if you come out to YNF, you will have a good time. We’re a show band. You come out, we entertain you, you love us, we love you.”

For more information on Your New Friends, check out their website at www.myspace.com/ynftoronto. - Humber Etcetera