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MOONRAKER - BIO
If good things come to those who wait, then Moonraker are
in line for something great. Theirs is the story of boyhood
friends whose pure love of playing music grew as they did,
maturing, refining and intensifying, finally culminating in
a unified rock'n'roll whole that exists in a place far beyond
the simple sum of individual parts. Now in their early 20s,
several of the members of Montreal's Moonraker have been writing
and performing together for upwards of 15 years, leaving them
in the enviable position of having both experience in the
bank and, as was once said to great effect, time on their
side. So even when that friendship and playing partnership
finally coalesced around the Moonraker project, in contrast
to the impetuosity of so many of their peers, they still chose
to remain shuttered behind closed studio doors. It wasn't
time.
Patience paid off and, in the end, they got what they didn't
want. As part of Moonraker's extended - and still in progress
- coming out party of 2001, they elected to take part in Montreal's
prestigious CHOM L'Esprit band competition, the largest and
longest running of its kind in the province of Quebec. To
say that they made an impression would be to gravely understate
the case. Four weeks after their lightning debut, a jury comprised
of Montreal media and industry representatives unreservedly
declared Moonraker the victors (shortly thereafter they were
featured on the cover of the weekly HOUR Magazine). Concurrent
to these achievements, they have sold out packed - and not
just with their friends either - headlining shows at several
of their home city's most prestigious venues, and shared the
stage with acts as diverse as Tragically Hip, The Watchmen,
Sarah Harmer, Bif Naked and Econoline Crush.
In response to rapidly accumulating requests for music, the
band sojourned to Toronto in early 2002 where they recorded
a four-song EP at the much-storied Metalworks Studio with
producers Nick Blagona (Foo Fighters, The Police, The Tea
Party) and Mark Makoway (guitarist for Moist, and author of
The Indie Band Bible). Three of those songs are featured on
their first indie album Radiowave Transmission, which was
released early July 2002. As fans are already noting, these
are tunes that recall the dark sophistication of a Primal
Scream, the technical facility of The Chemical Brothers, the
impassioned delivery and ready melody of The Cure or U2. And
while the band invites no end of comparative analogy, they
flat out defy definitive pigeonholing: as students of musical
history, they are here to learn and advance, not rewrite.
As those who have had the opportunity to see and hear this
emerging tour de force of rock and pop may already attest,
Moonraker truly ignite in a live setting. Possessed of intuition
and spirit that transcends the digitized tape - and printed
word, for that matter - Moonraker's emotive soul is laid bare
on the stages they've had occasion to command, the true mark
of a band secure in its place in the world, and the natural
result of the over-reigning single-mindedness of purpose that
have put Moonraker where they are now, the most important
place of all...
In front of you. Enjoy.
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Moonraker |
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