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ARTISTdirect wants to send you into your weekend with a new song and video from Tiny Danza in your ears and on your mind.

We have teamed up with Tiny to premiere the video for "Killin' It." But first, a little refresher course.

Tiny Danza have been making and performing music for the past eight years but haven't released much recently. If you followed their early career, you would have seen a small indie band jumping on and off various record labels, winning Indie Week International and touring the U.K. only to take a hiatus in the midst of their booming success. As the band will testify, there were many factors leading to their lack of visibility, but the main reason was to master their craft.

They stopped playing shows and partying and focused on writing. So this is like a reintroduction.

But they don't take themselves too seriously. All you need to do is watch the video for "Killin' It" for proof of that.

"If you've ever seen us live, I think it's clear we just like to entertain ourselves," vocalist/emcee Galen Hogg told us. "That's pretty much how we approached this video. Half of the filming was us running around different neighborhoods goofing off (in character) and then we partied after. Our director, Bre Major held the whole thing together and made sure the cameras were always running. We actually shot the whole video in a day."

With that in mind, enjoy the video. Start you weekend off by "Killin' It."
Read more at http://www.artistdirect.com/entertainment-news/article/exclusive-video-premiere-tiny-danza-killin-it/10996222#dOjdFlsMVW0hlD5c.99 - Artist Direct

Tiny Danza are back! You probably remember huge buzz around the band a few years ago, when it seemed they were the darlings of every local festival and outlet and playing tons of impressive bills. The guys had the a magnetic spunk to their stage show, and the hooky tunes to back it up: Bruno Mars meets Rage with a flair entirely their own. Fast forward through a few whirlwind years, a stint under the moniker “Nixon,” and a change in management and label, and the quintuplet are back in action and ready for a full assault on the senses with their new material.

Whether you know your Tiny Danza history or you’re just hopping on for the ride now, Addicted caught up with the guys for a quick stroll down memory lane and a glance ahead at the future.

How long have Tiny Danza have been together? How did you get together? Who are the core members?
We’ve been together for 8 years. We all went to high school together, and a few years after we graduated we got together to start a band. After a couple of weeks of trying to be a folk band, we realized that life was worth living and changed to a hip hop band instead. It’s been the same 5 members since we started (…though we’ve run through a few bass players along the way):

Andrew Cameron – Vocals
Galen Hogg – Vocals
Matt Russo – Guitar
Andrew Santaguida – Keys/Synth
Nick Shao – Drums

Looking back, what has your evolution been like? Has the trajectory been what you expected it would be like?
Not really. We started out playing any show we could get for any amount of people and had a very live sound. We were closer to a live jazz band at first, with a lot of it being improvised and multiple solos in each song. After a while, we started to get more into the production side of things and are now trying to blend the two together. Right now we’re trying to find the perfect balance between the live and produced product.

You had a bit of a rollercoaster few years – it seemed like suddenly you became an indie darling buzz band; you were playing all around town, you won Indie Week, had management, signed with a label, and briefly changed your name to Nixon. And then it was a bit of radio silence. Tell us a bit about what happened.
It was kind of like when you’re dreaming and you’re flying through the sky, only instead of flying you get shelved for a couple of years and aren’t allowed to do anything. Something like that I guess. After we won Indie Week, we got interest from a label and signed with them. We were probably a bit naive about what that would be like. It turned out that we weren’t what they were looking for, and they weren’t what we were looking for, but it took a long time for both sides to see that at the same time. In hindsight, there were probably warning signs, but when you’re in that kind of situation, it’s hard to tell. We learned a lot though, and are a much better band after going through it.

What have you learned from the last couple of years? What have you gleaned from your experiences and how is it guiding your next steps?
The biggest thing we learned is that no matter what happens, you just have to keep pushing forward. Opportunities will always present themselves, and you just have to be in a position to tell whether it’s one you should jump on or not. We’ve also learned how to write music much more efficiently, which is a make or break for any band that wants to keep up in these fast times.

Fast cars, faster women, revenge… give us a band/road story or two. Don’t hold back.
Well, there was that time in Ireland when a couple of older women buzzed our hotel room. We looked out our window and saw at a distance that they were strangers, but decided if they could bring something to the party we’d let them up. They promised to return with booze at the very least and left. A half hour later they returned with booze, among other things, to reignite our party. We buzzed them up. Let’s just say they wanted more from us than we were willing to give. After drinking all of their booze we decided we had had enough of fending off their gratuitous sexual advances and asked them to leave. What happened next was a scene… man. If you’ve ever spent 3 hours trying to kick out drunken, violent, angry (horny?), middle aged Irish women through a stairwell that one of your crew members is having sex in, then you know what I’m talking about.

Also, there was that time Galen knocked a street tough out cold in Halifax and was promptly arrested.

Having met Galen… sounds about right! What’s in the pipeline?
We were in LA a few months ago recording, and are getting an EP ready to release in the next month or so. We also filmed a music video that will be released around the same time. We’re looking to play a bunch of shows until then.

So there you have it – the Tiny Danza boys are back at it and going balls to the wall again. Lock up your booze, sterilize your stairwells and get ready for some fresh tunes and killer live shows! - Addicted Magazine

Toronto based Hip-Hop band Tiny Danza are getting ready to release their debut album You Could Have It All --which will be released on June 14th--and have released the first single off their LP titled Beat Fly.

A high-tempo beat and infectious rhymes is what you'll hear in the track, but their themes are serious. - Chicago Now

Holler. Kathleen checking in again. One of my favourite things about working here is getting to discover new music through the awesome music heads that I hang out with everyday. NML team member Elvis introduced me to Toronto-based band Tiny Danza and I’m pretty much obsessed with them already.

Their debut album You Could Have It All just hit stores yesterday and I’ll tell you why you should care. Tiny Danza call themselves a “combination of hip hop, R&B and party rock.” Not only are they all of the above, they’ve got a bluesy throwback sound that reminds me of The Black Keys meets Plan B meets Maroon 5. Their breakout single “Beat Fly” will be hitting radio stations next week but you can listen to it below. If this song doesn’t get you hooked on this band, I don’t know what will.
- Much Music

Tiny Danza is elbow deep in their plan to change the face of Canadian hiphop music. The guys are talking reconstructive surgery here.
A big undertaking, yes, but there’s nothing small about Tiny Danza. Not their skills, not their hopes, not their dreams, and definitely not their sound.
Like the title of their new album suggests, You Can Have It All with Tiny Danza. The Toronto five-piece packed the album with hiphop, rock, soul, R&B and funk. They have something for most of you, from the underground to the mainstream.
If we have to put Tiny Danza in a box, the hinges will bust. But for the sake of classification, imagine if Maroon 5, will.i.am and Jamiroquai rocked out together. Now throw in some real life experiences, a hint of desperation, the bright side of a silver lining and some blood and sweat. That’s Tiny Danza, a band that has already out grown their name.
Canadian tour dates are in the works, but until then, try Tiny Danza’s lead single “Beat Fly,” a couple of tunes like “The Grind,” “Bossa (Who’s The),” “The Illiad” and sit in on our chat.
What is Tiny Danza bringing to the Canadian music scene that we don’t already have?
Galen Hogg: Honesty. If I rap about hard times, it’s not because I’m trying to fit into some 90s hiphop stereotype, it’s because I’ve been on and off the streets and to this day still find myself hustling for food and rent. If Craig pours emotion into a hook or raps about addiction then you better believe those emotions and issues are real. On the other hand, if you hear me rap about sex, drugs and rock n’ roll it’s because I’ve had some weekends that would make Charlie Sheen join the church, if they would have him.
Nick Shao: Improvised instrumental solos in popular music! Melody, rhythm, harmony that acknowledges the past but is very much of the present.

What has you unsatisfied with the current pop and hiphop scene in Canada?
Nick: Perhaps it’s just a Toronto thing, but there is feeling that you have to be popular somewhere else before people in Toronto will accept you and start to like your music. Good music is good music and I would hope that people and the media in Toronto would start to promote Toronto music before the rest of the world gets a hold of it.
Andrew Craig: When “This Ain’t a Scene” by Fallout Boy came out I was like, “Damn that is so true.” Recently the industry feels like an arms race more than ever. A big part of pop music has always been business but recently a lot the writing on the charts, to me, seems completely motivated by money. The desire to put out a number one hit. It gets pretty derivative, and get this reformed
conformity feedback that drives me nuts. I think TD is trying to strike that balance between writing accessible pop and being authentic and different. We don’t always succeed.
Galen: There is a shift happening in hiphop right now that is making it acceptable to be an emcee without being a gangster. It’s about damn time. The people who are still walking around and screw facing each other for no reason really need to get over themselves. If you are a hard dude that’s fantastic, but the hardest people out there know that there is a time and a place to show it. Acting like a rude boy all the time is just plain tacky.

As a band with a new LP on the market now, what’s on your mind?
Nick: Well the big question is, “What’s next?” These days, thanks to our relationship with Brock and Jonny at Bent Penny, we’re always being thrown new and exciting projects. Lately, sponsorships, new merch, ideas, touring, the next album. Lots to think about!
Galen: “What’s next?” sums it up for me too. We love the attention we are getting in the media right now and there seems to be new and interesting opportunities popping up around every corner but we aren’t going to sit around and see how the record is received. We are already a few songs deep into our next record. Writing new songs and playing great shows for the fans will continue to be our main focus.
Andrew Santaguida: One of the main things we are thinking about right now is how do we get this LP to the most people. Just basically having this recording we worked really hard on, and wanting to get it out there and show it to as many people as possible, which hopefully opens the door for more and bigger shows.
Visit tinydanza.com
Tiny Danza performs at the Horseshoe Tavern, 370 Queen St. West, Toronto at 11:30 p.m. Special guests: Inner City Grooves, Benhur and Lincoln Blanche. - Marc Andrew

If Maroon 5’s Adam Levine started taking testosterone injections, his band might sound a bit like Tiny Danza. New school beats combined with old school funk – the quintet from Toronto, Ontario are at the forefront soul revival movement (next to the likes of Fitz and the Tantrums, the aforementioned Maroon 5, etc…)Percussion that’s 70% cymbals? Check.Whammy bar on everything? Check. So-sexy-it-hurts falsetto? Check! You think that’s a killer combination, we’re just getting started. What really sets Tiny Danza apart – other than being the only band to play homage to Madman Across the Water and Who’s the Boss? in the same sentence—is this: most funk bands have a backup vocalist or two to keep things interesting. Tiny Danza’s got an emcee.

To simplify that statement, Tiny Danza explains the formula as follows: drums x synth x guitar x soul x rap. Five elements, five musicians, one unique genre.

“But what about …”

Don’t say it.

“Hybrid Theory? Meteora?”

I’m getting there.

“When I was 12 years old I was all over this rap-rock shit!”

Before you start making Linkin Park comparisons, let me clarify one thing. Linkin Park was famous for juxtaposing hip-hop with nu-metal; where Tiny Danza excels is in a more natural fusion. The band consists of instrumentalists foremost – as is made clear by the interludes that bookend the LP. The smooth keys and Prince-channeling guitar riffs are just as highlighted on the record as Andrew Craig’s singing and Galen Hogg’s flows. And although Linkin Park’s novelty may have garnered them a lot of fame, a seat next to HOVA himself, and the rights to soundtrack every Michael Bay film EVER, Tiny Danza would get my vote in a battle of the bands.

But that’s not to say that Tiny Danza aren’t turning their fare share of heads. In the last four years, the majority of which were spent with only one EP under its belt, the band has shared the stage with such acts as Down with Webster, the Elastocitizens, and Miles Jones, as well as had You Could Have It All…’s first single—Beat Fly—professionally authored and made available to download on Xbox version of Rockband.

To summarize things, that’s: soul, funk, rock, rap, Prince, Maroon 5, cymbals, whammy, falsetto, videogames, Elton John, Linkin Park, and 80s sitcoms in a single serving. Just as the title suggests, Tiny Danza’s first LP is a rare opportunity where you really can have it all.

Top Tracks: Beat Fly; The Illiad; Hindsight

Rating: Proud Hoot (Really Good) - Grey Owl Point

Mondays most certainly suck, especially when you have your hopes up to travel to NEW YORK…. but one thing leads to another and your stuck in your office in Toronto, fingers crossed something will come around and lift your spirits. Tiny Danza most certainly will lift the spirits and get your ass dancing in that chair while you wait for work to let out. They have a new song dropping at 7 pm on their website, and have won a contest for their music to be featured as a downloadable song for Rock Band. Tiny Danza have a show this Saturday at the Silver Dollar here in Toronto and are set to Blow up from there.

For more info:

http://www.tinydanza.ca/

http://twitter.com/tinydanza
- The Drinking Bird

The men of Tiny Danza are dynamic, charming, talented, funny, and, and, and – shall I go on?
We live in a society that loves labels and categories. Thankfully, not all things can be defined by placing an “X” in one box. The six piece ensembel that is TINY DANZA makes music that is rooted in Rock, Pop, R&B, Rap, Blues, Jazz, with a little bit of Funk for good measure.

Currently working on their second CD, the band has grown by leaps and bounds through live performances, constant rehearsal sessions, and non-stop writing. They’ve been shopped by a couple of major labels thus far but have chosen to remain indie until the right fit for the band emerges.

I sat down with Galen Hogg (one of the two TD front men) for a one on one interview, however, before we get to that there are two important facts you need to know about Tiny Danza:

• They’re playing a FREE show at the Beaches International Jazz Festival Saturday, July 25th, 2009 @ the 1910 Queen St. East stage, Time: 7:00pm

• If YOU want a chance to WIN one of THREE FREE copies of Tiny Danza’s CD: Simply leave a comment below the interview! Good luck!

How/when did Tiny Danza come into being?

GH It was a pretty organic process actually. TD started out as a folk band, which I wasn’t involved in, at first. Our singer Andrew Craig, who used to break dance in my old crew, had an idea to try out a few hip hop tunes with the band and see what happened. They tried a few and the result was dope. It was then they decided they wanted another emcee and I had just parted ways with my old group, Half-Life, in Montreal so I got the call. After we felt the chemistry the six of us had on stage it was pretty much written in stone. I moved back to Toronto and we got to work. This wasn’t going to be some for fun side project, it was the real deal.

Up until this point you have been primarily the bands rhyme/spoken word guy, do you have any plans to shift to “singing” in the traditional sense?

GH There have been some whispers on the topic, but so far that is about it. I am definitely intimidated by the amount of talent in the band, and as a result the shift has been slower than I had hoped. There really is no rush as Craig’s singing has already gotten the attention of the fans. I do however have plans to polish up my skills and come forward eventually.

In addition to the band you are also a semi-pro boxer, as well as a businessman. How do you find the time to work, train, rehearse, gig, and fight?

GH Well, time is scarce and scheduling is extremely important to me. Running my own business pays the bills for the most part right now and allows me to work around my own schedule. I would be lying if I said there wasn’t some overlap though. I had to take several months off from music last year to nurse some broken ribs and have been caught on stage a couple times with the mic wedged into casted broken hands. In the end I love the music and I am passionate about boxing, which is good because my schedule doesn’t allow much time for the finer things in life like falling in love with an actual person.

Can you give us a rundown of your band mates and their roles within Tiny Danza?

GH Each band member in Tiny Danza is as important as every other band member, which is paramount in our crew. Andrew ‘Bones’ Craig is our singer and, to our initial surprise, a really dope emcee. Andrew Sataguida appropriately nicknamed ‘Santa Keys’ is our keyboard player and is in charge of the department of wit. Matt Russo keeps the guitar crying and is best known for never holding his tongue when we need him to. He is in charge of the department of skepticism and teaches high school Math and Physics. Nick Shao is our cold as ice drummer and the heart beat of TD. He is responsible for keeping us murmur free. RJ Satchithananthan (I had to cut and paste that) is our newest member and is actually a trombone player originally. Upon hearing there was a space open in TD he asked us which spot was open, we told him bass and he replied “I can learn that!” And he did.




You are currently working on a shiny new CD, how is it different than your first effort?

GH In short: a whole lot. This is only our second album so we are still changing and developing as a band every time we rehearse and write. We are experimenting with new sounds constantly. Also, while putting together this record we have become aware of a new liberty we have. We can throw out songs! We now have more than enough material to pick and choose what makes the cut. Our last record was fuelled by popular demand and pressure to give the fans something to put on their i-pods. For this reason we were actually surprised how well it turned out and were stoked on its success.

Musically, in the new album, fans can expect us to dabble in multiple genres and fuse them to hip hop, which has kind of become our thing. Diversity is important to us and we think the fans will appreciate an album they can listen all the way through without getting bored.

When do you expect to complete the new project and have it available for your adoring fans?
GH We are trying to have it finished before the year is through, but we will keep everybody posted as more details become available.




Tiny Danza has had record labels very interested in signing the band. What has kept you lads from signing the dotted line, and choosing to maintain your indie artist status?

GH It’s pretty simple; we will sign if the deal is right. We aren’t one of these bands that are desperate to get a major deal. We have confidence in our music and we love making it. So far the ‘Big Guys’ want too much from us and the ‘little guys’ haven’t offered enough. We aren’t too worried about it.

What are your hopes/plans for the future of the band?

GH If we can be alive and making music years from now that would be sufficient for me, but the plan is to live off this beast for the rest of our lives.







Official Site: http://www.tinydanza.ca/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tinydanzaband

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TinyDanza?ref=ts

Follow On Twitter: https://twitter.com/tinydanza

- The Thought Vox

Welcome back to another lovely Music Monday in December. Remember that roommate I spoke of in my Handsome Boys Modeling School post? Well, we’ve got some eclectic stuff for you today all thanks to him.

First up is Tiny Danza, a jazz hiphop fusion band from Toronto, Canada. Although some of their stuff seems a bit imcomplete, the track Beat Fly has become one of my favorite beats of 2010. - Lacrosse All-Stars

We get allot of submissions mang. A-LLOT. Hard to go thru em all but we do, some we just don’t even entertain, some we automatically feel (I.E. Sonnymoon) & some we’re on the fence about. We may like it, but do the faithful dig it too? Hence the whole YAY or NAY thing we do round these parts. It’s our way of giving said artist some light while @ the same time allowing you to decide for yourself. It also lowkey helps us know what avenues we can take you on cuz you know our eclectic ears be travelin’! With that being said, what do you think about this group right here by the name of Tiny Danza (I think Who’s The Boss everytime I see this name) I personally dig this song right here below, reminds me of some early Jamiroquai meets Mr. J. Medeiros to me (well @ least this song does). Has allot of energy & flava. Like I said, I dig it. What about you?


Sooooooooo…


What do you think of Tiny Danza? YAY or NAY?

YAY! (This schitt is HOT!) (83%, 152 Votes)
NAY! (This schitt is NOT!) (17%, 32 Votes)
Total Voters: 184
- Blind I For The Kids

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Monday, December 20, 2010
Tiny Danza



I love supporting Toronto's local talent, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. These guys are sporting the coolest band name I've heard in a while "Tiny Danza" and have a really good sound to back it up. These 5 talented musicians who all went to the same high school and got the band together about 4 years later come from very different musical backgrounds, so naturally they became a fusion band. I'm really excited about their upcoming release 'You Could Have It All...' scheduled for the spring of 2011. You can check out their SoundCloud page here, if this track is a preview of what's to come this should be a great release. - Why FuKK When You Can Dance

I LOVE the name of these guys! I had orig­i­nally heard of Tiny Danza a while back when a much trusted friend asked me if I had heard of them. I answered that of course I had, and pre­ceded to look them up as soon as I had the chance. I remem­ber laugh­ing, at the awe­some play one words with Elton John’s extremely amaz­ing song “Tiny Dancer” and Who’s the Boss star Tony Danza. The next day I woke up with the Who’s the Boss theme song stuck in my head, and I couldn’t fig­ure out why.

Tiny Danz is a Toronto-based hip hop band made up of 5 musi­cians, all trained in dif­fer­ent styles and all com­ing from even more dif­fer­ent walks of life. The group’s dynamic not only cre­ates the ideal poten­tial for an explo­sive Real­ity TV show, but also lays the ground­work for some­thing new in a genre that relies on fresh per­son­al­i­ties to keep its lis­ten­ers hooked.

Hav­ing just com­pleted their first full length album titled You Could Have It All…. In order to pro­mote the album set to drop in Spring 2011, they will be releas­ing one track per week until their show on Decem­ber 4th at the Sil­ver Dol­lar Room. Here’s the first sin­gle titled ‘Beat Fly’. It’s pretty dope! - Sidewalk Hustle

Four years of working hard and kicking ass, TIny Danza are about to blow up. These dudes hail from Toronto, Ontario & are a perfect blend of Hip Hop, Jazz, and Party Rock. There just finishing up work on their first full length album titled, “You Could Have It All….” to be released in the spring time. They have been touring throughout Toronto the last few months and just released three songs for free download on their Soundcloud. Start keeping these guys on your radar, as they will hopefully becoming to a city near you in the future. - theFUTURISTS

I was first introduced to Tiny Danza through a friend while we were out drinking on a Tuesday night. I laughed at the suggestion because he and I are generally on different levels with music - I enjoy good music and he prefers the sound of chainsaws to a heavy bass beat - but he insisted that they were worth checking out, so the next day I went to their MySpace page. After listening to the first track, 'Hindsight,' I knew I had to go through all of the songs. For once my friend was right! (But only once...)

Shortly thereafter I arranged a meeting at Nirvana with Galen Hogg (rap vocals) and Andrew Santaguida (keyboards). Sweltering from the heat to the point of danger, we came to the conclusion that if we didn't hydrate ourselves we would surely perish. We thus immediately ordered two pitchers - one was water, the other was not.

Tiny Danza's style of music is unique. They're self-described as "Hip Hop/ Pop," and while both these elements are present, there's definitely a funky vibe that flows through their music as well. They're not the next Linkin Park, nor are they descendants of Limp Bizkit. They have a much softer and more accessible way of integrating rap vocals into a smooth, catchy pop song.

I asked Galen to give me a brief background of the band and he told me that five of the six members have been around for about three years now. The only one that seems to change is the bass player.

"We have a revolving door for bass players. But we all know each other very well because [except for this bass player] we all went to the same high school together. I was doing a hip-hop thing out in Montreal and these guys were starting a band, so I came back."

I had to ask how they came up with the name. Galen laughed and told me.

"Well, one night we just got really drunk and decided that it was time to come up with a name. So, we came up with a lot of names, and Tiny Danza was the one that came out on top."

Runners up?

"The runner up was Goldie Prawn. There were a few of them. If we were a punk band we would have called ourselves Brick-Licker."

The five songs on their MySpace page constitute their EP, The TD EP, which was released about a year and a half ago. But as Galen told me, a full-length is in the works.

"Those songs aren't completely representative of who we are now. I mean they are, but we've come a long way so this full-length should sound fairly different."

According the band, all the material is ready; it's just a matter of getting the funds together and jumping in the studio. Galen said it'll be around 10 songs, but Andrew interjected that it could be upwards of 14 - they then looked at each other, and it became awkward for me! Wanting to break the tension, I told them this wasn't something I needed to know right away.

Tiny Danza will be playing the Drake Hotel on Thursday, September 3rd.

One little bit of TD trivia worth finishing on is that Galen has been boxing competitively for the better part of ten years. But, as I'm sure he'd like to know, I could probably take him. - BlogTO

Hip-hop genre-crossers Tiny Danza hail from Toronto, and their clip for "Killin' It" is a decidedly homegrown affair.

The video for this single stars band members Galen Hogg and Andrew Cameron. It's a mobster-style caper that shows the pair cruising around Toronto while rapping, singing the track's pop-rock hooks, knocking back shots, and embarking upon a violent crime spree against other members of the group. They eventually dispose of the bodies, meaning that the title of "Killin' It" is very literal.

Check out the Bre Major-directed clip below. - Exclaim!