The Fugitives
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | Established. Jan 01, 2003 | INDIE | AFM
Music
Press
"The Fugitives are wildly talented." - Georgia Straight, Vancouver
"One of the best readings to come through here in years...right up there with Allen Ginsberg and Ken Kesey!" - David Wooley, Executive Director
"I keep wanting to write The Lost Art Of Poetry Clubbing. Why lost? The Fugitives didn’t just find this art flapping on the ground, dust it off, and put up flyers looking for its owners. Their set is far too confident and finely crafted for that: it could only belong to them.
So this is the New Art, then, and it does feel freshly minted. Featuring two musicians and two poets, the Vancouver-based band delivers a kinetic fusion of back-porch roots and intricate spoken-word.
Which stands out more prominently? It’s a hard call: being a music journalist, I swooned first for multi-instrumentalist Mark Berube, whose gorgeous voice has timbre, power and control strongly reminiscent of a less flamboyant Hawksley Workman.
But “poetry” is the operative word in the title, and the words here are wonderful. Quivering with energy, Barbara Adler and Brendan McLeod build sensual verbal landscapes around subjects both funny and forlorn (Adler‘s ode to her singing lessons is as hilarious as it is romantic), touching every possible dynamic from a whisper to a howl.
Whether you go for the poetry, the music, or both, this show is simply brilliant."
- CBC
"Welcome to the land where lyrics and instruments are equals. You will absolutely love this band!" - Satellite, Vancouver, BC, Canada
"This Vancouver trio's mix of acoustic cabaret-meets-folk-noir music with slam poetry is quite affecting...fences are being broken down here." - Vancouver Province - The Vancouver Province
"The New Art of Poetry Clubbing!" - Literhaus, Copenhagen
"The Fugitives are one of the most innovative, exciting, and accomplished groups of musicians and poets I have ever seen…one of the best shows I have seen in fifteen years of the festival." - Lindsay Webster, Off the Shelf Festival, Sheffield (UK)
"What's not to love about this incredibly entertaining troupe of poetic musicians from Vancouver who play eclectic instruments and sing, clap and stomp their way through an absolutely riveting 45 minute set of what can only be described as poignant performance art.
Barely taking the time to stop for air, this SLAM-poetry-meets-rock-'n'-roll-meets-chain-gang-harmony phenomenon, consisting of Mark Berube, Barbara Adler, Brendan McLeod and Steven Charles, ignites the stage with razor-sharp tunes utilizing overlapping poetic dialogue, duets, solos and ensemble work. The soapbox-inspired show exposes the passivity of humankind, questions the role of the media and promotes the importance of speaking up in a world that breeds followers.
While most of the songs, like the unforgettable anti-war opener Shiny Plastic Bags, are compassionate and moving, light-hearted numbers like Humanity demonstrate a real range of ability... Vibrant, intelligent and fresh, this gifted group of multifaceted performers is a must-see." - Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg
"Accompanying themselves on various combinations of banjo, guitar, melodica and percussion, The Fugitives are capable of achieving dizzying, Arcade Fire-ish crescendos, replete with parallel melodies, complex harmonies and brimming torrents of emotion." - Uptown Magazine, Winnipeg
"An experience certain to please both literary and musical audiences" - Vienna Literature Festival
Discography
- Shadowbox Choir (2003)
- In Streetlight Communion (2007)
- Face of Impurity (2007)
- Find Me (2009)
- Eccentrically We Love (2010)
- Bigger than Luck (EP) (2013)
- Everything Will Happen (2013)
Photos
Bio
To record their first release in three years, Vancouver-based indie folk collective The Fugitives was just hoping to stay home. After eight years of touring Canada and Europe, they'd drained most of the romance out of cramped cars, long roads, and eating sandwiches out of gas station refrigerators. So they surprised themselves by trucking three thousand kilometers to record Everything Will Happen, their new LP from Light Organ Records, in Toronto. A big reason was the chance to work with producer John Critchley (Dan Mangan, Elliot BROOD, Amelia Curran). The other might be that they feel most at home in new territory.
When not touring as musicians, current frontmen and songwriters Brendan McLeod and Adrian Glynn are active in other artistic pursuits. McLeod is an award winning novelist and former Canadian SLAM poetry champion, while Glynn is a working actor who received rave reviews for his role in Chelsea Hotel, a play based on the songs and poems of Leonard Cohen. Their band is similarly eclectic, boasting prominent former members like Mark Berube and CR Avery, and a current rotating cast of supporters that includes violin-looping prodigy Hannah Epperson, multi-instrumentalist Steve Charles, and renowned actor Benjamin Elliot, alongside a host of multi-instrumentalists whose styles range from bluegrass to jazz.
This diversity has carried over to their records and live performances. Their first full-length received a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination for Pushing the Boundaries of contemporary roots music, and their follow-up was praised for being eclectic and exciting (See) , poignant (Uptown), and infectious (CBC). "Everything Will Happen" garnered them nominations at the Canadian Folk Music Awards and the Western Canadian Music Awards as well as an opening slot for the legend Buffy Saint-Marie on her Western Canadian tour and a slot at the UK's revered festival of festivals, Glastonbury. As McLeod puts it, "We"re like Broken Social Scene. But acoustic, and way less famous".
For Everything Will Happen, their latest full-length release, The Fugitives maintained their expansive folk instrumentation while narrowing the songwriting focus. McLeod and Glynn co-wrote the songs, halving their usual number of writers, and brought long-term members in afterwards to flesh out the tunes musically. The result is their fullest sound to date, an effort that combines the lyrical intimacy of singer-songwriters with the festive atmosphere of old collaborators reuniting. "While its fun sitting around our living rooms writing horn lines with our mouths, it wouldn't sound too great on a recording", shrugs Glynn. Thank God for talented friends.
And now, on to more gas station sandwiches.
Despite their all-acoustic lineup, the Fugitives bring enough energy to the stage to light up a small city The East Van quartet conjures up a sound that's like the missing link between Leonard Cohen, the Pogues, and the immortal Shorty Shitstain.- GEORGIA STRAIGHT
The Fugitives are capable of achieving dizzying, Arcade Fire-ish crescendos, replete with parallel melodies, complex harmonies and brimming torrents of emotion. -UPTOWN MAGAZINE
This show is simply brilliant. - CBC
The four part vocals are sensational each of these Fugitives has the talent, voice and charisma to front their own band. - EDMONTON SUN
A sold-out crowd was fed harmonious chants and folksy carols the music had us glued to our seats - SEE MAGAZINE
No one word really captures everything the members can do - VUE MAGAZINE
Band Members
Links
