DFA79 and Deadly Snakes Meet Their Fate; Concretes Soften

BY Cam LindsayPublished Jan 17, 2007

Two of Toronto’s most revered rock bands have succumbed to their fatally prophetic names. Though rumours of their split had been looming for months, Death From Above 1979 finally announced their demise. In a message on their website, bassist Jesse F. Keeler said: "We decided to stop doing the band... actually we decided that almost a year ago. Over the last three years of touring, Sebastien and I had grown apart to such an extent that the only real time we spoke was just before we would play and during interviews. We started as a punk band with pop aspirations and we met every goal we set for ourselves. The album finally went gold in Canada and that was the final mark I really wanted to reach. It was my goal to see how big we could become without ever compromising or changing what we did right from the start... and now I know.” Keeler will continue making dance music as MSTRKRFT, while drummer/vocalist Sebastien Grainger is rumoured to be forming a band with "well known” Toronto musicians.

Meanwhile, Deadly Snakes multi-instrumentalist Maxwell McCabe-Lokos revealed his Polaris-nominated band’s break up to Pitchfork, stating: "The main reason is that it’s been like ten years and it’s not fun like it used to be and it’s not enough of a career to justify the lack of fun that we’re having. I think we went about as far as we could with this band and we’re all still friends and the main thing is that we were friends before, and we wanted to remain friends after, so we decided to call it a day.” While the members are all currently considering other musical projects, vocalist/guitarist Andre Ethier is out promoting his new solo record, Secondathallam, out on Paper Bag.

Concretes co-founder and lead singer Victoria Bergsman has left the band to pursue a solo career. The remaining members are determined to keep at it though, admitting the Concretes "will continue playing together and are currently drafting songs for a new album.” Sounds like death is knocking on their door too…

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