Toronto Roots Rockers the Warped 45s Prep Debut Full-Length After Winning Over $10,000 in Cash and Prizes

BY Kerry DoolePublished Aug 12, 2009

It has been quite the summer for fast-rising Toronto, ON-based roots rockers the Warped 45s. After completing work on their keenly anticipated full-length debut, 10 Day Poem for Saskatchewan, they had a four-month residency of gigs at famed Toronto club the Cameron House, followed by their first tour of Eastern Canada. However, it was a June slot at the North By Northeast festival in Toronto that had an unexpected and decidedly lucrative payoff.

NXNE concertgoers were encouraged to vote for the best NXNE performer by texting in their choice, and the Warped 45s' show at the Dakota Tavern earned them the nod for the Rogers NXNE Fan Choice Award.

The grand prize included $10,000, a brand new Gibson guitar, plus a new BlackBerry and a pair of Converse Chucks for each of the band's five members. Earlier this month, the cheque and other prizes were handed over at an industry event at Toronto's Gibson showroom, at which the Warped 45s previewed three songs from the new album.

"We are going to rock, paper, scissors to see who gets the Gibson SG," Ryan Wayne McEathron told Exclaim!, while band-mate Dave McEathron mentioned that his new BlackBerry represented quite a lifestyle change. "I had always resisted getting a cellphone, and now I jump to a Blackberry," he chuckled.

As for 10 Day Poem for Saskatchewan's release, the album will be coming out on Pheromone Recordings and distributed by Fontana North on September 1. Three tracks from the group's highly praised EP, "Radio Sky," "(Bring on That) New Depression" and "Why Have You Passed Me By Grim Reaper," are reprised on the album, alongside ten new songs.

The album was recorded at Toronto's Green Door Studios, the space owned and operated by John Critchley (13 Engines, Elliott Brood), who produced the upcoming effort by Warped 45s, as well as their EP. To help out the group - made up of singers/songwriters/guitarists Dave and Ryan Wayne McEathron (they're cousins), multi-instrumentalist Kevin Hewitt, drummer Hamal Finn Roye and bassist Alex Needleman - several extra players came to the studio, including Romney Getty and Annelise Noronha (backing vocals), J.P.Desaulniers and Alex Cheung (violin), Craig Smith (dobro), Mark Gabriel (bass), Andrew Penner of Sunparlour Players (lap steel) and trumpeter Brownman.

The Warped 45s have several Ontario dates lined up, which you can view here, and a signed copy of the album can be pre-ordered here.

10 Day Poem for Saskatchewan:

1. "10 Day Poem for Saskatchewan"
2. "Progress"
3. "Really Don't Mind"
4. "Leader of the Lost Expedition"
5. "(Bring On That) New Depression"
6. "Trestle for a Train"
7. "Two Month Old Apologies"
8. "To the Daybreak"
9. "Why Oh Why"
10. "Takes a Toll"
11. "Radio Sky"
12. "We Know One Thing"
13. "Why Have You Passed Me By Grim Reaper"

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