Yesterday I wrote about unknown bands who release their CDs on small, independent labels. Of course this is not always their own choice. I think that a lot of indie bands would rather have a contract with a larger record company. But there are also enough bands who prefer the smaller labels. Maybe because of ideological reasons or because they don't want to make concessions about music, artwork, etc. The Weakerthans from Winnipeg and Toronto, Canada are such a band with principals. They don't want to sign with a major label and they promote vegetarianism.
The Weakerthans is founded ten years ago by John K Samson, John Sutton and Jason Tait. This is the line-up on their debut album "Fallow" from 1998. After this first album Stephen Carroll joined the band and in 2000 they released "Left and Leaving" and the EP "Watermark". In 2003 they signed with Epitaph and that's were they released "Reconstruction Site". Sutton left the band right after that and he was replaced by Greg Smith and in this new line-up they started recording new songs. They did this in a studio above a cases factory on the outskirts of Winnipeg. During a week and a half they entered the factory after closing time and they worked on their new album "Reunion Tour" all evening and night. This CD has been released a month ago. An album with very nice rock songs from a band with renewed confidence.