Kevin Quain is a musician, songwriter, award-winning playwright and bar fly.
Between his various bands, local weekly "house gigs", he performs well over 200 shows a year. He's best known as leader of the "garage jazz cabaret noir" ensemble Mad Bastards. Their Sunday night residency -now in it's second decade- and Quain's two independently released CDs have won a cult following that spans from Los Angeles to Yellowknife to Tokyo, bringing musicians, movie stars and other creatures of the night to Toronto's venerable Cameron House to witness the mayhem firsthand.
He is also the resident accordionista for several other bands including itinerant Tex-mex combo Rancho Misterio, country & western quintet The Cameron Family Singers and occasionally with celtic rockers The Mahones.
"Kevin Quain and the Mad Bastards turn pop music on it's ear and shake it loose for change."
-THE TORONTO STAR
"..a superb singer-songwriter of great sensitivity and wit.."
-THE GLOBE & MAIL
"..a voice with a big quotient of grit and gravel..a musical seismic shock.."
-THE TORONTO STAR
"He merges genres with stunning aplomb, and he's ably abetted by the Mad Bastards, whose fearsome weekly gigs at the Cameron House do full justice to their incendiary name."
-EYE WEEKLY
"Toronto's Best Kept Secret"
-FOXY MAGAZINE
"Quain's rueful sepia-toned squeezebox ballads resonate with an honesty that lasts long after the lonely trumpet wails and acoustic guitar strums have evaporated."
-NOW
"Great songs - colourful narratives set to haunting, rousing melodies, always delivered with an injection of genuine soul."
-EXCLAIM
"Buy now, avoid posterity's scorn"
-THE NATIONAL POST
