I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)NEW ALBUM JULY 2008:
JOEY ONLY OUTLAW BAND CD AVAILABLE ONLINE:
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.. ----- end of buy now button and link -------CD's/EP's AVAILABLE IN VANCOUVER AT AUDIOPILE, REDCAT RECORDS, SPARTACUS BOOKS, PEOPLE'S CO-OP BOOKSTORE AND MORE. AVAILABLE ON ORDER AT ALMOST ALL MUSIC RETAILLERS IN CANADA
LONG BIO: JOEY ONLY OUTLAW BAND
Joey Only has been credited as one of the founders of ‘anti-folk’ music though he doesn’t like the term; he deeply believes in the tradition of folk music and studies it hard. Growing up on farms and in swamps to a courageous single mom while his dad was in prison or working carnivals taught him life’s hardest lessons. His youth as a bush punk near the famous Spiderland Acres (www.punkfest.com) in Hastings County Ontario formed his political views, his musical sound and qualified his credentials to speak out. From a young age you could find Joey swinging an axe in the country one weekend and in a big city busking up the coin to get into a Ripcordz show the next. His first band, the Persecuted, was very controversial and popular in the mid nineties Ontario punk scene.
When Joey became tired of the big cities he returned home to grow weed, read Murray Bookchin and temporarily renounce electric instruments. This was when he transformed into a folk singer and his guitar skills became noticeable. His life of activism and music collided in 2001-2002 when he and some friends organized the Tenant Action Group in Belleville Ontario. Joey ‘Streetpoet’ was becoming known as a songwriter and militant organizer all around the province of Ontario until one day in 2002 he unexpectedly bought a bus ticket to the Rocky Mountains. With that he left his friends and family behind.
He found himself traveling rather aimlessly, guitar in hand, looking for an audience for his punkish country music or a mountain to hideout on. In October 2002 he landed in Vancouver, took part in the infamous Woodwards Squat and became known around the block for his inspiring songs. For two years he played around Vancouver with outspoken distain for the cities cliquey music scene. Still he remained on the outside of the music scene looking in.
His first fully organized tour went awry. There was some show cancellations when Joey landed in a Montreal jail on May 15th 2004, a protest he was at turned into a near riot. It left him fighting a jail sentence but helped his music reach a broader audience. Traveling from Vancouver to Montreal to his trial dates for the next two years became the basis of his first touring circuit, his jail cred. worked to his advantage. Later that year he released his first album RADICAL FOLK OF THE GREAT NORTH, the songs on Radical Folk became very popular and appeared on compilations CD’s as far away as the Philipines. With more confidence his harsh scratchy voice waned and Joey Only began to believe in the quality of his deep singing.
Joey Only brought in the New Year of 2006 in a small bar in the Yukon Territory playing with some of the members of Gordie Tentrees band. This convinced him he wanted to start his own band. Recruiting cellist Christina Zaenker, who also plays with Kevin Kane, Yael Wand and Leela Gilday, was the first step in the Outlaws evolution.
Next to join was the Outlaws reputed BC forest activist Rick McCallion on bass. Then joined accordionist Rowan Lipkovits who was already known around Vancouver for his sea shanty pirate band the Creaking Planks. Kenan Sungur, a versatile jazz student, met Joey Only at Co-op Radio and was soon recruited. The last to join was Mike Zinger with his steel guitar; he had just left his job of president at the Pacific Bluegrass Society and was looking for something else to do. The Outlaws were freaks with beards, bongs and beers.
This six piece psychedelic electric folk act created a bluesygrass country sound that was completely their own. The intensity, speed and musical freedom of the Outlaws convinced audiences that this band could pull out any trick, any time. The Outlaws toured western Canada four times, excelled on festival stages and sent their first recording JOEY ONLY OUTLAW BAND EP to 8 on the Earshot charts for independent and campus radio in Canada. In their first 18 months the Outlaws played an incredible 140 shows through western Canada while Joey Only continued to tour east alone. The Outlaws new album FIRE ON ANARCHIST MOUNTAIN is highly anticipated and promises to be an instant classic when it is released in July 2008.
JOEY ONLY'S PLAYED EVERY PROVINCE & MAJOR CITY IN CANADA BETWEEN 2004-2006.
SOME ARTISTS JOEY ONLY'S APPEARED WITH:
Anne Feeney, Dave Lippman, Rae Spoon, Geoff Berner, RiotFolk
(Evan Greer), The Rebel Spell, Killaloe Rastaman-Rick Reimer,
Washboard Hank, Lance Loree, Jason Burnstick, Leela Gilday,
Subhumans, David Roy Parsons, Kinnie Starr, Corwin Fox, CR
Avery, Bunchofuckingoofs, Hippiecritz, Taberfucks, Mass Grave,
Poser Disposer, Ora Cogan, Mamaguroove, Wax Mannequin, Sarah
Noni Metzner, Chris Chandler, The Persecuted, The Ripcordz,
Po'Girl, Flying Folk Army, Leslie Alexander, Ana Bon-Bon, Linda
McRae (Spirit of The West), Rodney Decroo, David Rovics, Murray Boal, Kevin Kane (Grapes of Wrath), Denis Delorme (Prairie Oyster)...and lotsa more
POSITIVE REVIEWS:
"An anarchist sort of Stomping Tom Connors," Bob Nixon, Canada Now, CBC News.
"The voice of the movement," Dr. Heidi Rimke PHD, professor of sociology at the University of Winnipeg
"If you smoke enough pot you will swear you are out riding the range with Joey Only and his gang of freak outlaws." Chris Walter, punk fiction writer in Vancouver about the new Joey Only Outlaw Band CD.
"...sounds a bit like a defiantly DIY version of a young Bob Dylan, this being partly because of Onlys world-weary voice and partly because of his phrasing," Mike Usinger, Music editor of the Georgia Straight, August 2005.
"In our humble opinion he might be the next Utah Philips," 16th Annual Under the Volcano programme 2005.
"Rarely have I heard a band with so much musical talent combined with so much integrity. The Joey Only Outlaw Band have left a huge impact on me and the rest of the lucky folk who chanced upon them in Kelowna (BC) this October," Sarah Williard, CIRO Program Director.
"Joey comes from the Marmora area, a place that's only got two names in the phone book...and Only is one of them," Washboard Hank.
"Joining Washboard Hank is Vancouver's own Joey Only-that is if the pig magnet doesn't get arrested on the way to the show," Georgia Straight 'Straight Choices" section October 26th, 2006.
"Joey Only a textbook example of effective activism,"title of Edmonton SEE Magazine article in May 2006.
"Joey Only provided a clearcutting tone to help project the bands messages, whether they were political or an invitation to party. He also fused his country/bluegrass sound with his advanced skills by playing very nice solos," Dheni Walsh, Capilano College Courier, February 2007.
