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Label Contact: Mike Bryson
Company: Freaky Flow Recordings
Email: mikebryson *AT* freakyflow *DOT* com
Freaky Flow Presents: The Heavy Petters - In My Life f. Choclair
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Freaky Flow Presents: The Heavy Petters
freakyflowrecordings.com , theheavypetters.com
Toronto, Canada
How does one categorize the sound of The Heavy Petters? If there was a section at the music stores called "frikkin' amazing", this task would be simple, but alas, there is not, so instead, their sound has been called everything from "urban electronic" to "a fusion of hiphop, drumandbass, house, dancehall, and folk music" to "experimental dance", but mostly... frikkin' amazing.
The origins of this super-group can be traced by following the paths of three individual musicians, and one DJ/producer with a vision. The first of these three artists honed his craft in his hometown of Toronto: for years, Gremlinz had been hard at work in the studio, finely crafting drumandbass songs for dance-floors, seeing them released on some of the most sought-after UK drumandbass record labels, including Metalheadz, Renegade Hardware, and Architecture Recordings. But outside of his main genre of expertise, Gremlinz dipped into other musical genres, and found, sadly, that he had no outlet for his slower-paced and more experimental music.
Similarly, another young Toronto-based musician by the name of Mutt - having already worked with Gremlinz on several occasions - explored the more soulful side of drumandbass, watching his tracks flourish on world-famous imprints like Renegade Recordings, Creative Source, and 31 Records. But he too ventured outside of his most successful musical genre from time to time, and delved into hiphop and house production, also finding himself without a way to release these songs.
Meanwhile, just outside of Toronto, Lisa Swain, a folk rock singer-songwriter unbeknownst to Gremlinz or Mutt, was getting in touch with her musical self, composing catchy ballads, touring small venues, and even experimenting with dance music, a venture that would land her an eventual Canadian Juno nomination. But she too yearned for more avenues to unleash her creative self.
And on one fine day in May 2006, this avenue presented itself in the form of Freaky Flow. Flow, a world-famous DJ who had seen success with his own genre-crossing music, having sold over 60,000 CDs over the years, was in the early stages of building a record label from the bottom up, looking for a first act to sign on and set loose. Familiar with and impressed by the individual musical projects of Gremlinz, Mutt, and Lisa, Flow gathered the three together in a room, proposed the idea of musical fusion, and hoped they wouldn't laugh too hard.
And laugh they did not - instead, as the three got to know each other, with Freaky Flow applying gentle pressure, Gremlinz, Mutt, and Lisa Swain traded ideas back and forth, and began recording. The side-projects that each of them dabbled in with seemingly no direction finally had a precise one. Soon after, the trio adopted as their moniker "The Heavy Petters" and hammered out a full-length, mind-blowing album before summer's end, featuring the likes of acclaimed and diversified vocalists including Choclair, Caddy Cad, YLooK, and others.
This first endeavour, titled "Smell the Glove" (at Mutt's incessant request), has been compared by some to the sounds of "The Gorillaz" and "Gnarls Barkley". But The Heavy Petters' sound is truly unique, borrowing from the musical roots of all involved, while focusing on not one of these styles for too long. Their stage show is unrivaled; one can never tell what's going to happen next.
So, how does one categorize the sound of The Heavy Petters? Well, let's just say this: some guy at the local HMV put their album in the "polka" section. Three days later, he was fired.
