Black Powder Toys

Music:

Member Since: 30/07/2006
Band Website: www.blackpowdertoys.com
Band Members: Clayton Blancard – BPT’s enigmatic front man, Blancard boasts a potent pitch and a set of knees regarded as almost perfect. The great-great grandson of Pepe Blancard, the infamous New York tailor who, attempting to cut costs, inadvertently invented shorts. Unable to secure a patent, Pepe withdrew from society. It was during this the recluse invented the cue card. When he died, his epitaph was discovered scrawled across a cue card taped to his bedpost: “Cue cards: for shortening material”. While proud of his cue-card heritage, Blancard eschews them during live performances, insisting on memorizing his material. “Most of the songs are short,” he says.

Pete Ryznar – Found in a Polish sausage field during the spring harvest, this finger-lickin’ keyboardist was saved when the farmers realized sausages don’t grow in fields. After milking Ryznar, the farmers quickly set about to grow the rest of the band. Mixing secret blends of proteins with the fertile soil, the seeds of rock seemed firmly planted. Five years later, in what Perestroika Magazine referred to as “a triumph for all of Poland”, the farmers successfully harvested Kenny G. Ryznar and recently sold his life-rights to Paramount Pictures for an undisclosed sum. His book Pole Planting will be published next fall.

Matt Pavan - while a baby, assembled his first drum kit with toothpicks, peeled skin and a tube of denture glue. At 12 months, he starred as the Broadway lead in the critically-acclaimed “Little Drummer Boy”. But fate took center stage when Pavan was injured during a freak drum-soloing accident at a Cultus Lake concert. Forced into waiter work at a Chinese restaurant, he was eventually fired for constantly ripping his shirt off and tossing chopsticks into the crowd. After countless hours of therapy and against all odds, Pavan returned to the drums. He remains one of North America’s premier advocates for soloing safety.

Ashley Bird - Ashley's lavish licks could often be heard vibrating right through Caroline, Alberta. The guitarist was born on a bayou and in his spare time enjoys plummeting over Niagara Falls in a barrel marked “Dangerous Goods”. Raised by nuns, Bird’s frenetic fingers were often touted as “divine” and “inspirational”. By all accounts, they enjoyed his guitar work also. His work on Into the Nunnery: Unplugged was nominated for a Grammy. Caroline Alberta can be seen twice-weekly on the main stage at the Cecil Hotel.

Corey Grant – Say it fast and he sounds like a famous actor. Grant’s a man that knows what he wants, and knows how to get it. Asked to help carry Pavan’s drums into a recent gig, Grant said: “I will not carry your drum kit, Matt. When I got thrown into this band I had a clear understanding with you guys: no drum kits. I'll carry your books, I'll carry a torch, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry on, carry over, carry forward, Cary Grant, cash and carry, carry me back to Old Virginia, I'll even 'hari-kari' if you show me how, but I will not carry a drum kit.”

Type of Label: Major