Lazybones releases Songs From Here, August 11, 2009
Featuring special guests Huey Lewis and Jill Barber
First single, Slowmotion, to benefit War Child Canada
Toronto, ON – June 24, 2009 – You might call the name, Lazybones, ironic once you find out that the band consists of Matt Wells (music journalist) and Tim MacNeill (PHD Candidate Social Sciences). These two are anything BUT lazy. Matt Wells has been creating music for twelve years, first in the notorious Newfoundland outfit, Bucket Truck, and on his own since moving to Toronto in 2007, he has been with MuchMoreMusic and MuchMusic for the past seven years, delivering thoughtful and poignant interviews with hundreds of music artists and celebrities. Fellow east coaster; Nova Scotian Tim MacNeill fronted the critically acclaimed east coast band Arlibido. Lazybones debut album, Songs From Here, will be released on August 11, 2009. It features the harmonica chops of Huey Lewis, the vocal musings of Jill Barber and online you can even find Matt on stage with Sammy Hagar!
Their debut CD, Songs From Here, will be a grassroots release. Present the music to the people, make it accessible, and let them decide for themselves. There is no record label; the consumer is the driving force behind the release. As of today, there will be a free download of the song ‘Perfect Life’ (featuring Huey Lewis on Harmonica) on their website www.lazybones.ca. There will also be a link to purchase their first single, Slowmotion with proceeds from the sale going directly to War Child Canada. The album, released officially on August 11th, will be a digital release offered through the fair-trade music website www.noisetrade.com where it can be purchased with a “pay what you want” deal or with the option of simply telling 5 friends about the duo.
Lazybones captures the chemistry between the two singers. Both brought politically charged lyrics to the music they were making when in other bands; Tim combined pop, punk, reggae and ska and Matt found a meeting place for folk driven protest songs and hardcore metal. Now they’ve found harmony as two singers, with two acoustic guitars, singing a collection of songs with topics that range from class systems, economic hardship, the music industry and everything in between.
What’s unique about this band is the philosophy behind their music. After having their own experiences in the music industry neither Matt nor Tim felt a connection with how music is presented to people. One day they stumbled on an interview with John Mellencamp and it was something he said that helped them solidify how they wanted to approach releasing their new music.
the way it is presented to them that ignores their humanity."
- John Mellencamp
"We both have years of disappointment in this industry in many different capacities because of how the business of music is handled. All we want is to get back to a place where music is made, and maybe people like it and then hopefully tell someone else about it. A hundred people knowing about Lazybones, if we feel good about how we present the music, will feel far more successful to us than thousands of people knowing if it doesn’t feel right. The Mellencamp quote definitely helped guide us, we hope that if we do nothing else, we’ve created some music that contains a little humanity, and release it accordingly"
-Tim MacNeill and Matt Wells
Tim has become somewhat of an expert on culture and economy, publishing papers and presenting internationally on topics such as the relation between community and music, the distorting effects that corporatization and inequality can have on culture, and also on culture-based resistance to exploitation from multinational corporations. Tim undertakes the latter work primarily in Central America where he works with indigenous rights organizations who are trying to create a new vision of society in opposition to the corporate power, environmental destruction, inequality, consumerism, and cultural domination indicative of Western culture. "There’s more to life than being a rock-star", Tim often quips, "that’s something that most people in our mass-manufactured, status-hungry society find it very difficult to understand." "You truly start to get it, however, when you talk to a person who has just had his millennia-old community in the highlands of Guatemala burned to the ground by government soldiers to make way for a new Canadian gold mine."
Matt has spent seven years in the trenches as a music journalist. First as a co-host on MuchMusic’s indie show, Going Coastal, Matt has become a mainstay at MuchMusic and MuchMoreMusic as one of their most formidable interviewers. With well over a thousand interviews under his belt, he has talked to artists from every level and genre, allowing him to gain a unique perspective on the inner workings of the music industry. Matt’s journalism career has allowed him to see beyond the rock star persona and blanket of successful musicians and realize that for the most part, artists have the same basic desire to make music and the satisfaction of having it be heard.
Tracklisting:
AddictedPerfect Life (featuring Huey Lewis on Harmonica)
Sleepy Tune (featuring Jill Barber)
Get on the Bus
Live and Die part one
Santaigo
Personal Catastrophe
Slowmotion
Live and Die part two
Sundown and Last Call
Adeline
Adeline Coda
Live and Die part three