{{Short description|Canadian indie rock band}} {{Lead too short|date=March 2020}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2013}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = The Weakerthans | image = The Weakerthans in Winnipeg.jpg | caption = The Weakerthans performing in Winnipeg, 2007 | image_size = 250 | landscape = yes | background = group_or_band | origin = Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | genre = Indie rock, folk rock, alternative, post-punk, emo | years_active = 1997–2014 (on hiatus) | label = Epitaph, ANTI-, G7 Welcoming Committee, Sub City, B.A. Records | website = {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930021409/http://www.theweakerthans.org/ |title=The Weakerthans |date=September 30, 2020}} | current_members = John K. Samson<br />Jason Tait<br />Stephen Carroll<br />Greg Smith | past_members = John P. Sutton }}
'''The Weakerthans''' are a Canadian indie rock band from Winnipeg. The band, led by John K. Samson, has released four studio albums and is currently inactive.
==History== The band was formed in 1997 in Winnipeg, Manitoba by John K. Samson, after he left the punk band Propagandhi to start a publishing company. Samson joined bassist John P. Sutton and drummer Jason Tait of Red Fisher, another band from Winnipeg's punk scene,<ref>[https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-comprehensive-look-at-winnipegs-rock-history-part-2/ "A Comprehensive Look At Winnipeg’s PC Punk Scene"]. ''Noisey'', Sheldon Birnie Sep 22 2014,</ref> and created The Weakerthans as a vehicle for a more melodic and introspective brand of songwriting than their previous projects.
The origin of the band's name was explained, in 2004 by Samson, as having come from "a few places." One was a line from the 1992 film ''The Lover'': "Go ahead, I'm weaker than you can possibly imagine." Another was a line from Ralph Chaplin's union anthem "Solidarity Forever": "What force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one?" The band includes this line in the song "Pamphleteer" from the album ''Left and Leaving''.<ref>{{cite interview| subject= John K. Samson| interviewer= Rob Todd of Crush Music Mag| title= Weakerthans' John Samson Interviewed by Crush Music Mag | date= November 2, 2004| url= http://www.crushmusicmag.com/weakerthansinterview.html| access-date= November 15, 2018| url-status= usurped| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20041124050754/http://www.crushmusicmag.com/weakerthansinterview.html| archive-date= November 24, 2004| df= mdy-all}} [http://epitaph.com/news/article/weakerthans-john-samson-interviewed-by-crush-music-mag Alt URL]</ref>
The band's debut album, ''Fallow'', was released in 1997 on G7 Welcoming Committee Records, and garnered positive reviews from Canadian music critics.<ref>Haggart, B. (October 11, 1998). The Weakerthans: punk rock that’s home-grown and grown-up. Catholic New Times, 22(15), 16. </ref> Guitarist Stephen Carroll, formerly of Painted Thin, subsequently joined the band, and ''Left and Leaving'' was released in 2000.
[[Image:The Weakerthans in concert 2007.JPG|thumb|left|The Weakerthans, with support from Jim Bryson, at a 2007 concert in Toronto]] In 2003, the band moved to Epitaph Records and released ''Reconstruction Site''. The album was met with positive reviews<ref name="review">{{cite news | title = Album Review: The Weakerthans, ''Reconstruction Site'' | newspaper = Toronto Sun | date = August 22, 2003 | url = http://jam.canoe.com/Music/Artists/W/Weakerthans/AlbumReviews/2003/08/22/772143.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160309210530/http://jam.canoe.com/Music/Artists/W/Weakerthans/AlbumReviews/2003/08/22/772143.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = March 9, 2016 | access-date = 2007-02-06 | df = mdy-all }}</ref> from Canadian and international critics for its ambitious combination of punk, rock, folk, country and sonnets. It also became the band's best-selling record to date, and in September appeared on the !earshot National Top 50 Chart as a result of significant airplay on Canadian radio.<ref>[http://earshot-online.com/charts/index.cfm?intChartTypeID=101&dWeekOfID=2003-09-16 "The National Top 50 For the Week Ending: Tuesday, September 16, 2003"]. ''!earshot''.</ref> It was the second Weakerthans album to be produced by Ian Blurton.
Sutton, who played on the band's first three albums, left in August 2004 and was replaced by Greg Smith.
In 2005, ''Left and Leaving'' was named one of the ten best Canadian albums of all time in ''Chart'' magazine's reader poll.<ref name="chart">{{cite news |title= The Top 50 Canadian Albums and Songs of All Time |work= Chart, Issue 164 |date= March 2005 }}</ref> In the same poll, Samson wrote the capsule review for another top ten finisher, The Lowest of the Low's ''Shakespeare My Butt'', which he cited as a major influence on his own music.
''Reunion Tour'' was released on September 25, 2007, in North America by Epitaph and ANTI-. The band released a video for "Civil Twilight", which consisted of a single, unbroken camera shot of the band on a Winnipeg Transit city bus.<ref name="civiltwilight_video">{{cite web | last = Spinella | first = Mike | title = Video Premiere: The Weakerthans, "Civil Twilight" | publisher = Spinner | date = October 17, 2007 | url = http://www.spinner.com/2007/10/17/video-premiere-the-weakerthans-civil-twilight/ | access-date = 2007-10-25 | archive-date = May 24, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110524063814/http://www.spinner.com/2007/10/17/video-premiere-the-weakerthans-civil-twilight/ | url-status = dead }}</ref>
Epitaph also re-released the Weakerthans' first two albums, ''Fallow'' and ''Left and Leaving'', in Canada on November 6, 2007.<ref name="rerelease">{{cite web | last = Van Evra | first = Jennifer | title = Epitaph To Re-Release Weakerthans Classics | publisher = CBC Radio 3 | date = October 24, 2007 | url = http://radio3.cbc.ca/blogs/2007/10/Epitaph-To-Re-Release-Weakerthans-Classics | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130101070838/http://radio3.cbc.ca/blogs/2007/10/Epitaph-To-Re-Release-Weakerthans-Classics | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 1, 2013 | access-date = 2007-10-25 }}</ref>
In February 2009, the band participated in Barenaked Ladies' annual Ships and Dip cruise.<ref name=noplans>[http://www.canada.com/entertainment/Weakerthans+make+plans+plans/1515127/story.html "The Weakerthans make plans for no plans"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090717030901/http://www.canada.com/entertainment/Weakerthans+make+plans+plans/1515127/story.html |date=July 17, 2009 }}. Canwest News Service, April 20, 2009.</ref> In a subsequent interview with Canwest News Service, Samson clarified that the band would be taking some downtime over the summer of 2009 before deciding when to start working on their next album.<ref name=noplans /> Shortly afterward, Samson announced a series of solo 7" releases about Manitoba roads, which he planned to release over the next 18 months. The first, ''City Route 85'', was released on October 30, 2009, through Epitaph and ANTI-.<ref>{{cite magazine | title = The Weakerthans' John K. Samson Reveals New Seven-Inches Series in Honour of Manitoba Roads | magazine = Exclaim! | url = http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=136&csid2=844&fid1=41229 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120915072050/http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=136&csid2=844&fid1=41229 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2012-09-15 | access-date = 2009-09-21 }}</ref> After a second EP, ''Provincial Road 222'', in 2010, the project instead evolved into Samson's first official solo album, ''Provincial''.
In January 2010, the band announced that they would release a live album, ''Live at the Burton Cummings Theatre'', on March 23.<ref name=live>[http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=139&csid2=844&fid1=43485 "The Weakerthans Set Release Date for New Live Album"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100112050332/http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=139&csid2=844&fid1=43485 |date=January 12, 2010 }}. ''Exclaim!'', January 7, 2010.</ref> At the same time, they also announced that they were recording material with Jim Bryson for his album ''The Falcon Lake Incident'', which was released on October 19, 2010.<ref name=exclaim>[http://exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=115&csid2=844&fid1=49741 "Jim Bryson Recruits the Weakerthans for The Falcon Lake Incident"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822175152/http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=115 |date=August 22, 2010 }}. ''Exclaim!'', September 23, 2010.</ref> In the same year, they were the subject of Caelum Vatnsdal's documentary film ''We're the Weakerthans, We're from Winnipeg''.<ref>Vish Khanna, [https://exclaim.ca/music/article/were_weakerthans_were_from_winnipeg-directed_by_caelum_vatnsdal "We're the Weakerthans We're from Winnipeg"]. ''Exclaim!'', October 4, 2011.</ref>
In July 2015, media began to report that Tait had announced the band's breakup on Twitter.<ref>[http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/music/Weakerthans-done-according-to-band-member-315460271.html "Weakerthans 'done,' according to band member"]. ''Winnipeg Free Press'', July 15, 2015.</ref> The band's social media accounts have been updated in accordance to the claims, defining themselves as "cryogenically frozen". Both Tait and Smith collaborated on Samson's 2016 solo album ''Winter Wheat'', which Samson described as feeling in some respects like a new Weakerthans album.<ref>[http://exclaim.ca/music/article/john_k_samson_returns_with_winter_wheat_solo_lp_shares_new_single "John K. Samson Returns with 'Winter Wheat' Solo LP, Shares New Single"]. ''Exclaim!'', August 15, 2016.</ref>
The Gimlet Media podcast Heavyweight, launched in 2016, brought fresh attention to the band by selecting "Sun In An Empty Room" from the album ''Reunion Tour'' as the show's theme and closing music.
==Chart performance== ''Reunion Tour'' debuted at No. 22 on the Nielsen SoundScan chart for Canada in its first week of release, and at No. 4 on the alternative/modern rock chart. The album reached No. 181 on the United States ''Billboard'' 200.
The Weakerthans became the first band in the history of CBC Radio 3's ''R3-30'' charts to reach No. 1 with two different songs. The band's cover of Rheostatics' "Bad Time to Be Poor" reached No. 1 the week of June 21, 2007, and "Civil Twilight", the lead single from ''Reunion Tour'', hit the top spot the week of November 15, 2007. As of 2009, "Civil Twilight" remains tied with Arcade Fire's "Black Mirror" as the longest-running No. 1 in that chart's history. "Civil Twilight" was also the No. 1 song in ''The R3-30'''s year-end Top 100 chart for 2007.
==Members== thumb|Samson performing in Winnipeg, December 2007
===Current members=== *John K. Samson (lead vocals, guitar) (1997–2014) *Jason Tait (drums, percussion, vibraphone, keyboards) (1997–2014) *Stephen Carroll (guitar, pedal and lap steel, keyboards) (1997–2014) *Greg Smith (bass) (2004–2014)
===Former members=== *John P. Sutton (bass) (1997–2004)
===Live show help=== *Jim Bryson (general support). Joined as of September 10, 2007.<ref name="cbcradiothree-bryson">{{cite web | last = Lawrence | first = Grant | title = Bryson Rapidly Weakening | publisher = CBC Radio 3 | date = September 10, 2007 | url = http://radio3.cbc.ca/blogs/2007/09/Bryson-Rapidly-Weakening | access-date = 2007-09-25 }}</ref> *Christine Fellows (keyboards/background vocals) *Brian Poirier (acoustic guitar and backing vocals) *Tyler Greenleaf (trumpet and trombone) *Rusty Matyas (general support) – performed with the band for the 2009 Rolling Tundra Revue<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=2758938&blogId=475596815 |title=Tour Wrap up von the Waking Eyes bei Myspace |access-date=2009-04-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713203440/http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=2758938&blogId=475596815 |archive-date=July 13, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>
MacKinnon and Poirier also have their own band, FemBots, and were previously associated with the bands Dig Circus and Hummer. Both Bryson and Fellows are solo artists in addition to touring with The Weakerthans; Fellows and Samson are married. Matyas is a member of the bands The Waking Eyes and Imaginary Cities.
==Discography== {{main|The Weakerthans discography}} ;Studio albums * ''Fallow'' (1997) * ''Left and Leaving'' (2000) * ''Reconstruction Site'' (2003) * ''Reunion Tour'' (2007)
;Live albums * ''Live at the Burton Cummings Theatre'' (2010)
;With Jim Bryson * ''The Falcon Lake Incident'' (2010)
==Side projects== *Samson frequently collaborates with his wife, Christine Fellows. *Tait has recorded and performed with Broken Social Scene and Do Make Say Think. *Tait, Samson, and Fellows collaborated with poet and filmmaker Clive Holden on his multimedia project ''Trains of Winnipeg''. *Carroll appeared on The Details' ''Draw a Distance. Draw a Border.'' and ''The Original Mark EP''. He co-produced a couple of songs on ''The Original Mark EP'' as well as their upcoming full-length (2011). *In 2006, all of the Weakerthans except Samson performed on Bad Religion singer Greg Graffin's second solo album, ''Cold as the Clay''. They also toured with Graffin on a tour supporting the album. *In 2000, the ''Winnipeg Free Press'' released a spoken word album by Catherine Hunter that included a bonus track featuring the Weakerthans doing backing instrumentation while Hunter read her poem "Rush Hour".
==Awards== thumb|In Montreal, October 2004
===Won=== * Outstanding Independent Album – ''Reconstruction Site'' – Western Canadian Music Awards (2004)<ref name="awards">{{cite web | title = Weakerthans stick to their punk rock roots | publisher = The Brock Press | date = March 30, 2005 | url = http://media.www.brockpress.com/media/storage/paper384/news/2005/03/30/ArtsEntertainment/Weakerthans.Stick.To.Their.Punk.Rock.Roots-905809.shtml?sourcedomain=www.brockpress.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com | access-date = 2007-02-07 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928104033/http://media.www.brockpress.com/media/storage/paper384/news/2005/03/30/ArtsEntertainment/Weakerthans.Stick.To.Their.Punk.Rock.Roots-905809.shtml?sourcedomain=www.brockpress.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com | archive-date = September 28, 2007 | df = mdy-all }}</ref> * Outstanding Songwriter – John K. Samson – Western Canadian Music Awards (2004)<ref name="awards"/> * Artist of the Year – The Weakerthans – Verge Awards (2008).<ref name="globe">{{cite news | last = Wheeler | first = Brad | title = Weakerthans, Hey Rosetta! win Verge Music Awards | newspaper = The Globe and Mail | date = September 25, 2008 | url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080925.BUZZ25-4/TPStory/Entertainment | access-date = 2008-09-25 }}</ref> * SOCAN Songwriting Prize – "Night Windows" (2008)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.socansongwritingprize.ca/past-nominees-and-winners/ |title=Past Nominees and Winners - SOCAN Songwriting Prize |website=Socansongwritingprize.ca |access-date=2020-03-15 |archive-date=June 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170606114756/http://www.socansongwritingprize.ca/past-nominees-and-winners/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Nominations=== *Best Alternative Album – ''Left and Leaving'' – Juno Awards (2001) *Video of the Year – "Psalms for the Elks' Lodge Last Call" – Western Canadian Music Awards (2004)<ref name="awards"/> *Alternative Album of the Year – ''Reconstruction Site'' – Juno Awards (2004) *Video of the Year – "The Reasons" – Juno Awards (2005) *2008 Polaris Music Prize — ''Reunion Tour''
==See also== {{Portal|Music|Canada}} *Canadian rock
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{official website|http://www.theweakerthans.org/}} * {{IMDb name|3350304}}
{{The Weakerthans}} {{SOCAN Songwriting Prize}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weakerthans, The}} Category:Musical groups established in 1997 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2015 Category:Canadian indie rock groups Category:Canadian folk rock groups Category:Canadian pop punk groups Category:Musical groups from Winnipeg Category:Canadian power pop groups Category:Epitaph Records artists Category:G7 Welcoming Committee Records artists Category:1997 establishments in Manitoba Category:Sub City Records artists Category:Anti- (record label) artists