Bourbon Tabernacle Choir | |
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Origin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Genres | Alternative rock |
Years active | 1985–1995 |
Labels | Yonder |
Website | bourbontabernaclechoir |
Past members |
Kate Fenner Chris Brown Andrew Whiteman Chris Miller Chris Plock Jason Mercer Gregor Beresford Dave Wall Gene Hardy Tom Bona Derek Sinclair |
The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir were a Canadian alternative rock band that formed in 1985 in Toronto. Their R&B-flavoured rock made them a mainstay on Canadian campus radio in the early 1990s, but the band never quite broke through to the mainstream.
The band consisted of vocalist Kate Fenner, vocalist and organist Chris Brown, vocalist and guitarist Andrew Whiteman, guitarist Chris Miller, saxophone and vocalist Chris Plock, bassist Jason Mercer and drummer Gregor Beresford, when all of the founding members were high school classmates. Vocalist Dave Wall joined the band in 1988, and vocalist and saxophonist Gene Hardy joined in 1989.
They released three independent cassettes: First Taste of Bourbon in 1987, If Hell Had a Houseband in 1989 and Sister Anthony in 1990. The single "Put Your Head On" b/w "As Right as They Want to Be" (1990), produced by Bob Wiseman and recorded at Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, Ontario, attracted the attention of film director Bruce McDonald, who included it on the soundtrack to his 1991 film Highway 61. Both songs were later available on the CD reissue of Sister Anthony in 1995, although the original version of "As Right as They Want to Be" was replaced with a live version.
With the exposure they gained from "Put Your Head On", the band signed to the independent label Yonder Records, and released Superior Cackling Hen in 1992. The singles "Make Amends", "Afterglow" and "Original Grin" were all hits on campus and modern rock radio stations in the next year.