Friendly Rich, Canada’s legendary songsmith of dark and deranged folk songs, has just announced his highly anticipated new LP Man Out of Time (due out March 31st on We Are Busy Bodies) with an advance single and video for the song Killdozer. The raw and droning tune features Tom Juhas (guitar, voice, co-writer), Joan Smith (voice) and Sly Juhas on drums. Regarding the background to Killdozer, Friendly Rich had to say, “The song, loosely based on the twisted and tragic end of Marvin John Heemeyer, captures the dark and desperate vibes of this album overall. The Killdozer video is a rhythmic play of striking animation in primary colors that leads one to a dreamlike, nightmare world of patterns and images. Buckle up!”
Friendly Rich describes his latest studio recording as a “dark reflection of the pandemic”. But there’s more going on here – a punk sensibility with a folky delivery creates a unique sound that is as dark and hopeless as the pandemic that inspired it. Man Out of Time features a rolling cast of Canadian musicians and guest performances by Brian Poole (Renaldo & The Loaf), Kevin Breit (Nora Jones, Hugh Laurie), Christine Duncan (Tanya Tagaq), Michael Ward-Bergeman (Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble) and many more unique musicians. The full length recording features unique interpretations of legendary Quebecois songwriter Felix Leclerc among Friendly Rich’s honed brand of deranged folk songs. The music can be described as high-energy, rhythmic and atmospheric, ranging from sullen stripped down ballads to frenetic folky foot-stompers. Friendly Rich’s music is theatrical and melodic and brings to mind early Bowie with hints of operatic rock in the vein of T-Rex and Roky Erickson.
Hailing from Oakville, Ontario, Friendly Rich has composed background music for three seasons of MTV’s The Tom Green Show as well as a myriad of tunes as The Lollipop People released on his own eclectic record label, The Pumpkin Pie Corporation. More recently his work has been released in Europe by Hazelwood Records, which has led to playing in the massive summer festival circuit including the Fusion Fest in Germany, and the Balkan Fever Festival and Danube Festival in Vienna. Man Out of Time is set to be released by We Are Busy Bodies and followed by tours in Canada and the US. Things are busy with Friendly Rich and The Pumpkin Pie Corporation, but as Friendly says, “One can either produce, or become produce.”
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