Charles Spearin
Musician Charles Spearin holding a microphone onstage at a concert in 2008
Spearin performing in 2008
Background information
OriginToronto, Ontario, Canada
GenresAlternative, post-rock, instrumental, contemporary jazz, classical, punk, indie rock
Occupation(s)Musical artist, Composer
Years active1990-Present
LabelsArts & Crafts Records, Constellation Records, Noise Factory

Charles Spearin is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist from Toronto, Ontario. He is primarily known as a founding member of indie rock bands Do Make Say Think and Broken Social Scene.

Career

As a teen, Spearin studied at Etobicoke School of the Arts, a music-oriented high school. In the mid-1990s, he studied audio engineering at the Harris Institute for the Arts.[1] During this time, he became friends with Kevin Drew over a mutual admiration of the post-rock band Tortoise. For a short time, they played in a band called Djula, but grew dissatisfied with performing.[1] In 1998, they released their first album under the name KC Accidental.[2] This collaboration grew to include many musicians who went on to form Broken Social Scene.[3]

In 2002, Spearin teamed with members of Broken Social Scene, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Silver Mt. Zion, Do Make Say Think, Shalabi Effect and Strawberry to make the supergroup Valley of the Giants. This project resulted in a self-titled album, released in 2004.

In addition to his collaborative work, Spearin has toured extensively as a part of Feist's band. He played bass for Gord Downie's Secret Path album and subsequent tour.

Spearin's debut solo album, The Happiness Project, was released on February 14, 2009, on the Arts & Crafts label.[4] This album includes contributions from Do Make Say Think alumni Julie Penner, Kevin Drew, Ohad Benchetrit and Broken Social Scene alumni Leon Kingstone and Evan Cranley. The concept for The Happiness Project, making music out of ordinary speech, is influenced by his early life with a blind father and his own Buddhist studies.[5] On April 17, 2010, Spearin won a Juno Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for The Happiness Project.[6]

On August 28, 2020, Spearin and Swedish violinist Josefin Runsteen released Thank God the Plague is Over. The album, titled just before the COVID-19 pandemic began, is a series of classical improvisations, featuring Runsteen on violin and Spearin on nyckelharpa. Spearin and Runsteen recorded this album in the Chiesa di San Vigilio, near Castel Campo, which experienced two waves of the Black Death that killed ninety percent of the local villagers. The title of the album is inspired by the interior walls of the chapel, which are covered in medieval graffiti pleading with God to rescue victims from the horrors of the disease. The most prominent graphic, a red X painted sometime after the end of the Plague, supposedly represents the cessation of suffering.[7]

Spearin has achieved seven Juno Awards from his various collaborations, including Alternative Album of the Year 2003 (Broken Social Scene, You Forgot it in People), Alternative Album of the Year 2006 (Broken Social Scene, Broken Social Scene), Recording Package of the Year 2011 (Broken Social Scene, Forgiveness Rock Record), Adult Alternative Album of the Year 2017 (Gord Downie, Secret Path) and Instrumental Album of the Year 2018 (Do Make Say Think, Stubborn Persistent Illusions).

Spearin lives with his wife and children in the Toronto neighbourhood of Seaton Village, the inspiration for The Happiness Project.

Discography

Solo

  • The Happiness Project (2009)
  • Thank God the Plague Is Over (2020), with Josefin Runsteen
  • My City of Starlings (2021)

With Do Make Say Think

With Broken Social Scene

With K.C. Accidental

With Valley of the Giants

With Gord Downie

References

  1. 1 2 Dovercourt, Jonny (2020-05-22). "ANY NIGHT OF THE WEEK: With Broken Social Scene, Cause = Time". Spacing Toronto. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  2. ↑ "Broken Social Scene". Pitchfork. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  3. ↑ Reed, Ryan (2010-11-02). "Coming Full Circle (Accidentally): An Interview with Kevin Drew & Charles Spearin". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 2018-09-08. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  4. ↑ Rebecca Raber, "Charles Spearin: The Happiness Project", Pitchfork, June 1, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Interview: Charles Spearin of The Happiness Project". Maximum Fun. 2009-04-01. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  6. ↑ JUNO Category of Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year, 2010, WreckHouse, March 5, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Charles Spearin | QRO Magazine". 2020-09-17. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
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