Great Lake Swimmers

Infobox musical artist
Name = Great Lake Swimmers

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Img_capt = Playing at the Tsunami Club in Köln.
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Origin = Wainfleet, Ontario, Canada
Genre = Folk rock
Years_active = 2003–present
Label = (weewerk), Nettwerk
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URL = [http://www.greatlakeswimmers.com greatlakeswimmers.com]
Current_members = Tony Dekker Erik Arnesen Colin Huebert Julie Fader Darcy Yates
Past_members =

Great Lake Swimmers is a Canadian band built around the melodic folk rock songs of singer-songwriter Tony Dekker, from Wainfleet, Ontario. [Van Evra, Jennifer. "Songs to dive into", "The Globe and Mail", 2007-03-30, p. R4.] The current touring line-up includes Tony Dekker on lead vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica, Erik Arneson on banjo, electric guitar and harmonium, Colin Huebert on drums, Darcy Yates on upright bass and Julie Fader on keyboards and vocals. [Devlin, Mike. "Swimmer stands on solid ground: Confidence grows as fan base gels behind low-key folk group", "Times-Colonist", 2007-10-18, p. D6.]

The band's style has been compared to Red House Painters, Nick Drake, Iron & Wine and Neil Young, ["Inspired by nature to pen songs", "Evening Chronicle", 2007-04-11, p. 2.] as well as Will Oldham [Wilson, Carl. "Pop", "The Globe and Mail", 2003-01-18, p. R20.] and Sufjan Stevens. [Pidd, Helen. "Review: Pop: The Great Lake Swimmers", "The Guardian", 2007-05-04, p. 42.] Dekker has said his influences include Gram Parsons and Hank Williams. [McDowell, Adam. "Still learning to swim", "National Post", 2005-04-02, p. TO4.]

The band released its third full-length album, "Ongiara", on March 27, 2007 in Canada and in May for the rest of the world. Although signing to Nettwerk early in 2007, Great Lake Swimmers continue to be managed by (weewerk). In September 2007, (weewerk) released a limited edition vinyl version of "Ongiara". It was available in Australia through native indie label Speak N Spell.

Discography

Albums

* "Great Lake Swimmers" (weewerk, 2003)
* "Bodies and Minds" (weewerk, 2005)
* "Hands in Dirty Ground" (limited edition EP, weewerk, 2006)
* "Ongiara" (Nettwerk, 2007)
* "Ongiara" (limited edition LP, weewerk, 2007)

ingles

* "Your Rocky Spine" (UK single, Nettwerk, fall 2007)
* "Gonna Make It Thru This Year" (new single for Toys For Tots Xmas Comp, Nov 2007)
* "See You On The Moon!" (Kids song for Paper Bag Records compilation, Mar 2005)

oundtrack

* "Song Sung Blue" (unreleased film score, weewerk, 2008)

In 2006, the band also released a "digital box set" on Zunior, consisting of their first two albums, the limited edition "Hands in Dirty Ground" EP, several digital tour photos and the video for their song "To Leave It Behind" on a 512 MB USB flash drive. [ [http://www.zunior.com/product_info.php?products_id=775 Zunior] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.greatlakeswimmers.com/ Great Lake Swimmers] official site
* [http://www.torontoist.com/archives/2006/08/great_lake_swim.php Torontoist] (Tall Poppy interview)
* [http://www.icebergradio.com/greatlakeswimmers Interview + Performance] recorded March 2007
* [http://www.absolutepunk.net/artists/showlink.php?do=showdetails&l=4160 Great Lake Swimmers profile on AbsolutePunk]
* [http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=232750 Great Lake Swimmers interview on Absolutepunk]
* " [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/arts/music/06play.html?ref=music From Great Lake Swimmers All the Way to Timberlake] ", "New York Times", May 5, 2007
* [http://www.patrolmag.com/index.php?id=208 Great Lake Swimmers Live EP review and download]