Downloadable bio and press kit

View The Buttless Chaps's EPK

Updated by unknown at 15:02:56 01/18/08

Press links

Album Reviews

Love This Time - 2003

• Eye Weekly (Toronto) (5 stars!)
• San Francisco City Beat
• Comes With a Smile (UK)
• My Sweater
• PopMatters
• Indieville
• University of Calgary Gauntlet
• Hour (Ottawa)

Death Scenes I II III - 2001

• !earshot Online
• Americana UK
• Canoe.ca
• Exclaim!
• No Depression
• Scratch Records
• eye Weekly, Toronto

Tumblewire - 2000

• Exclaim!
• The Martlet

The Buttless Chaps - 1999

• Exclaim!

Show reviews

• October 2004 five-day stint at the Media Club with the Rheostatics (review in Columbia Journal)
• October 2 2003 at Rancho Relaxo, Toronto (review in Now)
• April 13 2002 at the (sugar refinery), Vancouver (review in ChartAttack)

Interviews

• July 28, 2005: Terminal City, Vancouver
• March 11 2003: NadaMucho, Seattle, WA
• September 2002: eye Weekly, Toronto, ON
• September 2002: See Magazine, Edmonton, AB
• December 5, 2001: Monday Magazine, Victoria, BC
• September 6, 2001: Umbrella Music, Toronto, ON (video; e-mail registration required)
• September 2001: Wavelength, Toronto, ON
• September, 2001: The Fulcrum, Ottawa, ON

Articles

• Article on the 2002 late summer tour in the Eye (Toronto).
• A short bit in the CalgaryPlus.
• Chartattack article announcing the 2002 Summer Tour.

'Best of' lists

2002

• Michael Barclay's Top 10 Local Gigs of 2002 in The Record.
• Best Live Concerts of 2002 in The Echo Weekly.

2001

• Michael Barclay's Top 10 Musical Moments of 2001 in Toronto's Eye magazine.
• Concert of the Year list in the definitive Canadian music maganize Exclaim!.
• Top 10 North of 49 list at Victoria's Monday Magazine.

Directories etc.

These are links to our pages on various band-support sites (things like MP3.com, New Music Canada, and so on).

• New Music Canada.
• MP3.com.
• Maple Music.
• Tumblewire and Death Scenes I II III both have pages on CD Baby.
• R.A.N.C.H. Productions.

Updated by unknown at 19:21:36 08/29/05

Biography

THE BUTTLESS CHAPS are a five-piece act based in Vancouver, Canada. Formed in 1998 in Victoria, the Chaps made the leap to the mainland in order to reach a wider audience. Since their inception the Chaps have played for audiences across the continent and have created five studio albums demonstrating increasing breadth and artistry every time. All songwriting is done as a collaborative effort and, according to Mike Usinger (Georgia Straight), the result is “fiercely original, often breathtaking stuff.”

The principle tenets of the band have been to have fun and to place absolutely no limits on their musical wanderings. The result is an imaginative and seamless journey from traditional country to new wave to punk, performed without irony or pretense. The honest enjoyment the Chaps get from playing their music is evident in their eclectic and vibrant live shows. The band projects an infectious energy, leading Michael Barclay (Exclaim) to write: “with their individual musical skill and combined charisma, one gets the impression that The Buttless Chaps could do just about anything.”

The Chaps have twice performed live sets on the CBC radio show Radio Sonic, and have been interviewed and filmed live on MuchMusic. Their third studio album Death Scenes I II III reached the top ten on the nationwide Chartattack.com in September 2001. The band signed a licensing deal with Vancouver independent label Mint Records to release their latest album Love This Time in September 2003. The record has earned high praise including several five-star reviews, charted on both Earshot! and Chart magazine in Canada for four months, and is currently breaking into the US and UK. The band made their US debut in January 2004 touring from San Diego to Seattle with The Handsome Family. They returned to the US in March with Mint labelmates The Gay on a journey to SXSW in Austin, Texas.

“The Chaps mix 'n' match the bits and pieces and tinker to their hearts' content. The results are sublime.” – George Zahora (Splendid) reviewing Love This Time. In 2005 The Buttless Chaps put the finishing touches on their latest studio effort "Where Night Holds Light" which is was released February 21st on Mint Records. A western Canadian tour was completed in November 2005, and a tour supporting The Rheostatics in Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo and Toronto. March and April of this year was spent supporting the new release in Canada, and and the west coast of the USA. Some highlights from the year included collaborative performances with The Rheostatics, Ford Pier & Oh Susanna and a performance at The Vancouver East Cultural center with Veda Hille & members of The Hard Rubber Orchestra. The Chaps also shot a video for the song "Where Night Holds Light" filmed on beautiful Uncha Lake near Burns Lake in Northern B.C. (Where two band members hail from.) The band appeared at CMW in 2007 and also completed yet another tour of Western Canada in support of the record.

2008 finds the band working on a new record , their sixth studio album slated for an October 7th release on Mint Records. Also "Cbc Radio 3 Sessions" will also be released as a digital only album on April 1st, 2008, coinciding with the bands 10th anniversary show April 4th in Vancouver B.C. Cbc Radio 3 Sessions features re-interpretations of songs from The Chaps catalogue with the addition of Jesse Zubot (Violin) and Peggy Lee (Cello).

Updated by unknown at 15:02:24 01/18/08

Members

• Dave Gowans - vocals, acoustic guitar, banjo, air raid siren, recorder, Casio
• Lasse Lutick - electric guitar, lap steel, synthesizers, banjo
• Morgan McDonald - keyboards & synthesizers
• Ida Nilsen - vocals, accordion, keyboards, euphonium
• Dan Gaucher - drums
• Torben Wilson - drums & pads

Updated by unknown at 18:17:47 06/10/07