montreal

The group came together as a trio in 2002, when singer-songwriter Erik Lind teamed up with lead guitarist Mike Libis and drummer/percussionist Micah Shapiro at McGill University. Excited support soon spilled off campus as they kept up a regular concert schedule in and around the Montreal area. After bassist Lisa (Dee) Perusse joined in 2003, the quartet expanded their enthusiastic fan base to the United States.

Miracle Fortress is the brainchild of Graham Van Pelt, a Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who in this incarnation builds wall of sound pop songs in the tradition of Brian Wilson and Brian Eno. Originally from Stratford, Ontario, Graham is also a member of Montreal’s Think About Life (Alien8 Recordings). He began to record as Miracle Fortress after co-founding the multi-functional art space/venue/studio space Friendship Cove with local artist Jack Dylan in Montreal’s Griffintown in late 2005.

Plants and Animals are a Canadian indie-rock band from Montreal, composed of guitarist-vocalists Warren Spicer and Nic Basque, and drummer-vocalist Matthew Woodley. They are signed to Secret City Records. The first seeds of the band were originally planted on Canada’s salty-aired East Coast in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Young Warren C. Spicer and Matthew ‘the Woodman’ Woodley had begun playing together in high-school bands. The sea winds eventually carried them through the vast plains of Quebec to Montreal (a journey they would come to know intimately as the years wore on).