13 Engines was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

band active in the 1980s and 1990s.

Overview

Formed in 1985 as The Ikons, the band consisted of four

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

students: vocalist and songwriter John Critchley, guitarist and songwriter Mike Robbins, bassist Jim Hughes and drummer Grant Ethier. They released a self-titled independent cassette in 1986 before changing their name to 13 Engines. This name was a reference to the automobile industry in

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and

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, which were the first markets to embrace the band. They spent a lot of time in Michigan and recorded their first two albums there--''Before Our Time'' in 1987 and ''Byram Lake Blues'' in 1989; both were released by the UK label Nocturnal Records. One song from ''Byram Lake Blues'', "Beached", became a college hit and, in 1990, the band was signed to SBK Records in the

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and

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

in Canada. In 1991, 13 Engines released their major label debut, ''A Blur to Me Now'', which was produced by David Briggs and John Hanlon. The band received airplay for the album's singles "King of Saturday Night" and "Big Surprise". SBK dropped them soon afterward, although it did release an EP called ''Ignition'' which was the top singles from the band's next album. That album was 1993's ''

Perpetual Motion Machine Perpetual motion is the motion of bodies that continues forever in an unperturbed system. A perpetual motion machine is a hypothetical machine that can do work infinitely without an external energy source. This kind of machine is impossible, a ...

'', which was produced by Critchley and released on Atlantic Records. This album was the band's breakthrough in Canada, spawning the hit singles "More", "Bred in the Bone" and "Smoke & Ashes", and led to a spot on

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassis ...

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tour. The band also played festivals and toured with

Blind Melon Blind Melon is an American rock band formed in 1990 in Los Angeles by five musicians: three from Mississippi, one from Pennsylvania and one from Indiana. The band currently consists of guitarists Rogers Stevens and Christopher Thorn, drummer ...

, The Watchmen, Moist and

The Tea Party The Tea Party is a Canadian rock band with industrial rock, blues, progressive rock, and Middle Eastern music influences, dubbed " Moroccan roll" by the media. Active throughout the 1990s and up until 2005, the band re-formed in 2011. The Tea ...

. They followed up in 1995 with ''Conquistador'', which gave them another hit, ''Beneath My Hand''. While the album is considered to be 13 Engines' finest work, it did not do well commercially. In 1996, Nocturnal Records released the band's compilation album, ''Perfect Largeness: The Nocturnal Years''. In June 1997, the band performed during

NXNE North by Northeast (or NXNE) is an annual music and arts festival held each June in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival's main focus is live music, but it also includes an eSports gaming tournament, comedy, a conversations series, a flea marke ...

, performing songs from a finished album. However, the album was never released and the band broke up that year. In 2017, the Canadian label Artoffact Records released some of the band's singles on an EP called ''Brave New Waves Session''.

Post-breakup

Following the break-up of 13 Engines, Critchley continued as a solo artist and, in 2000, recorded the album ''Crooked Mile''. Critchley, Ethier and Hughes went on to careers as producers.

Discography

Albums

* ''The Ikons'' (as The Ikons) (1986), Independent * ''Before Our Time'' (1987), Nocturnal Records, Resonance (Europe) * ''Byram Lake Blues'' (1989), Nocturnal Records * ''A Blur to Me Now'' (1991), (SBK/Capitol) * ''

'' (1993), Atlantic Records, SBK/Capitol, EMI Canada * ''Conquistador'' (1995), EMI Canada,

Nettwerk Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk Management, and Nettwerk One Publishing. Established in 1984, the Vancouver-based company was created by Nettwerk principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record ...

Records * ''Perfect Largeness: The Nocturnal Years'' (Compilation) (1996), Nocturnal Records

EPs

* ''Ignition'' (1993), SBK/Capitol, EMI Canada * ''Brave New Waves Session'' (2017), Artoffact Records

EPs & Singles

* "Beached" (1989), Nocturnal Records * "Big Surprise" (1991), SBK/Capitol * "King Of Saturday Night" (1991), SBK/Capitol * "More" (1993), EMI Canada, Atlantic Records * "Smoke And Ashes" (1993), EMI Canada, Atlantic Records * "Bred In The Bone" (1993), EMI Canada, Atlantic Records * "Beneath My Hand" (1995), EMI Canada * "Personal Golam" / "Waterfall (1995), EMI Canada * "Tailpipe Blues" (1995), EMI Canada * "Slow" (1995), EMI Canada

Compilation Inclusions

* ''Scoop This'' (1993), EMI Canada * ''Heal It - A Canadian Compilation'' (1994), EMI Canada * ''Have Not Been The Same: The CanRock Renaissance'' (2012), Pheromone Recordings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:13 Engines Canadian alternative rock groups Musical groups established in 1985 Musical groups from Toronto Musical groups disestablished in 1997 1985 establishments in Ontario 1997 disestablishments in Ontario