Wolf Parade Wolf Parade is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2003 in Montreal. The band released three full-length albums before taking a five-year hiatus in 2011. They announced their return in 2016, releasing a self-titled EP in May of that year, and a ...

Victoria, Canada Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

Handsome Furs Handsome Furs was a Montreal-based indie rock duo which consisted of Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry, who were married at the time. Boeckner is best known for his time in the bands Wolf Parade and Atlas Strategic. The band announced its breakup o ...

Divine Fits Divine Fits was an American-Canadian indie rock band composed of Britt Daniel (Spoon), Dan Boeckner ( Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Operators), Sam Brown, and Alex Fischel (Spoon). The group released their debut album, '' A Thing Called Divine ...

Spoon A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a table setting, place setting, it is used ...

Britt Daniel John Britt Daniel (born April 14, 1971) is an American musician. He is the co-founder, lead singer and guitarist of the rock band Spoon, as well as the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and singer of the band Divine Fits. Daniel also founded nume ...

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Overview

Boeckner grew up in

Lake Cowichan Lake Cowichan (Nitinaht: ʕaʔk̓ʷaq c̓uubaʕsaʔtx̣) (pop. 2,974) is a town located on the east end of Cowichan Lake and, by highway, is west of Duncan, British Columbia. The town of Lake Cowichan was incorporated in 1944. The Cowichan Ri ...

, British Columbia and his first band was called Say Uncle. Immediately upon graduating high school, he moved to Victoria, BC. In Victoria he became a singer/guitarist for many small, independent outfits. One of these bands was named God Shaped Vacuum, and featured a pre-

Frog Eyes Frog Eyes are an indie rock band from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada fronted by Carey Mercer. Their 2010 album Paul's Tomb: A Triumph was a longlisted nominee for the 2010 Polaris Music Prize. They have released eight albums and two EPs and ...

Carey Mercer on drums. They released one album in their brief existence, entitled ''Apocalypse Now!'' In 2000, Boeckner co-founded notable British Columbian band Atlas Strategic with organist/vocalist John Pollard, and recorded their debut ''Rapture, Ye Minions!''. The album was released on a local label, Global Symphonic. The band toured and recorded a second album/EP, which they self-released upon their demise in 2002. Boeckner then moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, Quebec, where he eventually met with

Spencer Krug Spencer Krug ( ) (born May 4, 1977) is a Canadian musician. He is the singer, songwriter and keyboardist for the indie rock band Wolf Parade and also records under the name Moonface. He has also performed with other Canadian bands including Sun ...

and helped form

Wolf Parade Wolf Parade is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2003 in Montreal. The band released three full-length albums before taking a five-year hiatus in 2011. They announced their return in 2016, releasing a self-titled EP in May of that year, and a ...

. Boeckner contributes his guitar skills, while also splitting songwriting duties and the role of lead singer with band-mate Krug. The band is signed to

Sub Pop Records Sub is a common abbreviation of words beginning with the prefix "sub-". Sub or SUB may also refer to Places * Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia, IATA code SUB Computing and technology * , an HTML tag for subscript * SUB designate ...

. In November 2010, Wolf Parade announced that they were taking an "indefinite hiatus". Boeckner formed the

Handsome Furs Handsome Furs was a Montreal-based indie rock duo which consisted of Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry, who were married at the time. Boeckner is best known for his time in the bands Wolf Parade and Atlas Strategic. The band announced its breakup o ...

with his then fiancée Alexei Perry, in the winter of 2005. The duo signed to

Sub Pop Records Sub is a common abbreviation of words beginning with the prefix "sub-". Sub or SUB may also refer to Places * Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia, IATA code SUB Computing and technology * , an HTML tag for subscript * SUB designate ...

and released their debut album '' Plague Park'' in 2007. "

Face Control Face control refers to the policy of upscale nightclubs, casinos, restaurants and similar establishments to strictly restrict entry based on a bouncer's snap judgment of the suitability of a person's looks, money, style or attitude, especially in ...

" was released in 2009, while Handsome Furs' latest album Sound Kapital was released in 2011. On 17 May 2012 Handsome Furs announced the band was no more on their official website. Later, it was confirmed that the couple had broken up. In October 2005, Boeckner was a part of the satirical North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative (NAHPI) and contributed to the

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid t ...

benefit song "

Do They Know It's Hallowe'en? "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" is a charity record inspired by "Do They Know It's Christmas?". It was released on October 11, 2005, in Canada on Vice Records by a cast of rock artists and other performers under the name "North American Hallowe ...

". Boeckner also played on

Islands An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be cal ...

' debut album '' Return to the Sea''. He played guitar on the opening track "Swans (Life After Death)" and he played in the "marching band" on the track "Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone". After the breakup of Handsome Furs, Boeckner formed

Divine Fits Divine Fits was an American-Canadian indie rock band composed of Britt Daniel (Spoon), Dan Boeckner ( Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Operators), Sam Brown, and Alex Fischel (Spoon). The group released their debut album, '' A Thing Called Divine ...

with

Britt Daniel John Britt Daniel (born April 14, 1971) is an American musician. He is the co-founder, lead singer and guitarist of the rock band Spoon, as well as the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and singer of the band Divine Fits. Daniel also founded nume ...

in 2011 while Daniel was on break from his band

Spoon A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a table setting, place setting, it is used ...

. The band released one studio album, '' A Thing Called Divine Fits'', in 2012 to positive reviews and one live album, ''Live at Third Man Records'', in 2014. In May 2014, Boeckner debuted his new band, Operators, during Canadian Music Week in Toronto. In January 2016, the Operators announced that their debut album, "Blue Wave", would be released on 1 April 2016. In January 2016, Wolf Parade announced on their website that their hiatus was over, and that they would be returning to the stage with a series of live shows starting in May 2016. In May 2016, Wolf Parade released a self titled EP. Since 2021, Boeckner has co-hosted the podcast ''The Bottlemen'' with Riley Quinn. The podcast focuses primarily on Canadian politics from a left-wing perspective and is broadly a part of the so-called Dirtbag left, featuring frequent guest appearances from figures associated with that scene.

Discography