The Arrogant Worms are a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

musical

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

trio founded in 1991 that parodies many

musical genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. Genre is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometim ...

s. They are well known for their humorous on-stage banter in addition to their music. The members have been Trevor Strong (vocals), Mike McCormick (guitar, vocals), and Chris Patterson (bass, vocals) since 1995.

History

The Arrogant Worms formed in 1991, with its founding members being Trevor Strong, Mike McCormick, John Whytock, and Steve Wood. They began by performing musical comedy on

campus radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

station

CFRC CFRC-FM (101.9 MHz) is the non-commercial campus radio station at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The station has one of the longest radio histories in Canada, with experimental broadcasts dating back to 1922 and serves Queen's ...

Queen's University at Kingston Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public university, public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than of land throughout Ontario and ...

, and quickly moved to doing the same on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

, particularly on Jack Farr's ''

The Radio Show ''The Radio Show'' was a Canadian radio show, which aired on CBC Radio One, CBC Radio from 1983 to 1992. The show incorporated some aspects of a conventional radio talk show, filtered through the warped comedic sensibilities of host Jack Farr.John ...

''. Wood left the band in 1991. Whytock left in 1995, and was replaced by Chris Patterson. The Worms have toured Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, playing to crowds as large as 100,000. They have played at celebrations on

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern bank of the Ottawa River that houses the Parliament of Canada in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. It accommodates a suite of Gothic revival buildings whose ...

in Ottawa, and at a concert in New York, United States's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

. Since 1992 the Worms have released twenty-one albums, mostly independently, with sales exceeding 175,000. Their songs pay homage, always humorously, to different genres and topics. In 2003, they released a CD and DVD that was recorded live with the

Edmonton Symphony Orchestra The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Edmonton, Alberta. As the professional orchestra of Alberta's creative capital city it presents over 85 concerts a year of symphonic music in all genres, from classical to co ...

. Some of their albums include contributions from prominent musicians, including Andy Thompson, Andrew Affleck, Gord Thompson, Adrian Dolan, Mike Ford, John Loughrey,

Terry Tufts William Terence Tufts (born 1954 in Gasline, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter writing in many different musical genres. History Tufts is a finger-style guitarist living off-grid with his wife (pianist Kathryn Briggs) and daughter in ...

and Tim Readman, who is also their dialect coach.

Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

, and

children's music Children's music or kids' music is music composed and performed for children. In European-influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has hi ...

all have been genres parodied by the Worms. When not spoofing a particular style of music, the Worms' material pokes fun at various aspects of daily life in Canada with songs like "Canada's Really Big", "Me Like

Hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

", "We Are the Beaver", "I Am Not American", and "Proud to Be Canadian". They have also recorded

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s for three songs: "Big Fat Road Manager", "Carrot Juice Is Murder", and "The River (River of Snot)". The first two of these are included on the ''

Three Worms and an Orchestra ''Three Worms and an Orchestra'' is a DVD of a performance of the Canadian comedy music group The Arrogant Worms with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. It includes their most popular songs performed live, as well as two music videos. Prior to the s ...

'' DVD, which includes appearances by

Tom Cavanagh Thomas Cavanagh (born October 26, 1963) is a Canadian actor. He is known for a variety of roles on American television, including starring roles in ''Ed (TV series), Ed'' (2000–2004), ''Love Monkey'' (2006) and ''Trust Me (American TV series) ...

Nathan Fillion Nathan Christopher Fillion (born March 27, 1971) is a Canadian and American actor. He played the leading roles of Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds on ''Firefly'' and its film continuation '' Serenity'', and Richard Castle on ''Castle''. , he sta ...

and

Kurt Browning Kurt Browning (born June 18, 1966) is a Canadian figure skater, choreographer and commentator. He is the first skater to land a ratified quadruple jump in competition. He is a four-time World Champion and Canadian national champion. He comp ...

. The band has long supported the cause of literacy in Canada, and have twice won the

Peter Gzowski Award The Peter Gzowski Award (originally styled the Peter Gzowski Literacy Award of Merit) is an award given annually by Peter Gzowski Invitational in memory of Peter Gzowski Peter John Gzowski (July 13, 1934 – January 24, 2002), known co ...

for their efforts.

Discography

Studio albums * ''

The Arrogant Worms The Arrogant Worms are a Canadian musical comedy trio founded in 1991 that parodies many musical genres. They are well known for their humorous on-stage banter in addition to their music. The members have been Trevor Strong (vocals), Mike McCormi ...

'' (1992), Independent * ''Russell's Shorts'' (1994), Festival Distribution * ''

C'est Cheese ''C'est Cheese'' is the third album of the Canadian comedy music group The Arrogant Worms. It was released in 1995. It was the last album for co-founder John Whytock, and the first appearance of Chris Patterson, who replaced Whytock on bass gu ...

'' (1995), Festival Distribution * ''

Christmas Turkey ''Christmas Turkey'' is a Christmas-themed album released in 1997 by the Canadian comedy music group The Arrogant Worms The Arrogant Worms are a Canadian musical comedy trio founded in 1991 that parodies many musical genres. They are well know ...

'' (1998), Festival Distribution * ''

Dirt! ''Dirt!'' is the sixth album by the Canadian comedy music group The Arrogant Worms, released in 1999.Michael P. J. KennedGoing Top Shelf: An Anthology of Canadian Hockey Poetry/ref> Track listing All tracks by The Arrogant Worms The Arroga ...

'' (1999), Independent * ''

Idiot Road ''Idiot Road'' is the seventh album by the Canadian musical comedy group The Arrogant Worms. It was released in 2001. Background According to band member Trevor Strong, the song "Worst Seat on the Plane" was never performed live due to ''Idiot ...

'' (2001), Independent * ''Beige'' (2006), Independent * ''SPACE'' (2014), Independent * ''The First Farewell Album'' (2016), Independent * ''Fan Funded Songs 2017'' (2017), Independent * ''Fan Funded Songs 2018'' (2018), Independent * ''Fan Funded Songs 2019'' (2019), Independent * ''Fan Funded Songs 2020'' (2020), Independent * ''Fan Funded Songs 2021'' (2021), Independent Live albums * '' Live Bait'' (1997), Independent * ''Semi-Conducted'' (live with the

) (2003), Independent * '' Toast!'' (2004), Independent * ''

Torpid Torpor is a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually marked by a reduced body temperature and metabolic rate. Torpor enables animals to survive periods of reduced food availability. The term "torpor" can refer to the ti ...

'' (2008), Independent Compilations * ''Gift Wrapped'' (2002), Oglio Records * '' Hindsight 20/20'' (2013), Independent * ''Completely Canadian Compilation'' (2015)

Videos

* ''

'' (DVD of ''Semi-Conducted'' performances and other original music videos) (2004)

References

External links

Official website

Biography

Discography
*
Article at canadianbands.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arrogant Worms Canadian comedy folk musical groups Musical groups from Kingston, Ontario Musical groups established in 1991 1991 establishments in Ontario Nerd-folk musicians