The Artist Life was a Canadian

pop punk Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...

band from

Burlington, Ontario Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is a city and List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipality in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region at the west end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Can ...

, signed to

Underground Operations Underground Operations was an independent punk rock record label based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1995, the label was originally based in Ajax, Ontario. Operated by Mark Spicoluk, former Closet Monster member and former bass pl ...

History

The Artist Life was started in 2005 by

Ian Blackwood Ian Blackwood (born August 12, 1982) is a Canadian photographer, musician/producer, and actor known for being the vocalist/guitarist of the now defunct Toronto-based punk rock band The Artist Life, and for playing Kyle Bateman on the CTV teen hit ...

(formerly of

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

, on vocals and guitar, and Dean Richards (formerly of Fallen Year and Dreams Among Stars) on guitar and vocals. They added Andy Crawford (formerly of Beaumont) on bass and Chris Danner (formerly of

Grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...

and To The Lions) on drums and played their first show April 17, 2006, at Toronto's

Bovine Sex Club The Bovine Sex Club is a bar on Toronto's Queen Street West strip. In operation since January 1991, the Bovine Sex Club (often shortened to 'the Bovine') has at various times found itself at the forefront of Toronto's rock, punk, heavy metal, ...

with The Video Dead. Within a year, the band had recorded a 5-song demo of which they gave away over 1,000 copies. They also played several one-off concerts, though they never played outside of Ontario. By the fall of 2006, Danner and Crawford had left the band. Blackwood and Richards decided to enter the studio and record an EP with their friend David Palmer (formerly of The Stickup). They released the ''Living'' EP in early 2007 as a free download on the band's website. Following its release, Jake Parsonson (formerly of Madrid is Burning) joined as the full-time drummer and Chuck Leach (formerly of Jude the Obscure and At the Mercy of Inspiration) joined as the permanent bassist. The band began touring around the country and venturing into the United States in support of ''Living''. They also began to receive some radio and video play of “Waiting Room” on MuchMusic. The band's song "Piss Test" was used in a West49 television commercial. The success of ''Living'' led the radio station 102.1 The Edge (

CFNY-FM CFNY-FM (102.1 Hertz, MHz, "102.1 The Edge") is a radio station city of license, licensed to Brampton, Ontario. Owned by Corus Entertainment, the station broadcasts a modern rock format serving the Greater Toronto Area. Its studios are in Downtow ...

) to present the band with the Young Jedi Up and Coming Band award at its inaugural Punk-o-Rama FU Awards. The band hit the studio again to record 2 demo songs to pitch to labels. Following an article in ''

Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political r ...

'', the band was approached by Canadian record label

, which signed them in September 2008. Their second EP, ''Let's Start A Riot'', was released October 28, 2008. A video was released for the title song; the video for "Sleep So Sound" gained the band even more street credit, and the song was nominated for an FU Award for Song of the Year. In 2009, Leach left the band and was replaced by bassist Justin Zoltek. The Artist Life toured Canada with

Stereos Stereos is a Canadian pop rock band from Edmonton, Alberta, formed in 2008. Their musical style fuses aspects of electronic music, rock, and pop. Their breakout came from appearing on the MuchMusic original series, '' disBAND''. In October 200 ...

and

The Midway State The Midway State is a Canadian alternative rock band from Collingwood and Wasaga Beach, Ontario, signed to Remedy Records for North America and to Universal Publishing for the world outside. They debuted with ''Holes'' in 2008, followed by ''Par ...

, played the Cutting Edge Music Festival and a stretch of dates with The Snips and Brights to coincide with the digital release of ''Let’s Start A Campfire'', the acoustic counterpart to ''Let's Start A Riot''. In 2011, the band released the LP "Impossible". They performed "Steel City" on

ExploreMusic ExploreMusic is a Canadian multimedia rock music recommendation project run by Corus Interactive and Integrated Solutions, the online arm of Corus Radio This is a list of assets owned by Corus Entertainment, a Canadian multimedia broadcasti ...

and released a video for the song "Find You". They played shows in southern Ontario. On its website (now gone), the band announced its breakup on February 1, 2012.

Discography

References

External links

Recipe of the week: The Artist Life
- Interview from TorontoMusicScene.ca
SceneFest Interview : Fazer Magazine
Interview with Ian Blackwood {{DEFAULTSORT:Artist Life, The Musical groups established in 2005 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Musical groups from Toronto Canadian pop punk groups 2005 establishments in Ontario 2012 disestablishments in Ontario