False Heroics

False Heroics' debut album "The Salvation Navy", is an unromantic saga--an epic panorama where the poor of the world are displaced, teenaged capitalists whine over unrequited love, and the Lord God dialogues with shopaholics. Live, False Heroics attracts alt-pop-rock enthusiasts with a taste for what should be a contradiction in terms--a shy, ecstatic spectacle. Grungy post-rock and folk mix with hi-fi pop for a crisp sound that's a little to the left of radio. "Someone said we're as if Oasis covered Sufjan's Seven Swans," pipes guitarist Michael Nicholson, "or Incubus, but not sucking. I'm not sure I agree."

False Heroics are based in Brantford, Ontario--once the 3rd largest industrial centre in Canada, now economically-depressed and desperate to salvage its downtown from the excesses of big-box suburban planning. Says singer Adam King, "Brantford is used as the poster child for 'what not to do' in urban planning schools." Bassist Jared Korstanje adds, "Someone finally just decided to cover the storefronts with plywood painted with silhouettes of people shopping. Not sure if anyone was fooled. Maybe the mayor."

But Brantford is not the only place that's informed this band's sense of identity. For instance, one of the album tracks, Shonar Bangla, is actually an excerpt from the revolutionary anthem of Bangladeshi freedom fighters--penned by the Nobel prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore--set to new music, of course. …

False Heroics' debut album "The Salvation Navy", is an unromantic saga--an epic panorama where the poor of the world are displaced, teenaged capitalists whine over unrequited love, and the Lord God dialogues with shopaholics. Live, False Heroics attracts alt-pop-rock enthusiasts with a taste for what should be a contradiction in terms--a shy, ecstatic spectacle. Grungy post-rock and folk mix with hi-fi pop for a crisp sound that's a little to the left of radio. "Someone said we're as if Oasis covered Sufjan's Seven Swans," pipes guitarist Michael Nicholson, "or Incubus, but not sucking. I'm not sure I agree."

False Heroics are based in Brantford, Ontario--once the 3rd largest industrial centre in Canada, now economically-depressed and desperate to salvage its downtown from the excesses of big-box suburban planning. Says singer Adam King, "Brantford is used as the poster child for 'what not to do' in urban planning schools." Bassist Jared Korstanje adds, "Someone finally just decided to cover the storefronts with plywood painted with silhouettes of people shopping. Not sure if anyone was fooled. Maybe the mayor."

But Brantford is not the only place that's informed this band's sense of identity. For instance, one of the album tracks, Shonar Bangla, is actually an excerpt from the revolutionary anthem of Bangladeshi freedom fighters--penned by the Nobel prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore--set to new music, of course. This, along with sweatshop rocker "To Dhaka With Love" might have something to do Adam King's young years in Bangladesh as the son of Baptist missionaries. "For sure, a lot of the imagery and references in the album come from my experiences there," comments King. "I've been trying to deal with the tension of consumerism vs. poverty and ecology, eternal salvation vs. momentary pleasure, cultural imperialism vs. social justice missions and the search for truth. Somehow that transferred into singing about colonial seaships, missionaries and corporate outsourcing (oh my!)."

King grew up singing. His missionary parents had set up a family choir with their 5 children, and he sang his first solo at age 6. While still in his childhood, he was already writing songs, mostly pieces about jungle birds, sunrises, Jesus and the occasional coup-d'etat. At age 18, Adam moved back to Canada, and met Jared Korstanje (bass/vocals/hurdling), Michael Nicholson (guitars/vocals/woodwinds), and Jon Grime (percussion/vocals/keys). It was a random and beautiful marriage of convenience. They released an EP (Stars Gone Black) in late 2003, and CD orders began coming in from as far away as Spain and Holland. A badly planned tour to the east coast of Canada followed in 2004. Confidence and a fanbase were building, but then the news came--23-year-old guitarist Michael Nicholson had germ cell cancer. The band went into hiatus while Nicholson went into chemotherapy. The months passed.

The band kept working on the full-length album they had already started, sandwiching the recording between post-secondary degrees, weddings and elections. When the news came that Nicholson was in full remission, the band began polishing their live show around their old Brantford stomping grounds, getting ready for a new chapter in their less-than-complete saga.

False Heroics are looking for shows, vegetarian recipes, and will do PR ops for eco-anarchist charities and/or evangelical bible colleges.