is fast establishing himself as a guitarist to be reckoned within the Canadian music scene . With a firm background in both taste and tone, Brendan's musical pyrotechnics have gained him international acclaim. Citing and convincingly conjuring up influences such as Eric Johnson, Chet Atkins, and Jimi Hendrix, Brendan's incendiary playing fuses fiery-hot psychedelia with lightning-fast fusion and is a testament to a life devoted to music.
Brendan grew up in Oshawa, ON and spent his formative years in Conservatory piano. Kiwanis and other classical events saw him performing at a young age. Discovering the guitar at age 11, his interest in all things keyboard began to wane.
High school was spent laboring nuances of Jimi Hendrix records and forming a blues band with his art teacher and some close friends. The blues led Brendan across the country to Vancouver, but he ultimately returned to his hometown to teach the instrument, and slug it out on the cover circuit for a few years.
Since moving to Toronto in 2005, Brendan's career thus far has seen perform and record with multiple EMI Publishing Canada band's and artists, including Casey Marshall's, "Fairfield." A stint on the road with his good friends and now Juno-nominated Idle Sons brought his playing to a larger audience as they roared across the country on tour with Buckcherry in 2006.
On August 18th, 2007, Brendan suffered a terrible off-road vehicle accident in which he fractured multiple vertebrate in his neck, broke his shoulder and multiple ribs. After months of virtual paralysis, Brendan began the long uphill battle of healing the spinal injury and rebuilding his guitar chops via excruciating and intensive physiotherapy and a little help from his friends. He spent much of the time following his accident and subsequent recovery performing weekly at one of Toronto's premier live music clubs, the Hideout.
2009 has been a busy year for Brendan. Joining forces with tour-de-force drummer John Allen early in the year, Brendan began composing the sketches for what would become his first solo offering, now available to sample here on myspace. Recorded over the spring/summer of '09, the tracks feature the combined musical powerhouse of John Allen on drums and Matt McCullough on bass. Largely culled from first or second-take jams preserved on a modest pro-tools rig in John's basement, Brendan took the tracks North to Algonquin park for the month of July to complete overdubs and editing the demos featured above.
With the demos now completed, Brendan and his troupe are currently rehearsing songs for show dates to be posted soon! With any luck, a trio will see live performance before the year is out... Come see for it live for yourself in and around Toronto or check back frequently for updates!
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