Mark Berube - piano, voice, guitar, accordion;
Patrick Dugas - drums, percussion, voice;
Kristina Koropecki - cello, voice
Booking Contacts
English Canada
Paquin Entertainment - Todd Jordan - todd@paquinentertainment.com
French Canada
Bonsound - Mathieu Rousseau - mathieu@bonsound.com
Switzerland - Antonin Rousseau - management@lolemusic.com
Publicity
Canada - Killbeat Music - Ken Beattie - kb@killbeatmusic.com
Management
Contact - mark@markberube.com
Record Label Canada
Aquarius Records - Contact - Keith Brown - keith@dkd.com
Distribution
Canada - Outside Distribution - www.outside-music.com
Influences
...and you.
Sounds Like
BUY ALBUMS ONLINE OR AT SHOWS: PROMOTIONAL TOUR CLIP - CROSS CANADA 2009
Fall CANADA tour promo Video 2008
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149212672287&ref=mf
New Album available in stores and online NOW!
...and the older sister (nominated for a Western Canada Music Award 2008):
The Patriotic Few: Patrick Dugas (drums), Kristina Koropecki (Cello), and Mark Berube (Piano/Organ/Accordion/Voice).
What people are saying about Mark Berube’s What the Boat Gave the River (2008)
...Montreal songster Berube, one of Canada's most particular talents and certainly one of its best kept secrets (for some ridiculous, nonsensical reason)... the album is a stunning, stirring piece of music that is certain to be discussed in Polaris Prize circles this year. - Dave Jaffer - The Hour (Montreal)
...When Mark Berube released “What the River Gave the Boat” last year, it was difficult to imagine a better vehicle with which to navigate the currents. With the album’s recently released companion “What the Boat Gave the River”, Berube has taken us right to the other side. - VUE WEEKLY (Edmonton)
… the Vancouver native’s latest shines brightest in lyrical storytelling. The imagination that runs rampant through swelling instrumentals and intimate vocals creates a world where echoes of raw humanity and childhood fairy tales combine. - THE DAILY DISC
(Internet)
… a sophisticated blend of folk, pop, art song and much else. Continuing to use the piano as a metaphor for a boat, this modern pilgrim navigates our weird and wacky world through music as engaging as it is beguiling. - THE RECORD.COM (Internet)
… the songs are moving in an uplifting and meaningful way. There is a sort of over-arching grandeur to each track that overtakes itself and becomes either a pleading lament or a celebratory anthem. Natural and honest, this album is both spontaneous and controlled with the power of a captured firecracker. - THE VANCOUVER CORRESPONDENT
(Internet)
…it’s a cerebral kind of cabaret-coloured, full-band folk that the multi-instrumentalist is peddling, and hopefully selling. The man is all atmosphere and feeling, and could comfortably stand toe-to-toe with the David Grays and Hawksley Workmans of the world. - THE HOUR (Montreal)
… I should simply say that my appreciation of his music is growing song after song. Mr. Berube’s world is an awesome ticket to free your mind. I am eagerly awaiting a live performance in France. - YOU CRAZY DREAMERS (Internet)
The image of planting a flower on stones is a little too cute. Yet, somehow, when Mark Berube tucks into the busy march of “Flowers on the Stones” he manages to sell it. There’s just too much concentrated energy here to roll your eyes at. – NBH (Internet)
…dense, socially charged lyrics that sparkle with detail, a sprawling sound that avoids easy classification (he’s chosen Folk/Melodramatic Popular Song for his MySpace profile, which seems about right), and instrumentation that includes gospel-style harmony, piano, strings, mandolin, horns and Berube’s yearning voice, which brings to mind a more tentative Rufus Wainwright. - NOW (Toronto)
Some Reviews for What the River Gave the Boat (2007:
"Vibrant and outspoken...The detail Berube incorporates into his lyrics makes it hard not to see what he sees, and if What The River Gave The Boat can be so alluring, I can't imagine that his next album, What The Boat Gave The River, would be any less spectacular." EXCLAIM
"There is a deeper quality to people with a range of experiences, a bedrock vein of self-awareness, compassion, strength and insight. It's a quality that Vancouver songwriter Mark Berube embodies..." FFWD, Calgary, AB
"One of the best of the year...folk music without going on about it. Rare and raw and perfect. " EDMONTON SUN, AB
"Berube matures with every album and this might well be his breakout to a wider audience." THE RECORD, Guelph, ON
"...heart wrenching and simply gorgeous." A and E Vibe, 4.5 Stars
"What the River Gave the Boat is his fourth album and it serves as a good example of how to blend intelligent lyricism, interesting musical arrangement (not your typical boring folk bullshit), and effectively understated delivery into something even some redneck from Manitoba might pay attention to." NERVE MAGAZINE, Vancouver, BC
"It's not just the choice of his words, which he does stunningly, but the salt and grit of experience and empathy in his voice that makes What The River Gave The Boat enough to sprain whatever existential muscle it is that ties the heart to the soul." ANY GIVEN TUESDAY, Baltimore, MA
"Its adagio-like string-fuelled poignancy so stirring it could be renamed the Berber Shop." DURHAM NEWS, Oshawa, ON
"Does anyone else feel that lump in their throat miraculously leaving as the final strains of strings and pounding drums take us to the end of the album, and Mark Berube shuts off the tape, and we are left alone again? SCORE: 8.9 / 10" Two-Way Monologues, Toronto, ON
"His good luck streak continues with elegant string arrangements, sympathetic production and a soaring voice that reminds us what Rufus Wainwright and Hawksley Workman would sound like if they weren't such drama queens." MICHAEL BARCLAY, EYE WEEKLY, "Discovery of the Week", Toronto, ON
Mark Berube and The Patriotic Few's Friend Space (Top 16)
Mark Berube and The Patriotic Few has 2063 friends.
Thank you for the small shiver which I had in the back by listening to you on the radio on France Inter, while I was going to work in my car! Long life to you! You are welcome to listen to my songs on my page.
hey mark, what does the wurlitzer and piano sound like on the nord electro? and do you have or play a real wurlitzer to compare? i've always hauled my wurli to shows, but have been looking for a way to not have to do that... heard good things about the nord electro and then realized that that was the keyboard you were using for the great sounding hammond bass. thanks!
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