THE FUGITIVES | OCT 20th, 2023

The Square, Vancouver, Canada

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The Fugitives are an acoustic folk-roots group headed by songwriters Adrian Glynn and Brendan McLeod. They’re joined by banjo player Chris Suen (Viper Central) and violinist Carly Frey (The Coal Porters). Over their first five albums, they’ve amassed a JUNO nomination, numerous CFMA and WCMA nominations, and toured extensively through Canada, Europe, and the UK.

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Performance highlights include most major Canadian folk festivals, a slot at Glastonbury, and a tour opening for Buffy Sainte-Marie. In 2020, the band created 'Ridge', a WW1-centered theatre show, which was named a Globe & Mail “Top Arts Pick of the Year”, and has toured to over 30 theatres across Canada. The band has earned a reputation for unforgettable live shows, brimming with complex harmonies, infectious storytelling and top-notch musicianship. As the CBC has it: “This show is simply brilliant.”

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“Despite their all-acoustic lineup, The Fugitives bring enough energy to the stage to light up a small city… The East Van quartet conjures up a sound that’s like the missing link between Leonard Cohen and the Pogues.” — Georgia Straight

The Fugitives newest album, 'No Help Coming' is about the climate emergency. Which might seem like a strange leap after the last offering, which centered on WW1 soldier songs—but the band actually sees a lot of similarities between the projects. On their last album, they were drawn to soldier lyrics because they were as humorous as they were harrowing. “It was the voice of people in the thick of things,” says Brendan McLeod, one half of the band's’ songwriting duo. “All the reading we did around the climate lacked this kind of playfulness. Part of that is the seriousness of the topic, but another part seemed like a lack of immediacy. That society still doesn’t feel, or talk, or act, like we’re in it.” The album combines climate concerns with everyday concerns, grappling with a global phenomenon through the personal lenses of the four band members.

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'No Help Coming', is out soon on Fallen Tree Records. It re-unites The Fugitives with Vancouver producer Tom Dobrzanski, with whom they worked on their last release, the JUNO and CFMA-nominated ‘Trench Songs’. The first singles ‘Story of Our Times’ and ‘It Might Just Rain Like This For Days’ are out now. This is the hometown show & album release concert for ‘No Help Coming’, to be released the same day.