by Jim Kelly

Who: Touchtone Gurus
What: Irresistibly catchy modern pop-rock
Where: Saskatoon, SK
To Contact: Yvonne Valnea, Last Tango Productions, (416) 538-1838, lastango@pathcom.com, www.touchtonegurus.com.

Touchtone Gurus is a fast-rising Saskatoon foursome who has a lot to offer. Their second release, Shoegazing, is a wonderfully self-assured collection of melodic modern pop/rock with more hooks than a meat factory. Three songs – “Radio Show”, “Take My Hand” and “Trickle Down” – made an impact on the college charts, while the singles “Nicotine” and “Tell Me About Your Day” received some well-deserved mainstream airplay. The band enjoys a wide variety of influences, including The Beatles and Radiohead, with songwriting shared equally among the band members. “We don’t really aim for any particular genre of sound,” says bassist Steve Bunka. “We’ll take the mood of the song and accompany it with whatever music it takes to create the best vibe for that song.” The band is currently working on their third album with producer Bryan Potvin of the Northern Pikes. According to Bunka, the new record, which they hope to release in September, will offer a diverse assortment of styles from light pop/rock to more conventional rock and “moody rock”, and even some country-influenced tracks. The two-year game plan is to release the album on their own, shop it to radio, get a video out and hit the touring circuit. If the new record continues the fine quality of work found on Shoegazing, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to hear these guys all over the radio in the near future. The Gurus are sure to be a band you’ll want to keep in touch with.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 10th, 2002 at 1:25 pm and is filed under Showcase. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.