User:Therebelwheel/sandbox

Early Days (1991-2003)

The Rebel Wheel is a Canadian Progressive Rock band formed in 2003 by David Campbell. Inspired by the music of Bill Bruford's Earthworks project, David formed a formed fusion quartet at Humber College of Music with students Pelle Vadim, Cab Lind and Per Lind. The quartet featured performances both on traditional guitar, bass and drum instruments as well their midi controller counterparts (mainly Roland guitar, bass and drum synthesizers and midi controllers). The complex music was recorded on any manner of devices ranging from 8 track analog tape decks to the then current Atarai 1040 computer running Creator. Although none of their music was ever released, it became the compositional backbone of the eventual first Rebel Wheel album a decade later.

While the unit was based in Toronto and became part of a collective of like minded bands like, The Family Jewels, Circus from Hell and The Barbera Lynch band, eventually leader David Campbell moved to Ottawa where his career as a composer for TV lead him. It was after finishing the series The Toy Castle that David longed to do music that had more nuance and depth than the fare he was asked to compose for TV. In 2003, David revised the old midi performances and eight track recordings into a more rock-oriented format that featured dissonant harmonies, odd meters and longer song forms. He released the first album playing all the instruments himself along with some of the early Toronto recordings.

The First Version (2003-2005)

The independently released CD garnished quite a lot of attention and eventually playing gigs were offered to David. In order to play onstage he formed the touring version of the band with drummer Chuck Ho, bassist Gary Lauzon and guiatrist Greg Kampf. As they rehearsed the material the band decided to use the name Casse-Tete instead, reflecting as it did, the compositions of the other members. The band performed around Ottawa under both monikers from 2004-6. Eventually David drifted away from Casse-Tete and began working a newer version of The Rebel Wheel.

The Second Version (2006-2008)

David began recording what some people think of the band's actual first album in 2007. Entitled Diagramma, it was a leaner, harder version of the band. Eschewing the mellotron paradigm of tradional prog, David instead incorporated a more electronica sonic with the jazz harmonies and odd meter heaviness of the original project. He recorded all the parts himself and released a small number of pressing of five songs which attracted the attention of 10-T Records in Atlanta Georgia. They signed a deal in 2008 to release three CDs. The label liked the original Diagramma album but thought that it needed more material to better use the longer playing time of CDs. David then drafted Gary back into the band and along with Nathan Mahl drummer Alain Bergeron, Angie MacIvor on sax and keys and Paul Johannis on guitar and keyboards, the band re-released the Diagramma album with an additional two songs.

The CD was a critical and fan release and the band started playing festivals around the US and Canada for about a year when personality conflicts began to take their toll. In 2009 the band dissolved.

The Third Version (2009-2010)

David still was writing new material for the band and eventually, trying to avoid performing all the parts himslef again and then drafting a line-up for gigs, he decided to form a working unit to rehearse and record the music he was writing. Gary returned on bass originally, but early on in the recording sessions he decided to leave and was replaced by ex-Nathan Mahl bassist, Claude Prince. Angie returned to the fold and the band drafted Aaron Clark to play drums. This was the band that released their critical hit, We Are In The Time Of Evil Clocks.

The label was able to pre-sell quite a few CDs so that by the time the album came out there was quite a buzz surrounding the band. They promptly scored some festival gigs and they took their new project out live. The album was an extension of their already established sonic: electronic elements fused with jazz, rock, odd meters, long song forms and heavily contrasting sections. The piece, The Discoverie of Witchcraft was the album's highlight and used a traditional symphonic form of four movements, interspersed with three small interludes. The main peices were atonal and based on 12 tone rows whereas the interluudes where entirely tonal and featured acoustic instruments and soft vocals. The album placed well in top 100 yearly charts and got a lot of press.

The Fourth Version (2010-11)

Angie had to leave to have her daughter and the as conflcits were beginning to arise the band dis-solved again. Aaron and David kept working together and became a punk jazz duo using hard rock sonics and muscular rhythms in a very free form improvised manner. They started writing material for a new release and in order to perform some of the old material live they drafted Nathan Mahl bassist Guy Dagenais into the band. The trio became one of the best bands in Ottawa quickly as they were incredibly well rehearsed and had three players who had advanced chops. The band never did actually record any music (excpet some live shows) and, as happened before, personality conflicts lead to their eventual dissolution in 2011 when bassist Guy Dagenais left the band. He was soon replaced by bassist Andrew Burns and keyboardist Scottie Irving (both of The PepTides, a band both David and Aaron played in) and they played around Ottawa quite a bit. Scottie left the band and was replaced by Nathan Mahl, Camel keyboardist Guy LeBlanc. This iteration of the band played several high profile festival gigs but dis-banded when Guy was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Whore's Breakfast (2013)

David decided to keep the project alive and returned alone to the studio where he recorded the album Whore's Breakfast. The album was grittier than the early albums and eschewed most of the ambient textures of electronica. Instead it was a hard hitting aggressive album that mirrored musically the songs themes of drug abuse and the downward spiral of addictions. Guy LeBlanc played keyboards on the song Satori In Bayshore, which may have been his last studio recordings. As the album didn't really fit the 10T sonic roster, David decided to release the album himself on Bandcamp beginning a new phase in the band's development.