Toronto's Festival Of Beer Presents I Mother Earth And Finger Eleven

Canadian rock troupes I Mother Earth and Finger Eleven are bringing their electrifying stage shows to Toronto's Festival of Beer (TFOB 2018), on Sunday, July 29. Their performances will take place on Bandshell Stage, Exhibition Place to close out the 2018 weekend celebration of beer, brewers and #BeerLove, presented by 102.1 The Edge.

"Legendary Canadian rock meets our legendary beer festival," said Les Murray, President of Toronto's Festival of Beer."The combo of Finger Eleven and I Mother Earth are the perfect pairing to close out TFOB 2018."

Building off the momentum of their recently announced cross-Canada tour, TFOB 2018 will be I Mother Earth and Finger Eleven's first stop in Toronto for 2018. Fans should expect to hear some of their favourite hits as the highly-anticipated weekend comes to a close that evening.

Tickets for #TFOB2018 are on sale now and are selling fast. Fans are encouraged to buy early to secure their tickets. To purchase tickets and to find out what's included with each ticket experience, please visit our website.

The members of alternative metal outfit Finger Eleven grew up in Burlington, Ontario, and came together in high school as a funk-styled band named Rainbow Butt Monkeys. Originally comprising vocalist Scott Anderson, bassist Sean Anderson, drummer Rob Gommerman, and James Black and Rick Jackett on guitars, they won a rock band search contest on local radio and used the prize money to record their first album, 1995's Letters from Chutney. Gommerman left the band soon after, making way for drummer Rich Beddoe.

Now named Finger Eleven, the quintet released Tip on Mercury Records in Canada, which marked the band's turn to a heavier sound.

It was re-released by the New York City-based label Wind-Up Records in September 1998.

The album made minor waves on MuchMusic, videos for "Above" and "Tip" increasing their profile at home, but it would still be several years before U.S. audiences really paid attention to the band. The Greyest of Blue Skies appeared in the summer of 2000, followed three years later by Finger Eleven's self-titled third album. The latter record eventually went gold, driven by the success of their brooding Top 40 hit "One Thing."
After various rounds of touring, the guys got to work collectively writing their next album for Wind-Up.

March 2007's Them vs. You vs. Me featured much more varied instrumentation and influences -- including dance, funk, and country -- than just the chugging metallic guitars of Finger Eleven's past efforts.

The band subsequently hit the road in support with U.S. shows alongside Evanescence and Chevelle.

Back home in Canada, Them vs. You vs. Me wound up winning the Juno for Rock Album of the Year in 2008, raising expectations for the band's next album, the Juno Award-nominated Life Turns Electric, which appeared in the fall of 2010.

Five Crooked Lines, the band's seventh studio long-player, was released in 2015 and preceded by the single "Wolves and Doors."

Talk of Canadian rock bands may conjure up images of the Guess Who or Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but Toronto quartet I Mother Earth is a modern update combining a wide range of influences, including jazz fusion, funk, and progressive rock. Add a pinch of Canadian counterparts Rush and dashes of artists as disparate as Santana and King Crimson, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus, and Jane's Addiction and Smashing Pumpkins, and you're bordering on I Mother Earth's expansive collage of styles. The group formed in Toronto in 1990 with vocalist Edwin, bassist Bruce Gordon, and brothers Jagori Tanna (guitar/vocals) and Christian Tanna (drums).

Signed to Capitol, I Mother Earth's agressive 1993 debut CD Dig nonetheless caused as much head-scratching as adulation.

Edwin's heady lyrics hinted at progressive rock acts like Rush and Yes while his vocals were completely different; the rhythm section played crisp funk patterns like an updated James Brown, and the group's penchant for percussion neared Santana territory.

Making things more complicated was guitarist Tanna, who ranged from Chili Peppers-style rhythm patterns ("Rain Will Fall") to bluesy Stevie Ray Vaughan licks ("So Gently We Go") to the Woodstock-era Latin fire of Carlos Santana ("No One").
The fact that another Toronto band with a similar name (Our Lady Peace) was starting to gain notoriety didn't help I Mother Earth's cause, either.

Nonplussed, the quartet set out to go further on its sophomore effort, even if it wasn't considered commercially wise for bands (especially Canadian bands) to be this versatile.

Recruiting percussionists Luis Conte and Daniel Mansilla, keyboardist Ken Pearson, and even Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson for 1996's Scenery and Fish, I Mother Earth concocted another epic of genre-defiance.

Even an otherwise radio-friendly track like "One More Astronaut" was filled with stops, starts, and odd rhythmic meters, with more detours through blues ("Three Days Old"), percussion-heavy numbers (the opening "Hello Dave!"), uptempo funk ("Used to Be Alright"), acoustic pieces ("Shortcut to Monelon"), and updated metal à la King Crimson ("Pisser").

The band would release no more CDs on Capitol, but again took three years to release the successive Blue Green Orange.

Toronto's Festival of Beer, presented by the Beer Store features hundreds of brews, seriously good eats, live entertainment, and plenty of #BeerLove from July 26 to 29 at Bandshell Park, in Exhibition Place. It's Canada's premier celebration of the golden beverage.

To post a comment, you must register and login.