Function Picture: Athena Kay from Toront-oh, Canada; cropped by Padraic, CC BY 2.0
Len, a Canadian different rock duo from Toronto, Ontario, shaped in 1991 when Marc Costanzo started recording music independently beneath a pseudonym derived from a highschool buddy named Lenny. The band consists primarily of siblings Marc Costanzo on vocals and guitar, and Sharon Costanzo on vocals and bass, who formally turned a duo in 1992. All through their lively intervals of 1991–2005 and 2011–2016, Len launched 5 studio albums: Celebrity (1995), Get Your Legs Broke (1997), You Can’t Cease the Bum Rush (1999), a compilation titled The Diary of the Madmen (2005), and It’s Simple If You Strive (2012), together with an prolonged play launched in 1992.
The band achieved widespread business success with their third studio album, You Can’t Cease the Bum Rush, which spawned the worldwide hit single “Steal My Sunshine” in 1999. This monitor peaked at quantity three on the RPM Prime Singles chart in Canada. It charted throughout the prime ten throughout a number of international locations, together with the USA, the UK, and Australia. In 2000, Len acquired a Juno Award nomination for Finest New Group, whereas You Can’t Cease the Bum Rush acquired a nomination for Finest Various Album.
Following the early 2000s departure of their label Work Group resulting from perceived lack of business viability for subsequent releases, Len underwent a seven-year hiatus starting round 2005 earlier than reuniting in 2011 to launch further materials. The band operated primarily as a core duo supported by a revolving forged of touring and studio musicians who contributed to numerous albums and reside performances. Marc Costanzo maintained inventive management because the band’s chief songwriter and producer all through its existence.
Marc Costanzo
Marc Francis Costanzo was born on August 1, 1972, and initiated Len as a solo recording venture in 1991 when he was in his late teenagers. He started recording music recreationally at age 13 and established Len beneath the pseudonym that turned the band’s official title. Marc formally shaped the duo along with his sister, Sharon, in 1992 and remained the fixed inventive drive all through Len’s existence.
As the first songwriter, producer, and vocalist, Marc maintained inventive management throughout all 5 studio albums, serving as producer beneath varied stage names together with the Burger Pimp and Mumble C. His songwriting credit embody “Steal My Sunshine,” which he wrote and produced following his attendance at an digital music competition north of Toronto in the summertime of 1999. On Celebrity (1995), Marc contributed vocals, guitar, and manufacturing work that outlined the album’s punk rock sound with pop influences.
The Get Your Legs Broke album (1997) featured Marc’s compositional and manufacturing efforts recorded in a house studio setting utilizing primarily lo-fi gear. You Can’t Cease the Bum Rush (1999) showcased Marc’s evolution towards hip-hop influenced manufacturing, with tracks like “Man of the Yr” and “Sizzling Rod Monster Jam” demonstrating his mixing of sampled loops, rock riffs, and rap verses.
Past his work with Len, Marc Costanzo based 4 Methods to Rock Information (later often called Funtrip Information), the impartial label via which Len launched their early albums. He additionally based Vice journal, a nationwide city and skateboard publication. Later, he turned Senior Inventive at EMI Music Publishing, the place he signed multi-platinum acts and writers together with Deryck Whibley of Sum 41.
Following Len’s 2005 hiatus, Marc retreated to a house he owned at a British Columbia ski resort whereas persevering with to report and work with different musicians. He and Sharon launched It’s Simple If You Strive (2012), returning Len to lively standing earlier than Marc introduced in 2016 that additional album releases had been unlikely.
Sharon Costanzo
Sharon Costanzo, Marc’s older sister, contributed vocals to his early leisure recordings starting in childhood and formally joined the Len venture in 1992. This reworked the venture from a solo endeavor right into a sibling duo. She remained with the band via each lively intervals, serving as bassist and co-vocalist from 1992 via 2005 and once more from 2011 via 2016.
Sharon’s vocal contributions seem throughout all 5 studio albums, together with her voice featured prominently on Celebrity (1995) and Get Your Legs Broke (1997), the place she offered melodies that complemented the band’s indie rock and punk rock sound. On You Can’t Cease the Bum Rush (1999), Sharon’s vocals contrasted with the hip-hop influenced manufacturing and visitor rap appearances, delivering memorable lead vocals that balanced the sampled beats and rock instrumentation.
In response to Sharon’s personal recollection, Marc introduced her into the studio for “Steal My Sunshine” with out advance discover, asking if she needed to sing on the monitor. She described the recording as fast and instinctive, with each siblings being happy with the end result instantly. She carried out bass and vocals on The Diary of the Madmen (2005) and It’s Simple If You Strive (2012) through the reunion interval.
Past Len, Sharon was concerned in music publishing work alongside Marc and pursued varied enterprise ventures. Following the band’s hiatus, Sharon relocated to Los Angeles the place she continued recording songs and dealing with different musicians alongside her brother.
Brendan Canning
Brendan Canning, born in 1969, is an indie rock musician and founding member of the Toronto-based collective Damaged Social Scene. He had a quick however notable involvement with Len throughout their business peak within the late Nineteen Nineties, contributing a spoken-word introduction to “Steal My Sunshine” on You Can’t Cease the Bum Rush (1999).
Canning’s connection to Len got here via shared Toronto rehearsal areas and mutual acquaintances, representing an unintentional collaboration that uncovered him to pop crossover parts and radio promotion methods. In response to Canning’s personal account, he performed the Andrea True Connection report “Extra, Extra, Extra” for Marc Costanzo at his house, which straight impressed the pattern that kinds the muse of “Steal My Sunshine.”
For his contribution as spoken-word performer on the monitor, Canning acquired $2,500 from Len’s label Columbia Information, which he subsequently used to buy guitar pedals for himself and Kevin Drew to report Damaged Social Scene’s debut album Really feel Good Misplaced. After his departure from Len, Canning co-founded Damaged Social Scene in 1999 with Kevin Drew, establishing himself as a central determine in Toronto’s indie rock scene.
As a founding member of Damaged Social Scene from 1999 ahead, Canning recorded and carried out on all main releases together with Really feel Good Misplaced (2002), You Forgot It in Folks (2002), and quite a few subsequent albums. He has maintained a solo profession, releasing three studio albums: One thing for All of Us (2008) via Arts & Crafts, You Gots 2 Chill (2013) on his personal Draper Avenue Information label, and Dwelling Wrecking Years (2016).
Canning has labored as a music supervisor, composer, and musician for varied movie and tv tasks, together with work on The Time Traveler’s Spouse (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), The Tracey Fragments (2007), and the tv sequence Baroness Von Sketch Present (2016). He based Draper Avenue Information as his personal label and signed Vancouver artist Rosie June, whose debut album Listening Publish was launched in 2014.
Brian “DJ Strikes” Higgins
Brian Higgins, performing beneath the stage title DJ Strikes, was a part of Len’s expanded lineup through the band’s 1999 business peak with You Can’t Cease the Bum Rush. DJ Strikes offered turntable work and hip-hop manufacturing parts that characterised the album’s shift towards rap-rock fusion.
His involvement marked Len’s enlargement from a core sibling duo to the bigger rotating ensemble the band employed for major-label promotion and reside efficiency. DJ Strikes contributed to tracks that blended sampled beats, scratching, and digital manufacturing with rock instrumentation.
In response to interviews and band accounts, Marc Costanzo talked about plans for DJ Strikes to pursue a disco-inspired solo album venture with Sharon Costanzo, indicating his continued involvement within the broader Toronto music group through the late Nineteen Nineties. Past his documented work with Len, Higgins’ prolonged profession particulars stay restricted in obtainable sources.
Philip “Planet Pea” Rae
Philip Rae, recognized by the stage title Planet Pea or Kudu5, joined Len’s lineup through the You Can’t Cease the Bum Rush (1999) period to offer rap verses and hip-hop vocal parts. Rae contributed to the monitor “Steal My Sunshine” and different songs on the album that includes hip-hop parts, delivering rhyming verses that balanced the pop-influenced manufacturing and melodic hooks.
His addition to the band represented the Len Crew’s integration of the Toronto hip-hop scene, which Marc Costanzo had change into more and more concerned with through the late Nineteen Nineties. Planet Pea’s stage names, together with the alternate moniker Kudu5, mirrored the inventive aliases generally used inside Toronto’s underground hip-hop and different music communities of that period.
Restricted biographical data is accessible concerning Rae’s actions past his Len involvement, although his tenure with the band coincided with the group’s most commercially profitable interval and widespread radio promotion.
Derek “D Rock” MacKenzie
Derek MacKenzie, performing as D Rock, was a member of Len’s touring and studio lineup through the band’s 1999 business peak interval, coinciding with You Can’t Cease the Bum Rush. MacKenzie made instrumental contributions and introduced stage presence to the band’s promotional excursions and reside performances.
His involvement with Len was a part of the bigger Len Crew group, which Marc Costanzo described as encompassing roughly 30 to 40 musicians and supporters working in varied capacities to assist the band’s operations. Past his documented affiliation with Len, MacKenzie’s prolonged music profession historical past and post-Len actions stay restricted in publicly obtainable sources.
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