Jason Collett | |
|---|---|
 Jason Collett performing in Guelph, Ontario (January 17, 2008). | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jason Robert Collett [1] |
| Born | Bramalea, Ontario |
| Origin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Alt-country, indie rock |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Arts & Crafts |
| Formerly of | Bird, Broken Social Scene |
Jason Robert Collett is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Toronto, Ontario. He has released six solo studio albums, and is a former member of Broken Social Scene.
Collett was born in Bramalea, a Greater Toronto Area suburb. He began writing songs at a young age to escape the boredom of his suburban life, and cites Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Nick Lowe as influences. Eventually, Collett moved to downtown Toronto where he worked as a woodworker and carpenter, doing renovations and custom home building, while he pursued his music.
In the late 1980s, Collett co-founded the band Lazy Grace with Kathryn Rose and Kersti McLeod, [2] performing every Monday at Toronto’s Spadina Hotel at the popular indie music gathering, Radio Mondays, alongside The Weakerthans and artists on the record label Arts & Crafts, who would perform and write songs together. Collett has mentioned how Radio Mondays were great community-building events, with five or six artists on stage at a time. [3]
Around 2000, he was a part of the short-lived alternative country group Bird, of which Andrew Cash and Hawksley Workman were also members. Bird released one album, 2000’s Chrome Reflection . [4]
It was his work with Broken Social Scene that allowed Collett to give up woodworking and become a full-time musician. Collett became a member of Broken Social Scene, serving as one of their guitarists, after the band’s album You Forgot It In People . Collett was eventually convinced by Kevin Drew to join the band once they moved from a strictly instrumental band into one that wrote their own songs.
Though Collett took a break from touring with Broken Social Scene in the fall of 2005 to pursue his solo career and spend time with his family, Collett has made many musical connections through the band. His 2005 album, Idols of Exile , produced by Howie Beck, featured many prominent Canadian artists. Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew, Leslie Feist and Brendan Canning all contributed, as did members of bands Stars and Metric.
In 2001 he released his debut solo album Bitter Beauty , [5] and in 2002 he followed up with Motor Motel Love Songs. [2]
In 2005, he released Idols of Exile , his first for Arts & Crafts. [6] Here's to Being Here was released in February 2008. [7]
In 2007 Collett and poet Damian Rogers began coordinating The Basement Revue, a recurring concert series at Toronto's Dakota Tavern which saw writers and musicians collaborating on performances, with lineups not announced in advance of the show. [8] The event later graduated to larger venues, most notably the annual Luminato Festival. [9]
Formerly touring with backing band Paso Mino, made up of members Robbie Drake, Afie Jurvanen, Mike O'Brien and Michael P. Clive, in 2008 he debuted a new band consisting of Robbie Drake, Mike O'Brien, Carlin Nicholson and Neil Quin, who also released music separately as the band Zeus. [10]
In 2009, Collett took part in an interactive documentary series called City Sonic . The series, which featured 20 Toronto artists, had him reflecting on his longtime relationship with Kensington Market. [11]
Collett's fifth solo studio album, Rat a Tat Tat , produced by O'Brien and Nicholson, was released in March 2010. [12] He followed up later the same year with Pony Tricks, an album which featured re-recorded alternate versions of songs from his prior albums. [13]
His seventh solo studio album, Reckon was released in September 2012. [14]
In 2013, he had an acting role in a stage production of Sam Shepard's play Cowboy Mouth , staged at Toronto's Cameron House. [15]
He released his eighth album, Song and Dance Man on February 5, 2016. [16] The following year he coordinated New Constellations, a collaborative concert tour which paired established Canadian pop and rock artists with emerging Indigenous Canadian artists. [17]
In 2018, he contributed the song "Sensitive Man" to the compilation album The Al Purdy Songbook . [18]
His ninth album, Head Full of Wonder, was released in 2022. [19]
Hawksley Workman is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has garnered critical acclaim for his blend of cabaret pop and glam rock. Workman has released eleven full-length albums throughout his career. A multi-instrumentalist, he plays guitar, drums, bass, keyboards and sings on his records, often switching between those instruments when playing live.
Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band and musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning in 1999. Alongside Drew and Canning, the other core members of the band are Justin Peroff (drums), Andrew Whiteman (guitar) and Charles Spearin (guitar).
hHead were a Canadian alternative rock band, formed in 1991 in Ajax.
KC Accidental was a Canadian post-rock band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The band released two albums of mostly instrumental music. It later evolved into Broken Social Scene.
Hugh Christopher Brown is a Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
Broken Social Scene is the third studio album by Broken Social Scene, released on October 4, 2005. In addition to the musicians who contributed to the band's prior release You Forgot It in People, new contributors on Broken Social Scene include k-os, Jason Tait and Murray Lightburn.
Leslie Feist, known mononymously as Feist, is a Canadian indie pop singer-songwriter and guitarist, performing both as a solo artist and as a member of the indie rock group Broken Social Scene.
Emily Savitri Haines is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is the lead singer, keyboardist and songwriter of the rock band Metric and a member of the musical collective Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist, she has performed under her own name and as Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton. Haines possesses the vocal range of a mezzo-soprano.
The Weakerthans are a Canadian indie rock band from Winnipeg. The band, led by John K. Samson, has released four studio albums and is currently inactive.
Arts & Crafts Productions is a music-focused media and artist services company that offers information as an independent record label, management firm, merchandiser, and publisher worldwide. It has earned 21 Juno Awards. Arts & Crafts has been called one of Canada's most important record labels.
Torquil Campbell is the co-lead singer and a songwriter for the Montreal-based indie rock band Stars. In addition to singing, he also plays the melodica, trumpet, synthesizer, and tambourine. Campbell is also an actor and playwright, most recently co-creating and starring in the play True Crime, produced by Crow's Theatre in Toronto.
Brendan Canning is a Canadian indie rock performer. He is a founding member of the band Broken Social Scene and a former member of By Divine Right, Blurtonia, Valley of the Giants, Len, and hHead.
The Hylozoists are a Canadian instrumental rock supergroup formed in 2001 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The band's name is derived from hylozoism and was started as a side project of record producer and multi-instrumentalist Paul Aucoin.
Daniel Mangan is a Canadian musician. He has won two Juno awards and has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Australia, having released 5 studio LPs and numerous EPs and singles. He has scored for feature film, as well as television for Netflix and AMC. He is also a co-founder of Side Door, a marketplace platform connecting artists with alternative venue spaces for in-person & online shows.
Here's to Being Here is the fourth solo album by Jason Collett of Broken Social Scene. The album was released on February 5, 2008 on Arts & Crafts.
Do Make Say Think is a Canadian instrumental band formed in Toronto, Ontario in 1995. Their music combines jazz-style drumming, distorted guitars and wind instruments, and prominent bass guitar.
Zeus is a Toronto-based Canadian indie rock band signed to the Arts & Crafts record label. Its members include Rob Drake, Carlin Nicholson, Mike O'Brien, and Neil Quin. The band have released three albums and one EP since 2009. They have also served as the backing band for Canadian musician Jason Collett.
Rat a Tat Tat is the fifth solo album by Jason Collett of Broken Social Scene. The album was released on March 9, 2010 from record label Arts & Crafts.
The 2010 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 20, 2010. The gala presentation was held at Toronto's Masonic Temple, and was hosted by Grant Lawrence of CBC Radio 3 and Sarah Taylor of MuchMusic.
Ariel Engle is a Canadian indie pop singer and songwriter who records and performs as a solo artist and with Broken Social Scene.
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