Will Currie & The Country French’s third LP They Killed Us will be released on June 9, 2015 via the Vancouver label and the band’s longtime home, File Under: Music. The 14-track album follows the band’s two previous releases, 2008’s A Great Stage and 2011’s Awake, You Sleepers! Glide Magazine is proud to premiere the new track “They Killed Us” (below), a composition that confidently rolls with a nostalgic classic melody, while showcasing the band’s studio prowess. Will Currie & The Country French might not be a pop alternative band, but they’re the type of artists that will earn their own devoted fan base courtesy of their distinctive composition style and voice.
“‘They Killed Us’ talks about less mainstream music kind of getting the boot to make way for more popular choices,” says the band. “That sounds kind of bitter, but it’s really not. Music should be a majority rules scenario as it is. It’s a delicate ecosystem. We don’t really mind that we aren’t the top 40 kind of group. There’s a kind of enjoyment you get being in the outskirts of popularity. There are literally no rules out here.”
Will Currie & The Country French began playing together as music majors at Wilfrid Laurier University. While they were predominantly classically trained percussionists, they would regularly take over practice rooms at night and make pop music. When they were asked to open for Tokyo Police Club in Toronto, they decided it was time to make it official and unite as a real band to begin releasing music and continue touring. They recorded one album, A Great Stage, and gave it away free at shows which caught the attention of Jay Ferguson of Sloan. In 2008, he caught the band playing a tiny bar in Toronto, brought home a copy of their free debut and immediately signed them to Murderecords, releasing the album properly throughout Canada. The band toured in support of the album, opening for the likes of Dan Mangan and Said The Whale.
They parted ways with Murderecords and in 2011, signed with File Under: Music. Their second album, Awake, You Sleepers!, received excellent reviews and despite those good reviews, Will and the band put off recording another album to finish school and then found themselves disbanding entirely to pursue other opportunities after graduation. For two years the band went silent until January of this year. Lead singer Will Currie was asked to write a song for the cartoon “Cyanide & Happiness” which became a huge hit and left fans of Will and the band wondering if they’d join forces again to release new music as Will Currie & The Country French. Well, their calls didn’t go unnoticed and on June 9, They Killed Us will tell the story of what happened to the band in those quiet years after Awake, You Sleepers!
