Polymaths

Polymaths was officially established in June of 2006 by Matthew Blackwell and Craig Fink in Regina, Saskatchewan. "How quaint," said Craig, "a band!" After the failure of their respective novels, Matt and Craig found themselves with time on their hands and musical creativity flowing through their blood. (Did you know? Matthew and Craig both played tuba in high school. Get out, right? Oom-pah!) After spending a couple days discussing who would make a good keyboard player for the band, Matthew remembered that his best friend Jenn was classically trained, or whatever. Enter Jenn. Next! After contemplating the unfortunate necessity of a drummer in a rock band for many more days (say, four?), Craig had a similar epiphany, remembering his friend Patrick from high school to be a percussionist of great reliability. Patrick was subsequently recruited/bribed.

And then they were four. Oh yeah, they came up with the name somewhere in there as well. Craig was reading Fifth Business in early June. He identified with the main character, a man of less than pleasing physical appearance who vowed to impress the fairer sex by accumulating vast swaths of knowledge. In other words, becoming a polymath. (The character died a lonely man obsessed with saints, by the way.) Craig said, "We should call our band Polymaths." And Matthew said "'S' or no 'S' at the end?" And Craig said, "With the 'S'." And Matthew said, "Alright." And Craig also said "THERE SHALL BE NO 'THE' PRECEEDING THE NAME 'POLYMATHS'", to which Matthew replied, "Yeah, you're right, that shit is whack." The other band members were not consulted. And so they were four, named Polymaths.

In August of 2008, they released their debut EP "So Long, Castle Road" on Young Soul Records. The album is available on iTunes, Zunior, HMV and Chapters (order only).



Well, what's happened since then?

The band has played numerous shows, including a well-received slot at the Regina Folk Festival in 2008. In May of 2009, they headed back into the studio to record a full-length follow-up to "So Long, Castle Road" entitled "Home Again". It's got 12 songs and should be coming out sooner rather than later.