EQUALIZER

EQUALIZER WANTS TO THANK ALL OF ITS FANS FOR THEIR GREAT SUPPORT OVER THE YEARS, AND FOR THEIR CONTINUED INTEREST!!! THIS PAGE WAS PUT UP OUT OF RESPECT FOR OUR FAN BASE, AT THE TIME THE BAND EXISTED. IT IS MEANT AS A NOSTALGIC SITE ONLY. SOME HAVE ASKED WHETHER THERE WILL BE A REUNION TO COME, BUT UNFORTUNATELY, IT JUST DOESN'T SEEM TO BE IN THE CARDS. TO FOLLOW THE BAND MEMBERS' CURRENT MUSICAL PROJECTS, PLEASE REFER TO THE 'FRIENDS' LIST, POSTED IN THE PROFILE MUCH LOVE. PLEASE REMEMBER TO CHECK BACK ON OCCASION, TO HEAR MORE RARE LIVE VERSIONS, AND OTHER COOL UNRELEASED TRACKS!!!



In 1997, saxophone player Ray Murray, along with guitarist and vocalist Chris Velan, and singer Mike Velan had the idea to form a reggae band, accompanied by 2 other jazz horn players. Things didn't pan out. So close to a year later, Nick Velan was invited in to play bass, as was Mikey Murray, Ray's brother, on trumpet. So the band was now comprised of two sets of brothers, which later lead to Jonathan Shykofsky on drums, finding his way into the group. The band was unique, in that it was a family affair that later adopted their drummer. The band formed under the name "RED-I". At one of their early rehearsals, Ray and Mikey's Mother stopped by to hear her sons play, and she came up with the name "EQUALIZER", thus the band was born!



In March of 1999, EQUALIZER made their debut to a sold out crowd at Le Petit Cafe Campus in Montreal. Over the next 3 years, EQUALIZER gave a slew of sold out performances around the city, including memorable shows opening for Micheal Rose (of Black Uhuru), and Andrew Tosh (Peter Tosh's son), and Burning Spear. In September of 1999, EQUALIZER went into the studio to record their only CD, entitled "RISE". Rise was released in May 2000 to high praise, with only 1200 copies pressed, which quickly sold out!



Over Christmas 2000, EQUALIZER went back into the studio to record "Naysayers" and "Diamonds", to attract the growing attention of Universal Records. These 2 previously unreleased demo's written By Chris, the group's principle songwriter, have remained unreleased, but now Naysayers can finally be heard here on this site. In 2001, Chris left the group to pursue a career already started in Law, and EQUALIZER gave their final show on April 6th 2001, at The Spectrum in Montreal. The EQUALIZER album reached worldwide fame due to the hugely popular underground hit and closing album track, "Sweet Mary". Sweet Mary penned by Chris, is a perfect example of his lyrical genius.



With EQUALIZER long gone, their music has continued to live on. Chris Velan returned to making music, and now has a successful career as a solo artist:

http://www.myspace.com/chrisvelanmusic

http://www.chrisvelan.com/



Ray Murray has his own jazz, afrobeat, funk band, "The Souljazz Orchestra":

www.myspace.com/souljazzorchestra

http://www.souljazzorchestra.com/



Mikey Murray started up the "Atomic Brothers", a rhythm drum & Bass band:

and then converted it over to Maike Murray Maas: http://www.myspace.com/themsound



And Jonathan Shykofsky created his own 'DUB" reggae band, "the dub & the restless". Known for the band's ability to improvise, Ray & Mikey Murray shared the stage with the dub & the restless on a few occasions:

www.myspace.com/thedubandtherestless



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