J Englishman

"poor li'l rockstar"

You should click on that link up there and buy a copy of my record. Go ahead. I'll wait

The Official Lies:Listening

to poor li'l rockstar

it's hard to believe that j. englishman

was once just another awkward teenager growing up in rural Ontario. Born in Kingston and raised in

various Southern Ontario towns, including Walkerton (Yes that

Walkerton!), j. was bound to develop into a restless

teenager. Piano lessons might've been good training (he took 'em when he was 7), but what j. really wanted was a guitar,

and when he was 14 his wish came true. His mom presented him with a shiny new

Sunburst Lero for his birthday and he immediately set

his goals higher. A year later, after saving up the cash from mowing

innumerable lawns, he traded in his birthday gift and purchased a 1963 Fender

Duo-Sonic. (The guitar affectionately known as "Baby" is still in his

collection.)



By the

time he was 16 Rotary Club dances and bars around Grey and Bruce counties were

soon haunted by j.'s project, The Bentley Society.

But their growing fame came to a sudden end when j. packed up his guitar and

left for the big city of Toronto.



j.'s small town days ended when he was 18. Not one full week passed in Toronto before he was

arrested for busking in the subway without a license. The experience fueled his late-teen angst and inspired him to form Free

And Easy, a rock band that played all originals.



Soon the

day-to-day anxiety of poorly paying jobs got to him and the music got angrier. J.F.

Wylde was a metal band so heavy that the Skid Row

comparisons seemed gentle. For three years they cranked their amps louder,

until it all ended with a sold out farewell show at the legendary Gasworks.



Breaking

up is hard to do, and j. handled it like any good musician; he started playing

country songs on an acoustic guitar. When he couldn't find a hat that fit

right, he decided to take control of his fate and go to university. He studied

Humanities at Ryerson, and pursued his interest in the theatre while working at

a costume shop. He'd acted before, culminating with a small speaking part in a

1988 episode of Degrassi Junior High, but had given

it up to pursue music.



It didn't

take long for music to regain the top spot in j.'s

heart. In 1996 he started work on a one-man electronic industrial rock band

under the name Tomorrow The World. I figured that

by having a band name, if it didnt work out, I could blame someone else he

says.



Things

did work out.



It took a

year to get the songs together to create the Manic Obsessive EP, but 500

numbered copies were printed, and one ended up in the hands of influential

manager Bob Luhtala (I Mother Earth, Glueleg, Edwin). Under Bob's watchful eye j. stepped

forward from TTW so that his talent could grow in new directions. He put

together a live band and started showcasing. j.'s

talent was undeniable and in March 1999 j. englishman,

solo artist, was signed to Warner Music Canada.



Released

in March of 2000, j.s major label debut poor lil rockstar was co-produced

by j. & Dave Hodge, and has yielded four singles and three videos including

the top 10 hit, more. j. received a 2001 Juno

Award nomination for best new solo artist, and in March of that year the

Canadian Association of Broadcasters presented j. with the Canadian Radio Music Award

for best new solo artist rock/alternative. In 2002, at the invitation of the Canadian

Olympic Association, he appeared at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics with a

backing band that consisted of members of his Warner label mates the Bare Naked

Ladies and Staggered Crossing.



j. is currently hard at work abusing his liver under a bench in the back

room of the Bovine Sex Club. Over the past year he has lent his talents as

a guitarist (both touring and in session) to a number of projects including Sony

recording artist Barlow and to his

sister, Reprise artist Esthero. Petit

Mort, an independent short film in which he stars, premiered at the Toronto

International Short Film Festival and is now in rotation on The Movie Network.