The Danks

In two-thousand-and-six, a perpetually leathered Brohan Moore and a visibly weathered Alec O'Hanley birthed the Danks in a small Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island apartment. Upon enlisting enigmatic drum man Phil MacIsaac, a few scrappy demos soon surfaced, but it wasn't until 2008's modestly titled ?SAMPLES? ep that listeners got a true glimpse at the melodic gold that forms the foundation of the Danks.

After the Peruvian departure of original bassist Chris Doiron, the unflappable Andrew MacDonald was hauled aboard the good ship, thereby bringing the count of mutual Two Hours Traffic/Danks members up to an even two.

The subversive anti-workaday message bestowed by these purveyors of pertinent pop made for widespread wowing of festival patrons at both Pop Montreal and North by Northeast in 2008. The Danks regularly play rock and roll concerts with Collagen Rock Records labelmates Two Hours Traffic, Mardeen, and Smothered in Hugs, and have also graced Tokyo Police Club and Immaculate Machine with their blistering onstage presence. Constantly catchy, impossibly handsome, the Danks gear up for a month-long national tour with Two Hours Traffic and Hey Rosetta! in November.

Wikipedia tells us:

The Danks are a Canadian indie rock band from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, founded by Brohan Moore and Alec O'Hanley. Chris Dorion originally played bass guitar, but was replaced by Andrew MacDonald, a bandmate of O'Hanley's from Two Hours Traffic. The current lineup includes lead vocalist Moore, O'Hanley on guitar and keyboards, MacDonald on bass, and drummer Phil MacIsaac. The band's style has been likened to that of The Strokes.

In 2006, The Danks independently released the EP In Alright. They played shows at the North by Northeast festival. The band released the EP Samples on Collagen Rock Records in 2008. Music critic John Sakamoto of the Toronto Star wrote, "Like Two Hours Traffic, however, all the handclaps and fast tempos can't completely obscure a vague sense of anxiety lurking just beneath the surface. The result is a compelling tug of war between wanting to dance and feeling that there's something else you're supposed to be doing."

Their full-length debut, Are You Afraid of the Danks? was released on June 30, 2009. Giving the album its highest rating, Chart described it as "non-stop, hook-laden revelry from start to finish."[3] Fast Forward Weekly, in its review, wrote, "The Danks are straight-up power pop at heart and there's simply no denying their power."