Bronx Cheerleader

Bronx Cheerleader is the brainchild of Scott Warren, former vocalist, guitar player and founding member of defunct Toronto indie-rockers Pope Factory. The CMJ Music Marathon Festival Guide once tagged Warren's former outfit as "smart, resonating alterna-pop" while in other circles they gained a reputation for writing difficult, quirky rock music. The dissolution of Pope Factory during the band's ill-fated 2001 U.S. Tour, from which two members of the band never returned, had lasting effects on the band's frontman.

An exodus from Toronto and music in general soon followed in late 2001. Living in self-imposed exile in rural eastern Ontario, Warren didn't pick up a guitar for nearly two years. This time to reflect allowed the embattled songwriter to gain a new lease on life, music and the direction of his craft. Shedding the prog-rock trappings of his former band, Warren embraced his natural melodicism and pop sensibilities which in the past had been subverted by the sonic maelstrom of the Pope Factory sound.

With new songs being penned at a brisk pace and a sense of rejuvenation afoot, a fortuitous meeting between old friends would further sow the seeds of a musical rebirth. Sauder, original drummer and founding member of Pope Factory, had parted ways with the band in 1998. In the summer of 2004, Warren happened upon his former bandmate at a Modest Mouse gig in Toronto. By the time Isaac Brock and Co. had exited the stage that night, Warren had coaxed Sauder out of retirement and Bronx Cheerleader was born.

With Sauder behind the drum kit and with a song of his own ready to contribute, long time mate and indestructible musical force Eron Stroud of Palooka soon joined the St. Catharines, Ontario-based Bronx Cheerleader line-up, providing bass, keyboards, and utter devastation. Thomas Tracey then joined the band to handle guitar and mandolin duty and most recently singer/guitarist/producer/soundscaper Joe Lapinski, also of Palooka, has come on board to round out the overall sound.

Bronx Cheerleader's debut album, Tough Guy Cliches, finds Warren testing new waters with kinder, gentler song stylings and yielding memorable results. Owing much in sensibilty to the work of the late Elliott Smith, it seems fitting that a tune on the album is dedicated to his memory ("Racing Time"). As a thematic piece Tough Guy Cliches is a playful homage to classic gangster films. It's also a tribute to a simpler time when criminals were at the very least charming, flamboyent, and more honest with who they were than the faceless, white-collar, Enron-era backroom gangsters of today.

Upon its November 2005 release Tough Guy Cliches was a surprise hit on Canadian college radio, reaching the # 30 spot on Earshot's National Top 50 Campus Radio chart for the month of January without the aid of any advertising, promotion or live shows. Amanda Putz, host of CBC Radio One's Bandwidth program included the album among her list of Best Bets of 2005. The album is a triumphant return for the D.I.Y.-minded Warren, who recorded the album's twelve tracks himself and also designed the album's artwork. Now, after a four-year hiatus the reclusive singer/songwriter is back, and making uncompromising, unapologetic pop music.