← back up out of the mud

GARRITY

I formed Garrity in Ottawa in 1997, at 22. I sang, played guitar and wrote the songs, and I already had over a hundred of them.

The band

Chris Lochner is credited alongside us on A Day Away.

“Very strong on four-part harmony… The vocal experience is ear-refreshing.”Walt Grealis, RPM, February 8, 1999

The years

  1. 1997Garrity forms in Ottawa.
  2. 1998Carve a Hole in the Mud, self-released. “Lately” wins 106.9 The Bear’s Rock Search ’98.
  3. 1999“Lately” climbs RPM’s national Adult Contemporary chart, and the video runs on CMT for over a year.
  4. 2001A Day Away on True North Records.
  5. afterMy Favourite Tragedy, then solo.

“Lately”

1998 – 1999

Won 106.9 The Bear’s Rock Search in ’98. In February 1999 it climbed RPM’s national Adult Contemporary chart week by week: #53 on the 8th, #50 on the 15th, #46 on the 22nd. MIX 99.9 in Toronto and stations in Barrie were playing it.

The video was shot in Toronto and sat in CMT rotation for more than a year. The crew spent the night before building the wall of mud and hadn’t gone to sleep yet.

Where it finally peaked is still an open thread.

Carve a Hole in the Mud

1998 · self-released · 13 songs · 52:55

The Carve a Hole in the Mud cover: cracked dry mud with one hole of blue sky
  1. Maybe I Do2:54
  2. Sick and Tired4:34
  3. Find Me Down3:12
  4. Here3:53
  5. Lately2:47
  6. Mingle Mary3:50
  7. Gotta Get More3:43
  8. Paralyzed5:04
  9. Let It Out3:54
  10. Breathe6:38
  11. Through To Me4:10
  12. Underground3:43
  13. Fairy Tales4:24

Fairy Tales I wrote when my son was very young. Camp counsellors sang it every night for a whole summer. A mother put the words on the wall above her baby’s crib. Since then it has been a father-daughter wedding dance, and a song at a funeral.

Only on CD today.

A Day Away

2001 · True North Records · 12 songs

Cover to come
  1. A Day Away3:32
  2. Laugh Out Loud3:15
  3. The Rain3:35
  4. Old Fathers5:05
  5. Predictable3:10
  6. Roll Again3:59
  7. 25 Years3:23
  8. Can’t Get Out2:17
  9. Lakuda Rida3:28
  10. Haunted Whistle4:17
  11. She Walks3:24
  12. And He Sings4:21
Play it in the Listening Room

Produced by Jay Ruston, Garrity and me; mixed by John Whynot. “The Rain” got its own video, shot in Toronto by Black Walk Productions and directed by Warren Sonoda.

More of the story is still being dug up.