Great Lake Swimmers

Great Lake Swimmers
Performing at the Burlington Sound of Music festival
Performing at the Burlington Sound of Music festival
Background information
OriginWainfleet
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
GenresFolk rock, Indie
Years active2003 (2003)–present
LabelsWeewerk, Nettwerk
MembersTony Dekker
Erik Arnesen
Kelsey McNulty
Bret Higgins
Ryan Granville-Martin
Past membersJulie Fader
Colin Huebert
Mike Overton
Sandro Perri
Greg Millson
Miranda Mulholland
Bret Higgins
Joshua Van Tassel
Darcy Yates
Websitegreatlakeswimmers.com

Great Lake Swimmers is a Canadian folk rock band from Wainfleet, Ontario,[1] and currently based in Toronto.

The current touring line-up is Tony Dekker on lead vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica, Erik Arnesen on banjo, electric guitar and harmonium, Ryan Granville-Martin on drums and backing vocals, Bret Higgins on upright bass and Kelsey McNulty on keyboards and backing vocals. Past members included Julie Fader on backing vocals, Sandro Perri on guitar, and Greg Millson and Colin Huebert on drums.

The band's style has been compared to Red House Painters, Nick Drake, Iron & Wine and Neil Young,[2] as well as Will Oldham[3] (Bonnie "Prince" Billy) and Sufjan Stevens.[4] Dekker has cited influences including Gram Parsons and Hank Williams.[5]

  1. ^ Van Evra, Jennifer. "Songs to dive into", The Globe and Mail, 2007-03-30, p. R4.
  2. ^ "Inspired by nature to pen songs", Evening Chronicle, 2007-04-11, p. 2.
  3. ^ Wilson, Carl. "Pop", The Globe and Mail, 2003-01-18, p. R20.
  4. ^ Pidd, Helen. "Review: Pop: The Great Lake Swimmers", The Guardian, 2007-05-04, p. 42.
  5. ^ McDowell, Adam. "Still learning to swim", National Post, 2005-04-02, p. TO4.