| Guy Smiley |
Hard Rock
In October of 1992, four musicians including bassist Jamie Fyles and drummer Ryan Francis began to make some noise in their basement in Winnipeg Canada. Through writing and performing their own original material, they began to see positive response from fans, but still viewed their project as a hobby only. After a few low budget recordings and a number of local gigs, Jamie and Ryan were introduced to vocalist Derek Kun and guitarist Kurt Bond. and the rest they say is history.
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With the arrival of Kun and Bond came an intensity and power, which had been missing in the beginning. This helped to develop their ever-growing local following and gave them an opportunity to take their chaos on the road. As luck would have it, Guy Smiley managed to arrange some shows throughout Western Canada, but hit a lull in the East. What seemed like a hindrance in the early workings of the band turned out to be one of the most influential and beneficial twists of fate the band would ever see. With determination matched only by few, Guy Smiley played Western Canada a whopping six times in their first year of touring. This overexposure, coupled with their amazing stage presence, led to a meeting with legendary producer Cecil English (SNFU, DOA, No Means No and The Smalls). English was so blown away with the bands performance that he offered to record them at his studio. The result was Auger, Guy Smiley's first full length release. It was recorded specifically to reflect the bands material the way they heard it...live and loud!
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Armed with a new disc and an ever-growing belief that Canada would be conquered, Guy Smiley set out on the determined path of constant touring and writing. With this mind set, Guy Smiley has played all of Canada and the Northern U.S. in excess of 12 times in less than two years. Not only headlining many of those tours, but supporting the likes of Guttermouth, Offspring, CIV, Sick Of It All, SNFU, DOA, Ten Foot Pole, 22 Jacks and a ton of others.
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After a success of "Auger" (8,000 Units in Canada), Guy Smiley saw an amicable split with Bond and the arrival of current guitarist Paul Stewart who brought a new level of intensity and angst to the band. With the new lineup in tact, Guy Smiley quickly resumed what they love best...touring! Not long after returning from nine consistent months of on the road drudgery, Guy Smiley found the time to lay down tracks for "Can't Turn Back" their second full length release with Grammy Award winning producer John Rollo in New York. Originally relaesed in Canada only, The pre-orders where a staggering 8,000 copies. It was showing up on the top ten college radio play lists across Canada and the band wanted to finally branch out into the United States. Already playing tons of shows on the East Coast, Guy Smiley lacked label representation in the U.S. after talking with almost every independent (and some majors) labels withen the U.S., Guy Smiley finally settled on the Long Beach based Devil Doll Records at the request of fellow Canadians and label mates Field Day.
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