Warsawpack
{{Short description|Canadian experimental rap rock group}}
{{distinguish|Warsaw Pact}}
{{pp-protected|small=yes}}
Warsawpack was a Canadian experimental rap rock group{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130115074504/http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/W/Warsawpack/2003/09/18/751621.html "Warsawpack credits rap for lesson"]}}. canoe.ca, September 18, 2003. based in Hamilton, Ontario. The band's music fuses hip hop, jazz, dub, groove and rock.[https://www.punknews.org/review/2190/warsawpack-stocks-and-bombs "Warsawpack Stocks & Bombs (2003)"] Punk News, Adam White August 19, 2003[http://exclaim.ca/Interviews/FromTheMagazine/warsawpack_name_names_point_fingers "Warsawpack Name Names and Point Fingers"]. Exclaim!, September 2003. The band's songs contained mostly politically charged lyrics that critiqued Western consumerism and neo-colonialism.[http://www.thespec.com/whatson-story/2135173-a-different-kind-of-hip-hop/ " A different kind of hip-hop"]. Hamilton Spectator, Jan 19, 2012 By Graham Rockingham
History
Warsawpack was formed in 1999 by Lee Raback, Scott Rankin, Jaroslav Wassman and Matt Cormier."Warsawpack". Clamor Magazine, Vol. 18 (Jan/Feb 2003). Rankin later left the band and was replaced by guitarist Ajit Rao, and later members added to the band included tenor saxophonist and flautist Simon Oczkowski, baritone saxophonist Adam Bryant, and turntablist Aaron Sakala, aka DJ Realistic.[https://nowtoronto.com/music/concert-reviews/pack-attack/ "'Pack attack - Hamilton rap/rockers Warsawpack lighten up at Lee's"]. NOW Toronto, by Sarah Liss
January 23, 2003
Following their debut EP Due to Long Foreseen Events, the band signed to G7 Welcoming Committee Records,{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170328023018/http://www.chartattack.com/news/2002/05/10/warsawpack-hooks-up-with-g7-welcoming-committee/ "Warsawpack Hooks Up With G7 Welcoming Committee"]}}. Chart Attack, May 10, 2002 which released both of the band's full-length albums. The band released Gross Domestic Product in 2003.[http://frictionmagazine.com/song/reviews/reviews_06.asp "Rocking Out Is So Hard To Do"]. Friction Magazine, June.23.2003 Their second full-length album, Stocks and Bombs,{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304124147/http://www.chartattack.com/news/2009/01/30/warsawpacks-lee-raback-becomes-lee-reed/ "Warsawpack’s Lee Raback Becomes Lee Reed"]}}. chartattack.com, January 30, 2009. appeared on the !earshot National Top 50 Chart in late 2003.[http://earshot-online.com/charts/index.cfm?intChartTypeID=101&dWeekOfID=2003-09-16 "The National Top 50 For the Week Ending: Tuesday, September 16, 2003"]. !earshot.
Warsawpack performed as part of Canada Music Week in 2004.[http://exclaim.ca/music/article/warsawpack-canadian_music_week_2004_march_3_to_6_toronto "Warsawpack Canadian Music Week 2004 March 3 to 6, Toronto ON"]. Exclaim!, By Neil Haverty Sep 06, 2007 In spite of some commercial success,{{cite magazine|title=Indies Now Sway Sales|magazine=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FhAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA66|date=3 April 2004|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|pages=66–|issn=0006-2510}} the band broke up later that year.
Raback released his solo debut album Introductory Offer in 2009 under the stage name Lee Reed. He has since followed up with the albums Emergency Broadcast (2011) and The Butcher, the Banker, the Bitumen Tanker (2015), and the EPs Written Large (2013) and The Steal City EP (2018). In June 2019, The Steal City EP was named to the initial longlist for the 2019 Polaris Music Prize.[https://www.cbc.ca/music/find-out-who-made-the-2019-polaris-music-prize-long-list-1.5182683 "Find out who made the 2019 Polaris Music Prize long list"]. CBC Music, June 20, 2019.
In 2015, the Warsawpack song "Poorboy Blues" was voted one of the top four songs by a Hamilton band in a CBC Hamilton song contest.Adam Carter, [http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/best-hamilton-song-junkhouse-versus-warsawpack-1.2971083 "Best Hamilton Song: Junkhouse versus Warsawpack"]. CBC Hamilton, February 25, 2015.
Discography
- Due to Long Foreseen Events (2000)
- Gross Domestic Product (2002)
- Stocks and Bombs (2003)[http://www.modernfix.com/reviews/cdwarsawpack/ "Review: Warsawpack"] Modern Fix.