Mock Up, Scale Down

Biography

The Super Friendz is a Canadian indie-rock band formed in 1994 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were initially active between 1994 and 1997, before reforming in 2003. Formed by three King's College students, Matt Murphy (who had earlier played guitar with Black Pool), Charles Austin (bass and vocals; briefly a part of Al Tuck) and Drew Yamada (guitarist ) with, initially, no permanent drummer. At various times during their early years, Chris Murphy (no relation to Matt Murphy) of Sloan, Cliff Gibb...

The Super Friendz is a Canadian indie-rock band formed in 1994 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were initially active between 1994 and 1997, before reforming in 2003.

Formed by three King's College students, Matt Murphy (who had earlier played guitar with Black Pool), Charles Austin (bass and vocals; briefly a part of Al Tuck) and Drew Yamada (guitarist ) with, initially, no permanent drummer. At various times during their early years, Chris Murphy (no relation to Matt Murphy) of Sloan, Cliff Gibb of Thrush Hermit, Lonnie James, and Dave Marsh filled the role.

In 1994, the band released a single on Chris Murphy's label, Murderecords, and later toured Canada with Sloan.

The first album, Mock Up, Scale Down (1995, Murderecords), drew critical praise, if not commercial success. Recorded in producer Brenndan McGuire's house with Dave Marsh on drums, Mock Up blended retro-pop with Canadian rock influences.

The following year, the band released Play the Game, Not Games, a 10-inch single, also on Murderecords. The songs on Play the Game--especially the contributions of Austin and Yamada--were significantly more experimental than on the album, and prefigured both the band's future work and its creative tension.

Mock Up, Scale Down was released in the United States in 1997 on March Records under the title Sticktoitiveness (which earlier had been the title of an independent tape made by the band). A few of the songs from Play the Game also appeared on the U.S. release.

Continuing to tour, the band pulled together their last studio album before the break-up in Slide Show. Featuring Lonnie James on drums, this album is often considered the band's strongest effort.

Despite the strong reviews, the Super Friendz were struggling to continue. In the final reckoning, the band were done in by the same creative forces that made their music successful. Around September of 1997 it was made official - the boys amicably went their separate ways.

In late December of 2002, SFZ came back together for a special holiday reunion. This was enough to spark the creativity back up. The band then continued on to start recording their return effort, Love Energy, released Summer 2003. A small tour followed in September. It was said that the band started recording follow-up material in January 2006, but none has appeared.

Matt Murphy had a side project in the late 1990s and early 2000s called The Flashing Lights. He has also played with the bands City Field and Cookie Duster, and starred in the film The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico. In 2015, he formed the band, TUNS, with Chris Murphy and Mike O'Neill.

Charles Austin and Drew Yamada formed Neuseiland with Joel Plaskett (then of Thrush Hermit).

Lonnie James has released solo albums, as well as recording and touring as a drummer in Royal City. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.