Sixty Stories :: Smallman Records

Sixty Stories

1980’s new wave meets today’s indie rock.

Sixty Stories leans heavily on their indie and punk rock influences while introducing strong vocal and keyboard melodies.

Formed in the fall of 1999 with Paul Furgale on drums and back-up vocals, Jo Snyder on guitar and vocals and Kelly Martin on bass, Sixty Stories quickly recorded and released a four-song demo tape, Care and Work, to coincide with an extensive Western Canadian tour. In the next eight months Sixty Stories toured Canada and the USA extensively, opening for Propagandhi on their 2001 Eastern Canadian tour and playing shows with Samiam and Fugazi.

In the spring of 2001 Sixty Stories signed with Smallman Records, and recorded 7 new songs for the split CD, Different Places to Sit / A Loveless Kiss. The CD also featured 5 songs from Paul Furgale’s previous band, Painted Thin, a now defunct punk band that included Steve Carol from The Weakerthans. The record was released in the fall of 2001 on Smallman Records (North America) and The Company with the Golden Arm (Europe).

In conjunction with this release, Sixty Stories toured across Canada, through the mid-west USA and throughout Germany. The obvious highlight of the tour was the month spent touring Germany. This tour was launched in Trier playing with Propagandhi, and continued on for twenty-six more shows with their new favorite friend, Atom and His Package.

January 2002 brought Sixty Stories exciting new prospects and an exciting new bass player—Sarah Sangster. Sangster, a graphic design college graduate, enhanced the band’s dynamics with distorted bass and charming back-up vocals. In the spring of 2002, Sixty Stories went into the studio with Ian Blurton (Weakerthans, Blurtonia) and recorded 11 new songs and a signature ‘jingle’. The album, entitled “Anthem Red”, was released in Canada on October 8, 2002 and reached #15 on the Canadian National College Radio Charts by December 2002.

In 2003, Sixty Stories toured the USA non-stop in conjunction with the release of Anthem Red in that Territory through Smallman Records and Hopeless Distribution. Unfortunately, Sixty Stories played their last show in May 2004 and are now heavily involved in a) robotic soccer tournaments b) graphic design and c) editorial rants.