Over the holiday’s Ladybird Animal Sanctuary held a benefit to raise money to help at risk animals in the community. The DoneFors’ own Janine Stoll co-founded this not-for-profit organization with her best friends Melissa McClelland and Lisa Winn. This is a video of one of the great performances from the night. Liam, Brian, Janine and Lisa backed up Whitehorse (duo featuring Luke Doucet and Melissa) for the grand finale of the night. Ladybird raised over $2500.

The DoneFors are very proud to announce the release of our official video for ‘Mercator Map’ from “Award Winning Album” (directed by Chad Nunn). Please enjoy responsibly. SPAG AND BALLS!

The DoneFors official video for Mercator Map from “Award Winning Album” (independent, 2011). Video conceptualized and directed by Chad Nunn. Featuring The DoneFors (Janine Stoll, Paul MacDougall, Liam Smith, Brian Lahaie, Rob Sills, Phil Skladowski and Pat Blanchard) and friends! Spaghetti and general loveliness provided by Sarah Fortunato. Thanks to the fantastic crew Ryan Randall and Foad Almassi.

Track available on iTunes (click here)

The DoneFors would like to than FACTOR for helping to make this video possible. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund) and of Canada’s Private Radio Broadcasters.

The DoneFors are extremely thrilled to have been invited to perform in Nunavut this coming Canada Day weekend (June 29 – July 2) at Alianait Festival! This honour, following last summer’s great honour of performing at The Edge of the World Festival on beautiful Haida Gwaii in British Columbia, will no doubt be an incredible experience and career highlight.

The DoneFors recording “Shot At You” for “Award Winning Album” (independent, 2011) at Canterbury Studio in Toronto, Ontario with engineers Jeremy Darby and Andrew Heppner. The song features Janine Stoll (voice, guitar), Paul MacDougall (guitar), Liam Smith (bass), Brian Lahaie (drums). The track is mixed by Michael Phillip Wojewoda and mastered by Joao Carvalho. Video captured and edited by Chad Nunn of CONartist Films.

The Velvet Rope – cover story
by: Care Humphries

In 2009, they taught you How To Have Sex with Canadians. In 2011, they created the Award Winning Album. And now The DoneFors are returning to Guelph to entertain audiences who are just as thrilled as I am about their latest effort.

The four-piece, who came together in 2006, have earned their share of the critical acclaim since releasing Award Winning including a nod from Rheostatics guitarist and music guru, Dave Bidini. For Janine Stoll, Paul MacDougall, Liam Smith and Brian Lahaie, this album was created under a mass buzz of talent, from production to mastering; songwriting and engineering.

As she was wrapping gifts for the Christmas season, I snagged a few moments from lead vocalist, Janine Stoll, and chatted her up over the album, coming back to Guelph and just how to handle the praise from those you idolize most.

VR: You’re coming to Cornerstone in Guelph. You’ve played this room before.

JS: I’ve done solo things and duo things there. We’ve only done one full band thing there before, but more recently we played at Jimmy Jazz. It’s tough at Cornerstone with all the ambient noise (coffee grinders and stuff) but I like playing that room in terms of the people. There’s a great listening crowd.

VR: But you’re not alone! You’re also performing alongside Wax Mannequin.

JS: He’s great! We’ve just started working with an agency who books Wax. They decided we should do some shows with him. He’s a true artist – not just a flash in a pan. He’s creating real art with his music. We take the same approach when we write ours so it’s great to play shows with people who have the same like mindedness.

VR: The artwork of your album cover is really, well, brave. Where did you get the courage to do it?

JS: I find that the same thing goes with our album titles. We wonder if people might misinterpret what we do (like find us a comedy group). We’re more introspective than that. I’ve got a weird sense of humour. When I thought about how I wanted to brand this band, I knew it had to have a certain element like creepy just to illustrate that everyone is “done for”. But people need a sense of humour. I think it’s funny!

VR: Dave Bidini left you guys a little love in the National Post.

JS: Well, I think that was the moment we decided we were really and truly cool. A lot of us are long-time Rheostatic fans. When I was growing up I was going to the Rheostatic shows and idolizing them. Then to grow up and have them in your peer group? Amazing. To have Dave think what we do is cool is so exciting, especially because we got flagged by another publication who we don’t think got it. Then it got flagged in another paper and I carried that weight around for a while. I was like ‘did we take a wrong turn somewhere?’ I was like, ‘did we turn a corner the wrong way? Did we relinquish too much control?’ Then we got the nod from Dave Bidini and it was like the naysayers didn’t matter. I’ll take his advice over anyone else’ any day!

VR: How was your CD Release Party? (September, 2011)

JS: It was great! It was packed! People really came out of the woodwork! It was great to see an audience full of familiar faces. It felt like all the people who came to see us really got to see us. We had a big seven piece band. Everyone was so excited – they were proud. They were proud to follow us around and like what we were doing. It was one of the best shows, for sure.

VR: How important is for you guys to recreate the album live on stage?

JS: We want to be as true to the record live as much as we can. There is a lot of ambient reverb on the record which is sometimes hard to recreate. But as a band, we want to try to evolve beyond

VR: I guess you’re out now taking the record on the road!

JS: We haven’t played a lot of Southern Ontario shows in a while. We sort of hit the Southern Ontario circuit pretty hard with our first album, and now it’s time to do it with the second. I just find, even from the audience perspective, we are bringing more merchandise which means people get the music more and they want to take it home which is nice for us. It’s cool; it’s going to be fun to play in Guelph again. I like that city a lot.

VR: What do you think you’re most looking forward to with this show?

JS: Playing with Wax. He’s the kind of musician you want to get to play with. He is like the consummate performer. I feel like our band is kind of shy and a little dorky, and we could probably take a page out of Wax’ book. He really knows how to do it. Also just enjoying him musically is going to be really fun for us and hopefully some collaborations can happen.

VR: What’s your message to fans?

JS: Bring your Mom! Bring your Mom and your cat and some friends because it’s going to be fun!

“Parking one street south on Cumberland Avenue, I rumbled through the underground listening to the Donefors’ second record, Award Winning Album, which proved to be a good, sneaky listen. The style of the band suggests high-rent influences – Joni’s early jazz pulls and bits of Prefab Sprout and the Mojave Three – but the core of the sound is elegant Canadian pop. Leaving the car, I found myself walking on the same ground over which Joni and Bruce Cockburn had passed. Both easily left their impressions on a band formed nearly 35 years after the rise of Yorkville.”

- Dave Bidini, Rheostatic, The National Post

The DoneFors
Award Winning Album
(FACTOR)

It takes cheek to title a CD Award Winning Album, but in the case of The DoneFors, it may be warranted. The Toronto quartet calls their sound Canadiana Vanguard; what they produce is an engaging blend of jazz and rock. In large part, The DoneFors produce pleasing, original music, but in the case of songs like Berlin, they should leave the singing to Janine Stoll and not let the guys sing. While they rarely rock out, a song like Carry shows they can write a pop song.

- Charles Mandel, Here Weekly

After announcing the contest, The DoneFors had over 100 suggestions for names for our new GM Safari touring van. Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry. We’re excited to announce that the new official van name is Tony Vanza! Thanks to Melanie Tapson of Halifax, Nova Scotia for submitting such a perfect name. Melanie receives a prize pack for her brilliant efforts. This is what Melanie had to say when we told her the good news:

“YEAHHHHH!!!! I honestly can’t tell you how excited I am! First, I’m delighted you think it’s a great suggestion; it still makes me giggle. Second, here at our house we are pretty much a two-person DoneFors promo team. (We just got married in August and you even made our playlist – cocktails AND dinner!) We’re both musicians and we’re mad supporters of Canadian talent, so we just keep doing what we can to get your brilliant music into as many hands as possible. So I’m incredibly excited to receive a prize pack!” – Melanie Tapson

We received so many great suggestions that we thought we’d share our faves in this list of Honourable Mentions:

“Mr. Blue Balls” submitted by Boh Dan
“Burl Ivan” submitted by Nate Maxwell
“The Stig” submitted by Rob Green
“Delores” submitted by Greg Barry
“Captain Underpants” submitted by Joseph Cuatico
“Stan” submitted by Melisa Devost
“Van Halen” submitted by Aaron Fraser
“Louis” submitted by Lisa Winn
“The Fester” submitted by Tori Allen
“Tammy Leener” submitted by Darcy Murphy
“Steve” submitted by Chris Eakins
“Blue Bearded Sweat Capsule” submitted by Time Bena
“Guy” submitted by Aviva Chernick

Thanks and much love,
The DoneFors

From Toronto Jazz Festival Blog, Artistic Director Josh Grossman

What: The Donefors CD release party
When: Thursday, September 22, 10 pm
Where: The Dakota Tavern
How much: $10
Estimated attendance (approximate capacity): 100 (120)

The Donefors performed on the outdoor stage as part of the Lunchtime Concerts at this year’s TD Toronto Jazz Festival. I suppose they’re probably not jazz, but I like their music so well I was pleased to have them as part of the festival, and I was excited to attend their CD release. They finally took the stage (after an opening act) shortly after 11 pm and didn’t disappoint, playing a variety of music from their first album (How to Have Sex with Canadians), their cheekily titled new release Award Winning Album, and other tunes. The space was packed, there was a party vibe and, though there was room to squish in a few more people, it might not have been comfortable to do so. The Donefors are working with a publicist but are still doing their own booking, and recording independently. So – what made this show such a hit with the crowd, and why was it so full?

A few things come to mind. First, the music is top-notch (in my opinion, but also according to The Globe and Mail, which gave the new album three stars out of four). The musicians are approachable and have a great stage presence. They make good use of social media, and, given the title of their new CD, they clearly have a good sense of humour. In other words, they seem to be doing a lot of things right. That said, the venue was small; how would they have done in a larger room?

Award Winning Album
The DoneFors (Independent)
3 stars

This cheekily-titled disc plays like two dissimilar EPs stuck together. The first half has a jazz feeling, in its rhythms, chord choices and metrical manoeuvres (Bob and Stan takes off in a jumpy 10/8). Cherry Season feels like a new cool jazz standard waiting for solos to be attached, with literate lyrics and a clear, unblinking, slightly mysterious sound from singer Janine Stoll (her partners in this Toronto band are guitarist/vocalist Paul MacDougall, bassist/keyboardist Liam Smith and drummer Brian Lahaie). The nimble beats and bone-dry rhythm guitar in Shot at You gives the tune an Afrojazz flavour, and Tallboy is about as urbane as a pop song can be. Wolf Sounds pivots on a blaze of rock guitar in the chorus, and then the album turns toward a more square and predictable form of folk-oriented indie pop. I’ll be playing the first half of this album a lot; the second half not so much.

- Robert Everett-Green

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/music/disc-of-the-week-feists-metals-is-something-to-dig/article2186475/