Sugartune is committed to assisting independent pop rock musicians promote and sell their music on-line.
The idea of this site was born sometime in 1997. I was in a group (more a social club) called Love Gravy which specialized in butchering the songs of pop rockers, Sloan (the name Sugartune is lifted from their album Smeared). Members included George Donoso III (now with the Dears) on drums, Eric Fares (now with the Sam Roberts Band) on guitar, Shawn Purdy (now a chef/jug-rock revivalist) on bass, and me on guitar. We met on a near weekly basis in a Montreal sh!thole/rehearsal space across the street from the Bell Centre, home of our beloved Canadiens. Many bands rehearsed in this space. In Love Gravy's periphery existed Northstar (now the Sam Roberts Band), The Dears, the Datsons (now the High Dials) and many others. Needless to say, there was talent abound within those dilapidated walls.
 Within Love Gravy it was obvious who the talented members were. George was the band's best singer, drummer, and guitarist. George's ear for picking up tunes was rivaled only by Shawn's, who could pick up any riff instantaneously. Eric was another multi-instrumentalist, whose creativity was boundless. I was a sub par guitarist with an even more sub par singing voice. I wasn't doing any great service to the music I love by being in a band. I needed another avenue to express this love - an interest in web development and multimedia triggered such an avenue.
Inspired by Lester Bang's My Night of Ecstasy with the J. Geils Band, which finds the infamous critic sweating it out onstage -- typewriter in tow -- during the band's encore, I surrendered my guitar and warble to the Gods of Good Taste and started jamming on Photoshop and HTML. I, too, would rock out alongside great musicians but with a computer, mouse and keypad.
Many years have past since Love Gravy. Since then, I have obtained experience in web development and marketing while developing friendships with a tremendous group of talented people. Sugartune is the culmination of many of these talents -- writers, broadcast/graphic designers and recording engineers. This talent is all used to assist sponsor-less, unsigned musical talent in the promotion and sale of their music on-line.
I hope you enjoy the site and the artists within.
Your suggestions, comments and demos are always welcomed.
Stay Rawking,
Graham Ford
mrgringo@sugartune.com
Catch up with some of the talents who assist in making this site happen:
Fine Artist: Ricardo Flores, www.ricardoflores.ca
Broadcast Designer: Vincent Scotti, www.vincentscotti.com
Graphic Artist: Jack Nicholls, www.oglethorpe.ca/jcn
Sound Engineer/Producer: Claus Frostell, Recording Studio
And, of course, the Artists: www.sugartune.com/artists
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