Last Updated: 03/06/04

March 06 2004                                                                        

Though a difficult decision on both sides, Counterbalance and their basist Kris Somers have officially parted ways due to creative differences.

The split was amicable and the boys will always remain good friends with Kris.  We wish him good luck in all his future plans.

In show news....last night the boys rocked the Reverb for Canadian music week.  The crowd response was amazing and everyone involved had a great time.  Thanks to Shane Burrow of the Binary Link for stepping in on bass.

Stay tuned for new show announcements coming soon....

September 2003                                                                                                

Unfortunately Counterbalance has lost one of their biggest fans recently. Al Rich, pictured below, far right, Grandfather to Jeremy Rich and surrogate Grandfather to Jeremy Goldberg passed away Monday morning leaving us with a great feeling of sadness.

~God had seen he was getting tired and a cure was not to be;
so he put his arms around him and whispered, "Please come with me". 
With tearful eyes as we watched him suffer and saw him fade away;
although we loved him dearly we could not make him stay.
A golden heart stopped beating, his hard working hands are at rest;
God broke our hearts to prove to us that he only takes the best.~-Unknown

June 21st   2003                                                                                                

What an amazing night!  100 die-hard Counterbalance fans poured into Reilleys to support the boys and push them on to Victory!.  Fans were crazy.....Music was great!.......and now.......

We will see you in the Paragon Band competition finals, Aug 8 at the Opera House.

Ticket info T.B.A

June 20th  2003                                                                                                

The new CD Parkside Dr is now available.  Pick one up at the next Counterbalance show or e-mail the guys to get your own copy.

May 10th  2003                                                                                                  

Wow. I'm back from the Prozac trip I was on, it was a nice vacation, took lots of pictures. Now to stop Jer from taking over my web site and update it myself.

Despite the absence of MR. PETER MARTINDALE, the show at Joe Dog's was pulled off by the guys pretty well. I finally got to meet Kris. It's been too long, don't you think? Anyways, they debuted a new song entitled "Invisible", and did most of their songs off the new upcoming (it's in the works, I swear) EP:

Two huge shows are in the works in Burlington and a Paragon  Battle of the Bands thing in Toronto (Yes Jer, it's a dilemma, but you've already seen Pearl Jam once this year!). One of these shows will also be the first opportunity to pick up the new EP, some may call it a CD release party.

September 20th,  2002                                                                                                    

A very nice article was written about our boys....

Burlington band Counterbalance is back on the scales, this time bring aboard a new bass player.

The band had some down time after previous bassist, Dave Liscombe, moved out west at the end of last year.

The remaining members, Jeremy Rich, vocalist, Jeremy Goldberg, guitarist and Rob Burrow, drummer, sought another bassist for months before selecting Kris Somers.

"We went into the shadows for a bit," said Rich. "We wrote, practiced and looked for a new bassist. We had all this new material, but we couldn't play it without a bassist. But Kris was worth the wait."

Counterbalance performed at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern last month, drawing approximately 300 people.

"It was a welcome back show," added Rich. "The place was packed, it was awesome."

Before the band's hiatus, Counterbalance was one out of three finalists in an online contest hosted by www.beer.com, entitled Jam with Pam.

The group's song, Nonsense, was No. 1 with Web site voters and actress Pamela Anderson chose Counterbalance as her personal 'Pam's Picks' for April.

"Overall, we ended up placing second out of 1,200 bands across North America. It was disappointing not to win first place but it opened a lot of doors for us," noted Rich. "Some of us thought it was a blessing in disguise because we'd only been together six months and not ready for all that came with placing first.

"But I disagree. I would have liked to take that risk. It was a crazy time and things happened so fast. We've grown a lot since then."

The contest garnered the band attention from media such as CBC, The National Post and the Breakfast Television show.

Counterbalance is now working on a new album to follow up previous releases, Into the Storm (2001) and Whispers (2002). Rich said he wanted to release the album in December, when the group will also produce a music video.

With the addition of Somers, a member of former Burlington band Disillusion, Rich said Counterbalance's music has a heavier sound.

"We always wanted to be more bass influenced. Now Kris is taking a big writing presence and the songs are more bass driven than ever before."

Though the band's influences include Tool and Incubus, Rich said Counterbalance's sound is unique.

"We try hard to write songs that sound like us. It's not to say we don't have influences, we just don't rip them off," he said. "I think it's an impressive sound if you're into the kind of music we like. We have a unique, catchy sound in the same vein as Our Lady Peace and Silverchair."

Counterbalance performs Oct. 3 at Toronto's Club 279 with Breathe, Push and Relish. In the meantime, Rich said the band will keep practicing and aiming high.

"We want to take this all the way and bring it to an international level. That's what we want more than anything and we're working on the little steps to secure that."

Check out the group's Web site at www.counterbalance.ca.

If you would like a band considered for this column, contact kathryndunmore@hotmail.com.

http://www.haltonsearch.com/hr/ae/column/story/593317p-726105c.html

September 19th,  2002                                                                                                    

First of all I'd like to say that this is my opinion and my opinion only and has nothing to do with the band, as this is only some measly fan page dedicated to some of my favourite guys, and they're only letting me use counterbalance.ca until they get their official page up and running.

With that said, I'd like to deal with the topic of record labels. For instance I understand indie bands need some work in some areas. And,  I understand, that not everybody is going to like them, and that every band has their hard times and rejection, yadda yadda yadda, however, what makes me laugh is when the reason for rejection is things like, "lyrics and song writing". I know that I have been having the problem lately with listening to songs on the radio, because the lyrics and music are so profound, I am scared my ears are going to bleed from the genius of songwriters and lyricists out there.  Haven't you? (Maybe Counterbalance needs to find the A&R guy who let Stroke 9 slip through the cracks...does everybody remember the song "Little Black Backpack"? I didn't think so). Maybe if Counterbalance recorded "TMB", or grabbed Paul to get the Darnell Project back together, they'd get a record deal in a second!

And those bands and so-called "artists" out there who hit the radio with cover songs as their "first hit single"? Man, can they...um re-write...a song! They know how to get some badass copyrights!!!

Another one of my favourite rejections is vocals. And all I have to say to that  is...Neil Young, Billy Corgan, Axl Rose....all have unique voices and sound is in the ear of the beholder.

Well, It's times like this I'm glad I turned down the opportunity for radio broadcasting, as the state of the music industry makes me sick (Well, that and obnoxious DJ's, especially ones who call Blur a "one hit wonder", but I guess everybody cannot be as educated as Alan Cross). So while we watch the real one hit wonders make the buck, talented musicians like Finger Eleven work their asses off to actually produce decent music and get ignored.  And I can't believe that Canadians are the only ones to embrace good bands like The Tea Party, Sloan and The Tragically Hip, while the rest of the world bangs their head and praises bands like Jimmy Eat World and Alien Ant Farm. It's going to take a lot more than that to impress me. Don't get me wrong, even if I don't like an artist or a specific genre of music, I will appreciate them, if the talent is there underneath all of the packaging.

It's not programs like Napster, Morpheus or Kazaa, nor the high prices not making me buy CD's, it's the MUSIC that is being released that makes me not want to buy them. No one cares about the long term investment in bands with talent, they care about the almighty dollar the "catchy" ones can bring in. I can't wait for the next  Amercian Idol...what a joke...You know, it really sucks not being demographically important anymore.

"A noble spirit enbiggens the smallest man."-Jebidiah Springfield