Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra is a Canadian alternative rock band whose musical style blends elements of surf music, gospel music, rockabilly, garage, and punk. The band also experimented with jazz on their third album Don't Mind If I Do.
Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra was formed in 1982 by lead singer Jerry Woods in Edmonton, Alberta. Starting out as what Jerry described as a "fuck band," after time they found themselves becoming a serious local act, prompting them to release their first independent EP Fighting Socialism in 1984. The band released their first album Road Gore: The Band That Drank Too Much in 1985 under Og Music. They moved from Edmonton to Montreal in 1986 where they signed with Pipeline Records, along with such acts as the Doughboys and Ray Condo and his Hardrock Goners. In 1987, they released their critically acclaimed follow-up Battle Hymn of the Apartment. Pipeline Records soon fell into bankruptcy, and in 1990 they were signed to Aquarius Records, re-releasing both Road Gore and Battle Hymn of the Apartment on CD. This marked the apex of their commercial success, prompting them to tour North America throughout the early '90s. After the production of two more albums, 1992's Don't Mind If I Do and 1997's The Sound and The Jerry, Jerry Woods moved back to Edmonton in 1999 where he currently resides with his wife and five children. The band continued to play until 2005. As of late 2010, Jerry now plays with a punk rock cover band named "Spartans" including original guitarist Paul Soulodre, as well as Kevin Forbes, Craig Shemely, and former SNFU bassist Dave Bacon.
Battle Hymn of the Apartment was rated No. 74 on Chart's Top 100 Canadian Albums of All Time reader poll in 1996.
Famous quotes containing the words jerry, sons, rhythm and/or orchestra:
“Who talks of Plato’s spindle;
What set it whirling round?
Eternity may dwindle,
Time is unwound,
Dan and Jerry Lout
Change their loves about.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“They haven’t got no noses
The fallen sons of Eve;
Even the smell of roses
Is not what they supposes;
But more than mind discloses
And more than men believe.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“Who among us has not, in moments of ambition, dreamt of the miracle of a form of poetic prose, musical but without rhythm and rhyme, both supple and staccato enough to adapt itself to the lyrical movements of our souls, the undulating movements of our reveries, and the convulsive movements of our consciences? This obsessive ideal springs above all from frequent contact with enormous cities, from the junction of their innumerable connections.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
““Pop” Wyman ruled here with a firm but gentle hand; no drunken man was ever served at the bar; no married man was allowed to play at the tables; across the face of the large clock was written “Please Don’t Swear,” and over the orchestra appeared the gentle admonition, “Don’t Shoot the Pianist—He’s Doing His Damndest.””
—Administration in the State of Colo, U.S. public relief program. Colorado: A Guide to the Highest State (The WPA Guide to Colorado)