Members Jesse Dryfhout and Christopher John (then Chris Moerman) were high-school classmates who played in a band called Molly with friends Mckenzie Dougall and Shaun Bennett. Molly released their demo-tape “Ghosts of Yesterday” in 1997 and sold all 500 copies. Dryfhout was originally the drummer until he came to the band with the first song that he had ever written: “Everybody”. Soon after, he and John started to share song-writing and singing duties. Molly played their last show at a barn in Maple Ridge only to walk back onto the stage as Stabilo Boss, sporting a new line-up with both Christopher and Jesse leading the band. The band’s acoustic-rock sound featured Nathan Wylie, an accomplished drummer and friend of Dryfhout and John, and Karl Williaume on bass. In 1999, the band recorded Kitchen Sessions, so named as it was an independent recording made in a kitchen. The EP was a completely home-made affair, the band and their university friends burning and distributing the discs themselves. Around this time, Stabilo Boss began to grow a solid local fan base based on the core support of their peers in school. In the summer of 2000, the band recorded their self-titled debut, releasing it independently in early 2001. The album quickly sold out of its first pressing as Stabilo Boss began to become regulars in the local Vancouver music scene. The band’s big break came roughly a year later when a DJ at the Vancouver’s XFM decided to play “Everybody” on their music competition show, Chaos. The band’s solid songwriting and loyal fan base lead to the song beating out other offerings from more well established artists and dominating the station’s Top 7@7 charts for nearly a month. With this exposure, the band sold 5000 copies of their album independently and began to be courted by major labels. In the midst of all of the excitement over “Everybody”, the band quietly released The Beautiful Madness EP which they sold only at their shows. The four song disc was recorded live off of the soundboard and prominently featured a grand piano on all tracks. It quickly sold out. Rather than accept the first offers coming in from major labels, the band began to record their next album at Mushroom studios. According to John, the studio’s owner John Wozniak (Marcy Playground) liked the band so much that he “basically just gave us free time there”. By 2003, the band had completed their next album, produced by Wozniak and local musician/producer Jon Anderson (Radiogram/Jonathan Inc.). At this point, the album was not released as Stabilo Boss was courting the record companies. After a search, they signed a deal with EMI Canada. With this transition to the big time, the band shortened their name to Stabilo. In an interview, Jesse stated that the band’s name came from the Stabilo Boss brand highlighter they used to write down possible band names. After touring Canada and then waiting a year, the new material recorded in 2002 was included in the album Cupid?, released on May 11, 2004. The radio-friendly release was somewhat of a let down to longtime fans who had been waiting for the release of a new albums worth of material for two years. Most of the new material recorded was shelved in favor of a seven song disc featuring only three previously unreleased tracks. For the uninitiated, the album was well received across Canada with “Everybody” repeating much of its original success in many new locations. The re-release of “Everybody” was followed by the single “One More Pill”, which was also culled from the self-titled disc. Stabilo have just released their second album with EMI Canada on April 4, 2006 called “Happiness and Disaster”, Their newest single “Flawed Design” is currently being played on radio stations across Canada. The video is also being aired on MuchMusic and MuchMoreMusic In May of 2006, Stabilo was announced to the opening act for the Canadian arm of INXS’s tour. In July, 2006, Stabilo released their second single and video, “Kidding Ourselves”. In late 2006, the band released a third single from their CD “Happiness and Disaster”, “Don’t Look In Their Eyes”. |
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