Dragonette Details

Dragonette is a Canada-born, London, England-based electropop band consisting of Canadian singer Martina Sorbara, bassist and producer Dan Kurtz, drummer Joel Stouffer, and British guitarist Will Stapleton (who replaced original guitarist Simon Craig following the band's move to London).

At one point, the band shared management with the Scissor Sisters.

The band

Sorbara was a moderately successful singer-songwriter before starting Dragonette. She released two albums (1998 and 2000) and also provided vocals for a track on the 2003 movie soundtrack for Uptown Girls. Kurtz has since referred to Sorbara's early work as "tampon music" or "the soundtrack to a girl riding a white horse wearing white pants, feeling very confident she won't stain anything."[citation needed]

Kurtz, who is also a member of the livetronica trio The New Deal, had produced Feist's album Monarch (Lay Your Jewelled Head Down). Craig, Dragonette's original guitarist, also worked on a track for Monarch.

Stouffer co-wrote the track Gold Rush on Galore. He previously drummed with Flux a.d.

The Fuzz/ The EP

Sorabara and Kurtz met at a music festival; their early relationship is the inspiration for the song Competition. Calling themselves The Fuzz, they began making music together in their basement studio for fun. Their music, dirty, hook-heavy and blatantly sex-driven, was different from the rest of Canadian music scene during the Nickelback moment: "unashamedly and unapologetically POP."[1] The band's second gig was supporting New Order, followed by touring the United States as a support act for Duran Duran. They released the Dragonette (EP), which contained the early versions of "Jesus Doesn't Love Me," "Competition," and "I Get Around." Prior to signing their record contract, the Dragonette (EP) was independently released for promotional reasons only and the songs gained the attention of many critics such as the music blog Popjustice where they were named the #1 pop act to look out for in 2007.[citation needed]

Dragonette

The band moved to London assuming they would receive more love there; however, they have become more successful in Canada. The band then supported other UK acts, including the Basement Jaxx and the Sugababes.

They played headline gigs in small venues in the UK and Canada, and performed at the Glastonbury Festival 2007.

On February 7, 2007, the video for the track "Jesus Doesn't Love Me", which was filmed in December 2006, leaked onto the internet, through the website MySpace and also Popjustice. The video has since been removed from MySpace, as it was not intended to be viewed at that time. A 'taster' of this video is available at the band's official YouTube page.[2]

In early February 2007 the band flew to Toronto to shoot a music video for their first single, "I Get Around." The single was initially set for release on April 16, and later pushed to April 30. Despite heavy promotion from the band, it entered the UK singles chart at #92, disappointing band members. At one point there were three conflicting "release dates."[3][4] Perhaps there was confusion over the release date, or perhaps it simply was not stocked in record shops outside London.[citation needed] Also, the fact that "I Get Around" was available to download for free from the band's website in 2005[5], and was previously released as part of the compilation album "Robopop" (back in 2006)[6], certainly did nothing to help its performance as a hit single in 2007. The single was then released in Canada in late October of the same year, peaking at #57.

The second single, Take It Like A Man, was released on July 23, 2007. Around this time a new track was sent out to DJs around the United Kingdom, a cover of Calvin Harris's single The Girls. Dragonette's version, however, replaced the lyrics with "The Boys" - a re-working they had previously performed at London's Gay Pride 2007. On the promo CDs was written "Dragonette have something to say to Calvin Harris!" The song was leaked onto the internet. Later, a fan-video from YouTube appeared on Perez Hilton's blog. The song was also featured during a Nicky Hilton fashion show.

In February 2008, it was announced that Dragonette was nominated for a Juno Award for Best New Group; amongst false rumors that they were dropped by Mercury Records. During this time, the band's song "Get Lucky" was being featured in a Vicks and JCPenney television commercial.

Kurtz and Sorbara wrote and produced the song "Grab a Hold" with Cyndi Lauper for her 2008 album Bring Ya to the Brink.