Town of Banff

Theory of a Deadman

Theory of a Deadman performs in Banff, Aug. 21, 2008, headlining the Banff Live free outdoor concert

The headline act at the big Banff Live free outdoor concert on Banff Avenue, August 21, 2008, will be Theory of a Deadman from Vancouver, Canada. They will be performing songs from their wildly successful 3rd album, Scars & Souvenirs.

The members of Theory of a Deadman grew up within six blocks of one another in the small town of North Delta, B.C. Early on, they made a name for themselves playing live in the Vancouver scene. Then one night, frontman Tyler Connelly ran into Nickelback's Chad Kroeger at a party and handed over a copy of his demo. Kroeger liked it so much he immediately recruited Theory for his brand new label 604 Records.
 
The band released its debut Theory of a Deadman in 2002, and was soon embraced as a new force in articulate, emotional hard rock. Songs like "Nothing Can Come Between Us", "Make Up Your Mind", and "The Last Song" received strong rock radio play, and the two years of touring that followed tightened the group's sound and strengthened its chemistry.

In 2008, Theory Of A Deadman released their third album, Scars & Souvenirs, which spent part of the spring at #2 on Billboard Canada.

Scars & Souvenirs is a polished and passionate testament to seven years of hard work, heavy touring and diligent attention to musical craft. From the swirling grind of "By the Way" to the nasty snarl of "Crutch" to the soaring melodicism of "Not Meant to Be" and "Wait For Me," the new album is a broad-reaching endeavor that puts frontman Tyler Connolly, guitarist Dave Brenner and bassist Dean Back high in the rock pantheon, achieving creative growth without sacrificing the hard-hitting power that got them here in the first place.

While Connolly has certainly done his turn as a rock'n'roll king of pain on the band's debut album Theory Of A Deadman (2002), and the successful followup Gasoline (2005), he went into Scars & Souvenirs determined to show he could be more than the "callous bastard" Rolling Stone magazine called him in an early profile.

In his latest work, Connolly explores broad new lyrical terrain, indicative of his growth as a person and as songwriter. "For a while there, every song was, 'Get out! I don't need women! Screw them!' That's kinda how I felt at that point," Connolly says with a laugh. "But I've grown as a songwriter, and as a person. I wanted to write some different, nicer songs for a change."

"It's the Scars & Souvenirs of your life," he explains. "The songwriting on the record is really about someone's past or and present, their relationships and how they shape everything. It's more metaphorical than physical scars and trophies."

More information:

• Theory of a Deadman official website