Menno Versteeg Announces Debut Album, Why We Run
Menno Versteeg, the leader of Hollerado and a 1/4 of supergroup Anyway Gang, is announcing his debut album, Why We Run. Two decades into a stellar career, Versteeg is by no means a stranger to the stage and the airwaves, with literally thousands of shows in over twenty countries, ten Top 10 singles, one Gold Record, and one #1 Alternative Single. Having seen and done his fair share, Why We Run marks the first album under his own name and today he’s sharing the first three songs on the album, including the lead single and title track, “Why We Run”.
An upbeat indie-folk ripper complete with vibrant horns and upbeat sha na-na’s, “Why We Run” sees Versteeg tackling political ineptitude and the feeling of being on a runaway train manned by bozos.
On the track, he explains
“I was working on a soundtrack for a kids movie with my long time friend and Hollerado collaborator Nixon Boyd and we needed a song for a scene where some bullies were chasing a kid down the hall of a school. The lyrics evolved into being about way scarier stuff like the adults who are bullies professionally. Of course the movie people didn’t wanna use it. I mean WE ARE leaving the kids a pretty gnarly set of circumstances, but hey, maybe it’s funnier if we try to make it a surprise?“.
Over the course of Why We Run‘s 12 songs, Versteeg is at his lyrical best and most musically diverse. With the soft indie folk of debut single “Fish Out Of Water” featuring Doug Paisley, the alt-country rambunctiousness of “Change A Tire” or the contemplative album closer “A Light On In You”, Versteeg channels his wide musical knowledge and pulls from every corner of his impressive career. The result is a record that is an artist at his most honest, most vulnerable, and most exciting, twenty years in.
Upcoming Shows:
10/03 – The Heatley – Vancouver, BC* – Tickets
10/05 – Wheelies Motorcycles & Cafe – Victoria, BC* – Tickets
11/14 – Mills Hardware – Hamilton, ON* – Tickets
11/15 – Sonic Hall – Guelph, ON* – Tickets
11/16 – Monarch Tavern – Toronto, ON* – Tickets
11/22 – Algonquin Commons Theatre – Ottawa, ON^ – Tickets
11/23 – London Music Hall – London, ON^ – Tickets
*With Janky Bungag
^With Tokyo Police Club
Connect with Menno Versteeg:
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