About The Band

“Music where melody is king, but words rule from behind the throne.”

A flickershow is a movie, and Flickershow’s music has a touch of the cinematic in its clever lyrics… Plenty of romance, of course. Glories and falls along the way. A hilarious comedic turn. Offbeat characters who fascinate and amuse. And the cinematography is mighty fine too.

The music? Clever, hooky, eclectic pop, with a dash of Belle & Sebastian and Elvis Costello, or perhaps Ron Sexsmith or Camper Van Beethoven.

Singers Julian Sark and Eli McIlveen have been playing music together since high school. Years later, they reunited in Toronto and snagged the name Flickershow from a bit of old-timey slang in The Green Mile.

With the release of their 2003 debut EP Stars For Searchlights, Flickershow began to expand from their folky acoustic sound into a more eclectic mix of highfalutin pop and groovy rock. 2005 brought Flickershow to the screen, first with a performance on TVOntario’s Studio 2, selected as finalists in the Ontario Song Contest, then with the independently produced video for “Invincible”.

With the release of their latest album, Drawing A Blank, they plan to take the world by the boot-straps, and rake them over the coals!

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”...a harmonious sound that seems to wash over the audience like a rolling wave.” — coffeehouse.ca

“It’s like a Simon-and-Garfunkel-hopped-up-on-Ani-DiFranco-with-a-happy-ending thing. You know what I mean.” — Spookyhorse

“Your music totally makes me want to kiss my girlfriend.” — an anonymous fan

 

Cast of characters

Julian Sark: vocals and guitar

Julian likes setting words to music. He also has a sideline setting music to words. He’s been doing both ever since he picked up the guitar in high school. He’s often been told he has the heart of a poet. Which poet is the currently the subject of a major police investigation.

He sings about love, hope, Belgian businessmen, liars, wonder, street people, despair, girls, satellites, spare change, and spies.

Julian’s Favourite Musicians: Trashcan Sinatras, Elvis Costello, Harry Nilsson, Belle & Sebastian, Spoon, and Sarah Slean.

Eli McIlveen: bass, vocals and guitar

During their high school-era jam sessions, Eli was usually the one playing sound effects records backwards and sabotaging toy keyboards, while Julian played guitar and improvised lyrics. Not long after rejoining Julian to form Flickershow, he stumbled on a defretted Fury LS-4 in a second-hand music shop, and switched to bass on the spot.

Eli will listen to just about anything.

Favorites: the New Pornographers, Talking Heads, Camper Van Beethoven, The Pixies, Stereolab, the Golden Dogs, Amon Tobin, the Fembots, Brian Eno…

Eli does electronic music and remixes under the name Geometer, and also plays with Toronto folk-pop band Some Of The Parts. He also keeps a blog at forgeryleague.com.

Supporting Cast

Richie Weisdorf: keyboards
Rob Greenway: drums