The Grapes of Wrath LIVE at The HUB on Martin

THE GRAPES OF WRATH

Kevin Kane first met Tom Hooper in 1977 (when they were aged
13 and 11) after Kevin and Tom’s older brother Chris bonded
over a mutual love of The Beatles when the two had entered
junior high school in Kelowna, BC. Kane started hanging out with
the Hoopers in their basement for regular Friday night jam
sessions, where they essentially learned to play their respective
instruments together.
By 1983 – influenced in equal parts by the British Invasion of the
60s and the DIY attitudes and immediacy of punk and new wave
– the trio took the name The Grapes Of Wrath and began
working on the songs that would make up their debut EP (1984)
and first album (“September Bowl Of Green”) in 1985, released
by the fledgling Vancouver indie Nettwerk Productions. The band
were soon signed by Capitol/EMI for the albums “Treehouse”
(1987, with the breakout singles Peace Of Mind and Backward
Town), “Now And Again” (1989, building on their successes with
All The Things I Wasn’t and What Was Going Through My
Head), and “These Days” (1991, featuring the hits I Am Here and
You May Be Right). Thanks in no small part to the support of
MuchMusic, The Grapes enjoyed gold and platinum sales and
sold out shows at home in Canada, extensive radio play, and
toured Europe twice in support of albums that also saw release
in Japan, Australia, and South America. Then – with international
success looming and for reasons no one is entirely clear on – the
band disbanded in 1992.
Tom and Kevin resurrected the Grapes in the late 90s, releasing
the album “Field Trip” (2000) on the Song Corp label, who folded
immediately after it’s release. They came together again in the
summer of 2009 for a series of acoustic duo shows around BC,
celebrating their enduring friendship and the music they had
created together. The following year, an offer from a festival for a
full band reunion led to the return of drummer Chris, and the

original three recorded “High Road” (2013 – named after the
street the Hoopers lived on when they first started playing
together as kids), their first album of new material in almost 22
years. They have been gigging regularly ever since and are
arguably the longest-running and still-active “original lineup” in
rock.