Brushfire Records

Afie Jurvanen (Barrie, ON) records and plays concerts under the name Bahamas. He sometimes plays solo, but mostly he tours with Jason Tait (Winnipeg,MB) on the drum set and two singers, Felicity Williams (Toronto, ON) and Carleigh Aikins. (Barrie, ON.) Some think it odd that there is no traditional “bass” player, but few have stepped forward to complain. Afie’s guitar is rumored to have once belonged to Link Wray and has been described as having a “huge sound.”

Originally released in Canada in 2009, the debut album Pink Strat was nominated for both a Juno and the Polaris Music Prize. It didn’t win either of those awards, but the band did spend the majority of the following 2 years touring in Canada, USA, UK and Europa. Brushfire Records recently re-released Pink Strat to the rest of the world, which resulted in yet again, more touring.

A new album is to be released in February of 2012. It was recorded at some remove from the city (Toronto, ON) in a makeshift rural studio by Robbie Lackritz (Afie’s friend and manager and confident.) The majority of the performances were recorded live, although in some cases it was necessary to supplement the recordings with overdubs, resulting in a much “bigger” sound. The lyrics to many of the songs deal with Afie’s on going, important and complicated relationship with one woman. Love, loss, joy and pain are all discussed in some detail.