Bleeker

F

ormerly known as Bleeker Ridge, a name derived from the street names where the band members lived: Bleeker St. and Ridge Ave. Bleeker was formed by brothers Taylor and Cole Perkins, and brothers Dan and Dustin Steinke. In 2003 all four met at a music shop in Orillia, Ontario, when Cole Perkins and Dan Steinke were 12 years old. They started playing covers of Jimi Hendrix and Joe Walsh. Undertow (2004) and The Rain (2007) would be their debut proper; two independently released CDs of original material. Joe Kresta, later an A&R director at 'Universal Music Canada', saw the band in 2005 and said he was, "totally amazed at what these 14-year-olds were doing, they had their shirts off, long hair and it was almost odd, these voices and that sound coming out of these little guys. There were guitar licks that you see guys three times their age doing, but I wasn't in A&R at the time, so I walked away thinking, 'Hey, that was really something special,' but they still hadn't found their own identity."

The band subsequently signed to 'Roadrunner Records'. In the Summer of 2010, the band toured Canada with Airbourne and Social Code as an opening act.

Small Town Dead (2010) followed. Bleeker Ridge performed on the Canadian leg of the Jagermiester Music tour with My Darkest Days, Papa Roach, and Buckcherry.