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Go "Figure"!

It's become somewhat of a tradition. The last Saturday in September, immediately following Niagara's Wine Festival Grande Parade, I meet up at a local downtown bar with "my girlfriends" Becky Lee, Shannon Convery, Jody Edwards, Elena Vani and Pam Krause. Usually the anticipation of hangin' with the girls and drinking beer in a crowded parking lot is thrill enough for me. This year we had a two more reasons to celebrate. First off, was the addition of our pal Julie Boyce to the gang. But even more exciting was the opportunity to catch the band everyone had been talking about for weeks. That band is The Figure Four.

As it "figures", the group is comprised of  "four" talented musicans. Michael Chess -lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Gary Borden -lead guitar, rythmn vocals, Rob "Red Rocket" Carroll -lead bass guitar, soprano vocals and Chris "Burney" Burnett on drums.

In wrestling, the term figure four is defined as a grappling hold, which is exactly what the guys from The Figure Four had on their captive audience, that windy, chilly afternoon. The band's range in music is endless. Rock, Funk, Country, Blues & Hip Hop, The Figure Four covers it all, bringing their own unique flavour to each. Mixing the genres up with amazing ease, much to the delight of their admirers. According to their MySpace site "The Figure Four have given rockers all over a reason to believe that rehashing old material is far better than writing new crap".

In an exclusive online interview, lead vocalist Michael Chess tells scribbles the group has been jamming together for almost 10 years now. They reign from St Catharines, Thorold, Dryden, Winnipeg and "Helix's tour bus", Chess tells us.

The Figure Four are popular attractions at bars, casinos, weddings, stag & does, golf tournaments, corporate events and charitable fundraisers. "A unique element of the band is being able to cater their music and performance specifically to an event and crowd. With an arsenol of hundreds of songs, the band thrives on taking requests, never playing the same set twice and continually striving to give the people what they want." [from The Figure Four promotional bulletin]

When asked what one of their most memorable events were, Michael told us that for him, it was performing at former Toronto Maple Leaf, Wendal Clark's Celebrity Golf Tournament.

In their spare time, Chess says the band likes to "drink and giggle" -we assume the first has a lot to do with the second.

The girls and I were so impressed by the Figure Four's hand-waving, hip-girating, sing-along show at the Chilli Pepper that Saturday afternoon, that we followed them to their next performance later that day at Cat's Caboose. We weren't alone. I recognized many FF groupies at the second show.

When you're this great, once is just not enough.

Become a "Friend of the Figure Four"

Join their growing facebook group for exclusive pix and listings of upcoming shows. Click here.




The Figure Four can be seen at the following venues:

Cat's Caboose -Fri. Oct. 15th & Fri. Nov. 12 (9:30pm start)

Cracker Jack's -Sat. Nov. 13 (10 pm start)

Special Thanks to...

Michael Chess -for providing scribbles information on The Figure Four.

& Katherine Emily -the band's "personal papparazi', for allowing us use of her kick-ass photos.