The Arrogant Worms are a Canadian musical comedy trio founded in 1991 that parodies many musical genres. They are well known for their humorous on-stage banter in addition to their music.[1][2] The members since 1995 are Trevor Strong (vocals), Mike McCormick (guitar, vocals), and Chris Patterson (bass, vocals).
The Arrogant Worms | |
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Origin | Kingston, Ontario, Canada |
Genres | Comedy, folk |
Years active | 1991–present |
Labels | Festival Distribution, Oglio Records |
Members | Trevor Strong Mike McCormick Chris Patterson |
Past members | John Whytock Steve Wood |
Website | https://www.arrogantworms.com/ |
The Arrogant Worms came together in 1991 to do a few spots on campus radio station CFRC at Queen's University at Kingston,[3] and quickly moved to doing spots on CBC Radio, particularly on Jack Farr's The Radio Show. Founding members were Strong, McCormick, John Whytock, and Steve Wood. Wood left the band in 1991, and Whytock left in 1995. He was replaced by Patterson.
The Worms have toured Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom,[4] and Australia, playing to crowds as large as 100,000. They have played at celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and at a concert in New York's Central Park.[5][6]
Since 1992 the Worms have released twenty-one albums, mostly independently, with sales exceeding 175,000.[7][8] Their songs pay homage, always humorously, to different genres and topics. In 2003, they released a CD and DVD that was recorded live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.[9] Some of their albums include contributions from prominent musicians, including Andy Thompson, Andrew Affleck, Gord Thompson, Adrian Dolan, Mike Ford, John Loughrey, Terry Tufts and Tim Readman, who is also their dialect coach.
Rock, folk, ballads, country, and children's music all have been genres parodied by the Worms. When not spoofing a particular style of music, the Worms' material pokes fun at various aspects of daily life in Canada with songs like "Canada's Really Big", "Me Like Hockey", "We are the Beaver", "I Am Not American", and "Proud to Be Canadian".
They have also recorded music videos for three songs: "Big Fat Road Manager", "Carrot Juice Is Murder",[10] and "The River (River of Snot)". The first two of these are included on the Three Worms and an Orchestra DVD, which includes appearances by Tom Cavanagh, Nathan Fillion and Kurt Browning.
The band has long supported the cause of literacy in Canada, and have twice won the Peter Gzowski Award for their efforts.
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
The Arrogant Worms are frequently mis-credited[12] (on the internet and otherwise) as having written and/or recorded songs such as "The White House Burned (The War of 1812)" and "The Toronto Song" (both of which are by Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie), as well as Vito Petroccitto Jr's recording of "The Assumption Song". Other frequent mis-attributions, according to their official website, include "Cows With Guns" by Dana Lyons and "Wayne Gretzky Rocks" by The Pursuit of Happiness. This has occasionally led to fans requesting these songs during encores of their live shows.
On a similar note, the Captain Tractor cover version of the Worms' "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate" is often simply credited to the Arrogant Worms themselves, or Captain Tractor is credited with having written the song.
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