Flashlight Brown

Fil, Mike, Matt and Tim formed a band, then simply called "Flashlight", out of boredom and frustration and quickly moved from the small college town of Guelph to the much larger Toronto, Ontario. At first, they were unable to get the attention of nightclub owners, so they devised a fictitious talent agency, called the Harry Wells Booking Agency, which would "represent" them. With the agency as their intermediate, they quickly gained enough recognition to go on tour. They began touring across Canada in a van, with little to eat and nothing but their dreams keeping them going. In 1997, they managed to release a self-titled debut album through the Quebec-based Stomp Records, which they would follow up with the Running Season LP two years later. During this time they also managed to film a video for their song "Sonia Bianchi", which received air time on Much Music. By 2000, the band had established an impressive touring schedule and had added the word "Brown" to their name. They then released another self-titled album (under the new name) through Union 2112 (the new version of Stomp, which had recently merged with 2112 Records). Midway through their 2002 tour, the band was contacted by Rob Cavallo, a man who was adored by the band members. Rob flew the band to Los Angeles, originally to record a two song demo, but this quickly turned in to a record deal with Hollywood Records. In April 2003, the band released their major label debut, My Degeneration, an album they deemed to be a "culmination of a 6 year career of living on the edge between a dream and despair". The album featured many re-recorded, old favourites along with some new material. The band would once again go on a long tour, this time to promote their new album. They would play various popular festivals such as Warped Tour, Lollapalooza and Snow Jam. In 2005, it was announced that they would be recording a new album with Hollywood Records called Blue. The album was completed in early 2006 and the band released two songs, "Save it for Later" and "I'm a Human", on their website. In April, the album was then released in advance on iTunes. The album's release date was then set for June 6. Also in April 2006, it was announced by Matt Hughes on the Flashlight Brown forums that Mike Conroy would be leaving the band for personal reasons[1]. This was a sad moment for the band and its fans, but the show must go on, thus Bart Doroz, formerly of The Getaway, was brought in to replace him on guitar. When June came around, Blue's release was delayed for undisclosed reasons. The nature of the delay has still been left to speculation, however, in early July the band's website went down and their myspace account had the following message posted: "Hi all. Due to extreme differences of opinion, we are no longer with Hollywood Records. These circumstances have forced us to cancel all our summer touring. Apologies to all, especially to those who have been patiently waiting for the release of a record that is 3 years overdue. The record will come out soon and we will let you know when it becomes available in your country. Thanks for being there for us and we can't wait to play again in your hometown." However, on Monday, October 30, 2006, they released news via their Myspace account that the album is to be released in wide circulation the following day, Halloween 2006.