SMUDGIE

Smudgie is an Alt-Indie band from Canada. Though new, Smudgie has already won 2 song-writing awards, been nominated for a Best Alternative Song at the Ontario Independent Music Awards and had 7 songs reach the OFFICIAL TOP 20 Charts including "Lost My Destination" which reached NUMBER ONE on MP3unsigned.com OFFICIAL CHARTS and stayed in the TOP 20 for 2 weeks out of 19,000 other tracks of all genres from around the globe!!!

Smudgie is led by lead singer Smudge and though it's not her real name, from birth, her mother called her "Smudge" as soon as she was born because she apparently looked like a little "Smudge" of life! The name stuck and it has always brought her luck! At the age of nine, Smudge, began learning acoustic guitar. She took guitar lessons in several music schools where she lived, in very chilly Winnipeg, Manitoba, in the middle of Canada, where she grew up experiencing temperatures like -44 degrees, with her father, mother and very musical brother, Pete. Music was always a big part of her family while growing up. In high school, Smudge took vocal lessons. She, and her brother Pete, continued with guitar lessons and excelled at it until her father passed away in Winnipeg from cancer, when she was 15 years old. At 17, she and her family moved from Winnipeg to Toronto, Ontario. At 18, she moved to Paris as an au pair girl (nanny), to learn French. In Paris, she continued to play and learn guitar. In 2005, nearing the end of a long journey of academic studies, Smudge had the opportunity to visit London, England. After a three-month period in London, England, she was exposed to the London music scene. In her tiny flat in Russell Square, in central London, she was inspired and began writing poetry, lyrics and songs. During those three months in the U.K., she wrote over 100 poems, some of which became song lyrics, some of which evolved into songs. Her first song was "Unintentionally" written on a rainy night, after a London party. When she came back home to Toronto, Smudge decided to focus on "Unintentionally" and bring it to fruition. She approached her brother Pete, a music producer/engineer (in addition to playing live), who is the winner of numerous guitar contests including Fender/Coke's Guitar Warz Best Toronto Guitarist. Pete also contributed to Toronto-based Q107's Homegrown CD. At the time Smudge approached him, Pete had just won the BEST POP category of 2004 for the Great American Song Contest. The judges selected his song with David Fagin, based in New York City, out of thousands of other songs, for "Show Me Who You Are". Smudge recorded "Unintentionally" in Pete's studio in a small town north of Toronto, Canada, after getting initial positive feedback on it from family and friends on her rough acoustic guitar version. Following the recording, she sent the recorded track of "Unintentionally" out to over 80 people from all over the world including the U.K., the U.S., and Turkey. The response was very positive; many people loved "Unintentionally". People would say, they "had it in their heads all week," and they "have downloaded it to their Ipod"; people were asking if she had "more" (songs). As a result of the success of that first song, the brother and sister team of Smudge and Pete asked Mike Thorne, a well-respected Canadian drummer, if he would join Smudgie. After Mike agreed, the band, "Smudgie", was born. Then, one of her friends from London, England suggested putting the track of "Unintentionally" up on the web. So Smudge put the first song up on the web to determine the response. Once again, the response was very positive. For example, the first comment, from a U.K. producer and musician (who has never met Smudge), on her track "Unintentionally", was "two of my favorite words: bloody marvelous". In fact, all of the comments received from the web on the song were positive and encouraging. Often the other artists from that highly respected music site would comment on the strength of the melodies and the vocals. Since then, several new tracks have been posted and the response continues to be very positive and very powerful. Smudgie is the winner of the 1st Prize in the 2007 Loopmaster's Contest on MP3Unsigned.com. Before that, Smudgie's track "Walk Away", about a good friend who died young of cervical cancer, won the MP3Unsigned.com Orion Winter/Spring 2007 Song Contest. Smudgie's track, "Lost My Destination", reached NUMBER ONE in the OFFICIAL TOP 20 of MP3U.COM in early February 2008 and stayed in the OFFICIAL TOP 20 for two weeks! In fact, eight of Smudgie's songs have reached the Official Top 20 of MP3Unsigned.com. For example, Smudgie's track, "Feel Like This" reached #5 while "Walk Away" reached #6, "You Me" reached #7, and "Ghosts in Chains" reached #15. Being in the Official Top 20 of MP3Unsigned.com means that a track is being compared with approximately over 19,000 other tracks. Each song has to do well not only in its own category, but it has to compare favorably with thousands of submitted tracks from other categories, such as Rock and Hip-Hop, songs which are submitted by artists from all over the world. Currently 8 of Smudgie's tracks are in the Top 20 of the more specialized Indie user charts of MP3Unsigned.com and the track, "Lost My Destination", is now in the MP3U.COM Classic Charts where the TOP 3 Official Top 20 Tracks enter each week. Moreover, in 2007, another artist approached Smudge to do a remix version of Smudgie's "Feel Like This" and then the release of the Bluntman/Smudgie remix itself reached the Official Top 20 of MP3Unsigned.com! Though a new band, Smudgie received a nomination for Best Alternative Song at the 2007 Ontario Independent Music Awards (OIMA's) held at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto, Canada in November, 2007. Smudgie's OIMA nomination for Best Alternative Song led to a highly enjoyable radio interview on Toronto-based Internet radio station ThatRadio.com's Liquid Lunch with host Hugh in the heart of downtown Toronto for Smudgie. Several Smudgie tunes, including the latest video track "Feel Like This", were spun as Smudge was interviewed live. Smudgie's tunes are now on ThatRadio.com rotation. Smudgie also has two songs on LA-based iRadioLA Internet radio rotation and, additionally, their track "Feel Like This" has been selected to be aired on another radio station, Women of Substance Radio, meaning several Smudgie tunes are now being played on 3 separate internationally-based Internet radio stations. Smudgie is now working on a roster of lyric-driven original songs. They include a mixture of alternative rock with a folk flavor, pop, rap and contemporary acoustic. Smudgie continues to grow and explore musically. The band plans to continue to promote their first album via live performance and via the Internet where their first video is also now posted on You Tube listed under "Smudgie" for the track "Feel Like This". While making their first video for the song "Feel Like This", two members of Smudgie were almost arrested by 4 not-so-happy cops for trespassing on railroad tracks during a November 2007 Monday morning rush hour! Luckily the cops only took the band member names and not the videotape! The whole video was made for only $85 including coffees...most of the cost was due to the 70's custom-made wedding dress bought on Queen Street in Toronto. To check out Smudgie's video, please click on the "Video" button in Smudgie's electronic press kit - it is the 3rd button above! Smudgie is also promoting their first album through radio and television. In fact, Smudgie is very excited because their "Feel Like This" video was aired in early 2008 on a US television station, based in Long Island, New York, meaning Smudgie's video reached 500,000 viewers in Long Island, New York! In short, despite being a new band, the response to songs from Smudgie has been very positive.

Yes. Locally. New at it but so far, love it.

Evanescence, U2, Keane, City and Colour (Dallas Green), Heart, ColdPlay, Snow Patrol, Beatles, Eagles, America, Led Zeplin, Radiohead, Stonesour, Natasha Bedingfield,Three Days Grace, STP, Pink, Bach, Kelly Clarkson, The Buggles, Incubus, REM, Lincoln Park, Eminem, Audioslave, Tears for Fears, Jay-Z, The Streets, Foo Fighters, Finger Eleven....really all over the map.

Anything we can get our hands on.

Smudgie is nearly complete their first album with 9 songs completed and they have posted a video to their track "Feel Like This" where Smudge almost gets HIT by a massive TRAIN! WATCH OUT SMUDGE TRAIN IS COMIN'!!!!