Artist description SHIRTLIFTER was Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's capital. He was first influenced by electronic music with the invasion of electro-pop disco and punk back in the early 80's. His first DJ residency came at the age of 18, and soon after started creating music as part of a prolific production team called Boy's Life. In the late 90's Shirtlifter teamed up with U.K. legend DJ Paul Walker to pursue more underground musical interests. Now, as a solo artist, Shirtlifter continues to push his diverse-influenced house music sound, and re-mix internationally from his Toronto base. SHIRTLIFTER is a red jello addict, and his mantra includes : "I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener". His biggest pet peeve is a barbed wire toilet seat. The band enjoys watching the Price Is Right while formulating new ideas for up-and-coming Shirtlifter material. Bad is good...good is better. Shirtlifter, also a magician, continues self-levitation, and wishes to one day recover his crashed UFO.

Music Style Electronic / House

Musical Influences Dan Hartman, Kraftwerk, Con Funk Shun, Parliament, David Bowie, Nile Rogers, William Orbit, Motown, Robert Fripp, Brian Eno

Similar Artists Daft Punk, Armand Van Helden, Phats n Small, Junior Jack, Soulsearcher, Moby, Basement Jaxx, Earth Wind & Fire, Todd Terry, Morris Day, Culture Club, Roxy Music, New Order , Prince, Duran Duran

Artist History My earliest musical memories are in Ottawa, my parents garage. I would frequently set up a make shift drum set consisting of four inverted metal garbage cans, using their lids for cymbals. I used found wood dowels for drum sticks, banging away for hours at a time. I begged my parents for a pair of sticks like those I had seen the drummers use on television. I felt like a rock star the day my mother surprised me with the real mccoy sporting those gleaming white nylon ends. By eight I had truly caught the musical bug, and began taking piano and guitar lessons. I was spending every bit of my pocket money on Rock and Funk records. The first record I ever purchased was a copy of Magical Mystery Tour. Every single week I would add another album to my collection with the allowance money I received from numerous chores around the house. I purchased my first pair of decks at a garage sale right around the time of disco. It was a $100 hand made DJ unit in a wood box with two dual turntables, home made mixer, and amplifier. My best friend and I would carry around this box like coffin, accompanied by three crates of records playing weddings, or special events we could talk people into hiring us for. As the 70's faded, I followed the 80's musical trend from Rock and Disco to Electro-pop and New Wave, but it wasn't really until I moved to Toronto in 1979 that I discovered the thrill of playing my very first nightclub. The first week I started at the newly constructed Cornucopia Lounge, the music format was disco. About a month later, when disco was starting to suffer a horrible fate the owner Frank came to me and asked "what the hell was going on?". Why was his popular club now seeing attendance numbers drop off considerably. I explained to him that disco was dead and new wave and punk was all the rage. I will never forget the look on the old guy's face when he looked at me, and said, "Punk... what the hell is punk?" Frank was not very impressed when I introduced him to the Sex Pistols, but after much thought and deliberation on his part, Nuts and Bolts was born. In a few short month's we watched his club reach record breaking attendance, with line ups sometimes in excess of hundreds waiting to get in. Within a year he had to renovate in order to double the capacity of the club by converting a large back kitchen area to usable space for his patrons. The newly renovated club now had a twelve hundred person capacity and was packed solid every singleweekend for the next few years. Nuts and Bolts had become the most notorious club in Canada, and needless to say, Frank was a very happy man. The mid 80's brought about the advent of the all-in-one synthesizer complete with on board sequencing and included many sampled instruments like basses, strings, brass, and drum sounds. I was in my glory by the fact I could have virtually a band in a box to express my musical ideas. I thought at the time this would be the only synth I would ever need, but over the course of several years, all the money I made from each gig was spent on the latest piece of high tech electronics I could afford. Eventually, I found myself in a small room surrounded by gear, this became my first studio. I began working diligently on experimental music, infused with rock, disco, electro-pop and punk. The next five years gave way to a Chicago-type sound. I worked with as many musicians as I could get into the studio, learning the foundation of composing, arranging and mixing. I spent all of my spare time reading manuals, and being in music stores asking sales people technical questions . By the end of the 80’s I had recorded some fairly serious sounding Techno / House tracks. Into the 90's I continued to DJ and experiment in the studio. I wrote prolifically with a House project duo, Boy's Life, as well as continuing to compose my own personal material. Around the mid 90's I constructed my professional studio in a funky Toronto downtown loft. I finally had a control room with proper acoustics, and a good size vocal booth, both fully equipped to do some serious song writing and recording. In the late 90's I teamed up with UK legend, DJ Paul Walker to explore a harder, more underground techno-type sound in the guise of Monogamy. In 1999 I decided to go solo and start a new House project. The sound of Shirtlifter took on a driving beat, speaker-busting basslines and a cool, funky feel. The sound I had been looking for. It felt right and people were beginning to respond. After two records, Dirty, Funky, House, and Fuel, and several singles, I now hear daily from people all over the world. Gid Up ( a gogga maha), from the first record was selected for inclusion on Locked In which was distributed by Klublife magazine with the participation of Smirnoff. The determination and hard work is finally paying off. With a growing network of support, my music just keeps getting better.

Group Members Shirtlifter (Jeffrey Leclair), artist / producer

Instruments Behringer EuroDesk, Mac 9500 450Mhz / 192ram / 13gigs, Cubase 4.0, Fostex D-5, Event Layla , Yamaha Burner, Opcode Studio 4, Akai ME30P, Technics SL-P1200, Marantz PMD 502, Akai S-900, Tascam 32, Sony TC765, Teac A-3440, 4 x Tascam 133, Ampex AG-44OB and AG-445B Recorder / Reproducer, Roland JV-1080 , Alesis Quadrasynth, Yamaha TG 77, Emax SE, Novation Bass Station, Yamaha TX 81Z, Yamaha RM-50, Korg Poly 800, Sound Canvas, Alesis SR-16, Boss DR-550, Roland MK II Octapad, Behringer Virtulizer, Yamaha Spx 90, Sony HR -MP5, Rocktron Stereo Chorus / Delay, Boss SE-50, BBE Unimax, Behringer Composer MDX2100, Behringer Composer Pro MDX2200, Alesis 3630, Ashley Dual Channel Compressor / Limiter, DBX 208 8-Channel Noise Reduction, Alesis MicroGate, Crest Audio FA601, Adcom GFA 535, Paradigm Mini Mark III, B&W DM100, K+H Telewatt, Koss PCM 225, 2 x Audio Technica AT 4033, Shure 588SB, Beyer Dynamic M88N(C), 2 x AKG K 240D, 2 x dbx PB-48, guitar, pipes, chains, handcuffs.

Albums F O U R on the F L O O R e.p (1999) Dirty, Funky, House (2000-01) Fuel (2001-02)

Press Reviews *****Fuel' is a well mastered collection of eight songs that is almost guaranteed to get many spins on the entire dance club and rave scene. A very aptly named disc it is, because if you are into the dance thing then this is definitely enough fuel to get you moving. Strong production, well mixed, makes you want to move. Overall, this disc is rated 4 out of 5. -Great White Noise, Canada***** 'Fuel' is one hell of a CD. Shirtlifter is an Ottawa-born DJ who now calls Toronto home, according to the CD which is enhanced with a bio, photos, and other ish on the man called Shirtlifter. Oh yeah did I mention there was music on this CD also? His sound is definitely clubby house with a tribal touch a some tech. You may pick on some samples from some very familiar house tracks if you listen close enough. A solid CD, not just for the music, but also the multimedia content. Disc rating 3.5 out of 5. -Carlo Vega, Nocturnal Magazine, Canada***** sometimes you realise that a cd player and a set of headphones simply doesn't do certain types of music any justice. you lack the sheer bass, the volume and atmosphere of the venue. that's not to say there's no atmosphere on this album however. there are also some really stomping tracks on fuel, the latest release from jeffrey leclaire (aka shirtlifter). if you've even had the slightest exposure to house music, you'll instantly recognise the beats, sounds and rhythm on display here. make sure you've got a sound system that can cope with this album, as you are going to want to play it pumped up. we were lucky enough to get the promo release of the album, which meant that along with the eight tracks, we also got the data from the website which saved a lot of surfing about! of all the tracks on fuel, light my fire most definitely deserves a special mention - this is an absolute belter of house. trumpet blasts, some seriously funky bass lines and fantastic vocal breaks. if you're not inclined to get up and dance around to this, you've got a serious lack of musical taste. listening to fuel is like reliving the last fantastic club session. if this was the set that was being played, it's a miracle you'd still have any energy left in your body. as jeffrey say's himself "it's not really about the music now, is it? house... it's about having a good time. if you try to be too serious, you'll kill it." and that's something that's borne out in fuel. this is seriously good music, but it doesn't take itself that seriously. for example, there are some excellently used samples ranging from the closing door sound from star trek to the intro break from that classic song, "hitching a ride". and as for the smooth "funky dj" sample (from the song of the same name) - class. hypnotic, engaging and downright low and dirty, this album is a great example of what house music should be. -Bulaka Music Magazine, UK***** Shirtlifter comes up trumps with an intoxicating mix of house and melodic driven club dance music. "Light My Fire" is the bomb! Turn it up but make sure your speakers can cope! -A&R Magazine, USA***** Light My Fire, has got to be one of the kickenest-groovy-beats to pull a House song that I have heard in along while. I'm of the opinion, if you are going to dance and groove, or listen at a loud party, 'W' the EQ and you're set. Do that here and you had best have some damn good woofers.. or you may not have any thing left of them but shreds. No distortion here, just straight, pure, thump that will probably make the thickest of speaker cones seem like tissue paper. The beat is just one of a few good points that form this song. The actual House feel seems a little old style, but the overall effect is fresh, and strong, enough that you can't help but rock to it. I have caught myself, on more than one occasion, starting to bounce and be-bop around in my chair. The vocals come across very clear and powerfully. They are a great element of the song. The effect on them is cut too short in a few places, but that is not really an issue, or damaging to the song. They do seem just a little over used, but only if you are concentrating on them all of the time. But at the same time, they keep the simplicity of the song from getting into a boring mode. A worse, but also not harmful, *bad-effects* condition, is where the music transitions abruptly, into totally dry sounds. This causes a very deadening effect that seems just outside of the range of, used properly. It provides change, is somewhat attention grabbing, but just a wee-bit too much. Then, there are the slight pop's in the percussion. This is either intentional, or else a slight sample problem. Either way, it is something that lightly takes away from the real range of sound contained in the drums. A listener, intent throughout, will take notice, but probably not a casual fan. It is a difficult thing, to pull off something that can make you ignore any and all problems in a song, the way this one does. You have a sound here, with a moving feel and funk that reeks of greatness. -Loren McDonald, Gods of Music, USA***** Shirtlifter was a virtual unknown until this year, now with a barrage of House releases due this year and next, watch out, this guy could be the next Barry Harris and quite possibly the follow up to Hatiras! More commercially driven House sound with mainstream clubs in mind. -Jason Thomas, Klublife Magazine, Toronto***** Shirtlifter's first dj residency was at the early age of 18. later he was to team up with uk dj Paul Walker to pursue more underground musical tastes. Now solo, shirtlifter continues making music on the Eastern Bloc label (set up by mancunian Paul Walker) and remixes, all from his home base in Toronto. The shirtlifter songs vary from hard hitting disco house to almost tribal rhythms, with a slab of techno house thrown in for good measure, and you can almost feel the sweat of the dancefloor as you listen to them. And there are certainly enough songs to keep you occupied, either on the Shirtlifter mp3.com site or his own site. Shirtlifter claims to take influences from, amongst others, Cameo, Boney M, David Bowie, Parliament (who doesn't!) and William Orbit. For a slice of refreshing house music, check out the songs available for download on the Official Shirtlifter site at shirtlifter.ca or at mp3.com/shirtlifter. -Up Close, Bulaka, UK ***** While not being a great fan of house music I still can appreciate when it's good and ShirtLifter is! Entertaining beats, vocals well done (not too many, just enough). Three of my favorite pieces are "Alive" , "Gonna Party" & "So Good" (a bit repetitive but still good). "Alive" starts right off with the beat with a nice break at about 3 min. then start back again. Well done "metallic vocals" too. If you are looking for a song that could become a pretty good commercial hit ; "Gonna Party" has what it takes to make it there. The only thing I would have liked better, is lowering the sound of the beat track and having the vocals louder but something it has to be like that while dancing in a nightclub so figure it out yourself... On another hand, his site is very cool with easy navigation, nice graphics (flash & html version available) and everything you would like to know about him, including his music available (don't forget to enter his free CD offer).Saying it in few words, I would tell you to go have a listen, browse ShirtLifter' site and enjoy House music ! I'm sure you won't be disappointed. -RJM, Shattered Dreams Music Magazine, USA***** If you want to hear good house, listen to "Gid Up (a gogga maha)". It starts out sounding as if something came out of Armand Van Helden's studio. Strong beat abd bass, with great (and sometimes funny) vocals ("Oh sweety I don't wanna dance right now, I just wanna watch you"). Very catchy melodic house. -DJ Sky, Club Virtual, UK***** High-energy House tracks equipped with pumping beats and speaker-busting basslines. Catchy vocal clips loop in and out of each driving, acid-lined mix. -Melissa Piazza, Listen.com , USA***** Bangin beats! -Bad Boy Bill, USA***** Slammin' Guy -Peter & Tyrone ,Toronto***** Bloody Wicked! -Anne Savage , U K *****

Additional Info A very special thanks to Lorne Möwer and DJ Paul Walker.

Location Toronto, Ontario - Canada

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