PureVolume

Members: dave fritz, jeremy knowles, matt trotter, elliot caroll

the band that never meant to be a band

ramona began as a creative outlet for producer / audio engineer / guitarist dave fritz. when he wasn't engineering or playing guitar in 'junior achiever' he kept busy recording demos at home. dave finally decided to commit five of these songs to "tape", his initial intention to give a few copies away to family and friends.

dave began to take ramona more seriously however once others took interest his project. upon hearing the track 'a way over' bass player matt trotter insisted that ramona perform live and that he be part of it. dave's former band mate jeremy knowles, who had already contributed to the ep, eagerly hopped on board as drummer.

a superb talent in her own right, keyboardist / vocalist elliot caroll was the only person to reply to an online advert posted by the band. as fate would have it she was the missing piece fitting perfectly into the ramona puzzle.

the new line up had completed an ep, secured a record deal and filmed a music video long before they had even played a single show together.

ramona's debut ep 'mornington crescent now open' is melodic and infectious, following in the great power pop tradition established by pioneers such as 'the kinks' and 'the cars'. the ep was recorded by dave in toronto at savile row studio. finding inspiration in classic 60's mod records, the ep was a conscious effort to make a recording that was a little rough around the edges and organic. 'mornington crescent now open' is a sonic departure from sterile and heavily produced rock albums that seem to dominate the music scene in north america.

the ep is released in the USA on 'pacific ridge records', in europe with 'engineer records' and in japan on 'fixing a hole records'. this release is a 'hat-trick' of sorts, as it marks the third japanese release dave has been involved with in the last two years.

the first was the posthumous release of 'wact - the anthology', the band that dave played with in england during the 1990's and most recently as engineer / producer / guitarist and backing vocalist on junior achiever's 'all the little letdowns'. this record was followed by a seven-date tour of japan supporting columbia recording artists shakalabbits.

dave's friendship with shakalabbits resulted in the bonus track 'kids in tokyo'. the song was inspired by the audiences that dave played to while in japan and his new found love for the country.

shakalabbits' drummer mah was so moved by the sentiment that he agreed to play drums on the song at a studio in japan while dave finished the rest of the song in toronto.

with the release of 'mornington crescent now open', the official video release for 'a way over', tour dates filling up, and work starting on a follow up ep, it looks like 2010 is going to be a very busy year for the band that wasn't meant to be a band.