Young Saints

Young Saints were a Canadian hard rock band of the early 1990s.[1] Although they recorded only one album before breaking up, they are most noted for garnering a Juno Award nomination for Most Promising Group at the Juno Awards of 1992[2] and for being only the second band from Newfoundland — and the first in a mainstream popular music genre, as their only predecessor was the traditional Newfoundland folk music band Figgy Duff — ever to sign a deal with a major record label.[3]

Originally known as Crisis, the band consisted of vocalist and guitarist Robin Cook, guitarist Ian Roe, bassist Darren 'Dirt' Churchill and drummer Alex MacFarlane.[4] After regularly touring the province but struggling to break out, they moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1988,[1] where they landed a new manager and scored an early break as an opening act for Sue Medley.[4]

After Medley talked the band up to her record label,[4] they signed to Polygram Records in 1990.[5] In January 1991, they entered the studio to begin recording their debut album on the same day the United States entered the Gulf War; the situation inspired the song "My God Is Bigger Than Your God", which was written during the recording sessions.[6]

Their self-titled album was released on Polygram in 1991, and included the singles "Weight of the World", "Live for Today" and "New Solution".[4] "Weight of the World" peaked at #30 in the RPM100 singles chart,[7] and "Live for Today", which included a guest performance by Randy Bachman, peaked at #58.[8] The album peaked at #60 in the RPM album charts.[9]

At the Juno Awards in 1992, the band garnered a nomination for Most Promising Group,[2] and designer Robert Leboeuf was nominated for Best Album Design for the album's artwork.[4] Despite their Juno nominations and chart success, however, the band broke up before recording another album.[4] Cook and MacFarlane formed the new band Soul Candy, which pursued a more alternative rock direction than Young Saints, but did not attain significant success outside of the local Vancouver market.