Tom Fun Orchestra - Dexter's Dundee, Scotland
By Heather Minto, Noize Makes Enemies (05/08/08)
Tom Fun jams at Zaphod's
By Jess Huddleston, The Charlatan (3/13/08)
Canadian Music Week - Part Three
By Sari Delmar, Clash Music (3/11/08)
CMW: A hazy night at the Shoe
By Mike Laba, Toronto Unplugged (3/11/08)
quotes
"The second encore showcased the band playing the snot out of all of their respective instruments and jumping around the stage, falling all over each other and generally creating merry chaos all over that Horseshoe stage. They played for somewhere near an hour and a half, and I was exhausted by the end of the show but, needless to say, this is not a show that I'll be forgetting anytime soon.”
"It didn't take long for the Orchestra - which includes guitarist/vocalist Carmen Townsend, bassist Shane O'Handley, accordionist Dave Mahalik, banjo player Victor Tomiczek, drummer Tommy Stallion, violinist Morgan Currie and trumpeter Albert Lionais - to start wracking up rave reviews for its knock-'em-dead live show on the East Coast. As the band got tighter, it began to generate some serious buzz among music fans and rock scribes in other parts of the country, all of whom were echoing the same resounding sentiment: "You have to see these guys."
- Jen Zoratti, Uptown Magazine (02/19/09)
"They're less of an orchestra than a three-ring circus, with banjo, accordion, trumpet and a Cape Breton fiddler all sharing space with a fiery rock trio, successfully steering away from tired Celtic rock clichés and instead inserting last-call intensity to songs that aim for Springsteen-ian heights with dashes of New Orleans jazz for good measure. It's one part Cape Breton barroom brawl, one part New Orleans bordello, one part Parisian café, and one part working class Irish bar in Brooklyn. If that doesn't sound like a party you want to be at, then MacDougall is happy to offer you "first-class tickets to a dead-end job/ teach you how to be a middle-class slob."
– Michael Barclay, Kitchener-Waterloo Record (01/29/09)
"My live artist pick of the weekend was undoubtably Cape Breton's rolling party known at the Tom Fun Orchestra. This ten-piece ball of energy put on an unbelievable set of pure joy, somewhat like a Maritimes version of the Hidden Cameras fronted by the lead singer of the Misfits. By the time they closed their set with a rousing cover of Greg Macpherson's blue collar anthem 'Company Store', they had me fully converted. They were the singular band that captured the spirit and passion of the event, and in turn the spirit and passion of Nova Scotia's deep music roots. The Tom Fun Orchestra is doing three shows in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal and you should not miss them."
- Grant Lawrence, CBC Radio 3 Host (11/14/07)
"We walked in as The Tom Fun Orchestra was playing. Now, being a Cape Bretoner myself, I have been a frequent flyer with this band from the Island. I go out to see them pretty much every chance I get. Their organized chaotic mass of guitars, bass, fiddle, drums, accordion, trumpet and vocals is so insane that you can't help yourself from moving your entire body. The Orchestra was definitely a highlight and all the buzz of the night. Later on in the night Lennie Gallant approached me and said, 'Did you see the Tom Fun Orchestra? They're my new favorite band!'"
- Genevieve MacIntyre, The Coast (11/12/07)
