Much Music-born ‘euro-metal’ band, Abandon All Ships, has come to an end with its final show wrapping up in downtown Toronto.
Fans from across North America gathered at the Virgin Radio Mod Club on the weekend to pay homage to the guys who incorporated fist pumping with head banging.
Lead guitarist and singer, Martin Broda, says he is proud of the success the band has had in a short amount of time.
“I think we still would have been successful, but in a more of an underground way. This scene is very popular to certain kids that are into this kind of music but, we broke the mainstream market in Canada which is awesome,” Broda says.
Abandon All Ships kicked off its journey when they entered the Much Music hit show Dis-band in 2009. The band competed against other Toronto groups in front of music industry veterans, like Mark Spicoluk, owner of Underground Operations, and a former Universal Studios producer.
The band went on to tour across the U.S. to promote its music while back home, in Toronto. Much Music was doing its duty by constantly playing the band’s most popular song, “Take One Last Breath”.
From playing the trumpet in his school band at the all-boys, Chaminade College School, Broda has always had a burning passion for music.
“Growing up I was always, you know, into music. Listening to whatever my sister bought as a CD at HMV. Mostly it was Much Music Dance Hits 94/95, so that got me into dance music and what not,” Broda says.
There is no denying the mutual passion of music shared between this young group of guys. From practising in a garage, to playing in front of thousands of die-hard fans, it is clear that this group had what it took to be successful in one of the most competitive industries.
“I guess being so young and being so bored during the summer we kind of took that over as our hobby and we eventually got good at it and I guess we were all inspiring to be musicians – we knew we liked music,” Broda says.
The band ended its journey with a bang in a small, yet intimate venue with its friends, family, and beloved fans playing 14 of their biggest hits and even inviting the original band members to rock the stage with them for one last time.
“We gave it a good shot, we had a good run. We’ve won an award at the MMVAs, we’ve toured Europe, we’ve done Warped Tour, and we’ve done North America countless amounts of times,” Broda says.
Martin and the band’s promoter, Johnny Arciero have known each other since they were in Elementary School as they attended St. Norberts Elementary Catholic School together. Sebastian, the Synthesizer for the group, was Johnny’s childhood friend as they grew up in the same North York neighbourhood.
Arciero has been with the band every step of the way.
“Ever since Sebastian lived next door, and he had the renovated garage with all the equipment in it, it started in 2006 and we used to just hang out in there and you know, play our vids, play their music and ever since they started getting big, after the whole Dis-band thing, they needed a merch guy so they asked me,” Arciero says.
It was not only an emotional goodbye for the musicians, but for people who have seen the group grow.
“Coming to an end obviously is going to be hard for them, and it’s becoming a little bit hard for me talking about this now and understanding what’s actually going on,” Arciero says.
Band members left their hearts on the stage, and the fans left with tears, wanting and hoping for more.
At the end of each song, lead screamer for the group Angelo Aita said “thank you so much Toronto,” making it a reality that the dream this group once had to reach fame has officially come to an end.
Fans revel in the glow of Martin Broda and Angelo Aita. (PHOTO: Sarah Sequeira)
