I was first introduced to Tiny Danza through a friend while we were out drinking on a Tuesday night. I laughed at the suggestion because he and I are generally on different levels with music - I enjoy good music and he prefers the sound of chainsaws to a heavy bass beat - but he insisted that they were worth checking out, so the next day I went to their MySpace page. After listening to the first track, 'Hindsight,' I knew I had to go through all of the songs. For once my friend was right! (But only once...)

Shortly thereafter I arranged a meeting at Nirvana with Galen Hogg (rap vocals) and Andrew Santaguida (keyboards). Sweltering from the heat to the point of danger, we came to the conclusion that if we didn't hydrate ourselves we would surely perish. We thus immediately ordered two pitchers - one was water, the other was not.

Tiny Danza's style of music is unique. They're self-described as "Hip Hop/ Pop," and while both these elements are present, there's definitely a funky vibe that flows through their music as well. They're not the next Linkin Park, nor are they descendants of Limp Bizkit. They have a much softer and more accessible way of integrating rap vocals into a smooth, catchy pop song.

I asked Galen to give me a brief background of the band and he told me that five of the six members have been around for about three years now. The only one that seems to change is the bass player.

"We have a revolving door for bass players. But we all know each other very well because [except for this bass player] we all went to the same high school together. I was doing a hip-hop thing out in Montreal and these guys were starting a band, so I came back."

I had to ask how they came up with the name. Galen laughed and told me.

"Well, one night we just got really drunk and decided that it was time to come up with a name. So, we came up with a lot of names, and Tiny Danza was the one that came out on top."

Runners up?

"The runner up was Goldie Prawn. There were a few of them. If we were a punk band we would have called ourselves Brick-Licker."

The five songs on their MySpace page constitute their EP, The TD EP, which was released about a year and a half ago. But as Galen told me, a full-length is in the works.

"Those songs aren't completely representative of who we are now. I mean they are, but we've come a long way so this full-length should sound fairly different."

According the band, all the material is ready; it's just a matter of getting the funds together and jumping in the studio. Galen said it'll be around 10 songs, but Andrew interjected that it could be upwards of 14 - they then looked at each other, and it became awkward for me! Wanting to break the tension, I told them this wasn't something I needed to know right away.

Tiny Danza will be playing the Drake Hotel on Thursday, September 3rd.

One little bit of TD trivia worth finishing on is that Galen has been boxing competitively for the better part of ten years. But, as I'm sure he'd like to know, I could probably take him.

Photo by Zach Slootsky