Gratuitous Brunette: Sam Roberts

Canada is one of those countries that sends its purveyors of mediocrity (and you know who you are) overseas or merely over the border, while keeping its genuine talent to itself... It's a little game we like to play called Sucka! - perhaps you've either played it yourself, or else been played by it...

Such is the case with birthday boy Sam Roberts, whose career has gone up and up, from strength to strength, while remaining almost entirely within the confines of Soviet Canuckistan; until today, this is, when it all came crashing down with his inclusion amongst the ranks of the Gratuitous Brunette. Now he's naught but fresh perv material for an insatiable troll.

Still, it's been a good run as these things go - five albums* of suitably jangly college rock, numerous festival performances, and guns to die for. Oh, and the videos! Mustn't forget those. Among my favourites are Brother Down, Them Kids, and of course Where Have All the Good People Gone...

*Technically four albums - 2000's Brother Down, 2003's We Were Born in a Flame, 2006's Chemical City, and 2008's Love at the End of the World - plus an EP, 2002's The Inhuman Condition, but who's counting?
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