Rusty to reunite for shows in Toronto this June

I am extremely pleased to announce that 90’s rock n rollers Rusty are getting back together for a couple of shows during this year’s North By Northeast Festival to be held in Toronto in June. Rusty guitarist Scott McCullough broke the news to yours truly last week and it has embarrassingly taken me this long to get to posting the news.

If you didn’t already know, Rusty pretty much ruled from the mid to late 90’s. Early in their career, they secured a contract with the long defunct Tag Recordings label, an Atlantic Records subsidiary and toured through the US and Canada opening for the likes of Collective Soul.

Here in Canada, the band was signed to the Handsome Boy music label and saw their videos for “Wake Me”, “Misogyny” and “Empty Cell” (starring a young Danko Jones) receive generous airplay on the Muchmusic.

The group released three full-length records, Fluke (1995), Sophomoric (1997) and Out Of Their Heads (1998), before ultimately going their separate ways. The band did reunite in 2000 to perform a formal farewell show at Toronto’s Opera House however fans have heard little else from the band since.

I had the opportunity to see Rusty live on no less than 15 occasions (thanks to having played many shows with ’em) and always enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm they brought to the stage. They didn’t blow shit up or have an elaborate stage set up because they didn’t need to. Like The Stooges before them, Rusty let the music do the talking and didn’t worry about turning in the perfect performance night after night. The best part about their live show was that it all magically came together on stage every night none the less.

At the present time, Scott said that Rusty is slated to perform on Thursday June 16 at Dundas Square in Downtown Toronna and follow that up with a show the following evening at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern on Queen Street West.

If you’re lucky enough to be in Toronto, get your ass down to one or both of these shows and cheer the boys on one more time.

Here is the band’s video for “Soul For Sale” (from Out Of Their Heads):