The No Shirts
The No Shirts were a band from Ottawa Canada that were active from about 1995 to 2001. The band featured Andrew Johnston on guitar and vocals, Eric Passmore on guitar, Angus McLachlin on drums, and Erin Ramsay on bass and vocals.
The band was heavily influenced by 80s pop, Chicago post-rock and primarily by the Wooden Stars. Andrew would go on to a brief stint in Geoff Pye’s the Yellow Jacket Avenger project.
The No Shirts released one album, Damn American Cars, to local critical praise and the album went to the top 10 of all local college radio stations in the weeks after its release. Sadly, the band disbanded soon after due to a variety of circumstances.
The No Shirts were known for their zany unpredictable live shows which often featured bizarre masks, costumes, and on one memorable occasion band members throwing batteries and a plastic godzilla toy at each other on stage. The band was associated with the indie rock and experimental music scene in Ottawa and Montreal sharing bills with bands such as Kubelka, Red Hemsley, Mishima, and the Murato.
A few years after the No Shirts disbanded, Johnston, Passmore and McLachlin would re-group as the Gentleman’s Club, releasing the critically acclaimed album the Servant in 2005. Both Johnston and Passmore continue to pursue music as solo artists, while Mclachlin has developed a career as a well known Canadian contemporary music composer.