biography
Toronto area singer/songwriter/musician John Borra has remained a fixture on the Toronto music scene for over twenty-five years since he first broke onto the Toronto music scene as bassist for the seminal punk band A Neon Rome in 1984. Despite branching out into bluegrass referenced rootsy singing and songwriting, John has played and continues to play bass in a number of critically acclaimed Toronto bands such as Groovy Religion , Change of Heart and Glenn Milchem's side-project The Swallows as well as local punk band The Screwed.
John's arena of musical ventures continues to span the punk, alt, country, rock and bluegrass genres and he currently fronts both The John Borra Band and Rattlesnake Choir on vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica. The roots/country/alt John Borra Band and punk band The Screwed, both feature Steve Koch on electric guitar and Blue Rodeo's first drummer Cleave Anderson. Derrick Bradey (also of Hawksley Workman and Dodge Fiasco) rounds out the John Borra Band on bass and Steve Saint leads the vocals with The Screwed.
The fictionalized rockumentary - the cult classic Roadkill - directed by Bruce McDonald , was based on a planned tour of northern Ontario by A Neon Rome, an early punk band from Toronto with whom John played bass. Tour plans had to be abandoned when the group parted ways due to artistic differences. This ensuing underground hit which was inspired by A Neon Rome, won Toronto's Festival of Festival's best picture award in 1989 after the group disbanded. Most recently, A Neon Rome has reunited for one or two well-attended gigs in the Toronto area.
John's talents as a fluent, percussive and melodic bassist are well-recognized on the Toronto live music scene - his resume includes stints with Ron Sexsmith, The Cash Brothers, Serena Ryder, Bob Egan and Greg Keelor who employed John 's bass mastery on the western tour of his first solo album release Gone. John's association with Blue Rodeo began shortly after joining Toronto band Change of Heart when they opened a number of shows for Blue Rodeo. At that time , Glenn Milchem had left Change of Heart to join Blue Rodeo. John's musical partnership in Groovy Religion (another Glenn Milchem collaboration), began circa 1989. John's participation in a musical side-project of Bazil Donovan's in the mid-nineties, and his stint on bass for Greg's initial solo release tour, continued the one-degree relationship .
John's vocals and songwriting have been likened to Hank Williams for their roots, country/alt style favourably showcased on the three albums released by the John Borra Band. Lyrically and musically, the Rattlesnake Choir's premier CD also features a county/alt flavour with definite Canadiana and bluegrass influences aided by Tony Benettar on upright acoustic bass and dobro, Miranda Mulholland on fiddle/vocals and Sam Ferrara on cheese grater, saw, spoons and various other percussive household implements! Blue Rodeo's current keyboardist Michael Boguski handles the keys for the Rattlesnake Choir which plays a weekly Monday night residency at The Dakota Tavern in Toronto. The Rattlesnake Choir has opened for Blue Rodeo, most recently in Brantford in 2008.
Sources: Special thanks to ann for compiling this information.