Poor Angus is an award-winning quintet, formed by best friends Brian LeBlanc and Andrew Bryan. Irish session enthusiasts, they met at a local pub on a Tuesday night and played together in a previous band for a couple of years. Upon meeting piper Ross Griffiths at the same session, and noted local folk singer Scott Cameron Smith, they decided that they had to get together and bring this music to a wider audience. With an award winning album under their belts and two years of playing festivals and events around North America, the lads are preparing to record their second album for release in Summer 2008.
Scott comes from an extensive East Coast and folk music background, and his mellow narrative style ranges ably between the softest ballads, to the raucous Jacobite fighting songs which the band performs.
Andrew's fiddling is masterly, having been a student of classical violin from an early age, and he never fails to impress, having performed in the Thunder Bay Philharmonic among other projects which he has tackled. He possesses an innate ability to learn any instrument he picks up, and can play piano at the concert level as well.
Brian LeBlanc has been a Celtic music enthusiast for many years, and switches between bodhran, guitar, mandolin and octave mandolin between songs. He also performs lead for several of the more raucous songs, suited to his infectious energetic stage presence.
Ross Griffiths can make the bagpipes do things which astound audiences, and at every show, people comment that they never knew the pipes could sound that way. Often these comments come from seasoned pipers, who recognize that they are in the presence of a world class piper. Ross has competed internationally for 15 years, and his compositions are performed by the world's champion pipe bands. Vocally, these four meld beautifully and their signature acapella performances often leave audiences speechless and agog. He has shared the stage with many world class musicians, notably Rod Stewart and Paul McCartney.
DJ Moons is an outstanding musician, whose bass and keyboard playing adds an extra dimension to the Poor Angus sound and helps us fill the stage with a solid low end or raucous piano, whichever is called for.
This then, is the essence of the band. The synthesis of these five talented individuals creates a show which preserves the essence of traditional Scottish, Irish and East Coast music, but interprets it in a more modern style without giving in too much to the current wave of "celtic-rock". A Poor Angus show is lively, fun, appeals to all ages, and is equally suited to pub or concert hall. Having performed with the likes of The Proclaimers, Jeremy Fisher, Irish Mythen, Switchback, Blue Rodeo and Matt Mayes, Beolach, Samantha Robichaud and Denmark's ZAR, Poor Angus is an enthusiastic, emerging talent which will grace any venue with style.