The road to the Salvo EP began with a contest. Or before then, it’s true, but the contest was the fork what bent the path. In the fall of 2007, Luke Sneyd had an album, All of Us Cities, but no band. Recorded with producer and co-musician Marc Koecher at his basement studio in Toronto’s leafy west end, the disc was a strong first solo effort for the former Mountain Mama sideman. An early demo of “The Prisoner” was a finalist in the Unisong International Songwriting Contest, and California’s No Cover Magazine picked “Waiting” for their Groupies Suck compilation, calling Sneyd “an amazing unsigned artist.”
All Of Us Cities
The video for lead single “The Prisoner” won Sneyd a Top 5 spot in the Great Canadian Band Challenge, challenging for a $25,000 deal with Universal. In a frenetic three weeks, Luke Sneyd’s band took shape. They didn’t win the contest, but Sneyd made a solid impression as an artist to watch. Local blog TorontoIndie.com called All of Us Cities “ready for the airwaves”, while The Record’s Jason Schneider wrote it explored “the worlds of urban angst and the resiliency of the human spirit.”