about 8know8:
8know8 is an instrumental "electronic" project based in Toronto Canada, featuring Polly Jean Vernon on drumkit and synthesizer. Polly programs sequences on a Roland Juno-DS and plays drums while arranging these pre-performed parts in real time. The goal was to blend her love of electronic groove/dance music with her love of live performance. As such all sequencing is done on the synth, not on the computer. This allows for flexibility and evolution during live performances, and ensures that no gig will ever be interrupted by a software update or computer meltdown :) And as a matter of principle no aspects of the live performance have been altered/shifted/quantized during mixing/postproduction. A punk rock approach to electronic music!
Just released POLLY (2023) features guest performances from Toronto's Julia Little on guitar, Bruce MacKinnon (The Silver Hearts) on saxaphone, trumpet player Rudy Ray (Wu-Tang Clan) and trombonist Tom Reader (The Silver Hearts). It was recorded at Dining Room Sound in Toronto in March of 2021.
The first full album from 8know8, (DESTABILIZER, 2021) was recorded live "off the floor" with only a couple of overdubs. The idea was to make a record that could be entirely recreated during a live solo performance. Later albums THIS LONG ROAD and POLLY include guest players and multiple overdubs by Polly on Piano, Bells, and other additional percussion.
About polly:
Polly Jean Vernon (she/her) is a queer transgender musician based in Toronto, with diverse musical influences and interests. She has played in bands in basements and on Canadian recordings as a drummer and percussionist since 1991, starting in the Toronto hardcore punk scene with a band called Watershed. Moving to Peterborough (1994-1997) and playing avant-blues with Patrick Walsh was inspirational, as was moving to Halifax in the late 90s where she played gigs backing up local folk hero Al Tuck and treasured turntablist Buck 65. Her stay here (1997-2001) coincided with a particularly vibrant era in the local rave scene, and she learned to spin records, playing primarily hiphop, downtempo, jungle and breaks at events and as a host at CKDU radio. This led to a two-year rehearsal space experiment with friends Dale Hussey (Rebecca West), Andy Miller (Rome Plows), and Philip Clark (A/V) including two drumkits, two synths, and a drum machine; the many lessons learned during this time would later allow for the emergence of the 8KNOW8 project and the birth of Polly’s love affair with the Juno series of synthesizers.
The early 2000s saw Polly moving back to Toronto to play with ex-bandmate Chad Ross, who at the time was playing with the Deadly Snakes and working on some solo material on the side. Polly worked with Chad and other artists to create three albums over the next six years, as “Ghost Story” and “Nordic Nomadic”. She was thrilled to be able to work with Andre Ethier (Blue Fog) and Quest for Fire (TeePee) playing percussion and drumkit live and on recordings during this time.
Her Kawartha roots led to being asked to perform with Peterborough’s legendary “beerhall orchestra” The Silver Hearts from 2003 to 2007. With a revolving membership of 5 to 12 members, no rehearsals, and complex material, Polly described it as one of the most challenging and rewarding musical experiences of her life. With the Silver Hearts, Polly has played as the backing band for Ron Sexsmith, Maestro Fresh Wes, Sarah Slean, Serena Ryder, Rick Fines, and Andre Ethier.
From 2011-2016 Polly lived in Kingston, where she was active in the music scene. She played gigs with Trevor Strong (Arrogant Worms), recorded a solo vocal/piano track for a local compilation, DJ’d events, started an experimental “free-jazz-punk" band called Salle Sella, formed a two-piece guitar/drums duo with Emily Zielke called Foiler, and recorded an album with a two-piece experimental hardcore duo version of David Parker’s Slow Man Tofu project.
In 2013 Polly formed Brother Accord with Silver Heart bandmate Charles Glasspool, a piano/drums duo that played gigs around Ontario opening for artists as diverse as Wilderness of Manitoba and BA Johnston. The recording from this era, a 2015 album engineered and mixed by Kingston audio legend Matt Rogalsky, is self titled.
Polly moved back to Toronto again in 2016, and in the fall of 2017 the 8KNOW8 project was born with the purchase of a Roland Juno-DS keyboard. After the release of two demo records on Bandcamp in 2019 and a more broadly distributed EP titled “Pandemic” in March 2020, Polly recorded her first full length solo album “Destabilizer” in January of 2020, made with synth and drumkit, which was released in March 2021. The most recent record is "Polly" (June 2023), and she has already recorded the next album "She" due out spring 2024.