The Tom Fun Orchestra is a rock'n'roll homage to Vaudeville, featuring an ambitious mix of electric and traditional acoustic instruments and enough skilled musicians on stage to intimidate even the largest crowds.

Tom Fun

The Tom Fun Orchestra comes out of Cape Breton Island with a sound that is as hard to define as it is fun to dance to. The band’s distinctive instrumentation marries a hybrid bluegrass-gypsy orchestra of violin, banjo, mandolin, accordion, trumpet and double bass to a driving trio of guitars and pounding drums. The gang is led upfront by the vocal duo of Ian MacDougall and Alicia Penney, often being joined by the remaining seven members for shout-along choruses. The Tom Fun Orchestra challenges preconceived notions about East Coast music and delivers a fresh new sound, at once timeless and cutting-edge, an epic, yet raw blend of grungy guitars, traditional tinged hooks, exultant choruses and danceable shuffles.

Their first album, produced by Gord Gano (Violent Femmes) and mixed by Phil Palazzolo (The New Pornographers) is set to be released in January 2008. ‘You Will Land With A Thud’ captures the energy of these nine people onstage “doing it to your eardrums”.