Canada’s indie rock scene was exploding in the early 2000s. Among the forerunners of the post-punk dance movement was Toronto’s Controller.Controller. Their distinct sound driven by singer Nirmala Basnayake’s lyrical style and vocal delivery, Scott Kaija and Colwyn Llewellyn-Thomas’s angular call and response guitars and the locked-in rhythm section of Ronnie Morris and Jeff Scheven.
This year, they celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut record, aptly titled History. Featuring angular post-punk guitars and dance-inspired rhythms, this intense, atmospheric seven-song debut captured the essence of the “dance-punk” scene. Pitchfork rated History at 8.3 and extolled the debut for its “thoughtful songcraft,” declaring it a “tight package of urgent rhythms and catchy melodies.” All Music called History, “one of the worthier debuts to emerge from the second wave of no-wave revivalists”.
After a grueling 2007 tour, Basnayake left the band, leading to their dissolution. Morris reflected, “Nirmala leaving made it official, but we were all pretty burnt out when we called it quits.” The band reformed for a friend’s party in late 2014, they officially reunited in 2015 for Wavelength’s 15th anniversary. They started writing new material when tragedy struck and bass player Morris suffered a series of strokes in May 2015. In 2024, Morris, after years of rehabilitation, completed his Ph.D. and remastered the bass, the band reunited to celebrate the 20th anniversary of band and their debut release, History.
