Away Forward is inspired by all things dream like: reverb, delay, fuzz, layered sounds, and melody. The band consists of lead vocalist Lisa Nighswander, bassist Greg Chambers, guitarist/lyricist Andrew McAllister, and drummer Paul Boddum. The band originally met in 1994 when their former groups Mean Red Spiders and NECK gigged and shared a rehearsal space together at the dawn of Toronto’s soon-to-be internationally recognized indie scene, sharing the bill at the first Wavelength Music show.

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Bio

Away Forward began when the members formulated a plan to start a Shoegaze/Dreampop project at a show in a club in Toronto. Andrew McAllister (Guitars,Vocals), Greg Chambers (Bass), Paul Boddum (Drums) and Lisa Nighswander (Vocals) have played in bands in Toronto since the 1990s. The members first met when their bands shared a rehearsal space in an old World War 1 munitions factory in the Liberty Village area of Toronto. Lisa and Greg in the band Mean Red Spiders, the preeminent Shoegaze band in Toronto at the time, and Andrew and Paul from the post-punk powerhouse, Neck/Christiana. Both bands were signed to the now defunct label, Teenage USA and released several albums on the label through the late 1990s and early 2000s. Both bands toured, with the Mean Red Spiders touring several times to the US and across Canada. As the new millennium progressed, both bands would go through changes and in the end, break-up, with various members forming new groups. At the time of Away Forward’s forming, Andrew and Paul were playing in a band called Soft Copy, which had run its course, and Greg was playing in the noise/improv band Ghostlight. Lisa had not played in a band since the break-up of Mean Red Spiders. At a Swirlies show at the Drake Hotel in Toronto, Greg, Paul and Andrew decided the time was right for them to get serious about their love of all things Shoegaze and form a band committed to bringing that vision to the public. Convincing Lisa to join, the bands final line-up was complete.  The result was the 2018 debut, “Away Forward”, establishing the bands originality and quality of song writing to critical praise. The bands sophomore release, “Catching the Sun” continues the lush, concisely structure songs with Lisa’s immaculate vocals. Recorded at an old log cabin farm on the Bruce Peninsula called Applewood, “Catching the Sun” was mixed and produced by Greg Chambers at Pod Studios in Toronto.