Hank Engel is a 15-year veteran of the Canadian Alternative Scene. He's performed live on MuchMusic and CBC Radio. He's recorded 5 CDs (one for Attic/A&M Records) that have charted on radio stations as far away as Scotland and Russia, and he's toured back and forth across the country numerous of times, opening for such notable acts as Blue Rodeo, Spirit of the West, The Leslie Spit Treeo, and Chalk Circle.
Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Hank began his musical career at the age of 14, "busking" on the downtown streets of Edmonton, and playing bass guitar for the Mod/Punk/R&B band Route 66 in Alberta bars where he was considered "under age." In 1984, that band evolved into Idyl Tea.
"This could well be the best new Canadian band playing '60s revisionist pop." -- NOW Magazine, Toronto entertainment weekly
"Tuneful Edmonton power-pop band Idyl Tea('s) . . . new Attic Records debut sets them apart from the twanging guitar heap on the merits of close harmonies and more than a little sardonic lyrical content." -- Toronto Star
"Twang and lots of fabulous harmonies." -- Erica Ehm, MuchMusic
Idyl Tea spent the latter half of the '80s touring back and forth across Canada, (stopping in at MuchMusic to visit with Erica Ehm on Indie Street, and Brent Bambury on CBC's National program Brave New Waves) building a following on the campus circuit, and recording and promoting their indie CDs.
In 1990, Toronto-based Attic Records picked them up and released their self-titled 2nd CD to critical acclaim. Award-winning director Phil Kates (Blue Rodeo, Crash Vegas) was brought in to shoot the video for the first single, "Oh Brother." In support of the CD, the band played to more than 25,000 people during their Fall '90 and Spring '91 tours and performed live and "unplugged" on MuchMusic for Angela Dohrmann. A year later, after incessant touring and recording, and one more CD and video, the members of Idyl Tea went their seperate ways.
Suffering from withdrawal, Hank immediately signed on with Canadian alternative music legend Steve Loree and helped form Raging Postman Records' now-famous The Greyhound Tragedy. He played on their debut CD (Oh. . . Those Poor Dogs) and the toured with the band during its first year.
After making the switch from bass to guitar, and from rock to hillbilly/rockabilly, Hank formed his back-up band: The Hoosier Daddies. Hank and his band have become as well known for their on-stage antics (playing in their underwear and setting the drumkit on fire) as they have for their musicianship. As frontman, Hank's natural talent for working and inciting an audience has been fully realized. Word of their high-energy, high-spirited shows has become legendary:
"Engel seems to be charged with the amphetamized secretions of Mr. Cash's adrenal gland."- SEE Magazine, Edmonton entertainment weekly
In the last couple weeks of 1999, fearing that the world might come to an end and he wouldn't get another chance, Hank released his debut solo CD, "Barrel Of Fun." Featuring world-class fiddler Don Reed (famous for his work on Dwight Yoakam's albums), the CD contains 12 of Hank's distinctive, quirky, infectious, make-ya-wanna-drink-and-dance original songs, plus covers of Stompin' Tom Connor's "Sudbury Saturday Night" and Bruce Springsteen's "Red Headed Woman."
"Fun, finger-snapping country-billy tunes with a sly wit and infectious melodies." -- The Sudbury Star
"If you took a time machine back to the Grand Ole Opry, slipped something sinister into Ernest Tubbs' drink, and he played his music 800 miles an hour, you'd be getting close." -- WOW! Magazine
Since then, Hank and the Hoosier Daddies have showcased at the NORTH BY NORTHEAST 2000 & 2001 Music Conferences, and performed twice on CityTV's nationally broadcast morning program: Breakfast TV, in Toronto, as well as constant club dates and "in-store" appearances at CD retail outlets.
Lately, Hank has been "busier than a chicken with his head cut off," making up new songs for his upcoming CD, slated for release in early 2002, and giggin' steady. Meanwhile, "Barrel Of Fun" has been picked up for international distribution by HEPCAT Records, in California, and has been selling like hot-cakes, in places as far away as England and Finland and Texas!
Hank's music and his singing style have been compared to Mike Ness, Hank Williams Sr., Hank Williams III, Johnny Cash, Stompin' Tom Connors and Ernest Tubb.
Hank Engel and the Hoosier Daddies... "Makin' this wicked ol' world a better place... one honky tonk at a time."
Main Page ¦ Biography ¦ Gallery ¦ Discography ¦ Favourite Links
