The Start's Biography

The Band

The Start was created in 2009 out of a shared love of British music. Whether they were born there, lived there or have simply visited, The Start's members have all found common ground in the sounds of the UK.

The Members

Graeme Weeks - Vocals and Guitar

Graeme was born & raised in Essex, East London & played in some of the toughest venues in front of some of the roughest crowds in London! Arriving in Canada, firstly Quebec and now Ottawa, he's sung & played in numerous outfits including the much-travelled The Jet 200s before finally finding a home when he founded The Start with bassist Frank Deehan.

David Little - Lead Guitar

Having lived in the UK, this former web guru finds a home in The Start with his punk and indie-influenced guitar work. David started playing guitar in the late 80s (new wave and punk) and moved to Halifax to take part in the early grunge/indie explosion in 1992 (Who remember's The Double Deuce and The Flamingo?). He's been in a variety of bands here in Ottawa until the late 90s, and after a ten year hiatus, he's back to his English roots with The Start. In true British fashion, when his amp is not cranked to 11, he can be found puttering in his garden and drinking copious amounts of tea.

Nathan Hoedeman - Percussion

Nathan, a former soccer mate of Graeme's, spent his teenage years in Glengarry County, a region renowned for the Highland Games, caber tossing, kilt wearing, scotch drinking, soccer playing and British music! Countless hours of being exposed to the popular British invasion hits of the 70-80-90's from The Who, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Clash, The Stones, The Jam, The Knack and Led Zepplin, fueled his passion for British music, especially for the RnB infused songs that get people up and grooving away. Nathan's motto is simple: Life's too short, get on the dance floor already!

Marianne Dumas - Keyboards

Marianne Dumas' musical path started as a drummer and percussion player, but realised that the best possible medium to link rhythm, melody and harmony would be the piano. Marianne pursued her musical studies in Pop-Jazz piano at the CEGEP. After perfecting her technique with Luc Beaugrand from U.D.M, she came back to Gatineau to involve herself in different projects (Destiny, Sans Foulard, YAO, Les Mosquitos, BillyLoveBand) that allowed her to discover the programming of keyboards, sound creation, and developing her live playing experience.

Marianne is constantly looking for new musical challenges and other passionate musicians to share the love of music with!!!

Martin Newman - Bass Guitar

Born and raised in Ottawa, Martin began playing bass guitar in Luc Charbonneau's music class at Collège Catholique Samuel-Genest. After graduating high school in 1987, he purcahsed his first double bass and studied privately with Steve Watson for about a year. In 1989 he completed a five-month contract on a cruise ship travelling around Europe with band leader Chris Lane, and his career began in earnest.

Since then, he's played every kind of gig from bars to theatre and festival stages and recording studios, from Ottawa to Berlin to San Diego, playing music ranging from folk to jazz to rock. Highlights have included recording and touring in Germany with Dario Domingues, touring the US with Holly Larocque and her Big Band Broadcast show, being a hired gun for one-off shows with travelling stars like Carol Channing and Petula Clark, a long association with Jean-Marc Lalonde in the bands Deux Saisons, La Ligue du Bonheur, and Hey Wow, two albums with instrumental rockers The Flaps, an ongoing collaboration with guitarist Lucas Haneman, and many, many more.