Al Parrish

Al grew up in Toronto singing in church choirs and playing tuba in the high school band. A friend convinced him to join an after-school rock band by saying, "You play tuba, you could play bass," . So he did. His musical experience covers everything from pop, country, bluegrass, rockabilly, and rock & roll to heavy metal.

In 1989 that repertoire grew to include folk/roots when Al and three friends created Brean Derg Muc, a Toronto-based, pseudo-Irish band that took the Ontario folk festival scene by storm and saw two years of brilliant success.  After several years of freelancing with October Browne, Kirk Elliot, Aaron Solomon, David Stone and many others, he was invited to join Tanglefoot and began playing with the band in January 1994.  His arrival brought about a major infusion of energy for which Tanglefoot became known.

Since the band retired at the end of 2009, Al has taken up playing guitar to add to his bass playing and singing for solo shows in Ontario and the Maritimes. US and UK tours are on the way. Al's first solo Live CD, Propensity for Joy, recorded in January 2011, is available for immediate delivery.

During the last couple of years of Tanglefoot's career, Al took up recording commercial voice-overs for clients including Nokia, Petro-Canada, and Insano Productions through his agent, James Crammond at Noble Caplan Abrams. Al is writing several books.

Al lives in Kitchener, Ontario with his wife and two youngest children.