36? began in the spring of 2006 as a solo basement recording project of a troubled 17 year old Taylor Cochrane. In August of 2006, Cochrane released the first full-length record ‘love.hate.bondage’, a 13 track angst-ridden release that took the current themes of hyper-violence and sexualisation in pop-culture to their extremes. Through both fictional story telling and self-deprecating reflection Cochrane established the eclectic, unapologetic and alienating sound that paved the way for the next two 36? releases.
Throughout the following year Cochrane fell deep into a medication induced psychosis. As Cochrane’s madness grew deeper the projects he was creating became darker. In February of 2007 Cochrane released the directionless record ‘Your Protest Sucks’. The record focused on themes of hopelessness and hypocrisy. Beginning with an explosive critic of alternative and pop music culture and ending with a stripped down depressing self-reflection on Cochrane’s own desperation to be heard.
Falling further down the rabbit hole Cochrane reached the epitome of his insanity in the spring of 2007. Releasing the speedy disjointed mess of fuzz with the release of ‘Fistu Inhaf’ in June 2007. The record was an in-your-face offensive-for-the-sake-of-offending the listener, no apologies just true artistic release. Speedy songs born of a stimulated mind; distorted production reflecting a distorted perception of reality. ‘Fistu Inhaf’ was perhaps the most alienating and offensive 36? record thus far, while being the truest form of expression that Cochrane had released up to this point. A few weeks following the release of the album Cochrane experienced a mental breakdown, falling unconscious into an incomprehensible mess of lights and sound. Upon coming to, Cochrane decided that he either needed serious mental help or to stop taking his A.D.D. medication. Two weeks after going cold turkey, the depression, sleep paralysis and hallucinations stopped, but Cochrane found that without a stimulating feeling of hopelessness he was hard-pressed for inspiration. In the next few years 36? fell off the map almost completely as Cochrane enjoyed the fruits of a semi-regular existence. In October of 2008 Cochrane joined a local 8-piece funk project aptly named The Kronic Groove Band, which included high school friend Mike Malkin and Scott White. Over the next 3 years the KGB played around Alberta and British Columbia before disbanding in March of 2011. Shortly after the break up Cochrane released a solo album under his own name titled ‘Acoustic’, this LP was released on June 30, 2011 as a collection of stripped down songs both old and new. Cochrane followed the release with another EP under his name on March 28, 2012 called ‘Cleaning Up’ this release presented Cochrane in a more serious light, with organically crafted sounds that highlighted the fresh reality Cochrane was existing in. By this time Cochrane had recruited a group of good friends to be his backing band. The band featured Luke Bowman on keys, Sean Hamilton on drums, Kimberley Ilott on aux percussion, Eric Svilpis on bass and Scott White on guitar. In September of 2012 on the cusp of their first tour instead of heading out as Taylor Cochrane and band the decision was made to change their name back to Cochrane’s original artist name 36?. Upon their arrival home Cochrane released the EP ‘So You’re Caught up in the Web and You Can’t Escape: a survival guide to surviving the survivalists in a dogeatgod world’. It was the first record officially released by 36? in over 5 years, and the last record released that was performed, recorded and released entirely by Taylor Cochrane. On February 14, 2014 36? released ‘where do we go from here?’, an eclectic mix of songs spouting sugary pop vibes and bursting with psychedelic walls of sound. ‘where do we go from here?’ asserted a more focused and elevated approach to an album than any of the previous 36? recordings and received critical acclaim throughout the Canadian media. It was the first record that featured new additions to the band, Kimberley Ilott, Ryan Kuz, Eric Svilpis and Scott White. Shortly after the release of the record Ilott and Svilpis left the band to pursue other endeavors. The record later took home Rock Album of the Year at Western Canadian Music Awards in 2015. On April 19th, 2014 36? released ‘reprise’. A follow up album to ‘where do we go from here?’ that played through the same songs in completely different arrangements with only the use of acoustic instruments and household objects to create the sounds. The album had a very small release and was mostly overshadowed by the success of the previous record but clocking in at 36 minutes and 36 seconds long, it boasts to being the most organic and experimental 36? record so far. Shortly after the release of this record Mike Malkin (previous member of The Kronic Groove band with Taylor Cochrane and Scott White) joined the band. Throughout 2014 36? became fully immersed in the Canadian music scene. Playing across Canada at a variety of music festivals through the summertime and participating in the first Peak Performance Project here in Alberta. Throughout the Peak Performance Project 36? took part in a series of showcases and conferences and ended the project in 3rd place winning $50,000 which the band used to tour and release two back to back EPs. In May, 2015 36? released two back to back EPs ‘Tiger Tail’ and ‘Split’. The band took to the road touring Canada and the UK, showcasing at NXNE music festival, The Great Escape, Sound City Liverpool, Canadian Music Week and Sled Island Music Festival. Throughout 2016 and 2017 36? joined forces with producer Graham Lessard (Reuban and the Dark, Timber Timbre, STARS) in the studios at The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity to create their sophomore LP Milk Mountain (named after the nickname of the bands bass player Mike Malkin). Shortly after the completion of the band was joined by Justin Van Groningen and they set off on the road in 2017 playing at a variety of festivals across Canada eventually arriving back in Calgary to play Sled Island again. During the festival the band was picked up by record label File Under: Music and shortly after the festival Ryan Kusz left the band and the band was joined for a brief period by Colin Adhikary. In 2018 36? released their first single with File Under: Music “so what?” which was picked up by Canadian satellite radio stations, The Verge and CBC radio 3 as well as Spotify’s Editorial Playlist “Ready to Rock”. 2019 saw the release of another single through File Under: Music, “Vic”. Which would become 36?’s most popular song after catching wind on Spotify algorithmic playlists as well as plays on CBC radio 3 and on specialty radio show “SONAR” on Tokyo,Japan’s FM Station J-Wave. Shortly after the release of Vic was the full length record release of Milk Mountain, again through File Under: Music which received radio play on CBC radio 3 on a variety of tracks from the recor and would become 36?’s most successful record to date. With the release of the record the band saw two more member additions with Laura Hickli and Kerry Hickli who would later join Taylor Cochrane on the road for an extensive 8 months of touring throughout North America. In the winter of 2020 after a successful back home show at Calgary Folk Festival’s winter festival Blockheater the band’s tour was cut short by the global pandemic of Covid-19 and 36? was forced to bunker down back in Calgary. The pandemic also saw the dissolving of record label File Under: Music which released 36? from their 5 year contract. Shortly after 36? was signed to Montana record label North Pole Records for a split record with tour support and 36? Collaborator Laura Hickli. Over the course of the next year the band members isolated and recorded a new 7 track record entitled “Naturally” at a series of locations around Calgary, AB. In August of 2020, 36? was offered the opportunity to record a single at the National Music Center with Graham Lessard. The song, “Write”, would feature Taylor Cochrane, Laura Hickli, Mike Malkin and Justin Van Groningen and would eventually be released in May of 2022. Reaching the end of 2020 36? released the last of their singles from the 2016 Banff Center recordings. “Starstruck” would be the final single released by the now defunct record label File Under: Music and had a limited amount of publicity. Shortly after the release of “Starstruck” 36? released a platformer videogame by the same name, based around the characters in the “Starstruck” music video. The game featured a variety of songs from Milk Mountain and was Taylor Cochranes first foray into coding and game design. In 2021 Taylor Cochrane and Laura Hickli started a guitar pedal company that would make merchandise for the band. The pedal company “36? Circuits” released it’s first guitar pedal in September, 2021. Now in 2022, 36?’s new record “Naturally” is set to be released in September with North Pole Records. The physical release will be a split vinyl with Laura Hickli’s sophomore release “Both Feet in the World, At Least I Can Stand”. Leading up to the release is the 3 singles on the record “Natural”, “Samuel” and “Isolated” as well as the solo single “Write” as a lead up. All of which will be accompanied by music videos.
