Dead Letter Dept. (formerly known as The Stiffs) have always been the most honest and forthright dudes in Toronto. In a city filled with industry wannabes, Queen St. scenesters, and phony musicianship, Dead Letter Dept. remains a staple of genuine artistic credibility. While watching bands that they have shared stages, drinks and laughs with successfully sell their soul for rock n roll, Dead Letter Dept. have honed their artistic credibility to the accuracy of a laser beam and set its sights on the generic rock consumer. Exploiting the shallow money trench that is the corporate music business, DLD creates heart-wrenching tales of love lost, lacking and lingering amidst anthems dedicated to those who have given into the consumerist ideal of society. Over the tenure (and ten years) of this influential band's career they have worked with legends Mass Giorgini (producer of pretty much every good Lookout! record) and John P. Sutton (rocked bass for the Weakerthans and produced most of Winnipeg's finest bands) while notoriously being known for smashing guitars in basements in the USA, sneaking beers into backstage areas at arenas and coffee houses in Canada, misappropriating attention from mainstream fans at Edgefest 2005 and Edge Electric Christmas and crashing on floors of anyone who will take them during lengthy D.I.Y. tours through unchartered European towns. Dead Letter Dept. have appeared (in the aural sense) on numerous episodes of Kevin Smith's favourite TV show: Degrassi: The Next Generation, opened for more credible indie rock and genuine emo bands than you have ever downloaded and still remain humble against a backdrop of acid tongued satirical lyricism so painfully truthful it's a wonder these four men (Rob Moir on guitar/vocals, Steven De Silva on guitar/keyboards, Mike Leblanc on drums/vocals and Spencer Cowan on bass) can still breathe through all the hot air surrounding them. Their Canadian distributor (Underground Operations) said, "When they brought their pre-production to us (the meek, forgettable record company execs) we listened to it non-stop. It brought tears to our eyes; it tugged at our heartstrings and brought back every feeling we had left behind in our youth. It was the most punk-rock alt-country record we had ever heard. We couldn't decide which songs to choose for their EP so we said a collective, 'Fuck it. It's too damn good. Let's do all 10 songs.'" These songs became their debut LP Rock N' Roll Hates You (April 2005) which brilliantly displayed their melodic song structures and gritty, authentic lyrics through a spirit that mournfully reminisces of times when art was recognized for its honesty, ardor, and encapsulation of emotion. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.