Fucked Up Wins Polaris Music Prize

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Fucked Up Wins Polaris Music Prize

The Chemistry of Common Life Beat Out Albums By Great Lake Swimmers, Metric and Chad VanGaalen

Sep 22, 2009 By Kyle Lemmon Photography by Wendy Lynch Redfern

Toronto, Ontario's Fucked Up was dubbed the winner of the fourth annual Polaris Music Prize in a gala ceremony held last night at Toronto's Concert Hall at the Masonic Temple. The hardcore group took home a handsome $20,000 check for The Chemistry of Common Life, the Canadian Album of the Year. The hardcore band beat out other capable Canadian artists such as Chad VanGaalen, Great Lake Swimmers, Malajube and Metric.

In Polaris' first three years, the prize went to slightly less abrasive acts: Caribou, Patrick Watson, and Final Fantasy respectively. Apparently the Toronto sextet had quite a night beyond the win. Frontman Damian Abraham, aka Pink Eyes noted some problems getting into the ceremony: "We got frisked on our way in and I said, 'This [evening] is gonna suck, but at least we'll get a free iPod.' Well, we won the Polaris. It's a lot better than an iPod."

At the award ceremony, the band performed with guests Final Fantasy and Lullabye Arkestra, and Abraham stripped down to his undies. All the nominated artists performed and you'll be able to watch the whole show on Saturday if you get MuchMusic on cable.

Additionally, on November 5th Fucked Up will perform Chemistry in full at Brooklyn's Masonic Temple alongside guests, Andrew W.K. and Vivian Girls. Next year they'll release that gnarly singles compilation Couple Tracks: Singles 2001-2009 on Matador.