TMA149 Members

Dating back to 2008, Toronto born artist Marlon Chaplin has sewn his seeds in his hometown and beyond as a founding member of garage rock indie darlings, Broken Bricks (2008-2014) with whom one of his songs (Jigsaw) was placed prominently on Degrassi: The Next Generation and of which the band were featured in NOW Magazine’s cover story of “Top 25 Acts You Gotta See at NXNE 2011”, folk rock troubadours Freeman Dre & the Kitchen Party and powerhouse soul/roots outfit Ada Dahli & the Pallbearers. Aside from being a core member of the aforementioned acts, Marlon has contributed either as a touring member, session musician or co- songwriter with Jerry Leger & the Situation, The Beauties, Suitcase Sam, Noel Pink and Sintia (among others).

Since 2016, Marlon has released two full length solo records (2018’s The Circle and 2021’s Synestalgia) as well as 2016’s EP Wanderer By Trade all to critical acclaim. Peppered between have been a consistent stream of high quality, marketable, well crafted singles with Spotify numbers seeing the Synestaglia album receive 11k streams in less than a year and the Are You Ok? single hit over 12k streams, being featured on prominent playlists.

A visual artist and visually minded creator from a very earlier age, Marlon took his passion for film and the art of music videos throughout the challenging times of the pandemic and beyond to new heights when he began conceptualizing and directing music videos, not only for his own music, but finding work directing for other artists (Sintia’s Star Is Shining, In Cold Blood and Train as well as J. Mann’s A.I.).

Marlon has appeared and performed on Sirius XM’s That Eric Alper’s Show, CP24, Daytime Toronto, CHCH Hamilton, CIUT FM, CJRU The Scope and has had features in Toronto Guardian, music video premieres with Indie88, Exclaim!, Tinnitist, and was recently nominated for two Dropout Entertainment Canadian Independent Music Video Awards (both videos self- directed for Weights + Feathers and Slipstream from the Synestalgia record). To quote music blog Great Dark Wonder, “…Marlon Chaplin…has been unbelievably busy this past year…” and has released a staggering amount of material at a consistent pace, continuing to champion Toronto through his imagery in music videos/artwork and welcomes his association with the arts in Canada. Most recently he has released a Spike Jonze inspired music video for the single Rhapsody in Dayglo, a collaboration with soul/R&B singer Noel Pink.

Aside from playing venues across Canada, including most recently a stint on the East Coast with Suitcase Sam, Marlon has held record release events, music video premieres and curated live shows throughout the years at the Horseshoe Tavern, Lee’s Palace (sold out EP release for Broken Bricks’ Little Fugitives), The Dakota Tavern (sold out record release for Ada Dahli & the Pallbearers’ Tangents), Burdock, The El Mocambo, Sneaky Dee’s, Free Times Café, now defunct Toronto staples such as the Silver Dollar Room, Rancho Relaxo, Cherry Cola’s Rock ‘n’ Rolla Cabaret & Lounge and more.

Marlon is also a founding member of Möbius Recordings and Möbius Artist Management and has worked with Nu Music Group taking on various roles including writing a semi-regular column about the music industry on Nu Music Group’s website. In vain with staying creative and finding new ways to generate capital/income/new listeners, Marlon began incorporating his passion for visual art with music when he began a series in which he sits down at a canvas and a microphone, and in real time paints his visual interpretation of his own music while singing a live vocal take to the track (available to view on his social media). Marlon has parlayed this project throughout the pandemic into a make-shift source of income by putting these pieces up for auction and displaying the pieces on merchandise. Marlon has an entrepreneur’s mindset and an unstoppable drive.

Marlon also serves as lead vocalist and social media manager for Canada’s Premier Tribute to The Strokes, The Brokes – selling out capacity rooms like Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern, The Baby G and The Junction Underground.