Staggered Crossing are a Canadian roots rock band.

The original group was formed in 1996 in Toronto by four high school friends, Julian Taylor (JT), Dave Marshall, Dan Black and Jeremy Elliott. The group quickly gained a local following in North Toronto due to their many high energy, raw performances. Later in 1996 they recorded their first EP with Toronto musician and producer, Darrell O’Dea.

Dave Marshall left in 1997 to attend university in Montreal, leaving the group without a lead guitarist. To fill out their live show they added producer, Darrell O’Dea and guitar virtuoso, Bruce Adamson to the line-up. With the new line-up they became one of the busiest rock bands in Toronto playing Lee’s Palace, The Horseshoe Tavern, The Reverb, The El Mocambo and many other Toronto venues on a regular basis.

Due to their growing fan base and after hearing the group’s first EP, producer and publisher, Frank Davies (TMP) signed them to a development deal. This relationship proved fruitful as they wrote and recorded almost 40 songs from 1997 to 1999, many of which have been released on various EP’s and live bootlegs.

They were signed to Warner Music Canada in 1999. Later that year they signed with manager, Larry Wanagas (Bumstead Records, Big Sugar, k.d. lang, Susan Aglukark, The Trews, BOY). Their self-titled full-length debut came out in 2001. The first single, “Further Again” was a huge success, ending the year as the 6th most played song on rock radio in Canada. Subsequent singles, “A Million Works of Art” and “Old Man” were also successful on radio, but received less airplay.

The band continued to tour and perform relentlessly across Canada with the likes of Big Sugar, Blue Rodeo, Nickelback, The Guess Who, Midnight Oil, 54-40, Wide Mouth Mason, Crowbar, Spirit of the West and countless others. They appeared on the Mike Bullard show with Prime Minister, Jean Chrétien and won the C.O.C.A. Best Contemporary Music Recording award in 2001. But despite their success on radio and as a live touring act, they only managed to sell fourteen thousand copies of the record in Canada, an anomaly which the band and label have attributed to Napster, which sprang up that same year.

In 2001 Bruce Adamson left the group to continue his publishing and law career. Wanting to move toward the direct and raw sound of their early years they decided to continue without Darrell O’Dea. Due to disappointing sales and changes in the band’s sound and line-up, Staggered Crossing were dropped by Warner in December 2001.

Original guitarist, Dave Marshall re-joined the group in 2002. Undeterred by the many changes, Staggered Crossing formed their own publishing company and record label, Bent Penny Records. In 2002 they recorded and released the wryly-named follow-up Last Summer When We Were Famous with producer Jay Bennett (Wilco).

Burgundy & Blue followed in 2004, and suddenly and surprisingly reached top 10 on the weekly Nielsen SoundScan sales charts in Toronto market in mid-January 2006, perhaps spurred by the group’s New Year’s Eve show at the popular Toronto venue Lee’s Palace.

The band have toured Canada seven times as of 2006, supporting groups including Nickelback, Midnight Oil, Spirit of the West and The Guess Who. The Canadian Organization of Campus Activities named their self-titled album the Best Contemporary Music Recording of the Year at Universities and Colleges.

The band officially announced the following on August 29th, 2007:

“It is with equal parts sadness and excitement for the future that Staggered Crossing is going on hiatus indefinitely. As our lives have changed and evolved individually we have found it increasingly difficult to devote the time and energy to the band that it deserves. Out of respect for our fans and for the excellence we demand from ourselves we will be hanging up the proverbial skates. We have been fortunate to have been able to make music together for over thirteen years, and have had incredible adventures. We have been fortunate to meet and work with some of the best in the business, and are grateful to everyone that helped us realize our dream of writing, recording and touring original rock and roll. In making the choice to pursue Staggered Crossing we have relied on much love and support from our families, friends and fans. We have been particularly lucky to have seen the lines between each blurred. While it would certainly be more fun to announce a break up because of ‘creative differences’ or because of some monumental and catastrophic fight between bandmates, neither is the case. We simply cannot continue to commit the time, energy and enthusiasm to this band that we love so much. We are still great friends and this change is not the end of our musical collaborations. We continue and will continue to support each other in our various endeavours as fervently as we supported each other through the years in StagX. To celebrate the incredible journey aboard the great ship Staggered over the last thirteen years we will be playing for one last time at our musical home in Toronto, The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern on Friday November 2, 2007. Thanks to all for an incredible ride, and here’s to an exciting future!”

- JT, Dan, Dave and Jeremy Staggered Crossing