Ryan Dennis

Ryan Thomas Dennis (born 8 January 1984) is a Canadian musician best known as the former lead singer of the Canadian rock band Serial Joe. He also fronted the independent hard rock band High Kapitol. Dennis also plays guitar, and starred in a music video for Our Lady Peace's "Superman's Dead".

Serial Joe

Dennis fronted Serial Joe, a Canadian band from Newmarket, Ontario which consisted of high school students Dennis (vocals, guitar), Ryan Stever (guitar), John Davidson (bass guitar) and Dan Stadnicki (drums). The group released four full-length albums. They were the house band on YTV's System Crash, and won the 1998 Much Music Video award for best independent video ("Skidrow"). In 1999, the band released their first studio album, Face Down, which peaked at No. 47 on the Canadian Albums Chart.^[1] The album's first single, "Mistake", gained international airplay. The band won several awards, and were given the honour of performing at Woodstock 1999 in the "emerging artists" tent. In the early 2000s, they were dropped from their label and broke up shortly thereafter.

Post Serial Joe

Critically assessing the material he co-wrote for Serial Joe, he then wrote many songs on his own; material that came from the heart; real experiences, hardships, observations, and heartbreak. "I just wrote and wrote and wrote until I felt I had an album of really good songs. They all have a certain feel that capture a state of mind at the time in my life. I experienced some harsh realities, relationship-wise and life-wise, confronting old demons. There are a lot of things in a person's life that are hidden because they're not comfortable with them."^[2]

Some time later, Ryan discovered electronic music - particularly techno, deep house and progressive, as conveyed by the likes of Sasha, John Digweed, James Holden and Nathan Fake - and his waning interest in music was again reignited. He began experimenting with a variety of sounds, eventually abandoning rock music altogether. He later settled on a release name - Platypus - which poked fun at the excessively serious nature of most musical endeavors (including his own).^[3]

Ryan's first EP under the Platypus moniker - "Soft Spoken Trees" - was released by Toronto's Thoughtless Music in the summer of 2012,^[4] followed by the January 2013 release - "Argyle" - again under Thoughtless Music.^[5]

Ryan continues to produce under the Platypus moniker, while also acting as producer for Toronto-based deep progressive house duo MNR ^[6]

Personal

On 19 January 2005, Dennis told Jam! Music that he decided to use his middle name "Thomas".^[7] Dennis attended Unionville High School in Unionville, Ontario, Canada.^[8] Thomas has a sister, Jillian, and a brother, Blake, and is the father to one son. He resides in the greater Toronto area, in Ontario. Dennis currently produces electronic music under the Platypus moniker.^[9]

References