Of Might And Main (aka John Shorkey) hails from Toronto and is now based in Peterborough Ontario. Five albums have been released under this moniker: California Said (a theme album based on a fictional 60’s band set in California), Not A Huge Fan (catchy melodies rule but noisy guitars and pounding drums lead the way); Bail And Parole (folk/rock and country songs about personal and relationship struggles with a backdrop of urban angst); Misfits (a varied collection of songs written with brother Jim); Of Might And Main (self-titled debut which set the template for his home recorded sound).
It started off with the six song EP’s King Of Pop and Chemicals, and a single Laura Petrie/Millie Helper which were all released under the name Too Far Gone. Too Far Gone originated with John and his lyricist brother Jim Shorkey writing songs together and forming a band with guitarist Brian Steele, bassist Davey Dozois, and drummer Sheila McDougall. They made it out of the basement for a couple of local pub shows in the east end of Toronto but the band dissolved not long after and TFG lay dormant for years. As the songs piled up, the brothers decided to start to record some of them and got drummer Greg MacIlvene involved again (he had originally sat in on an early TFG session). Greg brought in his long time rhythm partner, bassist Mike Smith, and they recorded the bed tracks for the Too Far Gone recordings.
A collection of older unreleased songs written by brothers John and Jim is in the works. It is titled Clamour & Song and will hopefully see the light of day soon. In the meantime, the brothers released “Misdirected”, an EP of new(ish) songs in the fall of 2022.