Lost Dakotas was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 alternative country

Alternative country

Alternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...

 band in the 1990s. The band originally consisted of vocalist Paul Dakota and bassist Greg McConnell

Greg McConnell

Greg McConnell was a Canadian indie rock musician, who was a member of the alternative country bands Absolute Whores , Lost Dakotas and Stratochief....

 (formerly of Absolute Whores

Absolute Whores

'Absolute Whores' are a Canadian indie rock/Cowpunk band most active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band consisted of Greg McConnell as Ugly Dick Adonis, Vaughan Passmore as Blind Pig Neuton, Albert Saxby as Clint Rude. Michael Lavery as Sven Campbell and Johnny Trash as himself...

), who began in 1989 as a busker

Busking

Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...

 duo at the corner of Yonge and Dundas Streets in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. Their contemporaries in the busking scene included Leslie Spit Treeo

Leslie Spit Treeo

Leslie Spit Treeo were a Canadian folk-rock band in the 1980s and 1990s. The band took its name from the Leslie Street Spit area of Toronto Harbour.-History:...

, Grievous Angels

Grievous Angels

Grievous Angels were a Canadian alternative country band, active from 1986 to 2004. The band's primary member was singer-songwriter Charlie Angus, who entered electoral politics in 2004 as the New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for Timmins—James Bay....

, Graeme Kirkland

Graeme Kirkland

Graeme Kirkland was a producer, composer, musician, and performance artist during the late 1980s and 1990s. He was probably best known for his street drumming using overturned buckets and other available surfaces for his performance...

 and Barenaked Ladies

Barenaked Ladies

Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...

.

Dakota and McConnell added guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist Adam Faux and drummer Ron Duffy for their 1990 debut, Love to Play. Initially released as a limited edition cassette, the album completely sold out in just two days. The band's visuals, including poster

Poster

A poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be...

s and album art animated video clips, were created by artist Erella Vent.

1991's Last Train to Kipling (a reference to Kipling station

Kipling (TTC)

Kipling is the western terminus station of the Bloor–Danforth line of the subway system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the westernmost station in the system. It is located on St...

 on the Toronto Transit Commission

Toronto Transit Commission

-Island Ferry:The ferry service to the Toronto Islands was operated by the TTC from 1927 until 1962, when it was transferred to the Metro Parks and Culture department. Since 1998, the ferry service is run by Toronto Parks and Recreation.-Gray Coach:...

's Bloor-Danforth subway

Rapid transit

A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

 line) was one of the most notable Canadian indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 albums of the 1990s, staying in the campus radio

Campus radio

Campus radio is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively by students, or may include programmers from the wider community in which the radio station is based...

 charts in Chart

Chart (magazine)

ChartAttack is a Canadian online music publication. Formerly a monthly print magazine called Chart, which was published from 1991 to 2009, the web version continues operation....

for over 100 weeks. In 1992 Faux left to form his own band, Pig Farm, and was replaced by Rick O'Brien.

The band broke up following their 1993 album Sun Machine. McConnell went on to form Stratochief

Stratochief

Stratochief is a Canadian alternative country band.The band was originally formed by Greg McConnell, following the breakup of his earlier band, Lost Dakotas. Vaughan Passmore and Johnny Trash, McConnell's 1980s bandmates in Absolute Whores, joined McConnell in the new band.The band's debut album,...

, but died in 1999. Erella Vent, now Erella Ganon, continues as an illustrator and writer. Adam Faux currently leads two bands with drummer Topher Stott, Hot Fo Gandhi and The Tiny Specks.

Discography

• Love to Play (1990)
• Last Train to Kipling (1991)
• Sun Machine (1993)