Down With Webster

Born in Toronto’s Beaches neighbourhood, Down With Webster formed in the late 1990s among students from several east-end schools. They began as an instrumental project influenced by jazz, funk and reggae before incorporating more rap and pop-rock. The band’s formula — multiple vocalists, a rock foundation and an unabashed use of hip-hop — took shape through local shows and their first independent album, Down With Webster, released in 2007. After signing with Universal Motown they reached a wider audience with the EP Time to Win, Vol. I (2009) and Time to Win, Vol. II (2011), where their blend of pop hooks, guitars, danceable rhythms and rapped verses became more defined. Party for Your Life (2014) leaned toward pop while retaining the group’s collective energy. Following a hiatus in the mid-2010s, Down With Webster reappeared intermittently in 2020 and 2021 with tracks from V — an album released in 2021 though recorded earlier — before beginning a live comeback in 2024. The band remains associated with a Canadian scene where accessible rock, hip-hop and festival culture intersect, and their trajectory has been shaped as much by touring as by recordings.