Alvvays

Alvvays are a Grammy-nominated Canadian dream pop band formed in Prince Edward Island, Canada in 2011. Reverb-drenched and bittersweet, Alvvays members Molly Rankin (daughter of the late John Morris Rankin of popular Canadian Celtic folk band The Rankin Family) and Kerri MacLellan were childhood friends, who played music together while growing up in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada in the 1990s and 2000s. Rankin and MacLellan moved to Prince Edward Island for college. It was there that Rankin met guitarist Alec O'Hanley (of Charlottetown bands The Danks and Two Hours Traffic). O'Hanley encouraged Rankin's songwriting, and produced and played on Rankin's recordings. Rankin released a solo EP titled "She EP" , featuring O'Hanley in a major supporting role. In 2011, Rankin was working on a full-length solo album with O'Hanley, when the album's producer Chad VanGaalen remarked that it felt more like a band record than a solo record. Based on that remark, Rankin and O'Hanley formed Alvvays with MacLellan on keyboards, and new members Brian Murphy on bass and Phil MacIsaac on drums. Following tours with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Peter Bjorn and John, the group released their first full-length album, Alvvays, which was released by Royal Mountain Records (Canada), Polyvinyl Records (US), and Transgressive Records (Europe) in July 2014. Chad VanGaalen, John Agnello, and Graham Walsh of Holy Fuck all contributed to the album's production. Simon Vozick-Levinson, writing in Rolling Stone, called the eponymous album an "indie-pop wonder". Alvvays went to #1 on US college charts on August 5, 2014. In 2017, Alvvays released their second album, Antisocialites, and Sheridan Riley joined as the band's new drummer. After an extensive tour in support of Antisocialites, the band took a break to write material for a third album. Progress on the third album was thwarted by both the Covid pandemic, and a break-in at Rankin's apartment where a burglar stole a recording device which had the band's demos stored on it. in 2021, Abbey Blackwell joined Alvvays as bassist, supplanting Brian Murphy. The third Alvvays album, Blue Rev, was finally completed and released in 2022. In 2024, Alvvays were nominated for their first Grammy, for Best Alternative Music Performance. That same year, Blackwell left the band to pursue solo projects. In 2025, Rankin and O'Hanley co-wrote the track "End Of the World" for Miley Cyrus, alongside several other writers. .