The Hidden Cameras. in collaboration with Rough Trade Records, announce a 20th anniversary expanded deluxe reissue of their majestic debut album, ‘The Smell of Our Own’.

Available to independent retailers as a deluxe double LP edition on yellow vinyl, featuring bonus demos and live session recordings.

The Hidden Cameras burst onto the Toronto music scene in the early 2000s, boasting an irresistible combination of pop and queer sensibilities. Playing self-proclaimed ‘Gay Church Folk Music’, a new genre of their own making and songs ranging from haunted, aching ballads to foot stomping anthems, the band’s outrageous stage shows packed such disparate venues as sweaty dance bars, art museums, working porn cinemas as well as many churches. Fronted by lead singer songwriter Joel Gibb, the ensemble continues their musical provocations to this day, with Berlin now as their centre of gravity.

The Hidden Cameras will perform anniversary shows around Europe and the UK in March and April 2023 to coincide with the reissue of ‘The Smell Of Our Own’, including a show at EartH, London, with original string player Owen Pallett, on April 10th.

The Hidden Cameras had yet to release a note of commercially available music when, in early 2002, they became among the most discussed and celebrated unsigned bands in the history of their native Toronto. By the close of the year, they had been the subject of uncommonly sensational features in The Globe and Mail (Canada’s national newspaper) as well as in every daily and weekly in Toronto.

The reasons for the reckless enthusiasm of these usually cautious journals were simple: revelatory live performances that attacked and transcended the staid, dispassionate traditions of rock nightclub culture; and the songs of band frontman and mastermind Joel Gibb, a talent of uncommon melodic and poetic gifts.

‘The Smell of Our Own’ was originally released in April 2003 on Rough Trade to tremendous critical acclaim.