About Us

It’s been a long, strange trip to becoming Toronto-based jam band Danceland. The band’s founding guitarist and singer-songwriter, Joe Ferland, came up as a musician in the 1990s New York City music scene, playing in a variety of rock and pop-punk contexts, and earning a few record deals along the way. Eventually, the music biz hustle burned him out, and he took a decade sabbatical. Music came back into his life during the passing of his mother when he and his wife—his co-writer and co-vocalist Jale—found their way to Danceland. The band released its eclectic debut, Pink Lem, in July 2022 . The 7-track album was mixed by Grammy award-winning engineer Gregg Rubin (The Avett Brothers, Harry Connick, Ben Folds).  

Danceland is the core trio of Joe, Jale, and drummer Brad Park, and it operates with an open door policy in terms of keyboard players and bassists. The five-piece band is rooted in a timeless psychedelic Americana tradition, replete with fine, storyteller songcraft; sunny harmonies; lonesome pedal steel; stratospheric lead guitar passages; and a touch of Eastern mysticism. Initially, Danceland was conceived as Cherry Garcia Band, a project performing imaginative versions of Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band tunes. Both bands continue to play live shows.