 Their primary leader is singer-songwriter Charlie Angus, who entered electoral politics in 2004 as the New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for Timmins—James Bay.The group was originally formed in Toronto in 1986 by Angus, vocalist Michelle Rumball and fiddler Peter Jellard after Angus left the punk rock band L'Étranger.They began as a collective of street buskers, and eventually began playing Toronto-area bars, specifically the old Cabana Room of the Spadina Hotel.