For two years he had been stranded on deserted west coast islands counting bird eggs and battling the isolation of life as a street performer in Vancouver. Then the spring of 2002 found Nova Scotia Biologist Steve Gates at a crossroads that would lead him back to Nova Scotia to quell the fire in his belly. To record his songs of isolation and love on the Atlantic Coast, Gates cobbled together a band with bassist, Zac Crouse, performance pianist, Ian Bent and drummer, Steve Reble. The result was 2004's Lost Balloons, written and delivered in a style that reflected Gates’ singer songwriter approach, alternative country and folk rock. Lost Balloons landed Gates a nomination for “best album of the year” from Music Nova Scotia in 2004.

Gates never wanted to write music alone. Growing up he had Jammed out to Pearl Jam with his high school buddies and hoped the success of Lost Balloons would encourage a similar collaboration.

With members scattered across the globe – Yukon to Uganda – the collaboration took several years.

By 2006 the first Caledonia effort, “Waiting to Burn”, a five song EP, was released. It combined all the members’ influences, including the post punk of the late 70s – like Elvis Costello and The Clash - and the break beats of the mid 90s.

Following the EP's release and subsequent tours in 2006, which included sleeping in the van at -40C in Dryden Ontario, brooding over the landscape between Winnepeg and Thunder Bay and trying to avoid being trampled by France’s Whitewater Kayak team (a show at the World Freestyle Kayak Championships), Caledonia developed a unified vision.

This vision included the sounds of “Junior Blue”, a studio project produced by “By Divine Right’s” former bassist Dylan Hudecki. A "myspace" friendship was formed with Hudecki and after he joined the band for a show at the Rivoli in Toronto, Caledonia was set on making him a part of the album.

Building on the influence of 70’s post punk, Gates’ earlier folk works and Hudecki's experimental soundscapes, Caledonia’s first full-length is a story of strength and hope.