Wednesday’s Engine

The story

The Band

Wednesday’s Engine is a five-piece pop, rock, and dance band built around one idea: the set list has no rules. Accomplished singers and musicians with enough edge and range to put radically different artists next to one another — and make the result work.

The band has played casinos, clubs, fairs, festivals, corporate functions, and private events across Canada and the United States. Every show runs on the same fuel: songs you know, played in ways you haven’t heard.

No rules. Just great music.

Five on stage

Members

Howie

Lead Vocals & Guitar

As the dynamic lead vocalist for Wednesday's Engine, Howie Turner brings an electrifying presence and remarkable vocal versatility to the front of the stage. Navigating an unpredictable and evolving setlist that seamlessly pivots from heavy rock anthems to infectious pop and dance floor classics, his commanding range is central to the band's signature, genre-bending sound. Whether he's driving the crowd at a lively festival, a packed club, or a private event, Howie's engaging charisma and ability to put radically different musical styles shoulder-to-shoulder ensures every performance is unforgettable and keeps the engine running at full throttle.

Gear: Gibson guitars, Orange amplification, Telefunken vocal microphones

Unexpected pick: Time After Time

Jeff

Guitar & Vocals

As the newest powerhouse addition to Wednesday's Engine, Jeff brings jaw-dropping virtuosic guitar skills and stellar vocal abilities that elevate the band's dynamic live shows to thrilling new heights. He leans into every performance with an infectious passion and relentless energy, effortlessly tearing through the group's famously unpredictable, genre-spanning setlists. Beyond his undeniable technical brilliance on the fretboard and the mic, Jeff is an all-around incredible guy whose positive, collaborative spirit makes him a true pleasure to share the stage with. His masterful musicianship and magnetic enthusiasm are the perfect fuel to keep the engine roaring night after night!

Gear: Custom Guitars with Seymour Duncan Pickups, Shure Wireless and IEM, AXE FX, Matrix Power, and Behringer Outboard Gear, Custom Cabinets

Unexpected pick: I love 'em all.

Jim

Keyboards, Guitars & Vocals

As the rhythmic and melodic anchor for Wednesday's Engine, Jim brings a dynamic, dual-threat musicality to the stage through his expert keyboard and rhythm guitar work. His versatile playing provides the essential harmonic glue that allows the band to seamlessly transition across their famously unpredictable setlist, whether he is laying down lush synth textures for an upbeat dance track or driving the gritty chord progressions of a heavy rock anthem. With a keen ear for reimagining familiar covers and an infectious on-stage energy, Jim's multifaceted musicianship is vital to the band's rich, full-throttle sound, guaranteeing an unforgettable groove for audiences at every club, casino, and festival they play.

Gear: Korg Kronos 88, Phaez and Orange Amplification, Mesa Boogie Amplification, Fender Telecaster, Charvel Strat, and Epiphone Explorer

Unexpected pick: Clocks

Aren

Bass & Vocals

As the foundational heartbeat of Wednesday's Engine, Aren commands the low end with a deep, driving bass presence that keeps the dance floor moving and the band locked perfectly in the pocket. Navigating a relentlessly unpredictable setlist, his versatile playing effortlessly shifts from the thumping, infectious grooves of modern pop and dance hits to the heavy, thunderous undertones of classic rock anthems. Aren's impeccable timing and rhythmic instinct provide the sturdy bedrock upon which the band builds its genre-defying sound, ensuring that every unexpected musical turn is anchored by a massive, inescapable groove that fuels the engine night after night.

Gear: Fender Jazz, Fender Precision, Yorkville Amplification, Mesa Amplification

Unexpected pick: Jet

Steve

Drums & Vocals

Steven R. Thomas is a professional percussionist, singer, and songwriter who has enjoyed a prolific, decades-long career primarily in the Canadian rock music scene. Originally from England and raised in Canada, he began drumming at age eleven and was touring full-time by the time he was eighteen. Over the years, he has played and recorded with numerous successful acts, most notably the Gene Simmons-produced band Gypsy Rose (RCA) in the early 1990s and the critically acclaimed group Blu Bones (A&M). Alongside simultaneously earning degrees in Computer Science, Thomas has remained deeply active in the music industry through teaching, session recording, and continuously performing with a variety of bands while continuing to release new music and tour internationally.

Gear: Pearl Drums (Masters Series), Sabian Cymbals, Promark Drumsticks, Roland Samplers, Sennheiser Vocal Microphones

Unexpected pick: Just Dance

Where it began

The Backstory

It starts in the summer of 1986 with two young musicians, a borrowed van, and a band called Passion Play. Steve and Howie — barely out of their teens, not brothers by blood but brothers in arms and in purpose, united by an undeniable need to make great music together — pointed that van down the Trans-Canada and simply refused to come home: years of relentless touring, coast to coast and back again, hall by hall, highway by highway. Blizzards, border towns, broken alternators, encores. The road taught us how to play. Brotherhood taught us why.

Passion Play was the beginning, not the exception. In the years that followed, all five of us went the distance in this business — record deals, studio albums, and tours that stamped our passports on stages around the world. Different bands, different cities, different decades. But Ontario kept calling us back, and so did each other.

Wednesday's Engine started the way the name suggests. Wednesday was the one night five working musicians could all make it into the same room, in the middle of the week, playing for nothing but the noise itself. One night somebody put a country tune next to a dance-floor anthem next to something heavy — and it worked. The rule was born: no rules. And that night became the engine that pulled the rest of the week behind it.

In March 2011 the Engine rolled out of the rehearsal room and onto the stage of The Hideout in Toronto — and mostly never stopped. Casino floors at Caesars Windsor and Turning Stone. The CNE. Festival stages from the Dundas Cactus Festival to Friday the 13th in Port Dover. Club nights from Sudbury to Grand Bend to London. More than two hundred shows across Canada and the United States, every one of them running on the same fuel: songs you know, played in ways you haven't heard.

We are brothers — all five of us, in arms and in purpose — and that love has carried us across distance and time. It's infused into the way we play. It's what kept the Engine warm through the quiet years, what brought us roaring back in 2022, and why we're in the shop right now building a bigger, louder show for 2026. Forty years after two kids pointed a van west, the Engine is still running. No rules. Just great music.