The Elwins are probably the most endearing band I’ve heard in a long time. I’ve been playing their debut album And I Thank You on repeat since I first listened to it on my ipod sitting/waiting in the Toronto airport; very fitting since that’s the band’s homebase. But it’s not only their sweet pop chords that won me over, or their comical music videos, or even the legendary homemade merch, no, what really twisted my heart strings was their affection for cats which is nowhere more apparent on their Instagram photos or Tumblr account.
But The Elwins are more than just cute faces (and kittens), behind their lighthearted attitude they are a hard working band that are just getting on their feet, and are poised to win hearts across Canada. They’ve showcased at some of the big festivals including SXSW, CMW, and the Halifax Pop Explosion, and they’ve been moonlighting around the greater Toronto area and for all of their efforts CBC Radio 3 has marked them as a band to watch in 2012. They’ve also played alongside the likes of Nils Edenloff(Rural Alberta Advantage), Casey Mecija (Ohbijou), Jay Ferguson (Sloan), and Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene), some of the biggest voices in Canadian Indie Music. The more I discover about their positive attitudes and Do-it-yourself approach to music, the stronger I feel that they are a band that should be getting even more lovin’ from music fans.
I was lucky enough to get a chance to chat with bassist Feurd Moore on my radio show a few weeks ago, and it was amazing to ask him first hand some questions about things like the album title origins, or what it was like to work with Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog, Man Man) and Ryan Hadlock (Blonde Redhead, Islands), and what sort of bands they’ve been listening to. Below you’ll find the audio from that chat:
If you want to hear more you can also stream tracks from And I Thank You the band has made available on Soundcloud… and I’d highly recommend following them on Twitter or Instagram if your day is in need of a smile!
The nicest thing about having your own little space on the internet is that you can lend support to your musical friends. My dear friend Corey Isenor is a alternative folk musician living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We both met at Mount Allison University and through community radio and being a part of the music scene in Sackville we became friends. Now that Corey is living in “the big city” I don’t see him as much, only when I escape to Halifax for a show… and then crash on his couch.
I only discovered Analogsongs when Corey posted this a few days ago. It’s a website based in Nova Scotia committed to publishing videos of independent musicians. The video and sound quality is amazing, and it’s an opportunity to see artists perform off stage in a unique environment, and as the website advertises, often a striped down version of their songs. This video is a glimpse of Corey performing in his Halifax apartment a beautiful song called “The Ballad of Emily” from his newest release The Hunting Party. As Corey says in the intro, it was an older song which he reworked a little to fit onto the new album and it became the jewel of the album. It a really bittersweet love song, and definitely a standout track.
Be sure to check out analogsongs.ca to see great performances from other Maritime artists like Ruth Minnikin, Old Man Luedecke, Ryan McGrath and more!
The Wooden Sky & The Great Bloomers My House, Sackville, NB
February 27th, 2012
It was that quiet hour before shift change at work, and I was killing lazily time scrolling through my favourite music blogs when I saw a little promo on Exclaim Magazine’sside column about The Wooden Sky. I was really looking forward to their upcoming Maritime tour so I clicked on the link and what I had stumbled upon was a contest to have The Wooden Sky play at your house. When my coworker arrived she found me surrounded by half scrawled bits of paper with what would later become my entry, and a wild excited look in my eye. I can’t explain it, but I had this gut feeling that they were going to play at my house. That sort of “It’s all happening” feeling. All you had to do was write a letter to the Ontario country/rock denizens and tell them why you should play at your house, and what you would do to help promote their tour in your area. My email offered all the comforts of a Sackville potluck, the coziness of a Maritime kitchen party, and the creme-de-la-creme of Sackville music goers (or as many as would fit into the house). I wish they could have seen a video of me joyously jumping in front of my laptop when I received an email telling me I had won.
The day of the concert was like waiting for Christmas. I received a tweet earlier from The Wooden Sky asking if it might be okay if their tour-mates the Great Bloomers played a set at the house. Was it alright? My response was “I thought you’d never ask.” It had been a few years since I had seen them play, and I had heard indie gossip that the Bloomers’ new material was really amazing, so I was pretty excited to be able to host both bands.
I realized as both vans hauling trailers pulled into my driveway that maybe this was a strange social exchange. I didn’t really know these people and they didn’t know me, and here they were, all ten of them, piling into my house. There was only a half second that I felt a spasm of uncertainty, but it was at that moment that Andrew Wyatt of The Wooden Sky said hello and discreetly walked over to a pile or records and flipped through them inquisitively. I felt immediately at ease and knew that I had met some kindred spirits at that moment, people who just really loved music.
The gear was piled high in the kitchen, and guests were arriving with their potluck dishes in the midst of the bands setting up. Edwin Huizinga the violinist of The Wooden Sky was as much a host as myself or my roommates, getting to know all the guests in the back room. There was just enough food to go around, and I sort of felt like it was a five loaves and two fishes sort of deal the way our gathering had managed to feed so many people. By the time we were all filled with food and drinks the Great Bloomers took the stage. I’ve thought about it a lot, and I think the recipe for magic is that perfect, but elusive, ratio of wine : food : music : friends.
What I had heard about the Great Bloomers wasn’t wrong, their new songs were amazing and they were certainly perfect touring companions for The Wooden Sky. I found myself in a perfect moment hugging Olive, our confused house dog, and listening quietly; grinning away as they played one of their newest tracks “Sunday Clothes“. There is something powerful and touching about that song in the way that it starts off unassumingly and slowly builds into an emotion filled crescendo. At the moment lead singer Lowell Sostomi is joined by the harmonies of his band members and the song gives way to the trumpet, it was as if the walls of our kitchen were resonating with this longing emotion of the song.
The Wooden Sky had been the white whale of Canadian bands for me, it seemed like I always just missed them for whatever reason. So to see them perform for the first time in my kitchen, well, it’s hard to put into words how special that experience was. It was a very intimate, cozy evening. People were sitting on the floor, leaning against counters, and pressed into the space and each person was beaming and really soaking in the music. There was quiet, joyful chatter in-between songs, and banter between the band and the new friends that had assembled. I’m so happy that my roommate Zach captured one of their new songs “Malibu Rum” on video, because it is one of my favourites off the new album “Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun” which was actually released at midnight the evening of our house show.
The night was a gathering of some of my favourite people, both new friends and old. Whenever I listen to The Wooden Sky now, I just feel a swell of joy and I’m instantly brought back to that night. I was lucky enough to see them play in Moncton a few nights later and was treated to a plugged in rock set, but this band has an amazing talent to cater to both the smallest of gatherings to the crowd at a rock venue. The finale sing-a-long “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” originally recorded by Bob Dylan had the Great Bloomers joining in on percussion, and everyone up on their feet singing and dancing. It is a sweet memory. I know they played that song every night of the tour, but the music was really alive when they played it that night.
It was sad to see the guitars, drums, keyboards and foot pedals packed up and our kitchen restored to it’s original state at the end of the night. The Wooden Sky had to drive into the snowy night to catch an interview in Halifax but the Great Bloomers stayed and we were treated to some great Fleetwood Mac covers complete with out of tune piano and my roommates’ upright bass in our house’s jam room. The night saw us empty out of the house to let some of my roommates sleep while we played foosball late into the night at Ducky’s Pub. If was really a special night, one to go down in the books.
You can read Gavin Gardiner’s blog entry about the house show initiative here on the Exclaim blog. For more information and The Wooden Sky and their tour check out their website. Be sure to also check out The Great Bloomers on their new label Dine Alone, they have a song on the spring sampler and it’s a gem!
Playlist for March 19th, 2012 in which I dream about the acts I would like to catch at SXSW… maybe next year! Interview with Ben Caplan and ticket giveaway for Hey Rosetta! on this show.
May 11th Episode 29 - Interview with The North Lakes on their new release "Grand Prix" plus a rocking playlist of indie tracks to match!
May 18th Episode 30 - Interview with Jenny Berkel and some sweet soulful tunes to compliment. Tune in Friday at 4pm on CHMA 106.9FM
Upcoming Concerts:
May 11 Cinema L'amour & Construction + Destruction @ Struts 8:30 pm
May 12 North Lakes Album Release Yellow Teeth, Astral Gunk, & Quaker Parents @ The Legion 10 pm
May 16 Baby Eagle, Del Bel and Lisa Bozikovic @ The Legion 8 pm
May 19 Jenny Beckel @ Bridge Street Cafe 3-6 pm
Bandcamp Gems:
Hailing from the small, but thriving music metropolis of Sackville, New Brunswick, Yellowteeth is a band that will open for a headlining act and steal the show. The trio of Mount Allison undergrads rock harder in their 2 minute songs than most bands do in entire albums. Guitar goddes Josée Caron shreds the guitar while drummer Evan Matthews beats out a tempo with enough horsepower to drag audiences to hell and back to the stage again as Nic Wilson belts out the anthems of the mosh pit on the vox. It's dirty pop that will grab you at first listen; grab you and your junk.
