NO RIVER - An interview with Chris Nevile and Stewart Elton

NO RIVER

 

ROCK AND ROLL DEATH MADE COUNTRY by Christine Leonard

 

The best damn saloon-band this side of Wayne, Alberta: No River prefers rawhide to rhinestones. Half-cut and full-loaded, the Calgary-based five-piece makes light work of an honest day’s labour. Picking up somewhere between alt-country somnolence and folk punk bravado, they run down riffs like a barn cat going after a piece of tail.

“This affair started with Trenton and some friends who wanted to start a country band as a way to party during Stampede,” explains singer/songwriter/bassist Stewart Elton. “I’ve been playing together with Trenton for over 10 years and was quickly summoned to play bass. After a good two years or so of performing random covers, we had pretty much mastered the art of making just about anyone sound country. The progression went from doing straight-up versions of early classics, like Merle Haggard, to eventually trying to use that countrified style for other songs. We were having so much fun playing that after Stampede ended just we kept on going and eventually started writing original material.”

Rustling in mainstream fodder from hit-makers ranging from The Replacements to Garth Brooks, the jumped-up cover-project has set a prairie-fire on the lips of the Wild Turkey imbibing masses who swoon for the ensemble’s heady Western revivals. Testing the waters with their 2008 nine-track debut, Don’t Pray, the band won accolades for their deep rootsy tones, stirring refrains and superior instrumentation. Here, drunken laments and bar-stool ballads are elevated to legendary status. Heartfelt lyrical stories, clad in by bold yet worn-through melodies, which leave you moist with anticipation and limp with defeat.

“I think we gravitate towards songs that are deceptively easy, but sound outrageous when we present them live,” Elton surmises. “Sometimes we ask ourselves what we’re getting into, but then we just go for it. Now that there are five people in the band, I think we’re definitely playing rock music in a country style. We’re taking advantage of having banjos, lap steel and honky-tonk piano to get us where we want to go. And, we’re having a great time doing it.”

Though the sky may have been cloudless over their dusty trail, No River opened the floodgates by welcoming vocalist/keyboardist/morning DJ Chris Nevile to the fold in late 2011. Joining bassist Elton, percussionist Trenton Shaw, guitarist/lap steel/banjo player Lawrence Nasen and guitarist/vocalist Cody Swinkels, cougar-bait Nevile brings his own golden timbre (and swelling country organ) to the group’s double-proofed orchestral arrangements. Spurred on by the blessings of an innate yet rugged grace, a Marlborough Man’s laconic humour, and some seriously unironic moustaches, the gang with “Five Open Warrants” promises to return to the studio and begin recording a new album this fall. Until then, it’s a summer of rolling (in) the hay, splendour in the sagebrush and airbrushing Cimarron sunsets onto boogie vans across the nation.

“It’s gonna be a solid gold Canadian beaver summer,” Nevile affirms. “Canada Day and Stampede are going to be awesome and then we have a ten day tour out to Vancouver and back through Saskatchewan and Manitoba in middle of July. This time around, the plan is definitely to try to have some more rock jams to compliment our more introverted, sentimental, soul-digging stuff. We’re always trying out new material and we’re especially looking forward to unleashing this demon – this new crazy style that we’ve developed.”

Originally published on July 16, 2012 · by beatrouteab.

 
By Christine Leonard

SAVED FROM THE FLAMES : A tale of fresh flesh with tattooer Erik Reime -

FRESH INK: SAVED FROM THE FLAMES

A tattoo coming-of-age story by Christine Leonard

Originally published via Beat Route Magazine October 2012·

Ascanius shows off his fresh ink at artist Erik Reime's Copenhagen studio.

Here there be dragons...

A long-observed rite of passage in many cultures around the globe, coming-of-age tattoos are something to which many young people look forward. Receiving one’s first line of ink is an indelible way of marking the passage of time and the endlessly transformative nature of our physical existence. What better way to commemorate something, or someone, of importance than to express one’s inner being and reflect a new level of self-actualization? And, what better way to piss off the parents? Ideally, a person’s first visit to the tattoo parlour will be a positive adventure that yields a deeply personal and well-rendered example of the art form, not to mention a good drinking story. On the other bicep, we’ve all heard the horror stories about the guy with the ballpoint pen and the rusty pin. So, do your research, ask around, consult your astrologer and scour the chasms of your soul until your ultimate tattoo presents itself.


Some time ago a co-worker approached me with an interesting dilemma. Her teenage son was bound and determined to get a tattoo. Not an uncommon affliction, but naturally his mother was concerned. What will his future in-laws think? What if he wants to get a job at a bank one day? Suffice it to say that, the demonic designs he had been twisting in his mind weren’t exactly pretty. My question to her, “What’s your ethnic background?” Having just recently attended the Calgary Tattoo & Arts Festival, I was able to pass along the business card and website of Copenhagen-based tattoo artist Erik Reime, who just happens to specialize in bestowing legendary Viking imagery.


“Jonas (Ascanius) wanted a tattoo from the time he was twelve,” Terry Rahbek-Nielsen, his mom, relates. “He would spend hours drawing his tattoo – usually a monstrous face with fangs and horns. And he wanted it to cover his entire chest. We tried for years to talk him out of it using all the arguments parents use – it’s permanent, you will be sorry when you’re 50 — and of course he ignored us and planned his tattoo. He pointed out more than once that when he was eighteen there would be nothing we could do to stop him.


“We heard about Erik Reime (from the author), how his work was done freehand, and that he used themes from Danish Viking mythology. We looked at Erik’s website and liked what we saw. Erik’s work is original, and his dragons are gorgeous. Nobody else in Calgary was likely to have a tattoo like the ones he makes.”
The summer Jonas turned eighteen, the family planned a trip to Copenhagen. Reime was in residence there at the time, so it seemed fated that the tattoo would be done there. Relaxing the mood by making a graduation gift out of the experience, the Ascanius family contacted Reime via email, booked an appointment and, soon, Jonas and his sister, Amalie, found themselves at Rådhusstræde 15 at the artist’s shop, Kunsten pa Kroppen Tattoo Studio.


“He was going to get a tattoo whether we liked it or not. It just seemed fitting that he get a unique tattoo from a really wonderful artist and that it could be something relevant to his life and heritage… that we did it while visiting Denmark was a great bonus! Erik’s studio is in downtown Copenhagen, up several flights of stairs in one of those skinny old buildings,” she relates. “Erik drew the outline on his arm and the thing (dragon) looked HUGE to me. I was trying to convince Jonas to go for something small and discrete… Once Erik started actually doing the real tattoo, the sight of this (very sweet) man drawing blood from my son was just a little creepy. Jonas was fascinated; I was, according to him, distracting and not in a good way. So, they sent me away. When I came back an hour later, Jonas’ tattoo was all done and Amalie had one as well – a sharpie version.”


Born in Norway and educated in Denmark, Reime is highly-praised for his brave Viking patterns and world-binding dragon motifs. The first tattooer ever accepted into the BKF — the Artists’ Union in Denmark — he avoids stencils. Instead, he uses his skill as an artist to draw elegant yet austere black and white designs directly onto the client’s body by hand. In some case, Reime uses a technique he developed, based on Japanese and Polynesian traditions, where needle bundles on the head of a stick are used to tap (or tatt, tatt, tatt) ink into the skin. The results are stunning. Mute touchstones, ancient symbols, prehistoric totems from our foggy past are given new meaning, and strength, thanks to the artist’s eye and the temporal fragility of the living flesh.


“For me, the challenging issue is that these are permanent markings someone puts on their body that have a certain significance at a certain time in their lives,” Jonas’ mom concludes. “People change and grow and what was significant when a person is young may not be so when they are older. And then there is the issue of our bodies changing over time; that perky little butterfly on someone’s 20-year-old behind may be a little less perky when their behind is in their 50s! (The forearm was a good choice, though. It’s not too likely to sag!) I love the originality and significance of Jonas’ tattoo. As a piece of art, it is wonderful and unique… I am still very glad he didn’t get some gross-looking nightmarish creature embedded on his chest!”


By Christine Leonard

 Visit Erik Reime's Homepage: Kunsten pa Kroppen

ALBERTA BOUND TATTOO & ARTS FESTIVAL PREVIEW : Steve Peace interview

Preview 2012:  

ALBERTA BOUND 

TATTOO & ARTS FESTIVAL

  -- Interview & Article by Christine Leonard

 

ONE OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST ART FORMS 

RAISES THE BAR 

ONCE AGAIN

Say “sayonara!” to Sailor Jerry, the modern tattoo parlour doesn’t rely on crudely drawn catalogues of nicotine-stained flash art to earn its bread and butter. Pushing the dimensions of this age-old form of body modification into new realms, today’s tattoo artist deals in transcribing their client’s dreams into ink-under-skin reality. Having come further in the past hundred years than it has in the entirety of its 6,000 year history, the art of pushing pigment into the epidermis still has its share of perilous pitfalls. As far as the reputation of the barb-wired and be-anchored goes, society’s attitudes have been slow to evolve. As it stands, even the most accomplished and talented of ink-jockeys must defend their honour against ill-reputed tattoo schools, who churn out graduates on a bi-monthly basis, not to mention racks of soft-coeur industry zines that read like a high school drop-out’s yearbook of regrettable fascinations.

“We like to think of tattooing as the second oldest profession,” muses Calgary Tattoo and Arts Festival coordinator Steve Peace. “Festivals like ours give people a chance to seek out a tattoo artist that’s really compatible to their own personal style, someone they can see themselves being comfortable working with for eighteen or twenty hours at a time. Price should be your last consideration and never pick your design off a wall. If your favourite artist is booked solid, you should definitely wait. Some people don’t want to wait for an appointment. If they did, there would be a lot less cover-up work going on. It’s a pain in the ass, so wait.



“Now, if you’ve got a piece you are particularly proud of, our tattoo competition is open to anyone. We have awards for ‘tattoo of the day,’ as well as a unique ‘tattoo challenge,’ where six artists will go head-to-head for a $1,000 purse.”

Peace and his fellow organizers, under the Alberta Bound banner, endeavour to provide a showcase of top quality artists combined with some of the best tattoo supplies available in the business. Competition is stiff, but a double-blind audition process and an apolitical stance to providing vendor and artist access assure fairness and objectivity in the process. This measured approach has earned Calgary’s colourful skin show a golden reputation amongst artists and enthusiasts alike, and not just because of the seasonally appropriate autumnal theme.

“Our desire to put on the best run, most organized festival possible to our exhibitors comes from our own personal experiences going to other shows around the world,” Peace explains. “I’ve taken a $49 dollar cab ride to get paper towels. That’s why we make sure to provide all of our artists with any supplies they may require, right down to gloves and sterile water. Our show is cleaner than your average tattoo shop and our booths are five feet larger than the booths you’ll find at similar shows. As far as our invitees themselves, we try to set the talent bar high. We can’t promote people who aren’t ready. There’s no politics to it. It’s up to the artist to work harder and get better.”

No stranger to putting the needle to the groove, Peace advises would-be grinders to develop their skills by diversifying their portfolios. Galleries across Europe and North America are opening their doors and their arms to tattoo artists who have made the leap from living flesh to linen canvas. As in previous years, the autumnal theme of 2012’s showcase will encompass a display of oil paintings and other non-human artwork generated by portrait, script, colour and grayscale experts who are usually known for their corporeal creations.

“A lot of artists are switching over to oil painting,” he confirms. “You can learn so much more about colour and composition by branching out and, in turn, you will bring that depth of knowledge over into your artwork as a tattoo artist. The results can be quite mind blowing.

“Lots of people who are attracted to paintings aren’t interested in getting a tattoo. Artists who can develop their own style and transition between the two are better able to support themselves in their professional careers. As an artist working in the field, I expect to tattoo just about every day, and then I go home and spend hours drawing designs for the next day,” Peace elaborates. “All of the work I do is custom. The top artists will always be spending as much time drawing as they do tattooing.”

Of course, it’s not all work and no play for the ink-slingers and their admirers. Peace believes that variety is the key to keeping the festival fresh and entertaining. And adding an adult aspect to the proceedings seemed like the perfect way to compliment this year’s contingent of international artists and bod-mod celebrities.

“This is our ninth year and the entire time I’ve done everything on the premise that we have to keep changing things up. One year it’s dodgeball, the next it’s classic cars, or roller derby, or Kat Von D. This is the first time we’ve attempted an Adults Night. It’s a special, eighteen-and-over evening where people can walk around with their drinks and enjoy entertainment that’s a little more adult in nature. That will run from four to midnight and then Megan Massacre of New York Ink will be hosting the after-party for our Adults Only Friday Night at the Palomino Smoke House. She’ll be performing a DJ set up stairs with her boyfriend, spinning records for the crowd. Meanwhile, downstairs we’re super excited to be presenting our special musical guests, Fucked Up, who will be featured at the Palomino Friday and Saturday night!”



Providing added value is just one of the ways Steve Peace and the festival presenters at Alberta Bound demonstrate their desire to give back to the community. The organization is currently undergoing a significant realignment that will see future proceeds distributed to those charities close to Peace’s heart.

“We’ve been lucky enough to attract an average of 10,000 people a year to our festival. Now that we’ve settled into our new October dates, we hope to be able continue as a viable annual event. I’m already working on our line-up for our tenth anniversary festival,” he surmises. “We’re still going through the registration process, but, by this time next year, Alberta Bound will be a different company. We’ll be opening our doors as a non-profit enterprise and, this way, people will know the festival operates under that official status. We’re planning to work closely with foundations which provide art supplies and tuition to children in [developing countries]. I’ve travelled to countries like Cambodia, where the kids beg for Bic pens so they can draw. I’m really looking forward to being on-side with charities that are making life better for those kids and providing them with the necessities of life.”

The Alberta Bound Tattoo & Arts Festival runs from October 12 to 14, 2012 at the BMO Centre. After-parties will be hosted at the Palomino on Friday, October 12 and Saturday, October 13 and feature Megan Massacre of New York Ink on Friday night (upstairs) and Fucked Up on Friday and Saturday (downstairs).

Originally published in Beat Route Magazine October 2012
By Christine Leonard
Photos: Andras Schram

 

Original Tiki Tattoo by Jime Litwalk (CTAC Oct. 2012)

 

 

SHOUT OUT OUT OUT OUT - It Might Get Loud

Synth City

Shout Out Out Out Out and the Calgary collection

September 27, 2012 by Christine Leonard

Shout Out Out Out Out is an Edmonton-based electronic band that believes in building one’s reputation from the ground up. Producing groundbreaking material via their own label, Normals Welcome Records, the six-piece sonic juggernaut has achieved a remarkable degree of success over its eight years without bowing to popular convention.

“We’re not a vocal band, we’re a voco band,” lead singer/synth player Nik Kozub relates. 

“I’ve always been a fan of that old vocoder sound, so we continue to use that. The gear is really important to us — one of the reasons the band started is that we have this interest in old analog synths and technology and wanted to work with those instruments. What makes us sound the way we do and have the show we do is the culmination of our backgrounds. We all come from punk bands, so that’s ingrained in us, but we’re actually decidedly focused on playing electronic music, house music, disco and techno.”

A tightly wound followup to their 2006 Juno nominated debut, Not Saying / Just Saying, the band’s instigative sophomore effort, Reintegration Time, fulfilled its promise to freeze digital wizards in their tracks. Shout Out’s next exercise in harmonious defiance, titled Spanish Moss and Total Loss, cold-cocked concert-goers and club-crawlers alike.

“I think that we have changed a bunch over the years, and I think our new album is as different from Reintegration Time as that second album was from the first,” Kozub says. 

“We’ve taken a lot of time between records and in that time our tastes have changed and evolved. In terms of extra instrumentation, we left everything really open. The new album was written entirely in the studio, so if we thought something needed a piano, we used a piano. Our song ‘Never the Same Way Twice’ has some saxophone parts that were originally played on the bass. We thought it would sound cool on a saxophone, so we brought in a saxophone player to do that for us. It was about just letting things happen naturally, and breathe, and come to life however they wanted to.”

Attracted to the concept of using technology to enhance and inform their artistic virtues, the ensemble benefits from musical experiences on both sides of the turntable. Kozub and founding member/co-record label executive Jason Troock both moonlight as DJs. The two sneak in DJ sets while on tour and whenever they’re not busy navigating a universe of sawtoothed waveforms with bandmates Lyle Bell (synth/bass), Willie Dieminzz (bass), Gravy (drums) and Clint Frazier (drums).

Slated for a hometown performance on Whyte Avenue in celebration of Alberta Culture Days at the end of the month, Alberta’s de facto disco kings are still reverberating with excitement after participating in a weeklong artists-in-residence program at Calgary’s hallowed National Music Centre.

“There are few things we enjoy more than pushing voltage around and filtering it and manipulating it,” says Kozub. 

“People don’t think of analog synths as being organic, but to me they really are. Calgary is very lucky to host the NMC. It’s a stunning and fantastic facility and collection. It’s absolutely amazing. We were essentially in there 12 hours a day, just recording and making sounds with all the gear. We wrote and recorded six songs exclusively using the one-of-a-kind instruments from their collection. The result of that is going to be an EP that we’re going to release as a stand-alone project. It’s very different, but it turned out good. I’m really happy with how we rose to that challenge. Our whole summer was really inspiring and creative.”

BIG FREEDIA BRINGS THE BOUNCE : interview by Christine Leonard

More bounce to the ounce! 

Big Freedia brings the booty shaking 

 Big Freedia from the Big Easy 

 A one-woman pageant of fabulousness, bounce sensation Big Freedia (pronounced “Freeda”) has a special place in her heart for her fans. Rightly accredited with blowing the doors off of hip-hop music’s gold-plated closet of sexual stereotypes, the Queen Diva, like fellow sissy-rapper Katey Red, booty-shaker Cheeky Blakk, and electro-queer ragamuffin Sissy Nobby, represents the glittering future of an infamously homophobic corner of the music industry.

“I’m so excited to be coming back and playing at the HiFi, baby! Oh, yeah!” she says. “I’m touring with my dancers and I’ll probably have my DJ with me too. No matter what, we’re going to give it all to you. We settle in pretty quick when we’re on the road; we’re used to going at it hard.”

Celebrated for her bombastic Mardi Gras-inspired bounce workouts, the gender-bending icon’s explosive performances attract throngs (and thongs) of good-time seeking female admirers. Shaking one’s thang is pretty much mandatory at any Big Freedia show, as the spicy videos captured at her live appearances with big-band, funk maestros Galactic attest.
  
“I had so much fun touring with Galactic when they brought me on the road with them,” Freedia says. “It was great to do something different and funk things up really good. They love to rock with me. They my boys. When I do my own shows I like to switch it up and engage the crowd as much as possible,” she continues. “I actually love it when they have us headlining on the same bill as a rock band, or punk band, or straight-up hip-hop, or whatever. I love introducing people to the amazing contrasts between genres, giving them something completely new that they’ve never experience before. It’s very exciting to be a part of this movement; I’m very grateful to be associated with the origins of bounce. How do I define bounce? You could say we consider ourselves uptempo and bass-heavy with a lot of call-and-response chants.”

 

Liberating the masses with heady beats and invigorating rhymes, Big Freedia identifies with her audience members on an ecstatic emotional level. Beyond the roof-raising drag-rap ruckus and hedonistic sampling that are the hallmarks of a Queen Diva joint, the singer harbours an uncanny sense of resilience and self-worth. There’s no question that both qualities link the capricious rapper to her avant-garde music and her deep New Orleans bloodlines.

“I’m happy to have a role in letting people be free to be themselves. For the most part, I think the guys who come to my shows find me approachable. I’m not just about empowering women. I encourage everyone to get onstage. Not just women; anyone who wants to dance and feel freaky at that moment. I’m giving them their moment to rock how they rock, and I don’t judge how they shake they ass. Everybody has their own ability and Big Freedia wants to help them out in a major way and get them tearing up the dance floor.”

Big Freedia is a successful interior decorator by day, and her keen eye for beauty and irrepressible joie de vivre has put her artistic skills in demand.

“I’m used to having a job, and usually return to doing my design work whenever I’m back home. Interior decorating continues to be one of the great sources of happiness in my life. I look for sources of inspiration every chance I get. I recently met one of my idols, Ru Paul. We just shot a video for a new song called ‘Peanut Butter’ together a week ago. It was a dream come true.”

by Christine Leonard

Originally Published in Fast Forward Magazine Sept. 2012 

 

Hard Drugs save lives

Vancouver, meet Brooklyn 

Hard Drugs party through a long-distance relationship

by Christine Leonard


Hard Drugs with Deadhorse & Mahogany Frog
Palomino Smokehouse - September 8, 2012

Hard Drugs is a labour of love that was initially conceived so that singer-songwriter-guitarist Jeffry Lee might make beautiful music together with his then-girlfriend and now wife Jenni Lee Nelson. The rootsy, ramblin’ project has since blossomed into a sunset-hued, love letter worthy of addiction. Recently invited to display his ink drawings at Vancouver’s Project Space art gallery, wily frontman Lee struck upon the idea of creating a 52-page book of his artwork. This, in turn, triggered the burgeoning multimedia performer to intertwine his tome of black-and-white portraits with the semi-autobiographical songs he had been amassing.

“I was offered the opportunity to do the book and from that I came up with the whole sort of art project that is a twofold journal of reflections upon the experiences we had living for a couple of years in Brooklyn,” Lee explains. “The title of the album is a take on the idea of partying beyond forever. I think it’s an apt description of the New York scene. There’s always so much to do and see.”

Grounded by the emotional weight of the married couple’s trials and tribulations while straddling a bicoastal relationship, Party Foreverer takes a sobering look at the consequences of an overindulgent lifestyle. Panged by a career-related separation, Hard Drugs’ first new release since their four-year-old self-titled debut spills out of the partners’ heartfelt musical correspondence between Vancouver and New York.

“The time we spent apart was definitely a low point for our relationship,” Lee says. “It was tough, but in the process we did garner some good art and music out of a bad experience. I would never trade that even if I knew what I know now going into it.”

Lee translates rebellious fracas into imaginative harmony, conjoining his penchant for creating visual art with his ongoing musical dalliances. Refined by perspective and softened through the travails of love, the compelling vigour of his former band Blood Meridian still pulses through the poignant core of the rocker’s bedroom project.

“In some ways, I see more parallels between late Blood Meridian and my earlier works than compared to what I’m doing now,” he says. “It was strange recording with a producer, because I’ve never worked with one before. Michael ‘Mama’ Tudor made a big difference as far as the process went. Even though this is in no way a commercial it’s probably the closest thing to a pop record I’ll ever write.”

Recorded with the aid of his “New York crew” of local musicians, Party Foreverer became the Hard Drugs album that wasn’t supposed to happen. Rather than moving on to formulate a fresh ensemble after returning to the black-and-pink peaks of their beloved British Columbia, Lee has rallied a cross-section of the original ragtag rotation of Hard Drugs players to perform their new material under the old banner. Blood Meridian’s Shira Blustein chimes in on vocals and piano while guitarist Pete Dionne (Lord Beginner) and bass player Jake Goodman string up organ arrangements by Colin McKill. Meanwhile, Lee’s better half has taught herself a new trick — playing the drums.

“I feel like we’re moving backwards through the catalogue of music history as we start branching out into stuff we haven’t gotten into before,” he says. “Party Foreverer, for all intents and purposes, is a punk rock album that retains a lot of country influences. There’s a lot of CCR in there, but also a lot more Ramones and Black Flag. The songs talk about the polar opposition between the East and West Coast, between Canada and the U.S., and between New York and Vancouver. Some of those differences are subtle, others are black and white. I certainly dig the contrast.”

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVENS - Interview with TJ Blair

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVENS

 

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

 An interview with TJ Blair by Christine Leonard

Drawing their name from director John Sturges’ bandit-besieged Western classic, The Magnificent Sevens (or, Mag 7s for short) are Winnipeg, Manitoba’s answer to the eternal question: “O Brother, where art thou?” Road-hardened and battle-proven thanks to four years spent performing on stages from Gimli to Gastown (cutting a 7” with schlock rocker BA Johnston along the way), the DIY five-piece takes a certain pride in knowing they’re introducing a whole new generation to the earthy wiles of bluegrass music.
The Magnificent Sevens : Red River Beaver Feaver from The Mag 7s on Vimeo.


“It’s not that I’m a big Luddite!” says TJ Blair, guitarist/banjoist for the Mag 7s. “But we live in a disposable world and, for that reason, just being in an acoustic band statement is making a statement against the digital revolution. Let’s just say that when the apocalypse hits and there’s no electricity, we’ll be the most popular band around and will still be ramblin’ right along.”


High plains drifter Dirty Roads, released in 2008, was the Mag 7s’ first attempt at corralling the essence of their alt-country jams. Wanted for covering everyone from anar-punk pundits (and fellow Manitoba-ites) Propagandhi to Kentucky crooner Bill Monroe, TJ Blair and accomplices, including banjo/Dobro player David Nishikawa, vocalist/guitarist Matt Magura, fiddler Andy Bart and requisite high-heeled hottie/second fiddle Ida Sawabe, revel in treating today’s chart toppers like precious heirloom antiques.
“We’re into good art whether it be film, painting, music or some other form of artistic expression,” says Blair. “I could rant about avoiding commercialism and creating music for the right reasons, but when it comes right down to the nitty gritty, our aim is to produce songs that are well thought-out and that is what makes them beautiful.”


As unexpectedly satisfying as a Slurpee in December (Winnipeg sells more of those slushy drinks than any city in the world), the understated sophistication and chilly regard conveyed by the ensemble’s freshly-hatched 2012 release All Kinds of Mean brazenly interposes old school values and modern sensibilities.
“The new album captures our most recent collection of songs,” Blair confirms. “About 90 per cent of it was live off floor in Winnipeg. It’s about giving the recording that sense of a live thrill. We know what works for us by now and that method seems to be the ideal way to maintain the energy that you’d experience if you saw us at a festival.


“I’ve gotta admit it’s nice to play festivals with all that fresh air and those appreciative audiences,” he continues. “We get a lot out of performing alongside other folk acts, but the reality is that those types of festivals are literally dying out. And, as much as the bluegrass purists may protest, they don’t get a lot of younger musicians. So, they need bands like us — whether they agree with the direction we’re taking things in or not!”


Even with a generous dash of punk rock gusto throw into their rootsy brew, the Mag 7s display a remarkable degree of respect for the history behind their time-honoured, albeit ever-so-humble, genre. Able to attract and hold the attention of a wide range of music lovers including those Blair describes as “Suburban baby boomers and college crust punks,” the hollow-bodied quintet has found plenty of room to roam within the confines of their unplugged Appalachian asylum.


“Come September we’ll be heading down to a big bluegrass fest in Nashville,” Blair enthuses. “Canadians don’t pay much attention to bluegrass music but, in America, there’s a real musical snobbery to preserving the art form. Down there, we might not even be considered part of the movement at all.”
Shying away from laser light shows and pyrotechnic embellishments (apparently the vapour exuded by smoke machines wreaks havoc on the string slingers’ instruments), the Mag 7s hold true to the precept that just because you’re an acoustic outfit doesn’t mean you’re incapable of playing hard and fast with the Baptist big boys.


“We can definitely pull that stuff off, but at the same time I’m a little worried that they might think we’re bastardizing bluegrass by presenting our own take on the traditional. Fortunately, in my experience, the fans don’t discriminate. They just appreciate good music and that has kept us going. We’re still writing new songs and exploring new territory. At this point, it’s safe to say that we use country/bluegrass as a foundation but that we’re always searching, as artists on front lines, for possible new directions to take that music in and shine some new light.”

Originally published July 3, 2012 · by beatrouteab ·


Interview & Article by Christine Leonard