INDIAN HANDCRAFTS : An interview with Brandyn Aikins

INDIAN HANDCRAFTS

Mixed Martial Arts & Crafts for Losers

 

SHOOTING ARROWS AT THE SUN: Christine Leonard interviews Indian Handcrafts' Brandyn "Bruce Lee" Aikins

More than just your average roadside attraction, Indian Handcrafts is an exceptionally sharp and hard-hitting power duo from the sweltering burbs of Barrie, Ont. A serious contender for album of the year, the outfit’s November 2012 debut on the Sargent House record label, Civil Disobedience For Losers, is an action-packed thrill ride that leaves no doubt that two can sound as good as four, or more. One half of Indian Handcraft’s devastating onslaught, drummer Brandyn Aikins feels fortunate that destiny arranged for him to meet up with guitarist/vocalist Dan Allen at the recording studio of a mutual friend.

“Dan and I started jamming for fun,” Aikins explains. “But, before we knew it, what was basically a fun distraction grew into the foundations of full-fledged band. By 2003, we had formed an indie folk group, called Fox Jaws, which featured my sister, Carleigh, on vocals. Still, Dan and I loved, and had a tendency to want to play, heavy music. So, it was only natural that the whole time we were in Fox Jaws we experimented with other directions we could go in. After a time, we kind of decided that, if we were going to be completely satisfied with what we were doing, we need to change things up and said, ‘Why don’t the two of us try out some of those heavy riffs Dan’s been working on?’”

Leaner and meaner, the trimmed-down twosome of Aikins and Allen began stretching their performing and songwriting skills to achieve the ample-yet-calculated sonic manoeuvres that characterize their sound. Taking themselves outside the box and out of their usual element, Indian Handcrafts conjured the fighting spirit of Bruce Lee on a track named in his honour and succeeded in exorcising their heavy metal demons the old-fashioned way.

“We had a surplus of energy built up coming out of the old band and that helped us write a lot of songs. Lyrically, we were all over the place, stabbing at a lot of themes, ranging from goofy, psychedelic tales, like ‘Terminal Horse,’ to songs about the uprising of Indigenous populations, or Soviet Union-era politics, or individuals who struggle with mental illness, as we allude to on ‘Centari Teenage Riot.’ I’ve done a lot of things in my life, but I have yet to link arms with strangers to stop a tank in the streets. It may not be too deep, but by making my music the way I want to, I can put forth my convictions in my own way.”

Soon to become a worst-kept secret, Indian Handcrafts is preparing to embark on a cross-Canada tour with Billy Talent, Sum 41 and Hollerado. Having made waves at Edgefest, the band that‘s louder than acts three times their size anticipates that they’ll be kicking off 2013 with a bang. And they’ve got the tenacity to hang in there. After all, Allen recorded their stunning new album with a broken hand!

“We try and sound huge and put out that heavy vibe that we’ve always loved and wanted to play. The fact that it’s so much easier to get our act together, as a pared-down two-piece, is purely a bonus. There’s a lot of serendipity in how it’s all come together for us. For now, this is part of my life. It’s what I’m interested in. And, it’s quite an honour. But, I never forget that it’s important to have fun and I’m looking forward to experience things I never knew existed before.”

Originally published in FFWD Weekly Magazine -- March 2013
By Christine Leonard

Ron Rault : An All-Star Tribute to The Band

Another date with “The Weight”

A tribute to The Band returns to the Ironwood

by Christine Leonard


All Star Tribute to The Band
Ironwood Stage & Grill
Friday, February 15-16, 2013

The year was 1970, and young music enthusiast Ron Rault hadn’t really been up front at a rock concert before. He soon found himself pressed against the trembling barriers of McMahon Stadium as the legendary cast of the Festival Express Tour took to the stage, and he knew there’d be no turning back. Now an accomplished bass player and bandleader, Rault recalls being especially riveted by The Band’s masterful performance, featuring the late great drummer and composer Levon Helm. Helm, who passed away in April, remains as relevant as ever and was honoured at this year’s Grammys with a rousing rendition of one of The Band’s most popular tunes, “The Weight.”

“Being 10 feet away from those incredibly talented musicians was a life-changing and, dare I say, religious experience for me,” Rault, uncle to guitar prodigy Michael Rault, recounts.

Captivated then and now with the soulful reveries and bottom-heavy blues that distinguished The Band’s rustic rock anthems, Rault and his band, the Front Porch Roots Revue, have dedicated themselves to venerating what they consider to be some of the finest material to ever come out of Canada. When it comes to waxing nostalgic with seven-part harmony, you need look no further than The Band. And that’s exactly what Rault had in mind when he came together with a mandolin-slinging ensemble of like-minded musicians to pay tribute to Ontario’s original road warriors.

“I have a feeling that I’m speaking for everyone in Front Porch when I say we were deeply touched and moved by The Band’s music in a way that goes beyond genres,” he says. “They have had an indefinable influence on our musical upbringings, and popular music in general, much in the same way that The Beatles have. It was absolutely no effort for us to learn all these songs so quickly. We went back and studied the roots of The Band’s rough, roadhouse sound and found everything from country, bluegrass, gospel, blues, R&B and soul. You can’t put your finger on exactly what kind of music it is, but when I watch from my perch on bass I am thrilled with how our group immerses itself in every interpretation we do.”

Accompanying bassist and vocalist Rault in his recently reshuffled Front Porch Roots Revue are organist/pianist/accordion player/vocalist Ron Casat (Edmonton Folk Music Festival House Band), guitarist/mandolinist/vocalist Gord Matthews (The Reclines, Ian Tyson’s trio), Calgary’s prodigal son/singer-songwriter/pianist J.R. Shore, percussionist Thom Moon, vocalist/harmonica player Dave “Crawdad” Cantera and Vancouver transplant vocalist/rhythm guitarist Doug Andrew (The Circus in Flames, Shanghai Dog). Rault hopes their wiry and woody ensemble will be treated to the same warm reception they received at last year’s back-to-back performances.

“I was somewhat surprised when we sold out the Friday night show last year and had a very large crowd on the Thursday,” he recalls. “I think it’s interesting that this version of Front Porch has three members from Calgary and three from Edmonton, as well as one from Vancouver. It really is a remarkable collective of accomplished players and singers from the Western Canadian roots scene, and we all share such a great love and admiration for The Band."

“I never consider the songs we present for Up on Cripple Creek as being covers," he continues. "There are wedding bands out there that learn these songs note for note, but we have always asked our guys to take these classic tunes and make them their own. When you hear a young man like J.R. Shore pulling out such raw and deep pieces of Canadiana you gain a sense of the reverence and respect he has for the work; it simply transports you to another time and place.”

SONICWAVES OF ICELAND - An interview with Mark Hamilton by Christine Leonard-Cripps

SonicWaves bridges the gap between Calgary and Reykjavik

 

Sonic Waves presented in conjunction with One Yellow Rabbit's  High Performance Rodeo

Local man-about-town turned international songwriter Mark Hamilton has spent the better part of the last decade nurturing his fledgling folk vehicle, Woodpigeon, into a recording and touring success. Relocating from Calgary to Brighton, Edinburgh, and eventually Vienna, his passion for fashioning new musical constructs has led him to develop relationships that would never have been available to him had he remained static. Best informed by exploring a broad scope of cultural environments, Hamilton will soon return to Calgary, bringing with him the SonicWaves event — a musical mini-fest that will hopefully bridge the gap between Iceland and Calgary.

“The idea for SonicWaves came from my first visit to Iceland in 2009,” Hamilton says. “Since then I’ve come back three additional times, including a performance at Iceland Airwaves 2012, one of the greatest festival experiences of my life. What I took primarily from my visits here was a sense of self-confidence — that if my songs got me here, they could get me anywhere. And with that in mind, I wanted to share that feeling with some Calgary musicians that I’m a fan of.”

Hamilton sought out Icelandic musicians to collaborate on a project that would come to be known as SonicWaves. He also called upon a handful of Calgary’s most prolific songmakers to pair their original creations with the material being generated by his Mid-Atlantic collective.

“As far as kinship, the Icelanders we know are some of the sweetest, most giving musicians I’ve ever met. It’s a great feeling to be working so closely with true friends like this,” he says. “Alongside me stand Clinton St. John, Laura Leif, Samantha Savage Smith and, from Reykjavik, Benni Hemm Hemm and Prins Póló. Our process has been incredibly stress-free, which could be a bit surprising given how we’re each so in control of our own projects. Despite our short time together, this feels like a band already. No one has acted sacred or unwilling to take suggestions. Each member has brought a piece or three of music along to flesh out. It’s been a great experience standing in a circle in a studio space on the waterfront, wandering back and forth between instruments, and seeing what sticks."

“I’ve always thought that coming to Iceland is a bit like visiting the moon,” Hamilton continues. “The colours and the shapes and the nature of the wild around you is unlike anywhere else I’ve been. We chose to take a tour of the country before sitting down to actually write the music. Yesterday, Laura Leif and I went for a walk through Þingvellir, the site of the first Icelandic parliament. We strolled between the Eurasian and Mid-Atlantic Ridge, towering on either side of us. The thought hits you of what exactly you’re looking at — glaciers bigger than you can comprehend, or massive volcanoes that could change the face of the planet with a single eruption.?

"I can’t help but think about the human spirit that keeps us as a species here — that at times the conditions can be so uncomfortable, but the Icelanders stubbornly stay put. I think we’ve got a similar attitude in the prairies, to an extent — I think it takes a special person to truly love the prairies and realize what’s stretching out in front of them. We’ve spent a fair bit of time talking about it this week, actually, despite the incredible differences in the landscapes we come from, (we are) a group of young musicians from seemingly opposite ends of the world communicating with song.”

An intriguing addition to the High Performance Rodeo, SonicWaves is a concept that has been three years in the making. Thanks to the assistance of key supporters Kerry Clarke, Mark Hopkins and Erin O’Connor, Hamilton was able to co-ordinate a sequence of SonicWaves performances.

 “The shows will change from night to night, and these songs themselves will also develop over the course of the three performances at HPR. I think we’ll be starting the evenings off with short opening introductory sets from Benni and Prins, so they can show off their own material to a Canadian audience, followed by the group presentation of the works amassed here in Iceland. We’ve got a song about an Icelandic folk tale, for which the Calgarians received a quick lesson in pronunciation, while another song features our Reykjavik collaborators singing in Icelandic with a beautiful backing bit.”

by Christine Leonard


Originally Published January 31, 2013 in Fast Forward Magazine


 

The Mahones interviewed by Christine Leonard

THE MAHONES SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL

"Pogue mahone!" is a variant of the Irish phrase póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse"

Keelhauling ancient tradition and giving it forty lashes with a punk rock twist, The Mahones are a notoriously Irish band that just happens to harbour some very Canadian roots. Conceived in Kingston, Ontario one fateful Saint Patrick’s Day, the long-running outfit can proudly boast a 23-year history of music and mayhem. Running the gambit from dirty ol’ town murder ballads to hard-charging hardcore fisticuffs, The Mahones have come to embody the respectable revolutionary. With his ninth album on tap, the quintet’s lead singer/guitarist/mandolin player, Dublin-born Finny McConnell, admits he had a difficult time penning an album that could contend with their previous effort, 2010’s The Black Irish. He decided it was time to for The Mahones to raise the bar, instead of just polishing it with the sleeves of their coats.

“We started working on Angels & Devils almost as soon as we had finished recording The Black Irish,” McConnell reports. “There was no break, which is odd for us because we usually take a few years off between records. A couple times we’ve taken as long as five years in between. Of course, I was drinking a lot more back then. Now, things are coming out much faster for us. We wrote the songs for the new album around springtime, recorded in the summer and we were absolutely thrilled to be able to release it in November of 2012.”

The Mahones, Finny McConnell and his lovely wife Katie “Kaboom!” McConnell (accordion, vocals), Dom “The Bomb” Whelan (drums, vocals), Sean Winter (mandolin, banjo, vocals) and Paul “Cuzo” Mancuso (bass, vocals), each came to the table with big ideas for the dichotomous follow-up.

“You could say that Angels & Devils is a really big production. We felt it was the only way to take things further than we had already gone on The Black Irish,” he confirms. “We moved to Montreal two years ago and the best part is that the studio I work at is just across the street from our house. I get to just roll-out of bed and roll-in to work. That’s what allowed me to put so much time into the album. I worked closely with our producer to engineer and spent a lot of time in the studio adding more layers into the sound. I knew I wanted two things. One: really fucking big stadium sound. And, two: no shortcuts. Up until now, I’ve always wished we’d done more on each record we’ve put out. This time, I made sure we did things the right way and put the cherry on top.”

Applying their love of classic Celtic arrangements to their equally evocative politico-punk railings, The Mahones arrived at the crossroads of good and evil, where saints and sinners reconcile over Guinness and boxty. From the frenetic celebration of “Shakespeare Road” and the spirited “Spanish Lady” to the live off-the-floor feel of “The King of Copenhagen” and “Whiskey Train,” The Mahones throw an enthralling party. Purists can rest assured, pipes and strings a-plenty festoon the inexhaustible céilidhs that comprise the reeling hub of the album’s heady track list.

“I don’t remember the ’90s very well, the drunken heyday when we started up the band. It was all about ‘Drunken Lazy Bastard’ and ‘Paint the Town Red.’ I’m happy to say that I’m very focused on my music at this point. I’m married, I’m a father and I’ve matured a lot over the years. I’m a positive thinker and I think that, despite the fact that there’s a lot of darkness in the world, we’ve got to motivate people to reach for the stars. I always tell people that they can do anything and never to let anybody hold you back. I’ve had teachers who told me I couldn’t sing, let alone lead a band, and I’ve toured and performed all over the world. Never take ‘no’ for an answer. And, most importantly, follow your genre. I knew I was an Irish punk, so I followed that road… past the pint of no return.”

Catch the Mahones at the SAIT Gateway on January 18.

By Christine Leonard

Originally published in BeatRoute Magazine 14 January 2013

SHIP SHAPE - An interview with Arran Fisher

Landlocked Desert Sessions

Calgary Alt-Folk Ensemble Ship Shape Subrock the Boat

We’ve all thought about which albums we’d bring along with us to a desert island, but Calgary artist Arran Fisher, guitarist of the now-defunct rock band The Summerlad, unleashed his own musical leanings on a self-imposed exile in the Persian Gulf.

“It was one of those things,” says the singer-songwriter on the formation of his new alt-folk-tinged quintet, Ship Shape. “I was living in Qatar off and on for a period of two years. Being out there you’re basically listening to one of two things: either you get the frilliest American pop, or you get Arabic pop, mainly out of Egypt. That’s the kind of stuff you run into on a daily basis.”

Finding himself immersed in an environment that offered little in terms of musical repast, Fisher was able to focus on his own latent creativity. In the process, he discovered his oasis of solitude to be an unexpected wellspring of natural artistic inspiration.

“I decided that maybe I should make good use of my time and start a regime of songwriting. I took it seriously, like a job, writing almost every weekday. It became an exercise in output. I didn’t have the idea to form a band when I got back; the point of the exercise was to write without critiquing. Out of that period came the 37 songs which I wrote and recorded as demos in Qatar and brought back to Canada with me.”

The next logical course of action was to assemble a group of players capable of bringing his solo desert sessions to life. Fisher enjoyed witnessing the band’s development as he brought on bassist Joel Tobman, drummer Scott Moffat, former Summerlad guitarist Sean Grier and lap steel player Brent Crosson. According to the persuasive bandleader, he convinced Crosson to put a steel guitar across his knees for the first time, with glowing results.

“Usually you find the band and then come up with the sound and the material, but this time it worked the other way around,” Fisher says. “I had to ask myself, ‘Who can come at this project with the right attitude?’ I knew that a collective-sound would evolve out of the right mix of personalities. One practice, we went down to the basement to work on the ‘Ballad of Rikyu and Hideyoshi.’ To my surprise we killed it in half an hour. I thought, ‘This is perfect.’ I didn’t have to say anything.”

The band’s forthcoming full-length debut, Please Ask Before Stealing, will be released via Acoustikitty, a production company Fisher founded six years ago. The experience he gained writing, performing and mapping out recordings for The Summerlad and other projects allowed him to craft a highly listenable album.

“Please Ask Before Stealing deals with some pretty strange topics. We touch on western music and other thematic elements that lend a certain drama and tension to the content, like a Sergio Leone soundtrack. As with The Summerlad’s songbook, we have a lot of atmosphere and texture; some of our songs have an almost dirgey quality to them. They’re a little dark, but not beyond hope. There’s always a ray of sunshine in there; plenty of heart and love to bring balance to our world.”

Another way in which Fisher brings serenity and focus to his life is through his practise of the Japanese martial art Aikido. An acolyte of Zen Buddhism, he incorporates seated meditation exercises into his musical discipline, with ear-pleasing results. Blending mediation, music and martial arts, Arran has tapped into a self-perpetuating continuum of creativity and reflection. Initially spurred into action by temporary geographic isolation, he has found a path to smooth sailing in the midst of a heaving cultural tempest.

Dedicated to the memory of his departed mentor, Yasuhisa Inaba Shihan, Ship Shape’s LP release is more than an anthology of tunes written while overseas. For Fisher, it’s a passport to a homecoming of divine proportions.

“It’s a lot of work to create a song with a mind that’s clear of worries and outside influences. Zen meditation, Aikido, and songwriting together form the creative outlet that I’ve always wanted. In a lot of ways, the project flows in the same mindset as Aiki: it makes the band what it is. The goal is to remove the self and the ego from the equation and see what happens.”

Christine Leonard-Cripps 

Originally published December 6, 2012  in FFWD Magazine 

 

DEEP DARK WOODS - Interview with Chris Mason

 Canadian roots act combines 

the familiar with the fantastical

Deeper, darker, more woodsy

Deep Dark Woods share their deeply ingrained soul 

Whether it’s a mere ramble down the sylvan path or a sentimental journey back to the turn of the century, any dalliance involving the The Deep Dark Woods is bound to find you stumbling over some gnarly roots. Emerging from the golden hues of a Saskatchewan sunset to weave their latest album, guitarist-vocalist Burke Barlow, bassist Chris Mason, organist-pianist Geoff Hilhorst, drummer Lucas Goetz and guitarist-vocalist Ryan Boldt retool old-fashioned techniques to express timeless themes. The newest material from The Deep Dark Woods is not only a declaration of the lads’ artistic independence, but constituted a musical experiment of global proportions.

“We recorded The Place I Left Behind out in Halifax,” Boldt says. “It was our first self-produced album and shopping around for label representation took way longer than we imagined it would. So, while we were waiting for the right label to come along, we went out and toured a lot in the U.S and hit some really well-attended Canadian dates. We’ve been over to Europe twice now and both trips were equally great. It’s incredibly fortunate that we eventually wound up signing with both Sugar Hill and Six Shooter Records, but it also means so much to us as a band to have had that experience, of playing festivals everywhere from Halifax to Vancouver, under our belts.”

Over-running the borders that inevitably spring up between folk, roots and rock music factions, Boldt and his fellow strummers have gained a humble appreciation for the attention they’ve received from foreign fans.

 “The average North American crowd is a heck of a lot more rowdy than the ones you see in the U.K. and Holland. It’s way different. The audiences over there are more into close listening, as opposed to just being there to socialize and only checking out the band as a secondary consideration. It’s interesting to see everyone sitting down, focusing and actually ‘Ssssh’-ing the other people.”

Quietly crafted with the help of recording engineer Darren Van Niekerk, who worked with the band on the winning single “Charlie’s (is Coming Down)” for CBC’s Songquest, The Place I Left Behind speaks volumes when it comes to The Deep Dark Woods’ growth, if you’ll forgive the pun. Using vintage amps that could restart the coldest heart, the Saskatoon quintet brings a rustic raucousness to their simple yet stirringly beautiful songs. A catalogue of floorboard-shaking ditties, including “West Side Street,” “Sugar Mama” and, of course, “The Place I Left Behind,” grants the band plenty of room to shake off their denim blues and show off their moves.

 “We’ve had a bit of a break and now we’re ready to let loose and bring it down a bit. You can expect a dynamic set that will have everybody moving,” Boldt says. “The longer we play together, the more we try to put into our performances. The things people are noticing in the recordings are the things that evolved in our live show; those are the key elements that led us to want to self-produce. It’s a really important step for us. Playing live and working the music out the way we do onstage keeps our songwriting process fresh. When we’re performing we never play a song the same way twice.”

Westward-bound and set to perform by special request at the Bragg Creek Centre, The Deep Dark Woods’ salt-of-the-earth sound strikes a psychological chord with a wide spectrum of followers. Tin-type memories and Mellotron-stained dreams emerge when the gritty group lays out its soulful songbook. Flickering with emotional intelligence, their creative spark continues to shine through the darkness like a match thrown down a mineshaft.

“It’s about seeking a different perspective and finding a new way to present old songs so you don’t end up repeating yourself. I’m impartial when it comes to choosing between playing heartbreaking ballads or jamming out rock tunes. All five of us bring our own musical sensibilities to our sound and I’m all about textures and layers and playing a supporting role by staying under the vocal melodies. I think our combined sound is reminiscent of certain features people are used to hearing, and have always enjoyed, out of folk bands. For example, people have drawn similarities between us and other iconic Canadian folk acts; The Band in particular. We may possess some common attributes, but I don’t think we’d call them a direct influence. For me, a song doesn’t necessarily have to be recognizable to sound familiar.”

~Christine Leonard
Originally published in Fast Forward Weekly November 2012

Video: THE DEEP DARK WOODS - 18th of DECEMBER

 

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