|
New Groove of the Month
|
||
|
Edited
by Dean Budnick
|
||
|
Canada's Best Kept Secret
In Canada, the jamband scene has exploded in recent years, this phenomena can primarily be attributed The Burt Neilson Band out of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Formed in 1996, BNB have toured the country six times, released two albums, and shared the stage with jam band staples Merl Saunders, The New Deal and the Ominous Seapods. Now, BNB is making their way to the United States to enrich American audiences with their infectious sound and explosive live performance. Thunder Bay Ontario is a beautiful but extremely cold place located in the northern region of the province where you either play hockey or play hockey. Lakehead University in Thunder Bay is where the band met and began to play together, mainly at a small club called the Outpost. As most music stories seem to unfold, the band was initially playing to small audiences but as their chemistry and playing improved so did the crowds and soon the band found themselves selling out the Outpost on a regular basis. During this time, the band ventured into the studio to record their self titled debut on their own record label, Redbeard Records. The album was raw but was the foundation for many great things to come. They then took their act south to more major cities like Toronto, Hamilton and London, Ontario and began to have regular gigs in these areas. The results were the same as what had happened in Thunder Bay, they were selling out every where they played. By 1998, the band had launched their first national tour and haven't looked back since. A lot of confusion lies in the band name as there is no Burt Neilson in The Burt Neilson Band. The reason behind the name has never been officially explained but the name itself is quite indicative of the bands collective humour. Burt Neilson Band is made up of six individually unique musicians who, on stage, exhibit such synergistic chemistry that has never been heard on stage before. The band leaves no musical genre out of it's repertoire. Their musical strength lies in their ability to find a groove and take it along many different avenues, combining elements of jazz, hip hop, blues, funk, reggae, bluegrass and rock. The groups sound is ambitious, often taking many musical risks that always seem to pay off. The Burt Neilson Band does not jam aimlessly and keep pushing and prodding each other to reach new musical peaks without becoming cosmic noodlers. The songs can be soaring jazz numbers or rambunctious funk tunes, the band is always tight and intuitive whether in the studio or on stage. Their climatic jams pulse with funky rhythms and passionate intensity making each Burt Neilson Band show a memorable experience. BNB, through their constant performing, have matured as musicians but more importantly as songwriters. It's not uncommon to hear many jambands being stellar musicians and being able to improvise well, but have trouble writing good songs. That's not the case with The Burt Neilson Band, Jeff Heisholt (organ, keyboards, vocals) and Mike Filipowitsch (lead guitar, vocals) are the creative force behind most BNB songs. Tracks like "L", "Yellow Pants" and "Funkin Shoes" from their most recent release "Orange Shag Carpet" (February '00) are highly evolved unique and innovative songs that sound good on record and are taken to many interesting places on stage. "Orange Shag Carpet" is a far cry from the bands debut album four years ago. The album is very representative of a BNB live performance, the bands energy and ability is clearly evident on all twelve tracks. The songs leave no musical stone unturned and they all seem to flow into each other. This time around, the band hired producer Ben Kaplan to help take their live show and put it in the studio and the results are quite impressive. A Burt Neilson Band live performance is something to behold. I first saw BNB when they were doing a house gig at The Comfort Zone in the spring of 1997 and was immediately drawn to the presence that the band exudes on stage. A subtle command was evident to jump up and dance and few people were adhering to this subtle invite. Since that date, the subtlety has turned in to an out right demand to get up and groove which feeds the bands energy and vice versa. There's an element that exists at at a BNB show that is relatively undescribable, you know your part of something special but to what that something is unclear which adds an element of intrigue to a BNB performance. Basically, you have to be at a show to taste, to feel and to hear the sound for full appreciation. The Burt Neilson Band now have a small but devoted following in each region of the country. So much so, that the band's popularity in the Maritime provinces had the band fitting in four nights before they headed to the U.S. It's not becoming out of the ordinary to find people traveling within their province to see the band and their dynamic live performance. They once sold out six straight nights in a row in Banff, Alberta (Canada's equivalent to Vail, Colorado) and played to over 1000 people in Toronto after the Phish show in the summer of 1999. Now, we as Canadians can no longer claim The Burt Neilson Band to be our best kept secret, Americans now know of The New Deal, The Tragically Hip, Guess Who, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Steppenwolf, and The Band as being great Canadian bands who have gained international exposure. The Burt Neilson Band is set to join this impressive list, having already played gigs in New York and Burlington, the band is set to play a string of dates all over the U.S in the coming months. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Jeff Heisholt and asked him about the band, the sound and being a Canadian jamband. EN: First off, How would you describe your music? JH: I usually tell people we're a jam band. When people don't understand that description (which is often) I tell them we play groove music...stuff that will make them wanna dance. What kind of style?? Every style. We try not to limit ourselves with categorization. EN: What obstacles have you had to overcome in trying to make it a s a Canadian band in the U.S. JH: Don't know yet. Still workin' on it... but what I foresee is just getting over the fact that we are Canadian and just listening to the music. We got comments like "Every Canadian band I hear is great... must be because it's so cold all ya do is stay in and practice!!". The hardest part for us is that as far as the USA knows... we've only played three shows compared to the 250 we have done in Canada. It's like going back to three years ago, except we don't know people across the whole USA as we do Canada. EN: When did you know that you had something special with the band and that you were going to make it your full time passion? JH: In spring 1998 we set out on our first TOUR. We had done a couple shows out of town before that, but this was the first big trip. We did two tours before Fall 98 came about. When it came time to go back to school, we all had a really good think and realized that this was our chance... school could wait but music and our youth could not. So we all dropped out and hit the road full time. As we kept going the fans kept growing and we realized we could keep playing music and actually live off it. But I've known since I was 14...... EN: Do you think there is a distinct difference between U.S. jambands and Canadian jambands, what is it? JH: Existence!! The US scene is a lot older and there's a lot more bands. A lot of the bands are in their late 20's to early 30's where as Canadian bands are a lot younger, with less experience and time behind them. There seems to be a bit more of a rootsy sound to most of the jambands from the US that I've heard as well. I think the US jambands influences each other... where as the canjams have less exposure to other similar bands and tend to make it whatever they've grown up on... not necessarily being 'jam' music. EN: The jamband scene is becoming less of a underground phenomena and gaining more attention as a mainstream genre. Does Burt Neilson Band have any desire for mainstream success? JH: The only reason we would have desire for mainstream success would be to simply make things easier for us. We're really broke most of the time and are self-managed, which keeps us really busy and constantly brainstorming for career decisions. Mainstream attention would sell cd's for us and boost concert attendance. But we're definitely not targeting it... you won't see us changing our image or songs in order to attract the general public. whatever... as long as we can keep playing music and getting it out to anyone who wants to hear it, we're happy. Mainstream success would just widen our audience. we could hopefully use it as the tool it is. As a new listener and fan of the band, you will find yourself drawn to the dynamic rhythm section of Jeffrey Kornblum on percussion, Jeremy Little on bass and the Keith Moon inspired Gavin Maguire on drums. You'll find yourself in awe of the chemistry and creativity that exists between guitarists Daniel Denomme and Filipowitsch and you'll be blown away by the vocal talents and keys expertise of Heisholt. As Canadians were used to seeing our national treasures head to the U.S. for greener pastures, we lost Gretzky to the Kings, Jim Carrey to Hollywood and Alan Thicke to Growing Pains. The sky is the limit for this band that got it's start in the coldest part of the province of Ontario and now finds itself as one of the hottest touring acts in the country. It is my advice that you make yourself able to catch the band during it's initial journey to the U.S. because the next time they come back it won't be as easy to get a ticket. Tour Dates:
6/16/00 The Embassy, London, Ontario For more information on tour dates log onto www.burtneilson.com, to order a copy of "Orange Shag Carpet check out the Homegrown web site
|
||
