Charming...to the last

In early June my old band Tarkin released it's second CD on June 6th. This post details the making of the record and the band's final three shows

When I arrived back in Vancouver, Heidi got me at the airport and drove me directly to DMA Discs where I picked up the new Tarkin CD. It had arrived one business day late for the Northwest Folklife spot…So we lost a chance to sell a bunch of discs but we did get them in time to promote our CD release shows in Vancouver and Victoria. (At Right: The Stage at Troy's. Halloween '06)

I had really pushed to make a second CD even after it became apparent that the band’s end was near. Two couples were now married (one couple expecting) and moving to Montreal (coincidentally but for different reasons). I even briefly considered doing an education masters degree at McGill to keep the band going but when I looked it up I only had a week to get a month’s worth of documents together…So the band wasn’t going to continue in Montreal and the CD would be its swansong.

Tarkin always had a cautious group dynamic born of the three female members’, Vanessa Kay, Amanda Ruel and Rachael Young, previous experience living together and knowing when to push and when to pull back. When couples formed and marriages ensued this became even more pronounced and it made getting the CD project off the ground a slow build. There was concern about cost and whether we could do the songs justice by making a product we could be proud of. (The back seat of 'The Gerbil'--Vancouver Island/Galiano Island tour Summer '06: l-r Amanda, Rachael and Vanessa)

These concerns weren’t without some merit. Every one in the band has a full time job with the exception of Ben (who was trying to finish his PhD--He did it. Congrats Dr. Young!) and Amanda who are/were full time students working to pay tuition. In addition to that Rachael and Ben were expecting a child. However, everyone made sacrifices from their busy lives to make it work. In my case I had to scale back my extra-curricular coaching at school but this allowed me to take some guitar lessons and practice more.

Ben took the executive producer’s role, I took on the booklet design process, CD pressing, and organizing the release party. Vanessa went sleuthing on the internet for authors of the BC folk songs we would record on the album. The girls worked together to chart the arrangements and Rachael began liaising with Tim Readman, our first CD’s producer who consulted on our new arrangements and Victor Smith, who engineered the first CD, The Ghost of that Whisky, and who would put grace the new record with his personal stamp, polishing it into gem in the process.

We were better prepared for the studio the second time around and everyone was more comfortable working with Victor’s suggestions which made us more efficient in the use of our studio time. Ben was instrumental here, prioritizing the recording sessions and sending people and Rachael made sure everyone showed up when they were supposed to.

I enlisted my friend Paul Krueger to design the CD album art. He used a picture he took at Finn Slough (up the Fraser River from the Steveston national historic site) and a line sketch Amanda had made of the band. He gave us an amazing product. On the recommendation of Matt Bryant of one of my favourite Vancouver bands, Headwater, I chose DMA (Digital Media Alliance) for our CD pressing and I didn’t regret it. They turned the product around quickly and we very helpful in dealing with all the legal paperwork.

So the CD sounded great, looked great and arrived in time for the release shows (always a good thing!). Now, it was time to put together a party. Oops I had to move the weekend before. Good thing I didn't have to get my final marks into the office (I AM a teacher remember!) the day before the move.

We had rented The St. James’ Hall, home to the Rouge Folk Club, and Vanessa had convinced national alt-folk stars Dyad, to play the show with us. My friend Len Dejulius agreed to run the bar and the usual team of Tarkin volunteers helped us set up and run the show. Troy and Nina Spreeuw ran their respective merchandise and concession tables and Matt Ellis handled the door. I opened up for Jay the sound man at 5pm, set up tables, chairs and posters, stocked the bar and even spoke to a few people before sound check.

When Dyad went on the house lights weren't on as they were locked up and the key wasn't provided by the hall. After trying vallinatly to find a solution we settled on the house lights and I worked the bar for Len so he could enjoy the set. I sat there ripping tickets and pouring DUDE beer into plastic cups worried about my ability to perform. I was pretty worn out by marking, the move, doing radio shows and putting the party together during a regular work week and I was worried about my ability to perform. I looked tired and I felt really empty.

But when the lights came up (our friend and special guest bass clarinet player Mike Dowler had picked the lock during intermission) and we stepped through the curtains all pain and fatigue drained away. I have never had a better performance with the band. All the guitar playing I had been doing with Damanta had sharpened my skills, the work with Amanda I did on vocals was showing through and I was really proud of the new CD and revelling in the chance to showcase the new songs for an appreciative audience. I think the whole band was. It really was a magical evening.

It was an unfortunate allegory for the band that we had to end earlier than we and the crowd wanted due to St. James’ rental policy of being out of the building by 11pm. We only did one encore and a bit of schmoozing (as a band) before the takedown was on. I actually did very little packing up as more people that I know came to this show than any other I’ve done. It was a bit surreal. Many people commented that we were really coming into our own as a band and how unfortunate it was that we were wrapping up.

We would play two more shows as after the CD release and they were both memorable. The Victoria Folk Song Society hosted us that Sunday (June 8th) and we got a really great crowd response and more comments about how we’d improved since our last visit. The audience included my friend Wendy Lesard and two of her French Immersion teacher friends who really enjoyed our rendition of "Chasse aux Perdreaux" from the new CD.

It was really nice to get one more visit with Ben’s parents, Joe and Maralin, who are the whole band’s Victoria mom and dad. They’ve treated us so well during the life of the band. They are true fans of acoustic folk music and I am glad they got to enjoy our final Victoria show. I and, we as a band, will always be grateful for all the rides, meals and the use of their house as a base when we were in Victoria. (Right: Tarkin at the VFSS in August '06--Back row l-r: Ben, Rachael, Marc and Vanessa. Front: Amanda)

The final gig for Tarkin was at Trees Organic Coffee house on Granville street in Vancouver. It is a Friday night, local artist showcase event run by songwriter Jon Pippus. We brought in a decent crowd of friends who missed the release show or just wanted to be there for the final one and the other performers were really great. We went on first and really had a blast. When we played Run both Marc, who wrote and sings the song, and I did the “running man” dance step and he did his trademark run outside during the final instrumental. The crowd ate it up. I was having so much fun that I was stunned when it was over.

We sold a bunch of CDs (including one to a couple who’d heard us on the radio!) before Ghost Brothers took the stage. I really enjoyed their set. They are brothers who’ve been all around the world learning and playing music together and it shows. Their vocals and instrumentals were so connected to each other and the variety of their sound was impressive. They’ve just finished their own CD and I was stoked to trade one with them.

Some of our oldest fans showed up during the GB set and were sad to have missed our set. After thanking them for being so supportive of them band from the beginning—we played house parties for the whole gang when we were starting out—one of them said they couldn’t believe it was our last show. Neither could I.

I was consumed in that moment by a sense of loss. I’d learned so much about music, performing and myself from the band that I never could have learned on my own. I’ve done things for them and had things done for me that I’d never have expected of mere friends. It was more than that. It was a band--my first. Tarkin was really special for me and I hope everyone else feels the same way.

(Above: Performing as the Canadian Village People at Troy's Halloween Party '06. l-r Amanda: The Cowboy, Marc: The Biker, Rachael: The Sailor, Vanessa: The Logger, The Author: The Mountie, Ben: THe Construction Worker)


Amanda, Ben, Marc, Rachael and Vanessa: Thank you for all the incredible memories and all the times (both the good and the trying ones) that we spent together. I’ve grown immensely from the experience. I know that I am not the easiest person to work with so you probably deserve some kind of medal. I truly hope we get to hit the stage again together in the future.

May the Force be with you…always,

JO

4th Street Lilac Festival/"ED"fest

The following post refers to the final day of the Calgary Seattle Roadtrip of May 22-26.

Bells are ringing and try as I might, I can’t get them to stop. My alarm clock won’t shut up. Oh, it’s the phone. It’s Paul with an unexpected 5:45 am wake up call. Considering I have to be at his place in 15 minutes, it’s a good thing he called. I am on my way to Abbotsford Airport and Heidi, whose willingness to help only goes so far--she has three performances with her choir today, is not up for two early mornings in a row.

We get out to there with no problems, I’m on the flight and it even leaves on time. Unfortunately no one is at the airport to meet me and I sit there for three hours until Elegwen calls. We have to go pick up Jess at her brother’s place on the other side of Calgary from the Airport and then meet Matt and Graham our drummer for the show at the Lilac Festival on 4th street.

It is pouring rain for the fourth straight year at Lilac fest and the band is a little on edge as we haven’t rehearsed, it’s raining, there is nowhere to park and no covered area to store our instruments. Elegwen and I end up covertly parking the van in a Safeway Parking Lot, walking into the store and then splitting up and changing jackets inside to avoid detection by the parking patrol who are eagerly towing festival attendees who are not there to buy produce and toilet paper.

The festival, while popular despite the rain, is a bit chaotic. Without a green room (a place to wait for our turn on stage in) we huddle under the awning of a local business while a classic rock cover band finishes up. Our set up is rushed by a harried sound man, there is no merchandise table to sell our T-shirts from and the sound guy can’t get Elegwen’s vocals right. other than that it is pretty smooth.

We start up anyway and Jess, who is very stressed about her level of preparation, plays very well. Graham is a great drummer and Matt is laying down a bit more groove as he is not the time keeper this time. Everything is awesome except for the rain and Elegwen’s vocal sound. He's doing his thing like he always does, it sounds OK in the monitors (the on stage speakers) but the crowd is getting a really muddy sound. I go to talk to our sound tech and find he is in a foul mood and threatening to disconnect some vocal effects. I talk him out of it and try to make some suggestions to no avail—apparently he’s been doing sound for twenty years and doesn’t need my help. Alrighty, then.

Upon returning to stage, I sell a Damanta t-shirt to a guy from Galway who asks me where I got the Hurling jersey (Elegwen lives part of the year there). I include the mp3s from the new album but don’t have time to get his email before the start of the next song!

After the set we have a team pint at the James Joyce to celebrate Graham’s birthday and get a photo of the band before Matt and his buddy Patrick head back to Edmonton. (Back row l-r: the authour, Jess, Elegwen, Graham. Front Row l-r: Patrick, Matt ) and Elegwen, Jess and I head around the corner to “Ed”-fest.

On the front porch (of a guy named Ed's place) is an DIY rock show going and we have been invited to play. They have amps, a PA and tarps to keep the rain off. In actual fact, Ed doesn’t organize Ed-fest, his old roommate does. There is even a band from Lethbridge called “Famous Fifteen Minutes” that goes on before us. For our turn, Jess blasts some fiddle tunes while Elegwen accompanies on bouzouki and I hit the Bodhran. We play some Damanta songs interspersed with power outages and finish with our Tool cover. Ed-fest goes crazy and we have the most fun we’ve had all weekend.

A local busker plays a couple of songs with energetic backup singers and Ed recites some of his poetry. It reads pretty well even if the reading is a veiled attempt to pick up Jess.

After helping FFM clean up I begin to go into a bit of a comma from a weekend of substandard sleep. Elegwen drives us to Jess’ brother’s place and we drop her off. We crash at an overpriced motel on the Trans-Canada highway whose room décor evidently inspired the filmmakers of “No Country for Old Men”. I catch a flight home Monday and Elegwen heads to Banff to drop of the rental and pick up our van in Canmore. I’ll be at school on Tuesday back in class and the remainder of my ‘normal’ life.

Calgary to Seattle to Vancouver

The following post refers to a mini-tour to Calgary with Damanta and a Tarkin Show in Seattle on the Weekend of May 22-25, 2008. This post deals with some hard travellin' from Calgary to make a show in Seattle on Saturday May 24th.

CALGARY, AB 6:45am MST: Cell phone alarm goes off and I briefly question where I am...Right, Jess's Brother's place in Calgary. No time for a shower--just enough time to pack some things in the van (Elegwen will pick it up later) and jump in the car for a ride to the airport.

7:00am: We are on the road and stop for gas. I need to be at the airport by 7:30 but we need to stop for gas. I try to contribute but Sean refuses. We speed through the deserted Calgary highway system past strip malls and car dealerships under a heavy downpour.

7:33am: Electronic Check in. No checked bags. I will try to bring my banjo, banjo pre-amp, bodhran, and it's microphone as carry-ons.

7:40am: Through security with no real problems. I guess they are not counting bags today.

7:48am: I am one of the last people to board the flight and I get everything in the overhead. I want go through some receipts for gas and the rental car but I lose the battle for consciousness before the safety announcements are done.

ABBOTSFORD,BC 8:35am PST: I am blinking in the bright sunshine of a West Coast morning as one of my chauffeurs for the day walks across the Abbotsford Airport Parking Lot. I would not be able to make it as a full-time teacher and part-time folk star with out the help of people like Heidi. My parents have cut me a lot of slack over the years and my sister Leiana in Vegas allowed me to send a lot of music gear to her place so I could save on shipping and duty. My sister Dawn has covered my butt at school more times than I probably even know. These combined with all the friends like Heidi and even complete strangers who have provided rides to and from shows and airports/ferry terminals as well as places to stay have really made it possible to play enough to get to this next level.

VANCOUVER, BC 9:10am: Heidi naps on the couch at my place while I shower and try to organize myself for a trip to Seattle. I can't find my passport and I fear that I may have left it in my other bag in Calgary. I dig out my birth certificate in hopes that one can still cross with it and a driver's licence and we head out for breakfast at Little Nest on Charles at Commercial. Amazing food, fresh squeezed grapefruit juice at a sidewalk table. Such tranquility seems a little unfair after last nights' mayhem.

10:58am: Back at my place load my instruments and bags back into Heidi's car before passing by her place on the way to her hair appointment at 11:30 on Granville Island. Good Deal for me--I'll just head down to the public market, grab a coffee and read in the sun. It is quite surreal to thing that 15 hours ago I was fighting back sleep while driving through the driving rain to a show in Calgary.

12:52pm: We are slogging up Main Street for our 12:45 meeting Rachael and Ben Young who will be our drivers to Seattle. I jog up to the Van with the stuff and we are on the road. We've got 2 guitars, my banjo, bodhran and microphone, a mandolin and a 3/4 upright bass and stand. It is a little tight with four people but it gets the job done.

1:41pm: We hit the lineup at the Peace Arch border crossing after tossing out an apple core. The lineup is only 15 minutes and we are through.

MT. VERNON, WA 3:12pm: We pull into an organic food coop in Mt. Vernon for some lunch. I get stuck at the beer cooler as I am sucker for US micro brew. This is OK because it takes the girl at the counter 20 minutes to slaughter the chicken and harvest the grain to make the sandwiches Rachael has ordered.

4:48pm: We hit the Seattle traffic just south of Everett and flow with it until we hit the bridge into town. After the exit it is a parking lot until we reach Seattle Centre where the festival is. Highlight of the traffic jam has to be the people walking down the street with a dog while carrying a rowboat... We have event parking but will have to shuttle the instruments across the crowded fairgrounds to check in.

SEATTLE, WA 5:10pm: After hauling all the gear (two guitars, one banjo, upright bass, bodhran, guitar stands, cables, pre-amps and microphones across the grounds in now stifling heat we arrive at the hostility, er, hospitality room for performers. There are at least five different jam sessions going on simultaneously. The gear check girl who is volunteering to earn tips for her high school marching band is clearly overwhelmed when we show up with enough gear for a six piece band, half of which is in a lil'flyer wagon

5:25pm: The band and our new roadie Heidi are too tired to chase down the best performances so we lounge on the green in the center of the grounds and take in a panorama which includes: hackey-sac performance artists, an old time band-complete with clogging guitarist, some nearby exhibitionistic couples (free love baby, yeah!) and two androgynous performers on a side stage. Dreds, hemp clothing and sun burnt skin are legion.

6:15pm: We are beginning to wonder when we will hear from Vanessa, Marc and Amanda who should have been here by now as we head back to the hostility tent for our gear and another cross-fairground slog to our stage where we are on at 7:00pm

6:50pm: It is time for sound check and we only have half of the six Tarkins required for our set. As we set up the equipment we brainstorm how we can fill the set with just the three of us...

6:52pm: Tarkin is re-united at long last. Seems that a hotel mix up required them to cross Seattle in holiday weekend traffic. We scramble the stage set up under the now cranky stage manager's careful scrutiny. The engineer can't get my drum mic to work but there is no time to trouble shoot...we're on.

7:02pm: The set list says we are playing The Minto off our new album, "Charming to the Last" but as I pass Ben the banjo, Rachel says Vanessa can't play so we are doing on of my songs, "Outport Rebel," first...Gulp...I was not mentally prepared to go on right away.

7:05pm: It goes a little rough. I have been playing my Martin vintage guitar for weeks with Damanta but it is back in Calgary. Playing Rachel's guitar is a bit awkward as it has a much thinner neck profile. I over-reach for some chords resulting in awkward chunky changes. Great start. The vocals are actually pretty good considering we had no warm up.

7:30pm: Set order gets mixed up and turned inside out by Vanessa being in and out of the formation. I don't really understand what is going on but I have a good time singing "Grand Hotel" from our first CD, "The Ghost of that Whisky," complete with some audience participation and after a great response to "City Boy at the Country Bar," I spontaneously decide to tell the audience that, "...I'm Johnny Oswald"

7:40pm: We wrap a chaotic set that got better as we went along, strike our gear as quick as possible and try to sell envelopes that we will put the new CD in and mail as soon as it arrives. Two people bite.

7:45pm: The second act on the Canadian Showcase launches into their first number singing about West Virginia. Ben says he's proud that we sang about BC loggers, paddle boats, snow in Vancouver and Newfoundland Outports for our piece of the Canadian Showcase.

7:58pm: After stumbling around trying to locate every one's gear and make sure I'd have everything I'd need in Calgary, I finally hear what happened to Vanessa-she had heat stroke and felt faint. So faint that she actually had to use the stool we brought on stage for Tarkin's expecting mother, Rachael. I am surprised she could even play at all!

8:32pm: Ben and I have brought the van around to the front of Key Arena and begin loading out the gear.

8:45pm: We are ready to go. Nobody is carrying boats down the street on our way back to I-5.

9:03pm: Darkness is falling on a hectic day but the conversation as we head north in the car is hilarious. However, it is not quite stimulating enough to keep Heidi awake. We'll cut her some slack as she is not used to the rigours of the Folk Star Lifestyle. You know, where you do 50 times the heavy lifting and grunt work to get that same performance rush of a pro but get paid...oh, yeah, next to nothing.

VANCOUVER, BC 11:45pm: We arrive back at Heidi's. I call my friend Paul, who designed Tarkin's album art, for a ride back out to Abbotsford at 5:15am. Mercifully, he agrees. Next I have to book a ticket home from Calgary as the Pooka (Damanta's van) will not be making the trip Monday as it is still in a Canmore, AB garage

12:31am: Home at last. A quick re-pack and I am in bed at 1:15am for a 1/2 night's sleep. I've just jet-setted from one show to another and driven halfway back. Ahh, so this is the life!

Calgary II

The following post refers to a mini-tour to Calgary with Damanta and a Tarkin Show in Seattle on the Weekend of May 22-25, 2008. At the end of the previous post, the band was stuck in Banff after a van breakdown.

We rented a car mini-van around the corner from the gas station. The Kiwi sales rep at National Rent a Car pleaded with me to drive carefully (apparently it was very clear by this point that I was not a happy camper) and I assured her that I would drive the speed limit and be careful. It began to rain hard as we transferred the gear into the mini van and lurched off toward Calgary.
I have to be honest here. I have never driven so tired in my life. The last night's campfire session left me with only 4 hours' sleep and now as the the road stretched to in a straight edge to the horizon and that horizon was the featureless grey of a prairie rain, I was having trouble focusing.

When we finally hit Calgary we contacted Matt Roberts, our bass player for the weekend, who had driven down from Edmonton. He was already at the venue (It was 5:30pm) and we wanted to rehearse before going on stage together for the first time. Sadly we some how (fatigue may have been a facto here) missed the exit and ended up having to backtrack 25min to get to the exit. I hate driving and I hate driving in the rain and I hate driving in Calgary even more. You can imagine how this made me feel.

As we got directions for the third time over my phone (with massive roaming charges) I began to lose patience and take it out on Elegwen. This was a bad idea. By the time we got to the venue we were not on speaking terms and I sat in the car and tried to compose myself before going in to meet the public. We were at the Irish Cultural Centre in Calgary, it was dark and raining, we had never practiced with this lineup and we were due to go on in less than an hour at 8pm. Oh yeah, this show was booked a week ago, had no promotion and would likely be empty.

The funny thing was...it was an amazing show. Matt held down the rhythm section spectacularly on his own, Jess played brilliantly despite her stress about finishing her theses and the lack of vegetarian food options we'd provided her so far on the trip and Elegwen held the audience spellbound with his lyrics and performance. I had so much fun even danced a bit while playing which is a major departure for me, having cut my teeth on tiny stages in a six piece folk band. A friend of ours, when discussing our future tour to Europe, has said when you get paid as a musician, the money is not for the show--it is for getting the booking, rehearsing, driving there and all of the other crap--the performance is the fun part. Alex, you were so right. I had a blast and we earned every penny of it getting there.

Afterwards I loaded out and slept on the stage while Elegwen continued to regale the remaining members of the crowd with solo work on the bouzouki. He sold more t-shirts and CDs than there were people at the show (the man is a machine). I got directions to Jess' brother's and bedded down for the next stage of this weekend's adventure: Getting to Seattle for a Tarkin Show at Northwest Folklife.