North Country Fair

Damanta spent the solstice playing the North Country Fair in Driftpile, Alberta from June 19-22

Well, when we last left The Pooka (Damanta’s tour Van, a 1973 VW Westphalia) it was in Canmore getting repaired after losing the starter engine in Banff on the way to Calgary. Elegwen spent a week in Canmore at the Wapiti Municipal Campground with James the manager playing music and selling T-shirts and CDs and to pay for gas money to get home. With the repairs completed he headed home and busted the alternator belt in Salmon Arm. Canadian Tire charged him an hour of shop labour to install it and then outside of Hell’s Gate on the Trans-Canada he lost power and couldn’t restart resulting in a $500 tow to Hope. This is all to say that The Pooka was not available for service when it was time to head to North Country Fair from June 19th to 22rd.

So we had to fly to Edmonton and catch the $15(!) airport shuttle into the Greyhound Station where Matt, our bassist in Alberta, would pick us up. Bus stations are never the most wholesome places in any given town and Edmonton’s was no exception. We unloaded our gear between garbage cans that hadn’t been emptied since King Ralph had abdicated and the regurgitated remains of somebody’s alcohol and pizza binge of a few days previous. On the plus side, there were no used syringes in sight!

So it was not surprising that I was happier than could normally be expected when Matt rounded the corner in his mom’s Ford _AURU_ (formerly Taurus). He drove us to his parents’ place, an amazingly appointed dwelling near the provincial museum off Stony Plain road to meet up with Todd Biffard the drummer and rehearse for the first time as a unit.

The practice went really well, with Todd and Matt, who had played together previously in their days at Humber College in Toronto, finding their groove immediately and Elegwen and I hopping on for the ride. We packed up for a show across town at The Blue Chair. Without the roof rack installed it took two trips to get the gear and band over. Once at the the Blue Chair I learned the hard lesson about cultivating a fan base. Without one you have shows like this where there are only five people in attendance (and three of them were Matt’s parents and his brother, Malcom). From this point on we were more diligent getting emails to develop the fan list so this would not happen again. Incidentally, Elegwen did manage to sell a CD to the other couple that were there…

After the show Matt took Todd home and began phoning friends to see who we could crash with. We ended up at the Yates’ place on the North Side. What great people! Warren and Fiona offered us not only shelter but a chance to jam. Even though Matt had a TV gig the next morning he stuck around long enough to show some upright bass chops on some Damanta material.

Fiona gave us a ride to Matt’s in the morning and we arrived in time to help Matt’s Dad, Malcolm and Todd install the roof box we would need to get all the stuff to the fair. Matt got back a bit late from his TV gig (promoting the Jazz Fest) and we didn’t quite have the car loaded so we didn’t actually leave until 2pm—We were on at 6:30 and it was a four hour drive...We got a speeding ticket just outside of the city limits and then stopped at the worst stocked and worst staffed truck stop I have ever been to (and having done a ton of bicycle touring, I’ve stopped at quite a few…)in North America. With a bit extra juice on the accelerator-but not so much that the RCMP would object, Matt got us there half an hour before our set. We knew we weren’t in Kansas (or Vancouver) anymore when we pulled off the highway onto the backroads and began to see bullet riddled street and stop signs.

Despite some feedback issues (hey, it was early in the festival for the sound guys too!) it was a pretty good set to open a festival. Attendance was spotty as we were the second act on stage and most people were setting up their campsites. After the set I discovered one of the things that makes NCF special—they have a instrument check. You leave your stuff backstage and porters(!) take it to the trailer for you. I could get used to this folk star life if this is what it’s like!


After the set we were heading to the performer tent to get our badges, wristbands, programs and such when we came up against an SUV on the access road. Matt gave a little bit too much room and…We ended up in the ditch. Fortunately, the facilities organizer was coming by on a quad and promised to get the tractor immediately to pull us out. Todd and I continued on foot and Elegwen and Matt remained behind to wait for rescue. It was then that they met the Ory Noman band and Deep Dark woods for the first time.

After we sorted the performer stuff and the car we got to experience the next thing that makes NCF special: The Food. Performers and volunteers are fed three times a day by volunteers. What a great deal. Free camping, free food AND porters. What more could you ask for?!?

How about all night mayhem? Performances at this solstice themed festival go until 3am and campfire jams go even longer. I was not ready for this. With all the marking, moving and running around for Tarkin’s CD release I was way too tired to be out past 1am. This is not to say I didn’t enjoy myself that first night. I met and learned from members of Deep Dark Woods and The Re-Mains, a country rock and roll outfit from Australia that are touring Canada this summer. Mick, the band’s dobro player, told me about how he changed the shocks in their van in a Thunder Bay, Canadian Tire parking lot. I marvelled at his mechanical prowess and wondered what passer by thought of it all while it was going on.

Matt and I then proceeded to grace the campfire with the worst rendition of “Have you Ever Seen the Rain” that human ears have been subjected to (yes, even worse than this!); Matt singing like and instrumentalist and myself compounding the issue by playing the wrong chords and not knowing the lyrics. Strangely, everyone else began commenting about how hard their travel had been and mentioning their early sets tomorrow at that point…I went over and saw Kris Demeanour, from Sakatchewan, on a side stage but bailed before the Re-Mains were on when the stage lost its generator.

OUR set actually was early (translation: at noon) the next morning. Todd, who’d been up since 9:30am, got the rest of us going. Elegwen had stayed up late for the Re-Mains and also saw the Ory Noman Too band who he couldn’t get enough of (see youtube link above). Once again the crowd was sparse but we did a pretty good set at the Shady Grove stage. Bits of this performance can be seen on Youtube in the video for Fall Song.

Afterwards we met with the Nicky Tams to discuss our Sunday workshop on the main stage. We practiced some arrangements, learned each other's tunes and then it was time for the evening entertainment. I saw Deep Dark Woods at the Dragonfly stage and the Re-Mains on the main stage. I crashed out “early” at 12am even though it was still twilight out. It was pretty shocking how long it stays light that far north. No Northern Lights though.

A thunderstorm came overnight and it was still raining Sunday when we got up for our set. It was really fun even if we began to realize that as the new kids on the NCF block we were getting the least choice performance times. The Nicky Tams have a fantastic guitarist named Jeff Ramsey so I played tenor banjo for the whole set. A nice stretch of the brain for me and it allowed for some cool sounds. We finished the set with Tool’s “Sober” and when, as had happened several times over the weekend, the power went out we just played it acoustic at the edge of the stage and everyone gathered up front to dance and sing along. Miraculously, the power cam back in right on the downbeat and the place went nuts.

The rest of the day was petty chilled out as people began to pack up. We got to witness the closing ceremony of the festival in which Mary Rankin of Edmonton sings a song whose chorus is, “Love, Love, Love, Love. Love, Love, Love, Love,” while everyone present joins hands and circles around each other. I’ve never seen anything like it and will likely not again until I return to NCF. I got to walk around the HUGE site with Matt and Todd and learned the hard way that when the campers go home, the toilet paper in the port-a-johns is not replaced. Good thing I had my NCF program with me!

We collected our merchandise and sales proceeds, had dinner and were getting ready for a chilled out evening when Elegwen said we should play at the volunteers party in the evening. I didn’t know if I’d be able to stay up that late but the Re-Mains were going to play and I wanted to see them again so I agreed. Elegwen actually got to sit in with the guys with his uilleann pipes. We had to wait a long time afterwards before we went on and I surprised myself when I loaned my guitar to the group preceding us. It was super cold and I had on my Newfoundland Salt and Pepper wool hat, an Aran Islands sweater and a scarf when we hit the stage around 2am.

During sound check a fiddler was plugging in and I figured he was playing the between acts filler slot. The sound guy though he was with us and nobody really questioned his presence until Elegwen asked him, “Are you meant to play with us?” He answered in the affirmative and while we were wondered who had set this up we were happy to have a fiddler play along. We opened with “The Drunken Priests of Donegal” and 2/3 of the way through the song our fiddler friend leans into his mic and says, “Guys! Guys, we have to start again!”

Needless to say we kept playing and after the song the sound guy came up to me and asked, “What is with your fiddler?!?”

“He’s not with us,” I responded. Security removed him quickly after that. Later on I heard he dropped two tabs of acid.

We absolutely rocked the rest of the set. It was our biggest crowd of the festival and they really enjoyed it. Then again, it could have been the drugs. I’ve never been in a place with so many high people in my life. It was quite surreal to be one of the only sober people there. We played Jethro Tull’s “Acres Wild” the best we’d done all weekend and the Tool cover went over well again. I can’t wait to try some effects on the banjo for that one.

We were up early the next day and with no deadline had a more sedate ride home: with no tickets, no going in the ditch and no near misses getting on the highway (like during Friday night's beer run). I'm not saying anything about Matt's driving here, I'm just saying...

Seriously though, we would not have been able to get there and have so much fun without him and his family's help. So on behalf of the band I'd like to thank Matt for driving and Matt's parents' for the use of the car, the roof rack and the house as a base for the weekend. It's the way bands like Damanta can continue to tour. Thanks a million!

JO