Live Video: Bruce Peninsula - Shanty Song

Bruce Peninsula - Shanty Song (via Colin Medley

Bruce Peninsula Two Night Stand at the Music Gallery in Toronto

October 24th: Bruce Peninsula w/ Right By Midnight, The Allrights and Brothers Chaffey

On October 24th these bands were playing at Ottawa's Mavericks:
Right By Midnight

The Allrights

Brothers Chaffey

Bruce Peninsula

It was an amazing show.
Reviews are here.

Here are three videos I took on my digicam.
Sorry for the quality on the sound and video.
Steamroller

2nd 4th World War/Satisfied

Crabapples

Live Video: Bruce Peninsula at Halifax Pop

Bruce Peninsula recorded live at the Halifax Pop Explosion - Seahorse Tavern, Oct. 21, 2009:

Rosie followed by Fleetwood Mac's Chains



Weave Myself a Dress / Crabapples



"Shutters"



Also...if you haven't seen it yet, and you like Bruce Peninsula, or you think you might want to like Bruce Peninsula you should check this out:

Soundcheck #14 Bruce Peninsula

Busy Hillside Saturday Recap

Saturday at Hillside featured a slew of amazing performers - enough to keep me on my feet 11 of the 12 hours of music. Catching no less than 19 different sets I was busy and here is my attempt to recap ALL of that including Bruce Peninsula, Attack in Black, Julie Doiron, Bahamas, Ohbijou and so much more.

With three minutes to showtime, a gaggle of instrument-toting musicians walked through the crowd to the Island Stage early Saturday morning. The Cliff Hangars workshop was titled "Bruce Peninsula meets The Rural Alberta Advantage" and it was quite literal as they met mere minutes before the show began. This was slightly unfortunate as they weren't able to plan the collaborations all too well and therefore swapped songs for at least the first few tracks (after a lengthy Rock-Paper-Scissors duel to see who would go first). Of these there was a notable RAA track, North Star, which is an apparently still unwritten (or at least incomplete) new tune. The bands finally meshed when they performed Fleetwood Mac's The Chain led by the BP females, and some slide guitar (while the bass solo was done by voice since they were lacking in an actual bass). On another track there was an attempt to record and sample the entire crowd humming a note. However this failed so instead the members of both groups crowded around the tiny keyboard and were able to lay it down. This was subsequently used on a track that only employed keys, percussion and vocals. In finale they attempted to teach us a song written by a preacher that asks "What are they doing in heaven today?" The lessons didn't stick all too well, but boy did we nail the count-it-in "bum-bum-bum"! As a nice touch, the closing chorus was sung completely a capella.

Emma-Lee

Emma-Lee sang That Sinking Feeling on the Main Stage in a colourful summer dress playing an acoustic guitar. Lovely as it was I was off to wake up with Green Go!

After Green Go, since Julie Doiron was late to the Lake Stage I snuck over for literally a glimpse of Kristin Sweetland. The tall lady was telling stories and I just couldn't wait around for the song to begin so I jetted back to Julie Doiron who still hadn't begun. Eventually she took to the stage and I caught a fast, extra-rocking version of a song I enjoy, No More. However with the full 4-piece band playing, Julie didn't seem to be focusing on the vocals and they became unemphasized and lost in the mix, to my disappointment. I decided to cut it off then and jet to the Island Stage.

Bruce Peninsula

Just an hour after finishing up their collaboration, Bruce Peninsula were back at it. The nine-piece nearing-gospel group filled the stage with four lovely females, leaving five equally as lovely males. Introducing the song as a "lung-collapser" due to the exhausting vocal harmonies they belted out Shutters and by the end I could understand the descriptor. The male lead vocalist has a very distinct and somewhat gruff voice, but when offset by the angelic singing of his female companions it melds into glory. For the final number Casey of Ohbijou joined them on-stage for a rousing rendition of Crabapples, perhaps the best track off A Mountain is a Mouth. It was mindblowing, with drumming on everything from the metal tent poles to the stage itself, along with tambos galore as the aforementioned male lead walked throughout the crowd. Do we want this set to end? "Oh Hell No"!

Bahamas

During Bruce Peninsula's set it had begun to rain heavily (though enthralled by the set I hadn't noticed) and it sealed my decision to stay at the Island Tent and give Bahamas another shot. Afie took to the stage with an electric guitar (no, not a Pink Strat) alongside a drummer. He ran through a number of songs from that album before excusing the drummer and playing a couple more solo. Unfortunately I'd decided that despite my efforts to get into it, Bahamas just weren't the thing for me, which meant that I left the tent before Tony Dekker (Great Lake Swimmers) and Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) joined Afie for a cover of Purple Rain. Dang.

I did catch some of Treasa Levasseur and her upbeat, jazzy music on the Lake Stage, filled out with a guitar, couple of saxophones and drums.

The Tallboys comprised of Kevin Breit, Matt Brubeck and Jesse Stewartplayed some great freewheeling music together as the accomplished musicians collaborated on the Lake Stage. Obvious professionals their timing was impeccable and the songs themselves great. All of this emphasized considering Jesse Stewart removed a boot cast from his broken foot before beginning the set.

While passing by David Martel at the Main Stage I was forced to stick around as he was playing The Good Lord which then morphed into most of John Wayne Gacy, Jr from Sufjan Stevens' fantastic Illinois before returning to a strong ending of the original track. This delayed my arrival to Ohbijou who had packed the Island Stage. With streamers streaming from their mic stands Casey sang, with her sis Jennifer on violin and the band also playing xylophone and cello on tracks such as Steep. It was the final song that came across best though. Just as Bruce Peninsula had included Casey on their last song earlier in the day, most (if not all) of Bruce Peninsula clamoured onstage for a singalong that brought out the sunshine once again!

After a refreshing swim I waited for Mishka's reggae to finish before the haunting Timber Timbre set.

On the way to eat lunch provided for volunteers I heard some familiar strings and followed my ears to the Sun Stage. Am I glad I did, as Owen Pallett was partway through a favourite Final Fantasy song, This Is the Dream of Win and Regine. (He should have saved that song with the verse "I tried, and tried to keep the clouds away!" for his stormy main stage set!) I would have liked to stay for more as Owen noted later that sharing the stage with Buffy Sainte-Marie was a highlight of his life, but I was called away by dogged hunger.

Attack in Black disappointed me once again live. Perhaps I should just accept that I'm only a fairweather fan - enjoying a handful of their singles but never loving their full catalogue and usually finding myself bored by the live shows that insist on playing the deeper album cuts. I did catch one of their more straight-ahead rock songs, You're Such an Only Child, which I did enjoy though.

Eccodek

My only other option was Eccodek on the Main Stage, who as I noted before play music that isn't within my regular scope, but watching them I could feel the energy they were pumping out nonetheless.

Though I would have liked to have seen Silver Starling debut some of their material, or to have accompanied my girlfriend to her fave Dala, or catch up with my hometown-heroesTokyo Police Club (Newmarket is close enough to Bradford right?) I played it safe by staying put in the Island Tent and not braving the possibility of a giant line to get back in. Overall I think it was a wise decision based on what I heard (or didn't hear in the case of Silver Starling) from others who had attempted it. Based on experience I'm sure the Sunparlour Players would have been great as well. However I was more than happy with the sets from Hey Rosetta, Library Voices, Woodhands and The Arkells!

For more Hillside Festival and Guelph-area reviews, check out Vernacular (sandrush.blogspot.com)

Bruce Peninsula: Interview

Lately I bought this digital recorder and try to get my hands into interviewing musicians/bands.
My first try was interviewing the members of Bruce Peninsula.
Interviewed them on July 23rd where they played a show at Cafe Dekcuf.
I talked to them after their sound check and did it at the corner of Rideau and Cumberland St.
Members I interviewed were:
Neil Haverty
Matt Cully
Misha Bower
Andrew Barker
Steven McKay
Kari Peddle
Daniel Geshundheit
I was thinking of typing it down but here is the audio part.

Bruce Peninsula: Face Melting Gospel

Apparently, the best way to spur me on to posting is not seeing a fantastic show, but seeing a fantastic show and then having someone else not like it. Now, I don't have a problem with someone not liking something, but I feel I need to weigh the scales of justice back by saying this: if you can, SEE BRUCE PENINSULA LIVE.

I saw the same lineup Christine did when they came to Victoria this past Tuesday, and while name-recognition would have made it make sense for Jon-Rae to be the headliner, from an aesthetic point of view there is no way that Jon-Rae could have built off of the momentum BP created. That's not to put him down-- he was a great show, and I would see him again anytime-- but his more laid-back style would be a comedown after the energy put out by these Toronto up-and-comers.

I'd also like to point out that even if you've heard the record and gone, "meh," it's still worth checking out Bruce Peninsula. They have a dynacism and a build on-stage that just isn't captured on vinyl, cd, or mp3, and they are playing with new songs that move in a more prog-rock direction (and when I say prog, we're talking closer to the Modest Mouse/Gang of Four end of things than Yes, so don't be scared off).

Honestly, I have never been to a show like this one before. Inspired by the gospel  and traditions of the southern United States circa 19th/early 20th century, these guys get into a deep groove that hits nerves most alt-rock groups du jour avoid like the plague, and they stay there. The band started playing their set to a mostly empty dance floor, by the end they had a sweaty mass in front of them demanding more-- which they gave, in the form of a raw cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain."

I don't really know what else to say-- the lead singer nearly broke his finger banging on the drums, which gives you an idea of the intensity with which they play, and they hit number five on a list of the hottest Canadian bands in 2008, when they had only recorded two songs, so people like 'em live. See them, because it's the only chance you'll have to get your face melted by gospel.

Interview with Bruce Peninsula

A Mountain is A Mouth eating up the sky,
Oh, as the ocean is bled dry…
- Shutters, A Mountain is A Mouth

Toronto’s Bruce Peninsula makes music that grabs you right by the soul and gives it a shake. Since their inception in 2006 Bruce Peninsula has garnered much praise (and band members) for both their spirited live performances and their two recordings: The Bruce Peninsula 7”, and the Polaris Prize long-listed A Mountain is A Mouth .

This summer Bruce Peninsula is taking their show on the road and hitting various locations in western and central Canada. Co-founding band member Matt Cully was kind enough to agree to an e-mail interview. The following is what went down:


I’m always interested in the stories of how bands form, and from what I’ve read most of the Bruce Peninsula (BP) members met in Toronto after having moved there from surrounding areas. Were there any pre-existing connections before you found yourselves in Toronto? How did you find each other and become friends?

Matt Cully: When I try to draw a family tree of who met whom, when and where, it is crazy how many of our relationships began by complete random chance. I met Kari [Peddle] and Misha [Bower] the day I moved into a new house. Misha met Neil [Haverty] while working at HMV and I ended up being Neil's roommate a few years later. Neil and Steve [McKay] went to high school together. Andrew [Barker] came into the mix through mutual friends. Its either completely predestined or a simple case of chance electrons gathering cosmic dust. Either way I'm happy we all met. We are all co-conspirators on this mission and our futures our now fully aligned.


BP began with just Misha and you playing a concert in 2006, going back to then, did you think that it would turn into anything like the Bruce Peninsula in its current form? If not, at what point did you realize that BP would become a full fledge touring/recording band?

MC: BP began gathering steam early on. We added Neil to our second show and already had the idea for a choir in place. When we started to write more material and perform more regularly that's when we started to realize that this could be more than just fooling around with our friends. As we added more people into the mix the songs we were writing changed and with each show a new horizon of possibility seemed to open up. I think it was really the feedback that we were getting from the audiences early on - people were really genuinely excited and that inspired us to keep following our intuition and plugging away at refining our sound. Pretty soon AMIAM was falling into place and we started to think more as a band, making decisions for our collective future. The first few years we never really thought of things in terms of practicality - that has always been both our strength and our weakness as a band. Whether it was adding more people or writing increasingly epic tunes we always answered the question "Why?" with "Why Not?". That mentality has gotten us this far anyway. We're cautiously optimistic.


Besides the unique sound BP has, the size of your band also sets you apart from most other bands out there. What sort of advantages/challenges does BP’s size present? What was done to overcome these challenges?

MC: I can only assume that we've faced a lot of typical dilemmas common to all people making art without a firm business model or financial backing. There are about 5 of us who write the material and do the organizing. Other people become involved as their schedules allow. We typically range from 7 people to 11 people depending on the show. Lately its mostly 7 or 8 people and that's where the numbers will remain from now on unless its a specific kind of show. Flexibility and compromise are absolutely key. A good jumbo pack of Extra-Strength Tylenol doesn't hurt either. We're not that different from other bands. Our grand size is primarily due to the kind of music we wrote for AMIAM - its kind of like classical composers writing for a set amount of voices. If you take the choir away then many of the songs on AMIAM would take a different form live. So we need voices to fulfill the scope of the work.


The bio on the BP website states that it was the field recordings of Alan Lomax that served as the starting point for BP. How did you first discover these recordings? What is it about this music that speaks to you rather than contemporary music, and what motivated you to re-contextualize them in your own unique way?

MC: I personally became interested in old folk and blues recordings about a year before Bruce Peninsula came to be. The music just floored me. It appealed to me on every level. After immersing myself deeper into the material I became increasingly interested in the history of these people and the way they gave expression to their lived experience through music. There was something so tough and honest about each voice, so rich in detail and nuance. Any way I describe this is going to sound dumb but it was truly "real" in a way that most modern music isn't and perhaps doesn't aspire to be. It hit home for me. It became a kind of guiding principle: "does this feel real?" was a question we were constantly asking ourselves when writing. Since an interest in the old recordings is what started the band it makes sense that our touchstones would be the old styles folk, blues, gospel and country when we started forming our own sound. We're not revivalists though. We are concerned with the new as much as anyone. We just happened to have an unusual entry point into the development of our own aesthetic.


When asked previously about the influence of Lomax’s recordings on BP’s sound you have emphasized that it is a constant evolution. I think this evolution can be heard within parts of A Mountain Is A Mouth (AMIAM), but I’m sure more has changed since then. As the evolution continues, what elements of BP’s sound will remain and what can we expect to change?

MC: Well as I said before, I think our style of singing is what binds us together and gives our songs cohesion. I feel like we have the freedom to set that to many different kinds of backdrops and still maintain the BP sound. Music from around the world has recently been creeping into our writing, primarily because that's what some of us our obsessed with. Every goddamn band says this, but here it goes again, we don't want to be pigeonholed. We want to bridge the gaps between what people are comfortable with and what challenges people. Folk music is a catch-all phrase for us. Its how we engage with the past and also how we redefine ourselves presently.


Your bio also identifies the Toronto music scene as an influence on how BP developed it’s sound. What specific qualities of the T.O. music scene influenced BP’s sound? How were these influences personified on AMIAM?

MC: Many of us grew up going to local shows. That was the thing that got us inspired and excited to play live music. Toronto is great because people are coming from all sorts of backgrounds - from jazz & improvised music to punk, noise, folk, performance art and all else in between. With such a rich diversity of musicians its bound to rub off on us and I think its shaped our sound immensely. One of the interesting points raised through getting into old folk music was the obvious influence a particular region would have on a particular style. It prompted to ask ourselves: what is Toronto music? What is Canadian music? Where do we fit in? What is our unique voice? All that kind of discussion seeped into the way we wrote the songs and the decisions we made in performance. The sheer amount of people on our record, whether in the choir or as guest musicians, is a great example of how local talent shaped our sound. Its right there nestled between the notes.


BP received a lot of buzz before any recordings were released due to the rave reviews you got for your live shows. Were you concerned about being able to capturing the energy of your live shows in your recordings?

MC: Looking back, we were completely naive in the realm of recording. We worked with Leon [Taheny of Ohbijou, Final Fantasy and Germans] and figured things out as we went along. We obviously wanted to capture our live energy but we also wanted to create a sort of definitive artifact of those songs at that time. The funny thing is that I feel like a lot of the tunes turned out differently then we originally intended. I'm proud of the record but I think we could have done it a lot faster if we were more focused and knew what we wanted. We generally think that the live experience and recordings are two separate spheres and should be treated with equal but separate care. That said, we try to write music that confronts you, that resists the background. So that would inevitably come out in the recordings no matter what we did.


It wasn’t until July of 2008 that BP released the 7” and then another 6 months before AMIAM was released. Was it a conscious decision to wait that long to release your music or were there other factors at play?

MC: We recorded the 7" in the same sessions as AMIAM. We wanted to release the traditional songs as a separate little package - a document of where we started from leading up to AMIAM. Our debut [LP] was delayed because of scheduling, mixing, building a studio. All sorts of extraneous circumstances that set us back little. But we eventually got our shit together and I think it was released just at the right time.


The 7” was released on band member Neil Haverty’s Escape Goat Records and with AMIAM you opted to release it yourselves rather than with a label. Surely with the buzz BP had received there were record labels wanting to release AMIAM. What was your motivation to self-release? Do you think you'll continue this with future releases?

MC: We had a few offers from Canadian labels and we ultimately decided that it was better to do it ourselves. We have already invested a lot of money and time into the project and we were confident that we had the ability to do the work of a label within our ranks. With all the changes happening in the music industry and the rise of the Internet I think it’s a better time than ever to do-it-yourself. Who knows, if bigger opportunities arise and we need more help then we might find someone who is as passionate about the music as we are. We hope that the music gets out to as many people as possible on our own terms and by virtue of its own quality.


BP is about to embark on it’s first tour of western Canada, playing in front of crowds who have never seen BP before live. What can people expect from a BP performance?

MC: We try our best to make the set fluid, engaging and energized - definitely worth the price of admission. We're excited to see how regional audiences react differently to our peculiar brand of folk music. We're working new stuff into the set so we're interested to see how people react to stuff that's not from the record. Our set is basically our BP sales pitch - people will ultimately decide things for themselves.

That’s all, thanks Matt.

MC: Ok dokay. Thanks for the interview.

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The western leg of Bruce Peninsula’s tour begins in Winnipeg with Rock Plaza Central through to Alberta, followed by several shows with Jon-Rae Fletcher in BC; it’s easy to see that BP likes to keep good company. For a complete schedule of their tour dates, look here .

Bruce Peninsula is also periodically blogging about their adventures on the road, which you can check out here . If BP is coming to your town, they would love to get your tips on what they should do while they are there. Or if you have space they would love to crash at your place, get in touch via e-mail: brucepeninsula[AT]gmail.com. At the very least you should go to their show and hear what they have to offer.

British Site Celebrates Canada

Even as Canadian Indie Music superstation CBC Radio 3 tries to decide whether or not to cut 15% of the Canadian content from their playlists the british site The Line of Best Fit has launched an Oh! Canada column. Written by freelancer Ro Clem the column will hi-light the best of what's going on in Canada.

To celebrate the birth of the column they have released Oh Canada Vol. 1 (for free) with songs by Andrew Vincent, Ultimate Power Duo, Ohbijou, Dan Mangan, Timbre Timbre, Forest City Lovers, Bruce Peninsula, the D'urbervilles, Hey Rosetta!, Ghost Bees and more.

Go grab your copy at http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2009/06/download-oh-canada-volume-1/ and then tell CBC Radio 3 that until there are more hours in the average day, they need to keep trying to squeeze in the good Canadian stuff that is out there.

Bruce Peninsula Head West To Devour The Mountains

For all of those who have had the pleasure of hearing Bruce Peninsula's 7" or their full-length A Mountain is a Mouth will be happy to know that they may be coming to a music venur near you! Here is what the band had to say on their website:

Not ever day of July is officially stitched up just yet but you can't say we aren't trying. An official announcement for the Western Canada dates below will likely go out tomorrow or the next day, but we figure this is as good a place as any for a scoop.

6/20 - Kingston, ON - Skeleton Park Festival
7/7 - Winnipeg, MB - Pyramid Cabaret *
7/8 - Saskatoon, SK - Walker's Nightclub *
7/9 - Edmonton, AB - Brixx Bar *
7/10 - Calgary, AB - Dicken's *
7/11 - Canmore, AB - Canmore Hotel *
7/13 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret **
7/14 - Victoria, BC - Logan's **
7/15 - Kelowna, BC - Habitat **
7/21 - Montreal, PQ - Il Motore
7/23 - Ottawa, ON - Cafe Deckuf
7/24 - Guelph, ON - Hillside Festival
* with Rock Plaza Central
** with Jon-Rae Fletcher

We couldn't be more excited. We're caught up with a delightfully nervous and mysterious energy. Can't wait to see the towns and cities that litter our country and to meet some of our national brethren.

If you are a friendly type and we've had some kind of effect on you in the last year or two, maybe you should get in touch. At least, we'd love to hear about your favourite place to eat in town or your favourite record store. At most, we'd be ever-grateful to crash on your floor. Please don't hesitate to send us an email if you have some insight on your city that we might not have. brucepeninsula@gmail.com

More dates are coming together and there will surely be more news to come on this in the coming month. Please stay tuned.
xo
BP

Finally western Canada will be able to experince the soulful and energetic performances BP is renowned for! The mountains eagerly await your arrival BP.

Photo Credit: Yuula Benivolski