PREVUE // FOLK ROCK
The Whytes
Sat, Jan 12 (8 pm) With Tallest to Shortest, Daniel & the Impending Doom, Jake Ian & the Haymakers Pawn Shop, $10
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ontinuing the wave of the folkrock revival that appears to be steadily gaining popularity is local five-piece the Whytes—armed with its own blend of folk-blues fusion reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac and Mumford and Sons. "I guess maybe it's just the natural progression of humans as a species. We always seem to recycle things and bring it back," muses bassist and vocalist Shane Ducharme of the revival following an on-air appearance at CJSR. "It always seems like styles come back, whether it be clothes or music, or anything really ... kind of how the electro music has been going so huge, too ... it's almost like yin and yang balance effect where the folk-rock revival is coming back too and they kind of counteract each other. I don't know, I'm just speculating."
Whatever the reason, the sound has been working for the Whytes since its inception during the summer of 2011. During its relatively short time together, the band has quickly developed a presence in the local music scene and is continually working to expand its reach as far as possible through festival appearances and out-of-town gigs. With a debut self-titled EP under its collective belt, the group wasn't about to slow down and is set to release its second six-song EP, aptly titled One More Round. The disc is a collection of collaboratively penned songs that span years and experiences—the title track was written by guitarist Daniel Bourbonnais four years ago at age 19—taking listeners on a whirlwind that is the lives and imagination of the Whytes. "We just picked out what we thought would best represent us at the time," Ducharme says, explaining that different members of the band will come to the group with the basic ideas for a song, and then the other members
will add their own flavour to create the finished product. "There's not a lot of pressure on just one person in the band to take the reins. We always kind of have a support system within the group, and there's always at least one of us that's taking the lead on a song, and usually all of us are singing. It's worked really well with us because I feel we have been able to find our sound almost on a personal level more because of the group. The group's almost helped us change our identities as individuals within the group. It might not work that well with some other groups, but it's been working well for us." To capture the infectious and genuine energy that encompasses One More Round, the Whytes headed down to Smith Music in Morinville, AB. Predominantly live-off-the-floor recording sessions were favoured over assembling tracks piece-by-piece, despite it being time-consuming in its own right. "Each song is us playing the song from start to finish in one room, all together in one take, so we would be going through the recording process and if somebody flubbed one note, we would have to do the whole song all over again," Ducharme recalls. "We recorded our first EP live off the floor ... because it is such a collaboration for the group it's almost like doing it live off the floor can get more of the emotion and the feel into the music instead of one guy listening through headphones in a room by himself ... you really get the live, organic feel that we feel makes the Whytes special." MEAGHAN BAXTER
// MEAGHAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM
WAR STORY
The Get Down
Fri, Jan 11 With Russian Fingers, the Fucking Lottery Wunderbar, $10 The Get Down has had its fair share of time on the road, and a backlog of stories to go with it. Prior to its next gig in Edmonton, frontman Ted Wright
MEAGHAN BAXTER // MEAGHAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM
shared a story of a roadtrip gone wrong. I knew we never should have taken the gig. I had to beg this promoter to get a show in Lethbridge, and he wanted us to play two sets. That should have been my first clue. The Get Down dutifully and miracu-
lously came up with two 30-minute or so sets comprised of originals and obligatory (if shaky)covers. Come the day of the show, we attempted to leave early, which never happened, or ever happens. It rained the entire way to Lethbridge and the wiper linkage on the van screeched CONTINUED ON PAGE 30 >>
VUEWEEKLY JAN 10 – JAN 16, 2013
MUSIC 29