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F r i d a y, O c t o b e r 1 1 , 2 0 1 3
n e l s o n s t a r. c o m
Gordie Johnson
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Eli Geddis {vurb} contributor
Member Loans
E
ven if you’re not familiar with his name, chances are you know who Gordie Johnson is.
Photo courtesy of Doug Springer/heavylight.ca
You might know him as the lead singer from the ‘90s-conquering Canadian blues-reggae-rock band Big Sugar. Or maybe you know him by his titular moniker in the cowboy metal group Grady. Or perhaps from his numerous and varied production and co-songwriting credits with artists such as The Trews, Joel Plaskett Emergency, and the great Warren Haynes (of Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule) — to name a small fraction. But next Friday, October 18, the multi-faceted Gordie Johnson will be bringing what may be his most intriguing and personal project to date — Sit Down, Servant!! — to Nelson. He will be sharing the stage with veteran Canadian musician Tom Wilson’s latest psychedelic folk group, LeE HARVeY OsMOND. Listening to the energetic (and endlessly quotable) Johnson describe this new incarnation of his musicality, it’s clear that Or the time they joined in with Warren Haynes Spiritbar is in for “a deep night of trippy music.” for 90 improvised minutes that spanned from Whereas his projects Big Sugar and even Grady “electric era Miles Davis to Howlin’ Wolf blues are more easily defined, thus more easily written songs that could go anywhere. And we did it in and talked about, Sit Down, Servant!! (essentially front of 4,000 people,” he laughs. “Like wow, glad a duo with Big Sugar’s drummer, we didn’t bother to rehearse this!” Sit Down, Servant!! Stephane Beaudin) is a different sort Johnson is a musician in the truOctober 18 @ 9 p.m. of animal. est sense of the word, and Sit Down, Tickets $25 “We started Sit Down, Servant!! Servant!! is his vehicle to explore Spiritbar with absolutely no concern whatthat integral part of himself, free soever for fitting into any category,” says John- of the constraints of marketing and contracts. son. “I had surgery last year on my wrist and it “I had a musical career before Big Sugar too, gave me an opportunity to be doing music that where I was playing all kinds of different stuff,” might not have been as physically challenging he says. “So in a lot of ways I get to go back to but was more spiritually challenging. But as music that I used to play when I wouldn’t care we’ve been doing [shows] it continues to evolve about songs on the radio and videos and all of every gig. Now I’m playing synth bass pedals, that. For me [Sit Down, Servant!!] is like, ‘You melodica, and lap steel… We go from playing wanna look at my record collection? Here it is.’” sacred steel,” a gospel roots music tradition “to So don’t expect Gordie Johnson to slow down old reggae songs in dub, to standards and weird any time soon. “We don’t take nights off,” he soundtracks. Sometimes we’ll go 30 minutes relates. “If you’re going to be away from home, without looking up.” you might as well be playing!” There are many veteran rock idols who would And in one week’s time at Spiritbar, he will be. be content to dust off the old songs, worm into the drycleaned tight pants, and parade their same songs to the same crowds, comfortable in their ruts. Not Johnson: “I got no ruts!” he laughs. And looking at the relatively short but awesomely eclectic history of Sit Down, Servant!! thus far, it’s clear he’s telling the truth. There’s the time that they cut a record with the infamous Bushwick Bill of the Geto Boys and became a go-to backing band for rap groups in Keynote speaker: Austin: “There we were just sitting playing one night in Austin and [he] just got up on stage, grabbed the mic, and started rapping. Like, oh my god, it’s the original censorship, triple X rapper who’s on stage with Sit Down, Servant!! Far out! So we did a record with him and then he just started bringing other MCs out to sit in with us.”
Weekend Symposium
1 Million
sT
ree
500K
an
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1.5 Million
100K
October 25-27, Nelson BC
Photo Credit: Martin Lipman
Greg Payce
2013 Saidye Bronfman Award Winner
Presenters include: Rebecca Hannon, Sarah Alford, Chi Cheng Lee, Jeremy Addington, Lou Lynn and Helen Sebelius RICK LINGARD’S KOOTENAY MUSIC ACADEMY
Nelson’s newest music school!
The 50K
20K
m Me
b
L er
o
This October, the Kootenay Co-op is asking our member-owners to consider making a member loan. Our goal? To raise $1.5M to equip our new store with everything from coolers, to shelves, cash registers and more! For information about our loan terms and rates, pick up a copy of our Member Loan pamphlet in store, call our member loans hotline at 250.354.4077 extension 555, or email memberloans@kootenay.coop.
Travel subsidies available
www.columbiabasincraftsymposium.com
Find your inner musician. Ages 10 - 110
www.kootenaymusicacademy.com We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of BC.
t: 250 354 4077 ex: 555 e: memberloans@kootenay.coop