SLIDESHOW >> NEIL YOUNG
PREVUE // CHRIS WYNTERS
The Wynters' tale Local artist reflects on 20 years
Eden Munro // eden@vueweekly.com
Fri, Jul 23 / Neil Young / Jubilee Auditorium Read the review and see more of Eden Munro's photos on vueweekly.com.
FACEPALM >> Chris Wynters is still recovring from touring New Zealand Lewis Kelly // lewis@vueweekly.com
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n February of 1996, Captain Tractor rolled through New Zealand on tour. At one gig, the folk-rock band out of Edmonton took the stage in front of a crowd following a sheep-shearing contest. Chris Wynters, a founding member of the band and artist-at-large around Edmonton, says the Kiwis were the toughest crowd Tractor ever played for. "They were looking at us like we were from another planet, and we really, really were," he says with a laugh. "They couldn't understand what we were saying and we couldn't understand what they were saying. There was no way to win." With any luck, the crowd gathered at the Haven Social Club on Saturday for the release of Wynters' second solo album, 2010 – 1982, will prove a little more receptive. Still, after 20 years of playing music, acting and writing both music and musical theatre, Wynters still gets at least a little nervous when going up on stage in a club. "It's scary to me to get up on stage, every time," he says, admitting that boisterous, inattentive or hostile crowds played a role in pushing him towards more work in theatre, where he does sound design and writes musicals. "One thing I really like about theatre is you've got an audience that's sitting there for two hours, quiet and listening to what's happening. Going into clubs and stuff, it's quite hard to have that sort of attention span from an audience."
32 // MUSIC
VUEWEEKLY // JUL 29 – AUG 4, 2010
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But the London, England-born, Alberta-raised artist keeps doing it. In addition to performing solo gigs and the odd Tractor show, Wynters hosts two weekly open stages in Edmonton: one at the Druid on Tuesdays and the other at O'Byrne's on Saturdays. He admits an affection for attention. "I'm still in that world, all the time. I love to play in that environment too," he says. "I'm good at standing in front of a noisy, drunk crowd and getting it going." Over the years, he says, he's developed a thicker skin and more cavalier attitude towards the more distracted parts of an audience. "I always focus on the people that are listening. I just know that I don't really care about the people that aren't," he says. "I'm not afraid to let people know how I feel, but I'm usually pretty funny about it. I often share my feelings with the people that are listening." The inherent risk involved in getting up on stage is part of what's kept Wynters coming back to live music over the years. "I think sometimes as an artist it's not really good to be comfortable," he says. "The possibility of failure is what makes you grow as an artist, so you have to do things that are scary." V Sat, Jul 31 (7:30 pm) Chris Wynters With Deon Bylan Haven Social Club, $10 – $15