FinnFreak
02-10-2006, 7:42am
:shocked:
...guess so...
Edmonton Sun - Fri, February 10, 2006
Brooding country
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000E5LFL4.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Elliott Brood - Ambassador (http://www.elliottbrood.ca)
1. Twill
2. President (35)
3. Second Son
4. Acer Negundo
5. Wolfgang
6. My Friend
7. Jackson
8. Johnny Rooke
9. The Bridge
10. Back Of The Lot
11. W.W.Y.H.M.B.
12. Superior
By MIKE ROSS
Imagine an alternate reality in which the Old West never died out.
People ride in ethanol-fuelled stagecoaches and pack six-shooters loaded with hollow-point bullets. Tin-type photos are available in a digital format, titanium bustles are all the rage and there is no law but the law of the Old West.
Could've been a Star Trek episode, come to think of it, but it's the vivid image one gets when listening to the music of Elliott Brood - a roots band from Toronto that is drawn to stories from the 1820s, the sounds of the 1920s and state-of-the-art production values from the new millennium.
Dubbed "death country" for its dark brand of music that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the light-hearted cheese of Shania Twain and her ilk, the band plays tomorrow at the Sidetrack Cafe.
Banjo player Mark Sasso says his band likes to blend different eras, pointing out, "Things that have happened 100 years ago still happen today."
Take the first single from the band's new album, Ambassador. It's called Second Son and deals with a guy who kills his entire family. Over a minor key banjo groove that evokes a Deep South you probably wouldn't want to visit, you hear the lyrics, "It's apparent that his parents never loved him at all. He's the second son of the friend of the chosen one, and he'll meet his end ... Watch as we hang him."
Some material is more upbeat. An excellent romp called Oh, Alberta doesn't contain any accounts of murder most foul, though while the song (from the band's debut EP, Tin Type) has struck a chord with Albertans, it's actually a love letter to Ontario. "A song about being proud of where you're from," says Sasso, who doesn't at all think he was born in the wrong place - or time period - to be making music like this. They look the part, too.
"We're just drawn to this," he says. We love playing our music wherever it takes us. It's a performance. We're entertainers We come out and do our thing. I'm not overly religious, but maybe when we go out and play, that's our religious thing, so we dress up. We try not to overthink anything, If you do that I think you can kill it. We like to leave space for people. We don't wanna be heavy handed."
Generally, the lyrics of Elliott Brood live down to the name of the band. Hapless characters in the songs are not "saved" in any way. There is no redemption, no light at the end of the tunnel, no lessons learned. No hit singles on country radio, either.
"We don't listen to country music," Sasso declares. "Not as in today's country music. We definitely listen to Johnny Cash and Neil Young, anything that's interesting. Definitely not Shania Twain. There's a definite distinction between country music and what we do. It's like pop music compared to traditional music. Commercial country just doesn't appeal to us, not that we're knocking it. It's just not our thing."
There's an ongoing argument from the idea that the best, most convincing music is created from personal experience, a "write what you know" approach. This is a bit problematic in songs about murder. Elliott Brood's music is fiction, of course. Sasso never killed a man just to watch him die, and neither, for that matter, did Johnny Cash, the mentor of "death country" for all who care to do more with black than just wear it.
Elliott Brood isn't named for a real person, but the character and namesake seems to take more shape with every recording.
Sasso says, "We're trying to figure out who he is. We're trying to figure out what he's doing. Maybe a bit of him is in every song. Maybe he lived in the early part of the 1920s. It's implied that he may have killed someone, but there's no proof yet."
I sense a feature film in the dark future of Elliott Brood. They already have the soundtrack.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Entertainment/Weekend/2006/02/10/1435265-sun.html
hmm... judging by the clip of 'Second Son' (http://www.elliottbrood.ca/02SecondSon_2-1.mp3) from their website (http://www.elliottbrood.ca)... it's kinda funky... :p
"Definitely not Shania Twain." - bwuahahaa...
heh... Marika, you're a big country fan... have you got this one yet..? ;)
John - :p
...guess so...
Edmonton Sun - Fri, February 10, 2006
Brooding country
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000E5LFL4.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Elliott Brood - Ambassador (http://www.elliottbrood.ca)
1. Twill
2. President (35)
3. Second Son
4. Acer Negundo
5. Wolfgang
6. My Friend
7. Jackson
8. Johnny Rooke
9. The Bridge
10. Back Of The Lot
11. W.W.Y.H.M.B.
12. Superior
By MIKE ROSS
Imagine an alternate reality in which the Old West never died out.
People ride in ethanol-fuelled stagecoaches and pack six-shooters loaded with hollow-point bullets. Tin-type photos are available in a digital format, titanium bustles are all the rage and there is no law but the law of the Old West.
Could've been a Star Trek episode, come to think of it, but it's the vivid image one gets when listening to the music of Elliott Brood - a roots band from Toronto that is drawn to stories from the 1820s, the sounds of the 1920s and state-of-the-art production values from the new millennium.
Dubbed "death country" for its dark brand of music that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the light-hearted cheese of Shania Twain and her ilk, the band plays tomorrow at the Sidetrack Cafe.
Banjo player Mark Sasso says his band likes to blend different eras, pointing out, "Things that have happened 100 years ago still happen today."
Take the first single from the band's new album, Ambassador. It's called Second Son and deals with a guy who kills his entire family. Over a minor key banjo groove that evokes a Deep South you probably wouldn't want to visit, you hear the lyrics, "It's apparent that his parents never loved him at all. He's the second son of the friend of the chosen one, and he'll meet his end ... Watch as we hang him."
Some material is more upbeat. An excellent romp called Oh, Alberta doesn't contain any accounts of murder most foul, though while the song (from the band's debut EP, Tin Type) has struck a chord with Albertans, it's actually a love letter to Ontario. "A song about being proud of where you're from," says Sasso, who doesn't at all think he was born in the wrong place - or time period - to be making music like this. They look the part, too.
"We're just drawn to this," he says. We love playing our music wherever it takes us. It's a performance. We're entertainers We come out and do our thing. I'm not overly religious, but maybe when we go out and play, that's our religious thing, so we dress up. We try not to overthink anything, If you do that I think you can kill it. We like to leave space for people. We don't wanna be heavy handed."
Generally, the lyrics of Elliott Brood live down to the name of the band. Hapless characters in the songs are not "saved" in any way. There is no redemption, no light at the end of the tunnel, no lessons learned. No hit singles on country radio, either.
"We don't listen to country music," Sasso declares. "Not as in today's country music. We definitely listen to Johnny Cash and Neil Young, anything that's interesting. Definitely not Shania Twain. There's a definite distinction between country music and what we do. It's like pop music compared to traditional music. Commercial country just doesn't appeal to us, not that we're knocking it. It's just not our thing."
There's an ongoing argument from the idea that the best, most convincing music is created from personal experience, a "write what you know" approach. This is a bit problematic in songs about murder. Elliott Brood's music is fiction, of course. Sasso never killed a man just to watch him die, and neither, for that matter, did Johnny Cash, the mentor of "death country" for all who care to do more with black than just wear it.
Elliott Brood isn't named for a real person, but the character and namesake seems to take more shape with every recording.
Sasso says, "We're trying to figure out who he is. We're trying to figure out what he's doing. Maybe a bit of him is in every song. Maybe he lived in the early part of the 1920s. It's implied that he may have killed someone, but there's no proof yet."
I sense a feature film in the dark future of Elliott Brood. They already have the soundtrack.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Entertainment/Weekend/2006/02/10/1435265-sun.html
hmm... judging by the clip of 'Second Son' (http://www.elliottbrood.ca/02SecondSon_2-1.mp3) from their website (http://www.elliottbrood.ca)... it's kinda funky... :p
"Definitely not Shania Twain." - bwuahahaa...
heh... Marika, you're a big country fan... have you got this one yet..? ;)
John - :p