Robert Connely Farr: Delta Blues by Way of East Van (plus Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, Charley Patton, and more)

NEW MATERIAL HAS BEEN ADDED AT THE END OF THIS POST, post-concert!!!!

I don't go lookin' for the blues. If you asked me about "Vancouver bluesmen," a couple of years ago, I would have muttered "well, there's Jim Byrnes" and looked rather embarrassed: I didn't really know anyone else! Certainly not who is playing soul-scorched, mud-spattered, callus-fingered Mississippi Delta blues here... what can I say, I only ever went to the Yale a couple of times, when James Blood Ulmer was playing there... and I was going to see him because of his connection to Ornette, not because he was touring the blues at that point... it just really wasn't my scene...

Then one day, I was soliciting stories to welcome Steve Earle to Vancouver. I put out a call on social media, and got a pointer from Tony Lee -- sometimes drummer, sometimes exuberant co-frontperson for the Asian Persuasion All-Stars, and perpetual man of style and taste: I should talk to Robert Connely Farr. The resulting story (I think of it as "Stalking Steve at Starbucks") ended up a high point of the blogpiece (though Jeanette McConnell's report of bringing Earle to play a posties' picket line, a couple of strikes ago, was pretty special, too). 

By Rd Cane; with Robert Connely Farr on the right and Jimmy "Duck" Holmes in the centre

So that's how I found out about Robert Connely Farr, who has a pretty interesting backstory for a BC bluesman. To copy and paste from his upcoming Heatley show bio, he

is a songwriter from Bolton Mississippi (hometown of blues legends like Charley Patton, Sam Chatmon, Bo Carter & Walter Vinson). Since 2017, cherished elder Mississippi bluesman Jimmy “Duck” Holmes has been mentoring Farr in the Bentonia Style of the Delta Blues. He’s also learned directly from Mississippi Bluesmen RL Boyce & Terry Harmonica Bean. In 2019 Farr was nominated for New Artist of the Year & Songwriter of the Year by Canada’s prestigious Maple Blues Awards. His music has been received well critically with songs having been used on Netflix, Lifetime & SYFY on shows like Snowpiercer, Resident Alien & Reacher. Farr is a longtime resident of East Vancouver.

From the press release from his recent 2024 album, Live at Green Auto -- and don't you just love that there is an album with that title out there? -- we learn that in fact "2024 was a hard year" for Farr:

He spent the early part of the year in Mississippi tending to his father who was terminal with leukemia. After his father passed, Farr only played three shows that year, Live at Green Auto (Farr’s 12th full length album) was recorded on Dec 06 2024 in an obscure venue in the heart of East Vancouver Canada. With longtime bandmate / co-conspirator Jay Bundy Johnson (Blue Shadows/ Herald Nix /Mac Pontiac) on drums, the guitar / drum duo ripped through a blistering set of Delta & Country Blues – premiering new singles "Mississippi Mud" & "Hoot Owl Blues" alongside a slew of originals & a few covers from lesser-known Mississippi bluesmen.

I have, so far, only managed to see Farr once, the Keithmas-before-last, but he's a powerful player, making growly, soulful, slightly evil-sounding blues of a kind one is not expecting to come out of Vancouver -- not even East Vancouver! With a new album coming out soon -- JJ Hadley Sings the Blues, with a title that riffs on one of the aliases of Charley Patton -- and a show coming up on March 2, I sent Farr some email interview questions and started making plans to see him anew, this time doing his own material. 

(Sorry to hear about your father, man.) 

Robert Connely Farr by Allan MacInnis

AM: Tell readers about the Bentonia style? Can you point to a specific piece of playing (on any of your albums, or on someone else's) that typifies Bentonia?

RCF: The Bentonia Style centers around the playing of Henry Stuckey [who never recorded!] and a tuning that he brought back from his tours in the army. I believe it’s an Open C minor tuning (C/G/C/D*/G/C) Sometimes it’s played in an open D minor. the songs also tend to have minimal turnarounds with a droney nature, somewhat less structure than your Delta Blues & similar (I find) to Hill Country style (which is totally different tuning).

The style is amazing and me trying to explain it wouldn’t do it justice. Here’s a link to an article from Living Blues a few years back that really goes into the history - which I find incredibly interesting.

http://digital.livingblues.com/article/Henry+Stuckey/3345338/577398/article.html

AM: Will educate myself! So how did you connect with Jimmy "Duck" Holmes? Have you ever been to the Blue Front Cafe, or played here? (What's a specific piece of his music I can point people to that matters to you or influenced you?).

RCF: His juke joint the Blue Front Cafe is the only place I play when I’m home in Mississippi. Last time I was down, Jay and I got to headline the Bentonia Blues Festival sharing the stage with Jimmy & RL Boyce - it was one for the books!

Robert and and Terry "Harmonica" Bean by Tyler McLeod

AM: If you have a favourite Jimmy "Duck" Holmes story, I'd love to know it.

RCF: I knew about Jimmy’s juke joint the Blue Front Cafe when I was growing up. In fact I stopped by every year or so for a decade (high school & college) just to photograph it. A good friend of mine at one point told me that famous old bluesmen played there but I wasn’t into the blues then and didn’t pay him any mind. But I never went in.

One day in ‘17 I’d gone home to be with my dad (whose cancer had come back) . We spent a day together - father/ son kind of thing, rode up into the delta to Clarksdale, then to Indianola then back down through Yazoo City and then back home to Edwards through Bentonia.

When we went thru Bentonia I told my dad “you've got to see this old juke joint” and when we pulled up to the Blue Front Cafe the door was open. I walked in and Jimmy was there & we talked for a bit. I asked him to play a song. He politely obliged, playing us the most haunting rendition of "Devil Got My Woman." [Editor's note: You can actually hear Jimmy do it online].

RCF, continued: It was only the three of us in there. And that day, that moment brought my music home for me. I went back a few days later with my guitar and then later that year Jimmy came up to Vancouver and I ushered him over to the Vancouver Island Folk Fest. We got to be good friends on that trip and he’s very much a mentor and I’m indebted to what he’s taught me. I told him that one day that I felt like I owed him. He said “go give it away. Help someone learn about the Bentonia Style. Show people what I’m showing you.”

Jimmy is the embodiment of the Living Blues.

The only known photo of Charley Patton, 1929. Nice to have a good excuse to run it! 

AM: I see that the new album references JJ Hadley -- a Charley Patton in-joke, right? Is there a reason you're choosing his religious pseudonym for this project? (I don't know a lot of the songs you do but the ones I have heard don't seem to have a strong religious element). Will you be doing any Charley Patton covers at the Heatley?

RCF: There are definitely underlying religious elements in many of our songs/ albums. I also included a spiritual at the end of the Country Supper album. In "Blue Front Cafe" on the Dirty South Blues album I kill the preacher for touching me. "Hey Mr Devil" I ask the devil to intercede on my behalf. Some are way more subtle, many times I’m lamenting to the Lord ("Cypress Tree Blues," "Cadillac Problems")' we released a single, "Jesus (If Ya Want Me Come and Get Me)" that was used on the new season of Snowpiercer -- haha that was a fun one!

I didn’t know much about Patton before moving to Canada - or any of the other Bluesmen from Bolton (Bo Carter, Walter Vinson, Sam Chatmon). After I moved to Canada and it was another 10 yrs before I’d meet Jimmy - which is what brought it all home for me. Hence my dive into Patton. Who was this guy from my hometown? I find him incredibly complicated. I chuckled at his pseudonym he’s use when he was being Good Charley.

With regards that album JJ Hadley Sings the Blues - these are all songs that started pouring out after my dad died. Many of them written back home. But all of them seemed different from this Bentonia / Delta Blues wormhole we been down. But important to me nonetheless. Songs that showed a different side of me… hence the JJ Hadley reference.

We did cover "Screaming & Hollering the Blues" [Patton's version here] on our Shake It album. Not sure if we’re going to cover any Patton for the show - but now you’ve sparked my interest so don't be surprised if you hear some - which leads me to next question / answer …

Robert Connely Farr by Ian Woods: press image from the Live at Green Auto album

AM: I assume "High Water 3" is a reference to Charley Patton's "High Water Everywhere 1" and "2" -- are there musical or lyrical consistencies? By the way, was there a specific flood that Patton was writing about? What do you think of Bob Dylan's "High Water" song (it's title actually includes a parenthetical "for Charley Patton"). 

RCF: I don’t know if I’ve heard the Dylan song. Or if there are musical or lyrical consistencies with HW 1&2. What happened before me writing "High Water 3" was I’d been in this Patton wormhole and listening to HW 1&2. I’d also gone home to Mississippi and drove down to the Mississippi River ghost town of Rodney - only the river was flooding and you couldn’t get anywhere. That last verse in my song HW3 eludes to a verse in Patton's HW 2 about that water rising and having nowhere to go.

AM: I love Patton's growly, often incomprehensible voice almost as much as I love that there is only one photo of him, But I'm listening to "Ain't Dyin'" and I'm finding your voice is occasionally as hard to understand sometimes as Patton's! How good are you at decoding his lyrics?

RCF: I’m not good at decoding his lyrics. What I find inspiring is the emotion in the songs even though you don’t know exactly what he’s saying. I seen Jimmy do it and RL Boyce do it to… I’ve been trying to lean into that. My single "Go Cat Go" is like that - lyrics very hard to understand …

by Rd Cane

AM: May I print the lyrics to "Ain't Dyin'?" (Like, can you send me them?) What was the inspiration of that song? What does "I ain't dyin' any quicker than you" mean? What's a place you don't go no more...? For a song that seems to assert that you are going to live life on your own terms, it's pretty mournful!

RCF: 

Ain’t nobody gonna tell me what’s wrong with me
Yeah I got a few ideas of my own
Gonna smoke and drink and have some fun
Until my day is done

Yeah I got places to see
And I got places I don’t go no more

Sometimes I take too much
I just can’t get enough
It’s all I ever known

Sometimes I take too much
I just can’t get enough
It’s all I ever known

Take this country boy home

Yeah I ain’t dying any quicker than you
Life just goes where it wants to
Sometimes up sometimes down
Sometimes lost & sometimes found…

This is the 3rd iteration of a song. I’m quite smitten with it haha. The 2nd iteration was on the “Country Supper” album and the first was on an EP “I Ain’t Dyin” before that. It’s a dark song, initially inspired by my Aunt who was terminal with cancer. She was at the hospital one day to get her treatments and someone sitting next to her asked her “how long did they give you” (to live) she quickly and brightly snapped back “I ain’t dying!!!”. I love it, that was her spirit. But I reminded me of all the times in my life I was at a low point but I wasn’t done fighting yet.

This rendition I find to be the most mournful but I’d written it not long after seeing my father die last year. It was quite sobering - no matter how much he wanted to live or tried to - death still prevailed.

The “I ain’t dying any quicker than you” is a reference to the last back porch chat I had with my dad - obviously about to die - but he wasn’t thinking about that - he was thinking about fixing his tractor and installing a new gate at the farm. He was still living - right up until he died - he was livin'.

AM: Where was the cover photo taken?

RCF: Cover photo was taken about 10 miles north my family home in a town called Satartia - it’s at the southern edge where the delta hits the hills / trees.

AM: What are some songs you plan to play at the Heatley, for sure? (Stuff I can point readers to on your bandcamp?). Do any have particular stories that you want out there...? Are there any covers that you plan to play?

We’re definitely going to be playing our new Live at Green Auto & Pandora Sessions albums. We also have a bunch of obscure covers we do, Jimmy Duck, Lonzo Burkes, RL Burnside, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Leo Bud Welch… [Note: these are just random links to the people Farr is mentioning; I have no idea what songs by them he's going to do]

AM: Do you have any allies or compatriots in the Vancouver music scene? I don't know of anyone doing the blues quite like you do -- does that put pressure on you, or is it nice to have a niche to yourself...? (Or am I wrong about that?). .

That’s the one thing I love about Vancouver is I feel like I got a friend in any room I walk into. I’m also inspired by my contemporaries - even if we aren’t doing the same thing.

It does feel like we're in a kind of niche so to speak but I’m really just trying to be inspired by the music of my home and also be true to what’s coming out of me. I feel particularly inspired that I am the first songwriter to come from Bolton Mississippi since Patton, Chatmon, Carter and Vinson and I don’t take that lightly.

AM: Anything else I've missed, that you want to say about the album or the show?

RCF: Looking forward to playing this style of drum & guitar delta blues & country blues for y'all. It feels special to me, like home. I’m excited to share it.

Robert Connely Farr's webpage is here. Read more about Live at Green Auto here. 

PART TWO: Some post show photos and a video clip!!! 

It was a very enjoyable night -- Heatley nachos rock and the music was great, and Robert very personable. He wore a Skynyrd shirt and played Bentonia style blues, doing a few traditional songs like "Back Door Man." I was sad at the end when he and Jay were discussing the last song, Jay kind of vetoing "Everybody's Dyin'," that Robert didn't have a standard-tuned guitar on which to do "I Ain't Dyin'," but the request got an extra encore out of them, which did turn out to be "Everybody's Dyin," after all which, sorry Jay, was one of the high points of the night (death has been a bit more visible in my life over the last while... since 2009, I've lost both my parents, had cancer surgery three times -- or technically four, but once was just because the graft failed, the day after the third). And I've had a few friends and family die or have close calls, and met lots of other folks who have danced with cancer... "Everybody's Dyin'" was a great song for me... we all are... it's a fact... 

...but I was also pretty high (baked on home baking) and at one point found myself theorizing (as I listened, I found sometimes I had to take my brain out for a walk to keep it from nipping at my ankles) that the blues is to popular western music what proto-Indo-European is to Indo-European languages. I also believe I arrived at a sound theory about the need for men to mansplain, rooted in an unstated hierarchical drive for status... which I somehow got to by noting my own desire to identify all the blues artists that played between songs and mansplain them to Erika... after I was done mansplaining the blues, I mansplained mansplaining to her... in-between I enjoyed the music... "Mansplainin' the Blues" would be a fun song title...

Not sure I can replicate my other thoughts now, however. It is interesting that with the blues, there's a history, an urge to acknowledge history, whose shoulders you're standing on, that's kind of been lost in a lot of the derivations of the blues. There are some people in the general world of folk and roots music who do it well, who know their history and can and will connect the dots for you -- Peter Stampfel, for example -- but they're usually people who have been around a fair while, and even then, they're the exception. Bob Dylan doesn't explain, before a song, "This is an arrangement I, uh, borrowed from Dave van Ronk, which he had based on the playing of the Reverend Gary Davis, but I added a verse referencing an older English ballad called..." Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones don't tell you when they're about to cover Willie Dixon, sometimes even giving themselves writing credit for song structures that have been around a very long time... but bluespeople do tend to acknowledge the history of their music, and take pride in KNOWING the history of their music, which does enrich the listening... .

My rabbithole, last night, though, was mostly that because of the primacy of the blues as a source point, an origin for so many current genres of music, I actually find it slightly challenging to grapple onto: I have to strip away my knowledge of all that has come since, from it, layered over it, extrapolated from and recontextualized, in jazz, rock, funk, soul, Afrobeat, and even some punk (Nomeansno have some blues in them, say! Jon Spencer, too -- there was a guy at the Heatley who was similarly enthusiastic about the show in Vancouver: I heard one of Robert's friends mention Judah Bauer and perked up and joined that conversation quickly!). 

So, so much that we listen to comes from the blues that blues is kinda like the Holy Bible of western music... which makes me feel I should really know it better... but I haven't read the Bible either, you know? (I've read Blood Meridian, I've never read the Bible: surely even Cormac McCarthy would disapprove). But as fundamental as the Bible is, it takes me a lot of mental effort to sit down to it. Blues takes me a similar amount of effort. It requires me to shut things down a bit, shut them out a bit, to be able to really appreciate it... to set aside my craving for variety, my expectations for things to go "beyond the blues." Going back to the blues, to real blues, really does feel like going back to the roots, but it takes discipline to focus... Some of my favourite blues records, like Howlin' Wolf's "new album," go very much beyond the blues, while some other blues artists that people revere, that were fundamental to the form's development, I don't spend a whole lot of time with (I don't own or listen to much in the way of Leadbelly, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters... I only started really digging John Lee Hooker last year... I've always felt like I might be "doing the blues wrong," you know? Erika points out that we listen to music in many different ways -- that I'm "more ADHD" than her; she enjoys familiarity, clarity of understanding... her brain shuts up and gets out of the way easier than mine; she has an easier time just accepting and listening, while I'm trying to categorize, analyze, or at least name the artist). 

But last night was real and earthy and at times Farr's guitar tones were gorgeous, and eventually I figured out that I should just shut my eyes and shut my mind and LISTEN. Which I did. There was a lot of business in my head, but I listened right for a few songs -- I had to get out of my own way, and when I did, the music rang deep and true....

I chatted with Robert before, after, and between sets, as well, but there's not a lot I can replicate (see above: "I was high"). But one favourite story involved how he had been learning from Paul Pigat, when Paul Pigat first heard Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, doing a solo guitar thing: "It sounds like there are three guys playing," Pigat observed. "You need to go learn from him!"

Dead Bars Vancouver return: Friday recommendation

Thanks to Wayne McCarthy for the tip: Dead Bars this weekend is going to be great. Haven't seen the SLIP~ons in ages (see my past interviews with Brock Pytel here -- going back to his time in the Doughboys -- and here); I'm hoping anyone reading this already knows the band, but if not, they began life covering the Replacements (see half of their version of "Bastards of Young" here) and now do almost all originals. 

Looks like the SLIP~ons are opening the show for two Seattle bands -- a cool-sounding surf combo called the Boss Martians, who I have not seen before, and who will be a superb palate-cleanser between bands, since there is very little "Minneapolis" in what they do, and there's quite a bit in both the SLIP~ons and Dead Bars -- so having something very different in-between is a fine idea! 

Speaking of Minneapolis, there is some OBVIOUS POINT OF COMPARISON (early Lemonheads? I can't quite put my finger on it) in Dead Bars music that does NOT remind me of the holy Minneapolis trinity of the Replacements, Du, and Soul Asylum (though there's plenty of those, too -- maybe Soul Asylum too). I'm gonna chew on it, but try a few of their songs: "Freaks" is probably going to be on their setlist and has a charming sentiment set to anthemic, concise music. I also kind of like how they squeeze romanticism out of someone sharing earplugs at a gig -- shit, is it someone local they're reminding me of? That first screamed lyric ("This band is way too fucking loud!") totally reminds me of someone here and *I'm not getting it*, can't put my finger on it; who does that SOUND like?  I'm going to poll my friends. It feels like the sort of lyric Jesse Lebourdais would write but it doesn't sound like him! 

Plus they have a song about how hard it is to get a good night's sleep. I think some of you will identify. 

Anyhow, no interviews here, no fuss, might not even post photos but if you're looking for a gig on Friday, this is going to be great, methinks. Wayne says he saw them the last time they were in town and that it was terrific. I believe it (even if it's really the SLIP~ons I'm going for). 

Facebook event page here. 

We Found a Lovebird, while I meet some chickens, plus Black Mountain, Crummy, and more!

Memorable moments of the day:

1. These chickens, whom I visited today, are the most beautiful chickens,  probably the healthiest chickens, that  I have ever seen; green tailfeathers on a chicken is new to me, and they were plump and slow and dignified and gorgeous.  They are also the only chickens I have seen, as far as I recall, that had feathers on their feet; I did not realize before today that chicken footfeathers were a thing, though this perhaps is simply a matter of not being very observant. Or being distracted in my past chicken encounters by their behaviour (#ChickenAttackSurvivor, #Can'tFindthePhoto). 

I do not want to name the artist on whose property these chickens live, but I am happy to know she does not plan to eat them. These are rescue chickens, and a rescue rooster (their eggs can go fry, tho', ha, ha). Actually, the person who is looking after them has a remarkable new album coming out, more on which sometime soon, but she may not wish to be known by her devoted chicken husbandry (if someone looks after chickens, but they are a woman, what is the word for it? Can women practice husbandry, or do, uh, "chicken ladies" [sorry] have their own gendered term that I don't know? Poultrywiffery? And why IS it called husbandry, anyhow?).

2. Flash forward a bit, because points 1-3 are in sequence, the top three high points of the night: immediately prior to leaving for Black Mountain at the Rickshaw (where I stayed from about 10 to 1045), I enjoyed the hell out of dancing to the Butthole Surfers' "Goofy's Concern" as rendered by Crummy. It was the dancin', rockin' out high point of the night, at least in terms of my body's responses to it -- I am surprised to discover that I *can* dance like this, actually (which is to say, "with such vigor;" I lay no claims to skill. I am not entirely sure what all is in the caplet I took -- mushrooms, but maybe also herbal stimulants? Blue Meanies are a hell of a dancing aid, though). This will console me that I never really saw the Butts (did interview the Butt who wrote this song tho'. Nice guy! Here he is doing an alternate version of the song: know this one, Bert?). 

I guess it is a left-handed compliment that Crummy is #2 below chickens, but you beat Black Mountain, like. So there's that.

Actually, re: dancin', my heart was beating with such vigour after that song, I said to Bruce Wilson (who had miraculously re-grown a full head of hair), "If I fall down clutching my chest, call 911?). Got a laugh. I'm hardly even sore today (a bit hungover though). 

3. The sittin' down listenin' high point of the night, meanwhile, was Black Mountain doing "No Hits." I do not connect with their new stuff at all, and seeing it live didn't really change that -- not sure if it's me or them. Maybe they're just a band I have trapped in amber, fossilized for me forever since 2008, forever to dwell there, like I did with  Husker Du post-Zen Arcade? But I still loved "No Hits" (and the other songs I recognized: second most-danced-to song tonight was "Wucan"). Does it really matter that I still don't like their new stuff? It loses some of its grungy patina, for me, but who the hell am I, anyhow? They still have a huge audience and a huge presence, so my reaction is seriously not important. 

I didn't get any photos worth a damn but this is available for license to Pabst Blue Ribbon, if they want to pay me, for advertising purposes. I guess they'd have to clear it with the band. 

In fact, it was amusing to see the guy who had been talking to his buddies during the first couple of Black Mountain songs getting irritated with the drunk guy pictured, who was dancing with his Pabst can in the air, asking him to tone it down, because he was getting "distracting." I realized at that moment that I was on the side of the drunk guy, mildly amused by him, even.  

The girls who raised their let Bics in presumably ironic salute? Not so much. It was not, really, my audience, nor did I care for how packed it was, or how warm the air was (Green Auto had been nice and cool: better for dancing). But goddamn that "No Hits" tonight was great, though. It seemed like practically ten minutes from the "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" playbook, intercut with a bridge that took a few phases, climaxing into something very pounding and staccato, before veering back to psychedelic texture. It was magnificent, and the Blue Meanies worked well for just sitting there listening. Excited for anyone seeing them again tonight at Green Auto -- should be a hell of a show. 

Which is where I went back to, after "Wucan," though we now depart from both temporal and heirarchical sequence, as points 4 and onward, below, could be as easily scrambled any which way, as all of which follows was great: 

4. I began to worry almost as soon as I got into position: What the fuck is that on the back of Bruce Wilson's neck? Is this a disfigurement? It's totally unnatural: is he a reptile of some sort?! BRUCE WILSON IS AN ALIEN...! (no, wait: he's wearing a bald wig, a skullcap. Those are folds of fake skin. He still has hair under there. Whew!).

(Judith Beeman would ask me later on social media "what's that on his head," and I told her it was a whale placenta. Not sure why).

Bruce was pretty cold up there, without a shirt, he told me later. But colder is better from an audience point of view: you pay more attention. I always run classrooms I work in cold, if I can have my way -- so much so that I've had students ask if we can turn up the heat. 

If it is not clear, Bruce Wilson is one of the most compelling performers to watch in Vancouver. I liked the songs, but he's so gripping in his lithe, sinewy physicality that he counts as his own distraction from his own music, which I have nothing articulate to say about, though it too was compelling. He just has this remarkable way of seeming entirely, completely tensed, like his BMI must be a negative number or something. Does he do tai chi?  

One of the songs had to do with being star-fucked, I think. Interestingly, even though I could make out few of the lyrics, and remember no other lines now, I took this as a riff on being "star-crossed," as they say in Romeo and Juliet, and not on actual starfucking, as discussed by the Rolling Stones, despite the latter being the only previous reference to starfuckery I have encountered. I will be curious to hear that again. 

5. After Bruce played, it was Caveman & the Banshee, the presumed banshee of whom got down on the floor and spent some time amusing Hamm and I with her antics.

 A bit later in the set, while she was still performing, she came over to where I was sitting in back and sat on my arm, briefly, while continuing to sing. Her bum rubbed my elbow. Later, walking out into the alley, I passed her, and called, "Do you know NO FUN, the Beatles of Surrey? David M. of that band had been the only musician who sat on me before tonight." 

She giggled happily. 

Caveman and the Banshee ended their set on a cover of Iggy Pop. I felt like it was evidence of how well I was on their wavelength that, even though scarcely a note had been played, when she said they were going to do an Iggy Pop cover, I thought, "They're  going to do 'I'm Bored.'" Which was exactly what they did. 

6. Then came Crummy, and then a trek to the Rickshaw, and then I came back just in time to see the whole set from We Found a Lovebird (the Television comparison actually mostly suited the song "Details," and it was Terry's guitar that put me in mind of that band -- compare with "See No Evil," say -- though I couldn't tell you if that was the Verlaine or Richard Lloyd role that he was summoning). There was some great guitar interplay between Terry and Larry tonight, much of which did not in fact remind me of Television; there were also elements of the Paisley Underground and/ or shoegaze in what they did, I thought, lots of tingling, shimmering detail. They'd be a terrific band to put as an opener for the Dream Syndicate, if the Dream Syndicate ever come back to Vancouver, though of course you would have to put the New Modernettes on the bill, as well (may they please put out that album soon?). 

Anyhow, I enjoyed their set and was glad to take it in. I recorded clips of "Chet" and "Signal Hill." Hamm, at one point, seeing me in the audience, said, "I thought you left!" and I commented, "I came back! I just missed you."

Sorry, Hamm! Wayne McCarthy tells me the Space Family Band were terrific last night. Of course they were! But I saw them a few months ago, and I haven't seen Black Mountain since 2008, and had been gifted a ticket, so... I hope you understand! I will see you again ASAP.

BTW, Wayne also recommends the Dead Bars/ SLIP~ons gig next Friday at LanaLou's -- says Dead Bars are great, and of course, he and I met because I complimented him on his SLIP~ons shirt. I am past due for another SLIP~ons show. Apparently that will be Lana's birthday gig! 

Oh, and I made another new animal friend yesterday, too - a Kentucky rescue dog named Tucker. Hi, Tucker! Nice to meet you! (He lives with those chickens). 

A rich and varied day, in any case, punctuated with transit. No gigs for me tonight, I don't think, but I wonder if there will be any tickets at the door for Black Mountain? (Firefighter benefit, befitting McBean's new LA home, discussed here). 

We Found a Lovebird at Green Auto: Larry Lechner, Stephen Hamm and Bruce Wilson mini-interviews

We Found a Lovebird

Bruce Wilson (Tankhog/ Sunday Morning/ RxHx) agrees with me: the new album by We Found a Lovebird has a kind of Tom Verlaine/ Television quality to it. "I can definitely hear why comparisons to Tom Verlaine would be made. Maybe some Westerberg in spots too? I don’t know the We Found A Lovebird crew that well but it always makes me happy to run into Larry when we’re out and about. I like their guitar sound."

The Larry he means is We Found a Lovebird frontman Larry Lechner, who has been on the Vancouver music scene since his days in One Fell Swoop, footage of whom can be seen sandwiched between Poisoned and Nomeansno, around the 36 minute mark in this 1984 compendium of performers at a York Theatre independent music festival. It's vaguely "MoDaMu," if you're familiar with that scene, the avant-new-wave "modern dance music" clique that arose from the 1980s punk scene, featuring bands like Animal Slaves and Bolera Lava, though Lechner's sound has evolved since then. "One Fell Swoop became the Velveteens who morphed into Conrad who then became We Found a Lovebird," Lechner explains in an email. "And here we are. With a new album and everything!"

We Found a Lovebird headlines an ambitious bill this Saturday at Green Auto, the record release for With Friends Like These. (The album is now on bandcamp in full and can be previewed here, with discussion about the newest single, "Details" -- and was at Music Madhouse on vinyl, so I assume it can be purchased at the gig). 

Wilson's new project, RxHx, will play, kicking things off at 8pm. More on them a bit later! Wilson's longtime compatriot, Stephen Hamm, will do a "Space Family Band" set; Crummy, fronted by Bert Man (Little Guitar Army, Strugglers, and much more -- interviewed by me here and here), will perform; and out-of-towners Caveman & the Banshee will perform. It's a lot of music for your money, and sprawls out across the night long enough that I might actually try to double-dip, rushing back-and-forth between the Black Mountain show at the Rickshaw and the Green Auto (a back alley entrance above Pandora, just off Victoria Drive). I won't be able to take in everything, but...

So does Lechner agree with the Verlaine comparison? I hadn't noticed a Television connection when last I interviewed him. As sometimes happens, it's totally a coincidence -- though it turns out, I'm not the first person to go there. "Verlaine was not an influence at all actually," he writes. "I hadn’t heard of Television when Alex Varty first made the reference. After I heard Marquee Moon I felt very flattered, naturally."

L-to-R unless I have fucked up: Kerry MacPherson, Jay Solyom, Larry Lechner, Dave Charan, photo by Gord McCaw

With that, I'm going to revert to Q&A style for the remainder of this Larry Lechner interview:

Allan: Why call the album "With Friends Like These?" (Somehow that makes me think of the US under Trump, but that cannot possibly be the reference). I haven't actually HEARD the whole record -- it's not all on bandcamp, and I didn't buy it (yet) because I thought I would be at the show). Is there a lyric to that effect? Is it a unifying theme?

Larry: That title was suggested by Dave Charan (bass/vocals) and was originally more of a joke about how we're always ribbing each other. I expanded the meaning to: The songs we listen to can become some of our closest friends. We rely on them to transport us somewhere or jolt us awake. Either way, that’s what we expect from our friends, isn’t it? 

Allan: Let me ask about the song "Chet."  That Chet Baker documentary pissed me off to no end. It's got great footage but I have never seen a filmmaker JUDGE his subject quite so much -- I wanted to punch Weber, almost, when he asked Chet if he remembered the names of all his kids. So a) thank you for sticking up for Chet -- as that song seems to do; b) how and when was that song written? and c) Were there any other people you were thinking of, who the lyrics connected with (the late Mr. Chi Pig also lived very much on his own terms, and as problematic as those terms were, he stuck by them -- a sad story but, like, he stayed the course and lived the life he wanted to live...). Are there any musical "references" to Chet Baker's music in there, that I might have missed?

The lyrics of this song are Chet’s verbatim response when asked if he felt regret over his life. His response resonated deeply with me because he had only gratitude, zero regrets. That perspective is powerful. It’s not unlike the themes that run through many of our songs – nods to iconic artists, life’s moral conundrums, and the ever-present possibility of love. His response sounded like lyrics to me so I scribbled them down and set them to a weird little chord progression I was playing around with at the time. Was written last year sometime.

Thanks for doing it, it's a moving gesture. Do you have any particular history or connections with Hamm, Bruce Wilson, or Bert Man? Stories, favourite songs, whatever? (There is another band on the bill I do not know -- Caveman and the Banshee; do you have connections with them?

No history with Hamm or Bruce Wilson other than coming out of the same local scene back in the 80's. I cross paths with Hamm occasionally and we help each other with contacts, etc. As for Bert, his other band Chopper and the Saucermen played with us at Green Auto last year, so yeah we're fans of Bert and his various projects. This bill came together when Hamm contacted me looking for a show and mentioned Bruce and Caveman and the Banshee, who are from Nanaimo. Caveman has a new record out that they're touring to support and it seemed like an interesting and eclectic fit for the bill. It's gonna be a fun one!

Anything else we should say about the live set, the new album, or...?

The new album has been in the works since we released the first single "Sent On a Boat" back in 2020. It was recorded mostly live off the floor in our studio/rehearsal space in New Westminster between 2020 and 2024. Feels great to be getting the whole package out there. 

So let's check in, while we're at it, with Bruce Wilson: what is this RxHx project, how do I pronounce this band name, and what about Sunday Morning? Is that project -- truly an under-rated local band, worth your investigation -- now finished? (I read his answer initially wrong and thought it was, then read it again and felt relief; I would see them again!). 

Bruce Wilson: RxHx is a synth based solo side project I’ve been messing around with and this is its trial run. RxHx is medical shorthand for a patient’s prescription history and considering my former fondness for particular prescribed medications it seemed fitting. Pronounce it however you’d like but I usually just sound it out by the individual letters. I have yet to release anything but that’ll be coming soon—I just wanted to see if I can pull this off live and see how it feels. Musically I guess I’d say it falls somewhere in between Primal Scream’s XTRMNTR album and some of oOoOO’s earlier stuff….

Sunday Morning isn’t going anywhere. I’m mixing something now that ought to be out in the summer. Anyway I’m grateful to Hamm and the Lovebird folks for giving me a quick slot and I hope you can make it out! I’m on first at 8 pm sharp.  

 

Sunday Morning by Bob Hanham 

This is, of course, good news, because I do need to check out Black Mountain, you see. Their new album is a striking thing in that, while confident and committed and rockin', it reminds me of almost nothing I loved about their early material, which had a stoned East Van underachiever vibe to it -- not much of that on Destroyer; I think it's possible that if I'd heard the album spinning somewhere, I'd probably go, "hey, that keyboard player sounds a bit like Jeremy, is this his new band?" But at this point, you're either already going to that show or its Sunday Green Auto follow up, or you aren't; with the Green Auto show starting at 8, and We Found a Lovebird going on at 11, I can probably catch at least Bruce and Crummy and get a taste of Caveman and the Banshees before I hitch a ride, and then maybe jot BACK from the Rickshaw to see some of WFaL?  That is the plan, anyhow! 

Photo by me! What the heck was that beside Hamm? I'm still not sure.

Which probably  means missing Hamm, but, like, I have seen Hamm (including the Space Family Band) more than once, and while the Space Family Band is definitely a major evolution from his solo set, they are still pretty fresh in my memory from their Rickshaw debut a few months ago. Super-cool that he's expanded his reach so much. So I asked Hamm about that! 

Stephen Hamm: The first Theremin Man album was completely programmed, because I always saw the act as a one man show. I take inspiration from Quintron and Nash the Slash. My last record, Songs For The Future, I decided to have Shawn Mrazek, who I played in the Evaporators, lay down drums on my bed tracks and build the songs from there. I played bass on the tracks and even used some guitar, so yes it's been in the back of my mind to have Shawn join me on stage and maybe a full band because the songs were written and arranged that way... 

When I did the record release show at 604 Studios back in May of last year I had Felix Fung who worked on the album add guitar to the show. We toured as a duo for the Songs For The Future tour. The video and audio of the record release show, by the way, is being released on Light Organ Records this Friday. It kinda grew from there and when I got asked to open for the Pointed Sticks at the Rickshaw last December, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try a full band. We brought in my partner Tanya Bennett who played in Mink Valley on bass and Jovana Golubovic of Nightblossom on keyboards. So that's how this came together and the more we play the more it feels like a family. We're going to be doing mostly songs from Songs For The Future but there will be some added surprises! There will be lots more Theremin Man solo shows and when the family is available and the situation is right we'll do full band shows as well.

Thanks, Stephen... if any of the readers of this haven't seen it yet, check out Ani Kyd Wolf's superb video of Hamm's lead single off the new album, "Are You Receiving Me?" If you're bummed out at NOT having gotten Black Mountain tickets, the Green Auto show will be a superb alternative choice. 

Apologies to Bert Man for not having reached out, here, but surely everyone in Vancouver knows that Crummy rocks? If you don't, check out their classic Bowie cover here, their classic Butthole Surfers' cover here, and their tight-as-a-nun's-asshole punk tune -- also done by the Strugglers -- "Fucken Disaster" here. And, like, you all know the Little Guitar Army, right? This band REALLY EXISTED. Kind of hard to believe! 

See some of you Saturday -- if not at the Rickshaw, then Green Auto! 

Still my favourite photo of Bert, snapped by me, watching the Strugglers at Funkys years ago. 

Facebook page for Saturday's show here.  

Late to the party: We Found a Lovebird by Bob Hanham!