 |
|
|
|
| ENTERTAINMENT | |  |
|
|
|
| Last updated at 2:45 PM on 14/02/08 |
|
Mark Marshall, Craig Follett, Chris Kirby and Gordie Johnson pose for a photo after meeting at the East Caost Music Awards in Fredricton, N.B, this past weekend. |
|
|
Musician finds new sound 
Kirby hopes sought-after producer, famous studio provide breakthrough album
DAVID NEWELL
Advertiser
It was certainly a case of something good coming out of a bad situation.
When musician Chris Kirby got the news last year that funding for his latest project had been cut, the contracts he was working on with a record label and publicist had to be forgotten.
Mr. Kirby could have been demoralized, but he did what he knows best.
“I went back to the drawing board and wrote some new songs,” he said. “It was kind of a blessing in disguise.”
With some new songs and some time to spare, the Norris Arm native decided he would resume a search he started a few years ago.
When the East Coast Music Awards were held in St. John’s in 2004, Mr. Kirby searched the streets for one of his musical heroes, Gordie Johnson. Johnson is a member of the Canadian blues-rock group Big Sugar and produces bands The Trews and The Joel Plaskett Emergency.
Even though Mr. Kirby was not able to find him in St, John’s, he did not give up.
At last year’s ECMAs, the two met briefly, but Mr. Kirby was more awestruck than anything else.
“I was introduced to him and I was a bumbling fool,” he said. “The only words I managed were, ‘Gordie Johnson, you are my hero.’”
At the suggestion of Great Big Sea manager Louie Thomas, Mr. Johnson stayed to listen to Mr. Kirby’s set.
The fact that the accomplished musician and producer stayed was encouraging.
“I put a line out to him and asked him what it would take to get him interested in producing my record,” he said. “Literally two hours after I sent my e-mail, I got a reply from his wife/manager, Alex. She said he loved the music and wanted to make it happen.”
After several months of e-mails and phone calls, the two met this past weekend at the ECMAs in Fredriction, N.B., where Mr. Kirby and his band, the Marquee, were playing several showcase shows.
Mr. Kirby said his band is taking on a totally new image and sound for their next album, which is a follow-up to their 2006 release Chris Kirby on Rum and Religion. The title track of that album went to number 1 on the nationally syndicated East Coast Countdown in the summer of that year.
“We are taking a more R&B route now,” he said. “It is not like R&B you hear now, where you have boxed music. We are also not doing what was done 30 years ago. We are still doing the pop-blues thing but it is leaning towards the R&B and getting people dancing a little more.
“I am using piano on most everything now. The new stuff is mostly piano-driven and groove-heavy. When I am asked now what it sounds like, I tell people it’s like rhythm and blues got back together.”
The band will spend the next while polishing their sound and shopping the tunes to labels in the hopes of securing a distribution deal.
This summer Mr. Kirby along with bassist/vocalist Craig Follett and drummer Mark Marshall will go to the studio to record the new songs.
Like any musicians, they are excited at the prospect of laying down the new tracks, but even more so, considering the location they will be in.
“We are going to Texas to record in Willie Nelson’s studio,” Mr. Kirby said. “This is really cool. We might not meet Willie Nelson, but he owns the studio.”
The facility is actually a converted country club on a nine-hole golf course with a pool, spa, catering, and a condo attached.
“Now that I have talked about it and have been dealing with the business side of it for so long, I have forgotten how crazy it is,” said Mr. Kirby. “I keep waiting for a call from someone that says, ‘Surprise! I have been tricking you.’”
Mr. Kirby said he expects he will be back to play some shows in central Newfoundland later this summer to help promote the upcoming album.
|
14/02/08
|
Comments: |
|
This Conversation is Moderated. What is moderation?
|
| What does moderation mean? |
 |
Advertiser is committed to encouraging intelligent discourse among our readers and to creating a forum where diverse views and opinions on a wide range of topics can be aired. The forum you are in now is a result of our continuing efforts to facilitate a dynamic online conversation among our readers.
This is a moderated conversation. Once a reader follows the steps to register and submit his or her comment it goes to a moderator for the website. Once it has been approved, your comment will be displayed on the website. A comment may be edited or deleted for reasons of content or language.
All readers wishing to join a conversation must first sign in and agree to the Terms of Usage, which explain the rules of acceptable content.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- there are currently no comments for this story -
|
|
|
|
|
