Rawkin: Mellow and a taste of B.C. at the Out Back Shack
Friday the 13th's New Music Friday in the Out Back Shack was of a completely different flavour than that of the past few weeks. Fanshawe was treated to some mellower fare, country/rock, and some indie rock from B.C.! Amazing that each week we can be exposed to such diversity for free!
This week the first act up was Chris Rayburn, a solo country rock singer songwriter. He has been a singer songwriter for about 10 years and has a self-titled solo album that was released in June. He considers his music to be in the rock/alternative/country genre and he finds a lot of inspiration in music, reading and writing. His brother is a writer and he especially loves creative fiction. I asked him what he is currently listening to and he told me a lot of “older country like Bright Eyes and Wilco,” as well as classic country and Bluegrass. Chris also plays the bass in a cover band called Evolver, whenever they ask him to.
Chris made an impression on me when he took to the stage, even though his music is not my genre, because to me it didn't feel like country. He was up on the stage just with his acoustic guitar and mic, and he had a little stool with his drink on it. The themes of his music are about what most music is about, but it made an impression because of his whole presence on the stage. Even though he was solo he had the musicality and he gave a story that the audience could appreciate. Nightmares of Angels was probably my favourite song of the evening as well as on his album. Check him out online at http://chrisrayburnmusic.com
The Zolas were up next, their name was not the only intriguing thing about the band. The Zolas are from Victoria, B.C. and consist of Zachary Gray — lead vox/guitar, Tom Dobrzanski — keyboards/vox and the newly acquired Aaron Mariash — drums. I thought they were pulling my leg when they told me that Aaron had only been with the band for two and a half weeks prior to this show. Usually I do my interviews before the performances but tonight was different. This band was second up and I did not have a chance to interview them until after the performances were all done. Their album, Tic Toc Tic, was made very differently than most albums and up until now it was just Zach and Tom touring. Aaron is in another band as well and that band finished touring and he met up with the pair and became a trio. I can honestly say they were so tight as a group that I really would not have known this.
I normally don't ask about band names or song titles but this time I did. Zach told me an intriguing story about the band name. The namesake Emile Zola was a French author and activist. There is an whole story that goes along with this but I think if you are interested it is well worth looking up the name. When I was speaking with them I found out very quickly that they are very intellectual and that there is more than one meaning in everything they sing and they want their music to be open to interpretation. There is one song that they sung which is also on their album and streaming online is I've Got Leeches. The song has a line that says “suck the blood from the conversation.” I think everyone should listen to this song in particular and put their own meaning to it.
Their performance overall on the stage was tight and comfortable and not overdone. There was a camaraderie between the Zolas and Immaculate Machine as they are all from Victoria B.C. and Zach and Tom had a lot of fun interchanging the names from the other band into their songs and getting a lot of laughter and hilarity at the same time. Musically the structure of their songs was impressive, as well as their harmonies and the overall effect was interesting. They have almost an acquired taste, but they grow on you very quickly, I don't know quite how to describe their sound. Check them out http://thezolasmusic.com
Immaculate Machine is a five-piece band that is more mellow than the two previous acts. This is not to say that they are bad in any way, just a lot more mellow than the acts that we have seen in the past few weeks. The band is made up of Brooke Gallupe — lead vox/guitar, Leslie Rewega — keyboard, Caitlin Gallupe — bass guitar, Brooke Wilken — guitar, and Aden Conllinge — drums.
There are two Brookes in the band, one female and one male. Brooke Gallupe (the male version and the writer in the band) was the one who was mainly involved in the interview. The band has only had this configuration for about six months now, although they seemed to have a good groove going. To look at them I would have first pegged them as a hippie-free spirit band and I had no idea what to expect when they first started to play. I would still say now that they have a very upbeat and positive type of feel, but their music isn't without structure and appeal.
They have three albums out to date and from the last album to this album they went from a trio to a fivesome. I asked Brooke to pick three songs that would let people get an idea of what they are all about and he picked Sound the Alarms, Only Love You for Your Car and C'mon Sea Legs.
Brooke (the guy) also has a passion for French movies and literature, just like Zach from the Zolas, and Brooke also has a university degree in French Literature. They love traveling as well and that seems to be the collective favourite aspect about playing live as they will be traveling to China for two weeks after playing here. They ended their set with a song that got many people off their feet and jumping and dancing to the tune and also saw the Zolas up on stage with them for a free for all music get together providing a highly contagious hook and leaving the night on a big high. Their website is http://www.immaculatemachine.com
I think it is really hard to maintain an audiences attention span with music such as this but they all had a good crowd to work with and there were a lot of people who were blown away by the music and were wanting to buy their merch and getting it autographed at the same time. Come out and support these great performers and experience new music and different genres, you never know what you are going to get. Until next week keep on RAWKIN!
This week the first act up was Chris Rayburn, a solo country rock singer songwriter. He has been a singer songwriter for about 10 years and has a self-titled solo album that was released in June. He considers his music to be in the rock/alternative/country genre and he finds a lot of inspiration in music, reading and writing. His brother is a writer and he especially loves creative fiction. I asked him what he is currently listening to and he told me a lot of “older country like Bright Eyes and Wilco,” as well as classic country and Bluegrass. Chris also plays the bass in a cover band called Evolver, whenever they ask him to.
Chris made an impression on me when he took to the stage, even though his music is not my genre, because to me it didn't feel like country. He was up on the stage just with his acoustic guitar and mic, and he had a little stool with his drink on it. The themes of his music are about what most music is about, but it made an impression because of his whole presence on the stage. Even though he was solo he had the musicality and he gave a story that the audience could appreciate. Nightmares of Angels was probably my favourite song of the evening as well as on his album. Check him out online at http://chrisrayburnmusic.com
The Zolas were up next, their name was not the only intriguing thing about the band. The Zolas are from Victoria, B.C. and consist of Zachary Gray — lead vox/guitar, Tom Dobrzanski — keyboards/vox and the newly acquired Aaron Mariash — drums. I thought they were pulling my leg when they told me that Aaron had only been with the band for two and a half weeks prior to this show. Usually I do my interviews before the performances but tonight was different. This band was second up and I did not have a chance to interview them until after the performances were all done. Their album, Tic Toc Tic, was made very differently than most albums and up until now it was just Zach and Tom touring. Aaron is in another band as well and that band finished touring and he met up with the pair and became a trio. I can honestly say they were so tight as a group that I really would not have known this.
I normally don't ask about band names or song titles but this time I did. Zach told me an intriguing story about the band name. The namesake Emile Zola was a French author and activist. There is an whole story that goes along with this but I think if you are interested it is well worth looking up the name. When I was speaking with them I found out very quickly that they are very intellectual and that there is more than one meaning in everything they sing and they want their music to be open to interpretation. There is one song that they sung which is also on their album and streaming online is I've Got Leeches. The song has a line that says “suck the blood from the conversation.” I think everyone should listen to this song in particular and put their own meaning to it.
Their performance overall on the stage was tight and comfortable and not overdone. There was a camaraderie between the Zolas and Immaculate Machine as they are all from Victoria B.C. and Zach and Tom had a lot of fun interchanging the names from the other band into their songs and getting a lot of laughter and hilarity at the same time. Musically the structure of their songs was impressive, as well as their harmonies and the overall effect was interesting. They have almost an acquired taste, but they grow on you very quickly, I don't know quite how to describe their sound. Check them out http://thezolasmusic.com
Immaculate Machine is a five-piece band that is more mellow than the two previous acts. This is not to say that they are bad in any way, just a lot more mellow than the acts that we have seen in the past few weeks. The band is made up of Brooke Gallupe — lead vox/guitar, Leslie Rewega — keyboard, Caitlin Gallupe — bass guitar, Brooke Wilken — guitar, and Aden Conllinge — drums.
There are two Brookes in the band, one female and one male. Brooke Gallupe (the male version and the writer in the band) was the one who was mainly involved in the interview. The band has only had this configuration for about six months now, although they seemed to have a good groove going. To look at them I would have first pegged them as a hippie-free spirit band and I had no idea what to expect when they first started to play. I would still say now that they have a very upbeat and positive type of feel, but their music isn't without structure and appeal.
They have three albums out to date and from the last album to this album they went from a trio to a fivesome. I asked Brooke to pick three songs that would let people get an idea of what they are all about and he picked Sound the Alarms, Only Love You for Your Car and C'mon Sea Legs.
Brooke (the guy) also has a passion for French movies and literature, just like Zach from the Zolas, and Brooke also has a university degree in French Literature. They love traveling as well and that seems to be the collective favourite aspect about playing live as they will be traveling to China for two weeks after playing here. They ended their set with a song that got many people off their feet and jumping and dancing to the tune and also saw the Zolas up on stage with them for a free for all music get together providing a highly contagious hook and leaving the night on a big high. Their website is http://www.immaculatemachine.com
I think it is really hard to maintain an audiences attention span with music such as this but they all had a good crowd to work with and there were a lot of people who were blown away by the music and were wanting to buy their merch and getting it autographed at the same time. Come out and support these great performers and experience new music and different genres, you never know what you are going to get. Until next week keep on RAWKIN!
