Idlers Tour Blog!

In an ARC with no oars

pahl — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 02:19:30 +0000

The ARC is what we call our little basement studio in Chris’ house. It means Another Reggae Creation and is a direct throwback to Lee Perry’s the Ark.
We have been busy writing and rehearsing new tunes for our third record which we hope to release early next Fall.
The ARC is small. Unlike Noah’s, there are no animals ’cause Chris is deadly allergic and we don’t really believe that the flood is coming anytime soon. However, the rains have begun and depending where you live in Newfoundland you may have a different opinion about 40 days and 40 nights of rain coming.
Even if the floods came, I doubt the ARC would float. Although it would be hilarious to see all the Idlers riding a giant wave on Chris’ wooden deck, surfing towards the harbour. I can see it now…we would drop our instrument oars in a last ditch attempt to save J-bone who tripped and fell overboard while reaching for his bone.
Still don’t have a clear vision of what this record will sound like. Have tossed around a couple of ideas for producers, a couple have come to mind but no one has taken the control of the oars. We need someone, once we have written all the tunes, to take hold of our little wooden surf-deck and lead us away from the St. John’s Harbour with controlled precision. Anyone out there got any ideas? Like I said, we don’t have any oars right now justta whole lot of supplies and a deck that we hope, for the love of all that is good and pure, will float.
One thing is certain…the ARC gets really hot really quick with all of us in there. I think there are 6 lights in the ceiling and 10 bodies. That’s 16 sources of heat, each giving off about the same heat as a 60 watt bulb. Plus drummy who gives off twice and maybe even three times as much heat as any human, just ask the ladies.hehehe.
Till next time, pray we don’t float into the harbour. Their cleaning it up, but it is still the place where 500 years worth of Imperial, colonial, state, and provincial stool has been dumped. But the gulls love it!

Sea to sky…

john — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 00:29:32 +0000

Oh BC, where have you been? It’s been an incredible few days of spectacular views and people, fired up by our official first BC show in Victoria last night (can the rest of BC match the party we had in last night? c’mon!) – we’re just pulling into Squamish, headed for the Ocean Port tonight…whatcha got for us Squamish??

If you’re around BC, chances are we’ll be playing close to you soon, including:

Sunday, June 6 – Nanaimo – The Queens
Tuesday, June 8 – CBC Canada Live Recording – Outside CBC Vancouver (More details to come on this!)
Thursday, June 10 – Vancouver – The Yale
Friday, June 11 – Tofino – Tofino Legion
Saturday, June 12 – Gibson – Gibson’s Jazz Festival
Sunday, June 14 – Nelson – Finley’s
Monday, June 15 – Fernie – The Central

Then the back to Alberta, Ontario and the Maritimes! Check out the rest of the dates @ idlers.ca – see you soon!

Lydia’a pub in Saskatoon

mark — Sat, 29 May 2010 03:58:55 +0000

Saskatchewan is the jethro Tull of provinces and we are in the crow’s nest of Sask cities, Saskatoon.

This place is beautiful and filled with beautiful people too. We were here last year and the energy was super high. This year we are coming from a long night in Brandon and are a bit tired I think. Luckily, the excitement of playing here in Saskatoon will give us what we need to basically take the football game of a show and take it home to he endzone. We are like the Kareem Abdul Jabar’s of reggae whe you add all of our heights too.

Tonight is going to be awesome. I have a beer.

Mark

Blind River

mark — Mon, 24 May 2010 19:51:33 +0000

Northern Ontario has mystique, mosquitoes, and mesquite flavored chips, but what I really notice is water. Everywhere, there’s water. Fish, trees, animals, people. Productive ecosystems, natural empowerment. In fact, nature exists here in a way that is balanced nicely with humans. It seems as if we fit here. We don’t stick out like in the arctic. We don’t dissapear either. Life’s good on the road!

Week One!

john — Mon, 24 May 2010 00:48:49 +0000

Back in the van! This thing is becoming a second home for us, and is currently shipping us from the Come Together festival (in a ghost town!) to whatever campground we can make it to before dark - we’ve got 3 days to make it to Winnipeg, so we’re just taking our time.

It’s been a little over a week since we left St. John’s, it’s been one of our busiest – 13 performances in 10 days! Where do we start? Sharing the stage with the English Beat in Halifax was a great way to kick it off, and we hit the ground running from there – since then we’ve had great nights in Charlottetown and Fredericton, a barn party in rural New Brunswick, the demise of our trailer and subsequent purchase of a new one, workshops and performances with hundreds of K-12 school students, a live recording session with Rich Terfry at the CBC Studios in downtown TO followed by a one-on-one with Jerry, the equally talented CBC mechanic who helped us get the van started. After a sweaty show at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern in TO, we made a stopover in our adoptive second home of Peterborough (where the ol’ Red Dog is looking great with a new stage and some other nice renos), and finally capped off the May 2-4 weekend with a outdoor set at a lawless camping festival run in an old ghost town. Needless to say, we’ve been having an amazing time, and have met some very cool people in our travels. And maybe we’ll all get some sleep tonight?

In the honourable mention category for this week – http://www.stellulamusic.com The Stellula Music in Schools brought us in to work with K-12 students in the Simcoe area of Ontario – we did workshops and shows in Oriliia, Stayner & Midland and had a great time – and it’s great how 300 kids running around a playground can really get you going at 9:00 AM. Deborah, Scott and team have a great program in place that is aimed at bringing a variety of performers in to local schools to work with kids – some in school band programs, and even some in small songwriting clubs. very cool – programs like this should exist everywhere! (And thanks for the invite!)

Check out our Flickr page as well – Mike Parkes is on the road with us, dishing out merch and taking some great photos. We’ll be posting a bunch from the first week (so you can see many of these occurrences in picture form) – we just need to land somewhere with a better ‘net connection.

We’ll be in Winnipeg, MB on Wednesday at The Lo Pub, Thursday in Brandon, MB at the Lady of the Lake, followed by a prairie double-header, Friday & Saturday at Lydia’s Pub in Saskatoon – it was a party the last time we played there, and that was on a Wednesday. Let’s see what happens this time – we might even blog more than once a week!

Release: IDLERS ANNOUNCE CROSS-CANADA SPRING TOUR DATES

john — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:18:25 +0000

St. John’s, NL – Newfoundland based Idlers are packing up the great green pickle van to tour from coast-to-coast in support of their second release, Keep Out. They’ll be kicking off the 57-day tour with ska legends the English Beat in St. John’s and Halifax on May 12 and 13. The tour will highlight music from ECMA nominated Corner, and 2009’s Keep Out, produced by Darryl Jenifer. Idlers will also feature new offerings being road tested for recording later this year. Idlers will bring their high-energy dance set across the Rockies into BC for the first time this year. Hello Sunshine Coast!

Formed in 2006, the East Coast band’s unique sound is a blend of reggae, ska and afro-beat with Atlantic influences. Idlers combine solid rhythms, heavy horns and tight harmonies in their live performance to create a dancing frenzy from the band’s infectious energy. Their most recent release, Keep Out (2009), was recorded in New York at Dreamland Studios and produced by Darryl Jenifer, the bassist for Bad Brains and producer for Bedouin Soundclash. Recently, Idlers swept all 10 spots of the most played songs of the week on CBC radio 3 in the World category.

Idlers have a loyal following that has earned them many accolades and awards. Idlers won the Galaxie Rising Star of the CBC and Alternative Artist/Group of the Year at the 2008 Music Newfoundland (MusicNL) Conference and Awards Show. The Scope’s Best of St. John’s Readers Survey awarded them Best Loud Band and Best Band to Dance To in 2008 and Best Live Band in 2007. In 2008, Corner was nominated for an ECMA. Their live show has achieved notoriety across the country for it’s high-energy, musicality, and conscious message.

The inspiration for the Idlers music can be found in their unique approach and infusion of Atlantic style with roots reggae. The Idlers sound is authentically Canadian and truly all their own. They’re coming to your town!

Weblinks: www.idlers.ca or www.myspace.com/theidlersmusic

Spring 2010 Tour dates so far. Check idlers.ca for more.

May 12 – Club One, St. John’s, NL

May 13 – Paragon, Halifax, NS

May 14 – Baba’s, Charlottetown, PE

May 15 – The Capital, Fredericton, NB

May 16 – Falls Brook Centre, Knowlesville, NB

May 19 – CBC Live on Drive with Rich Terfry

May 20 – The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON

May 21 – The Red Dog, Peterborough, ON

May 22 – Come Together Festival, Frontier Ghost Town, ON

May 26 – The King’s Head, Winnipeg, MB

May 28/29 – Lydia’s Pub, Saskatoon, SK

May 31 – Rockwater, Golden, BC

June 1 – Dickens Pub, Calgary, AB

June 4 – The Lucky Bar, Victoria, BC

June 5 – Ocean Port, Squamish, BC

June 6 - The Queens Hotel, Nanaimo, BC

June 10 – The Yale Hotel. Vancouver, BC

June 11 – The Waverly Hotel, Cumberland, BC

June 12 – Robert’s Creek Hall, Gibson’s Landing Jazz Festival, Gibson, BC

June 17 – Palomino, Calgary AB

June 18 – Canmore Hotel – Canmore, AB

June 19 – Likwid Lounge – Edmonton, AB

June 20 – Stellas Inn, Beaver Mines, AB

June 25/26 – Jack’s, Thunder Bay, ON

June 30 – Market Square Boardwalk Festival Countdown to Canada Day, St. John, NB

July 2 – The Seahorse – Halifax, NS

July 3 – Little River Folk Festival, Petite-Rivière, NS

Coming soon!

john — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:34:20 +0000

Thanks to the fact that there’s a lot of road between St. John’s and Ottawa, idlers.ca now has almost 10% more Keep Out – Wonderwars is now online! We’ll start previewing more of the tracks there in the next couple of weeks – and you can get your own copy in November!

And this blog is about to become way more fun too…we’ve got a lot of free time in the van!

Tourtourtour!

john — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:03:17 +0000

Yay Spring! The roads are thawing, the ferries aren’t getting stuck in ice, and we’re coming back to the mainland! Check out the dates, tell your friends, and come out and dance! (and to everyone in Western Canada…we’re coming your way in August! Hang in there!)

May 9th – St. John’s, NL – The Rock House (Tour Launch!)
May 14th – Peterborough, ON – The MoHo w/ Dub Trinity
May 15th – Guelph, ON – Jimmy Jazz
May 16th – Toronto, ON – The Rivoli w/ Mercy, The Sexton & Jane’s Party
May 21st – Oshawa, ON – The Atria
May 22nd – Ottawa, ON – The Mercury Lounge w/ Instant Release
May 23rd – Montreal, QC – Bar L’Abnsythe w/ Danny Rebel & the KGB, Stepper and Take the Boys
May 27th – Fredericton, NB – The Phoenix w/ Dub Antenna
May 28th – Moncton, NB – Le Tonneau w/ Jean-Etiene Sheehy & Underleaf
May 29th – Charlottetown, PEI – Baba’s Lounge w/ The Sidewalks
May 30th – Halifax, NS – The Seahorse w/ The Josh Parkinson Project

See you soon!

Poster by Jacob Rolfe (http://thefloatingworld.net)

This weekend at the Dock! Idlers all night!

john — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:48:31 +0000

Being in Benin – From Curtis!

john — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:14:30 +0000

What to say about Benin? I only spent a few days there, but what a few days!!. It started off well….crossing the borders proved no problem for me as I had the correct papers. Next day with a friend named Malik, who we met on the drive from Togo and over the course of
conversation, turns out that he actually knows two of the children of
my friend Jeik Loksa!!!! With Malik we toured around and I got a
better survey of the capital city of Cotonou. First, it probably has
the most motorcycles/scooters in all of Africa. Called zemidza, they
are the de facto mode of getting around in Cotonou and the rest of
Benin. The drivers all dress in yellow shirts and flood the streets,
waiting at corners, somewhat like a herd of some animal, waiting for
some prey, honking their horns. So at any given time, on a major road
way, a flock of these yellow shirts can rush your way. Reminded me a
lot of the autorickshaws of India…especially with the putrid amount of
pollution that they emit and the manner in which they will try to
cheat you. One of the drawbacks of this city. And not much order to
the traffic. Traffic lights do exist, but what you do in between
those stops is anybody’s game. Many zemidza didn’t even have license
plates which says a lot. As for the city itself, I could see it was a
shadow of what it once was. Not much care for the cleanliness of the
streets or the upkeep of buildings. The spirit of independence and
the wealth associated with that had faded. But even with its current
state of hand to mouth living and trying to keep up with the rest of
the world, it had a charm of its own
One of the main reasons for coming to Benin was to see what we could
find in the way of music and dance as many of the people here (the Fon
and Adja people especially) share many historical/cultural traits with
the Ewe of Togo and Ghana with whom I am more accustomed with and is
the tribe Ledzi comes from. But what Benin is most famous for is
it’s practice of vodu/traditional religion (known in a misrepresented
form to the rest of the world as “voodoo”). They even have a national
vodu day. Almost 85% of the population practices it so that says a
lot. We headed for the historical city of Agbomey in central Benin.
The drive there was interesting. Every now and again I would spot
different vodu houses not found in Ghana, signboards for various
healers or diviners, and of course the odd church or two. The land
itself is characteristically lush and green with large tracts of bush,
forest, plantations and farms. Like many roads in West Africa, each
community would specialize in some form of business whether it be the
place where charcoal was their specialty, some places was bread,
others some sweet pineapple (had a few of those), mortar and pestles
(the big ones for pounding yams or grains or palm nuts) or smoked bush
meats such as grasscutter (like a giant guinea pig). The most common
however was the sale of gasoline in litre-sized bottles. A tad
cheaper than that of the gas stations, these sellers are found every
few metres and the quality of the product is questionable which I
think leads to some of the pollution problems. And sadly, one common
sight was one too many burned or crushed carcasses of vehicles left by
the roadside….reminders of what can and does happen.
In Agbomey we first went to the official museum which is actually the
preserved and reconstructed palace of the former kings of what once
was Dahomey. Impressive, the palaces themselves were sprawling with
many compounds. We saw many original artifacts dating from the 17th
century up until the 20th. Ornately carved stools, metal casted
staffs, ceremonial items. This kingdom was known for its artistic
achievements, especially in music, carving and metal work (another
reason for their dominance and victory in battle). It all gave off
quite an aura, especially when you knew what went on here. Two kings
are particularly infamous. Glele and Guezo (a father and a son)
brought much fame, wealth and power to the Dahomey kingdom. And much
bloodshed. They feverishly engaged in the slave trade (one Portuguese
canon went for about 15-21 slaves I was told) and executions and human
sacrifice was rampant. We were even shown Guezo’s throne which rested
on 4 human skulls. If you have ever heard of “amazons” well this is
where they originated…the special army of the king himself, composed
solely of women who had remarkable physical and spiritual strength and
a penchant for battle, courage and blood.
History lesson complete we made for a performance that evening that
Alphonse knew about. Approaching the area on the back of the bike we
could see the dust flying and drums beating before anything else. And
of course the crowds. But these crowds were acting differently…there
was commotion, much random movement. We stayed at the edge to see
what was going on and when I spied the reason for the tumult I was
quite amazed. Some kind of figure, draped in colorful strips of
fabric, embroidered with shells, sequins and other shiny things, some
form of drapery over the head and a wooden carved head on the back was
spinning madly to and fro, side to side, causing the people in its way
to scatter with abandon. Accompany this of course was a quartet of
talking drum players.
Interesting.
Being the only yovo (white man) there I played it cool. Not sure if
this was a funeral, a ceremony of some sort or what the hell it could
be I stayed on the fringes, slowly getting closer to the action and
swirling dust. Anytime the thing came near, the crowd around me (and
myself included) fled away from it. From a “safe” vantage I spied the
goings on. There were several of these things (later I found out they
are called Egun or Egungun and have origins with the Yoruba of
Nigeria) going about, and more slowly making there way to the area,
each with a team of drummers. An “attendant” also followed each one
with a stick keeping it from getting to close to people. Turns out
that these Egun are representatives of the dead and are from the land
of the dead. They have many functions from the political, law keeping
and acting as messengers of the dead. And it is said that if you
touch one, by accident or not, you die. Hence the fear among nearly
everyone present when they danced about you. And like most vodu, they
like things…money, food, booze and such. Of course, everyone knows
that a human being is inside, but it is what they represent which
gives the power.
Now Alphonse took us to something completely different and equally
fantastic. Under a light we could see the outline of a group of
people. A square compound, with people seated on the ground, on
benches, standing, and of course a group of drummers. One building in
particular was most striking as it white in colour, spotted with red
dots and had the portraits of two striking looking figures as well as
rainbow with a snake’s head. I soon found out that this was a
ceremony for Sakpata, the vodu of smallpox and other related diseases,
generally worshipped for protection from disease and for the health of
children among other things. The drummers were starting cook a bit
now. I had the pleasant sensation of not knowing how to process what
I was hearing. Seemingly contrary rhythms were combining in curious
ways. This was new and foreign and I liked it. But before I knew it,
the dancers had started to arrive. I’ll call them dancers but I could
tell that these were more than dancers. They came out in a procession
and had an aura of respect and/or awe abut them. Ornately dressed,
mostly in white with hats, many beads, unique metal armbands on
biceps, brass double bells in one hand and J-shaped wooden staffs
decorated with different sculpted metal motifs in the other, some with
bells on the ankles, others with multicoloured hoops around the neck,
long beaded necklaces of many colours and variety…..and black eye
make-up as well. Some older and some as young as 8 or 9 I guess.
This was just the appearance…the dance was something else. They
danced with vigour… kicking steps, several spins, jumps and pauses
that fit nicely with the lead drummer. I could see a pattern between
the male and female types, each having defined steps and the more
experienced ones adding some embellishments and flair. One fellow in
particular had a spectacular style of circular, spinning jumps that
made his outfit flare out. It was amazing to watch, as it appeared
that he was tethered to something and was spinning out and around that
invisible thing. With the music, the effect was hypnotic.
After sometime I came to realize that these were more than just
dancers, they were actually representing the deities that they served,
in male and female form. One deity in particular, found in many parts
of West Africa, was legba, the guardian/gatekeeper, who is found at
the entrance to every village and some homes. But this was no
sculpture on the ground (as he usually is)….it was living breathing
person representing and acting as legba. He too was dressed similar
to the others but with some differences, including carrying a very
large phallus. As usual, my experiences leave me with more questions
than answers.
This was just in one day. Over the next few days I was lucky enough
to meet some other musician families whom I plan on learning from when
I return here. I also spent a few more days in Cotonu with Malik and
had the chance to meet one Stan Tohon, a traditional musician who is
modernizing his art and his present day persona resembles that of
American rap star Notorious B.I.G. An interesting study in American
influence on traditional music….in appearances anyow. Also went to a
concert in Cotonou featuring some of Benin’s best modern musicians
which ranged from awful Beninois rap, some lip-synching singers, a
group of superpowerful neo-traditional brothers (Les Freres
Guedehoungue) and their band, the Gangbe Brass Band (with amplified
tuba), and Stan Tohon himself with his large group that featured some
of the most energetic body shaking dancers I have ever seen…..and a
couple of dancing “little people” (I’m not sure what the PC term is
these days). It was quite a spectacle, especially when several “big
men” came forth to dash different artists with what amounted to be
hundreds of dollars.
I’ll leave it that for now….it was a struggle to keep this e-mail as
short as it was (though it is quite long). I had to edit this one a
bit..couldn’t include everything so for the full version, eventually
check my website under “Benin”
More to come after this one, including experiences on how dancing can
be a passport, some Ghanaian quadruplets and my parents in Ghana.
Curtis
Pictures:
1. Egungun named “Ajangboju” sitting outside a “Sakpata” shrine house…odd mix.
2. Ledzi, Stan Tohon and me (trying to be stylish).
3. The living Legba and his phallus.
4. King Gbehazin of Dahomey who resisted European rule of his kingdom and land.
5. Market lady in Agbomey who sells apparel related to vodu in Benin.
6. Close up of the ceiling of a traditional structure.
7. Typical overloading practice.
8. Palace walls in Agbmoey…reconstructed and preserved.

9. Les Freres Gueduhoungue in action.