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Tarkin

Tarkin: West Coast Folk

About Me

Tarkin is a 6-piece band that takes North American folk traditions from across the spectrum and blends them together to create a sound that's folk music with a West Coast flair. Sometimes irreverent, often thoughtful, always entertaining, Tarkin's original and traditional songs encompasse a cross-genre acoustic folk style.

With six voices and over a dozen different instruments at hand, Tarkin goes from old-time to country swing to ceilidh band as the instruments get passed around. They've been described as "a bunch of multi-instrumentalist gypsies, roving over the mountains of the West Coast."

Tarkin's first studio album, The Ghost of That Whiskey, was released in spring, 2007.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 8/28/2006
Band Website: tarkin.ca
Band Members: Amanda Ruel - vocals, accordion, clarinet, washboard, lego

Vanessa Kay - vocals, fiddle, mandolin

John Oswald - vocals, bodhran, banjo, guitar

Marc Ruel - vocals, double bass, harmonica

Rachael Young - vocals, guitar, banjo, whistle

Ben Young - vocals, guitar, mandolin, banjo, whistles
Influences: Be Good Tanyas, David Francey, Cleia, Po' Girl, Wade Hemsworth, Clumsy Lovers, Great Big Sea, Barachois, La Bottine Souriante, Glenn Miller, Andrews Sisters, Pogues, PJ Thomas, Edward Campfire
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Friday at Trees Coffee House

Dear Folks, Tarkin, Marion Walsh, Signal & Sound, and damn fine coffee and cheesecake, shall convene between the hallowed walls of Trees Organic Coffee House this Friday, March 8 for a seriously ...
Posted by Tarkin on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:49:00 PST

Robbie Burns Day at the Grand in Merritt

Happy New Year to Eveyone!  We have been hard at work putting together new material in the past couple of months and get to take some of it to the stage this weekend.  We are heading u...
Posted by Tarkin on Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:00:00 PST

Single of the Day!

A merry almost-winter-solstice to all! Tarkin was delighted to learn that our song "Morning Train" from "The Ghost of that Whiskey" is today's feature single on the eclectic music blog "Single of...
Posted by Tarkin on Thu, 20 Dec 2007 05:12:00 PST

A Salty August to You

After a nice relaxing few weeks off, Tarkin is baaaaack!  We had a great reunion show on Tuesday night at the Jericho Folk Club - thanks to all the folks who packed that little room and made it a...
Posted by Tarkin on Thu, 16 Aug 2007 01:09:00 PST

Thank you, one and all!

Well, after months of planning, our CD release party has gone past. Thanks go to Todd Butler for playing such a fantastic first set! Many thanks to all the friends, family and fans who came out to sup...
Posted by Tarkin on Tue, 22 May 2007 12:31:00 PST

Ghost of That Whisky review, 24 Hours

The folks over at 24 hours were kind enough to review our CD.  Read and witness the granola-crunching powers of Tarkin music! May 17, 2007Listen to meTarkinBy R.C. JOSEPH, 24 HOURSI kno...
Posted by Tarkin on Thu, 17 May 2007 10:56:00 PST

Songs of the Pacific Northwest Companion CD

Back in November of last year, Tarkin had the honour of joining dozens of other BC artists to pay tribute to BC folksong collector and folk musician Phil Thomas. The occasion was to celebrate the 2nd ...
Posted by Tarkin on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:21:00 PST

Shout out from the Folk Oasis

Tarkin's track "Grand Hotel" just got a play on the CiTR show Folk Oasis!  We were happy to be featured along with many many other talented local roots, folk and bluegrass bands.  If you don...
Posted by Tarkin on Thu, 26 Apr 2007 01:25:00 PST

Powell River road trip

So, one of the most unexpected weekends in the history of Tarkin roadtrips reaches its unforeseen climax today when Ben, John and Rachel will play at a fast food venue in Powell River. ...
Posted by Tarkin on Sun, 08 Apr 2007 11:42:00 PST

Todd Butler and Tarkin!

We're very excited to announce that Todd Butler will be joining us on May 19th for our Vancouver CD release party!  We met Todd last summer at the 2006 Sunshine Music Festival in Powell River, B...
Posted by Tarkin on Wed, 14 Mar 2007 12:12:00 PST