"Home For A Rest" from the album "Save This House"
I am currently involved with 3 bands. Spirit of the West , The Paperboys and on occasion the Irish Rovers.
They are all upstanding men and women, good companions and travelers, and a wealth of musical talent abounds in the various ranks.Spirit of the West began in the early 80's. The band was formed by John Mann, J Knutson and myself. I can say without any hint of overstatement that it changed my life.
I left the roll as reluctant heavy duty mechanic for the stability of performing the yet to be invented genre of west coast- celtic-political- folk- rock fusion to unsuspecting drinkers in many suspicious watering holes in the lower mainland of British Columbia.
SOTW has evolved greatly in the 20 plus years, and is now made up of Vince Ditrich, Hugh McMillan, Tobin "the gull" Frank, John and myself.
Along the way we had excellent contributions from Linda McRae and Daniel Lapp, before settling into the current line-up.
Many albums have been made the latest "Star Trails" in 2004, many tours across many countries have been mounted, for a more detailed account of the juggernaut that is Spirit of the West see our website www.sotw.ca
I should close by saying the band is very much alive. We play several concerts each year, and whilst the grinding 6 week cross country tours may be behind us, we choose our targets more carefully these days but still with the intent of going for the throat.The Paperboys are also a fairly bullet proof ensemble. Led by Tom Landa the group has weathered more line-up changes than Menudo.
I have known the band since the recording of their debut album "Late As Usual". Tom asked me to lend a hand with some production ideas, and we've remained friends ever since.
I began playing with the band in a fill in capacity during the summer of 1998. Their excellent flute player Hans Araki had decided to move on, and I offered to help out until they could find a full time replacement. I'm still there...........I am the replacement.
I have played on all the albums from Postcards to The Road To Ellenside, and as time has passed I have become involved in a fair amount of co-writing. As it stands today I am now the longest serving Paperboy besides Tom.
Europe has become our strongest secondary market, with at least 2 tours per year to Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, France and the UK.
The current line-up includes Matt Brain on drums, Brad Gillard on bass & banjo, Kendel Carson on fiddle and vocals, Tom Landa on guitars (big & small) and myself on flutes & whistles. For more info look for The Paperboys here on MySpace, I believe Brad and Kendel also have sites here.The Irish Rovers are veterans of over 40 years of service to the world of music!! They are a tightly run ship these days, and still sell out most everywhere they play. However, they do enjoy a night off!!
I have had the great pleasure of touring New Zealand and Australia with the boys on two different occasions. I have done a bit of recording with them as well, most recently on the "40 Years A Rovin'" double CD set. Long may they run.Along the way, I made a solo record of original instrumentals, "Gringo Star", I usually have this at gigs, or it can be purchased from the CD Baby website.All other enquiries email me at [email protected]
Myspace Layouts by Pimp-My-Profile.com
