GO HANDMADE MUSIC
Hamilton singer-songwriter Dave McEathron painstakingly crafts every aspect of his new album, including its unique leather jacket
Singer-songwriter Dave McEathron painstakingly crafts every aspect of his new album, including its unique leather jacket
Dave McEathron is sitting at his workshop table on the second floor of his north Hamilton home, hammering together two pieces of soft brown leather with copper rivets.
He’s already imprinted one of the leather rectangles with a specially designed stamp that reads “Dave McEathron presents Abandoned Companions and the Abandoned Companions Companion Piece.”
The leather will become the wrap for two CDs containing 16 songs he recorded with a small group of musicians in a Toronto studio.
McEathron wrote or cowrote all but one of the songs. He’s a do-ityourself kind of guy.
Each CD sits in a pocket of printed cotton fabric, hand cut by McEathron, along with a 20-page libretto.
The package is fastened together with a piece of unbleached string tied around an antique Second World War ration token that says “MEAT/VIANDE.” (McEathron traded for the cardboard tokens online for a some milk bottles).
So far McEathron has almost 400 of these handmade CD packages. He’s been working on them for months.
Judging from the amount of unused leather in the workshop, he still has a hundred or so to go. He’s worried about the consequences of success. The prospect of making thousands more is daunting.
McEathron, a native of Peterborough, is no stranger to music.
When he lived in Toronto, he was the main singer-songwriter for rootsrock band The Warped 45s, which toured across the country and released two critically acclaimed albums on the Pheromone label in 2009 and 2011.
The band broke up and McEathron found himself working various odd jobs before moving to Hamilton four years ago and buying an old house with his partner, lawyer Laura Brittain (who designed the lettering on the album stamp).
“We wanted a place where we could afford to live and still keep the lifestyle we have, which is to be able to go hiking and go out to art and music shows,” McEathron, 45, explains.
“Toronto is completely out of reach and I knew a lot of people who were moving this way. We love Hamilton.”
The house, like most of the things in McEathron’s life, is under constant renovation. He, of course, is doing all the work himself. He does extraordinary things with pallet wood.
McEathron, still burning from the loss of his band, poured his energy into nonmusical endeavours, teaching himself leathercraft, making belt buckles and coasters, incorporating toy cars, Scrabble tiles and fishing lures into his designs. He’d sell them at craft fairs and art crawls.
He never stopped writing songs, however, and still maintained contact with many musical friends, including Juno-winning folksingers Elliott Brood, Corin Raymond and David Francey (who cowrote one of the songs on “Abandoned Companions”). McEathron even taught himself a new instrument, the banjo.
With the encouragement of friends, McEathron eventually managed to combine his new leatherwork skills with his music. He had plenty of unfinished songs, some stretching back to the Warped 45s. He finished them off and created new ones.
The completed record is folk, roots and country. He plays guitar, electric and acoustic, mandolin and banjo.
He’s backed by old friends like Bryan Butler of The Warped 45s and producer Brian Pickett, who cowrote the hit “Spirits” for The Strumbellas. On the first CD, there are no drums, while the final five tracks on the second CD are more roots-rock oriented.
The album is available now digitally on iTunes and Spotify. If you want one of the full CD packages ($20), you have to contact McEathron or his management through his website davemceathron.com.
McEathron is anxious to get back to playing live shows and has been sitting in on open-mic nights Tuesday at The Casbah. He’s planning a full concert with a band for January at This Ain’t Hollywood.
The quality of the music doesn’t need a lot of gimmickry. If people want to buy it because of its unique packaging, McEathron is all right with that, too.
“I wanted to do something special,” he says.
“It’s part passion and part obsession. It’s about everything I’ve done my whole life. I’m not sure what success is but having good reviews and having people keep listening to my music might be good enough.”