IN THE LEGION HOSTING BIG FANCY
On Saturday night, the local Legion will be the place for a toe-tapping, foot stompin' roots, old-time, country and folk music showcase featuring Big Fancy and Patchwork.
Big Fancy is Blake Bamford from Fort Fraser who will be backed up by his band The Shiddy Cowboys featuring Corbin Spensley on bass and harmonies, Chloe Nakahara on fiddle and Devora Laye on drums percussion.
Patchwork, who opens for Big Fancy, is a newly-expanded band that recently grew from three members.
“It's actually a big circus now,” Brock Paciejewski, Patchwork's lead vocals and guitar, laughed.
“There's seven of us.” Included are original members Mike Watson on banjo and vocals and Warren Neuvonen on fiddle and most recently added is Finn Scott-Ness, mandolin and fiddle; Aiden Galletti, bass; Justin Gendreau, drummer; and Genevieve Gaide, backup vocals.
Patchwork has played a few shows at Trench Brewing and Distillery lately and Paciejewski said this is the band's Legion debut.
“We're kind of excited for that - it's kind of a big deal as far as Prince George music goes, I'd say,” Paciejewski said. “The music we play is kind of a folk rock country sort of thing that's fun music that gets people moving and it tells cool stories. We're pretty excited to by playing with Big Fancy, he's someone we've looked up to for a while now and we've listened to all his music so this is going to be super cool. He's a brilliant singer songwriter and an amazing guitar player too.”
Paciejewski said he, Watson and Gendreau were part of Cariboo Blues, a university rock band when they attended UNBC about a decade ago.
“So we go back quite a ways,” Paciejewski said. “I've been a musician pretty much my whole life. I've been singing since I was a kid and about 12 years ago started playing guitar then started approaching it a bit more seriously.”
After taking a break as he got his forestry career going the musicians remained friends and just then he came back to music with Patchwork.
“The music thing is mostly just fun, is what it comes down to,” Paciejewski said. “It's just great for all of us to get together and play music with each other. It's kind of like the best thing in our lives.”
Danny Bell of Mad Loon Entertainment organizes the shows at the Legion.
“Danny is awesome and he's done so much for the music community and really the vibrancy of the music community is in big part because of him these days,” Paciejewski said. “He's had a pretty big hand in revitalizing the music scene here over the last few years.”
Performing live is something meaningful for Paciejewski.
“To me it's kind of a cool way to give back to the community because it's always nice for people to get out and enjoy a night out and leave the stress of the week behind,” Paciejewski said. “It's fun for everyone and we have a lot of older folks who are really into our music and the younger ones will have a good time too. It's always a blast at the Legion.”
Show starts at 9 p.m. Cover is $10. Everyone 19+ is welcome to attend.