TUMBLEWEEDS READY TO PARTY
Country fans needn’t wait for Craven
Adam Ennis does not consider himself a country music fan. He has different reasons for fronting Regina country-rock band Tumbleweeds.
As a perpetual drummer, “I wanted the opportunity to stand at the front for once and I wanted to more than anything just conduct a party,” said Ennis, who plays guitar and sings in this band.
“What I know for sure is that country fans know how to party ... They love stomping their feet and spilling beer and playing drinking games.”
And, outside of the annual Craven country music festival, there aren’t a lot of chances to do that with a live band playing original music.
This is what Tumbleweeds presents on Saturday at its Hometown Hoedown/cd release party at the Exchange.
Guitarist Evan Chambers, bassist (and Evan’s brother) Byron Chambers and drummer Eric Mazden enjoy country music, but have long histories playing in blues, rock and metal bands.
“That kind of brings more of a rock and roll kind of edge to it I guess. The songwriting is unique,” said Mazden.
Their song titles speak to the content. Weekend’s Mine, catchy with a hint of beachy twang, is about counting down the minutes to 5 p.m. on Friday. Drink, equally upbeat and catchy, is about drinking.
The song Saskatchewan is “almost like an anthem that makes you proud,” said Ennis. “We just wanted to sing about where we were from.”
For the Chambers brothers, that’s Fort Qu’appelle and Yorkton, and for their cousin Mazden, it’s Ituna. “We have a lot of what would be considered stereotypical country songs, about drinking, and driving on dirt roads, and partying in the bush or whatever,” said Evan Chambers.
“It’s not just a theme for us; it’s the way we actually grew up.”
In coming up with the concept for the band three years ago in Ennis’s garage, “It basically almost came down to ‘what haven’t we tried yet?’” said Chambers. “We played in rock bands and metal bands and blues bands and everything, and we’ve never done country, so that was next on the list almost.”
And, in tackling this new-tothem genre, they discovered something: The country music scene in Regina seems to operate differently than most others.
“You can always go to the Exchange and there’s four local rock bands playing together, or four metal bands playing together or four hip-hop bands, but there’s never three or four country bands playing a show at the Exchange from around here,” said Chambers.
“There’s nothing like that and we kind of want to change that. It’s such a missed opportunity … There doesn’t seem to be the community that there is in other genres.”
This, despite country music lovers consistently selling out the jamboree every July.
“The province is overflowing with country fans, and they’re being forced to starve between Cravens and the odd function that they hire a country artist for,” said Ennis.
“Or, seeing an original country band at a bar, but they’re playing 95-per-cent cover songs and throwing in a couple of their originals,” added Chambers.
“We need the people of the province to know that they don’t have to wait until the next Craven in July, because we will be there to conduct a party much like it,” said Ennis.
The band promises to hold the audience’s attention for a full 90 minutes, whether that means incorporating a karaoke segment or having a beer-chugging contest with guest musician Roberto Giannini, whom Ennis calls the “alltime champion.”
Tumbleweeds’ Hometown Hoedown is Saturday, Oct. 6 at the Exchange. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tyler Gilbert opens the show. Admission is $10 and advance tickets are available at theexchangelive.ca.
For the concert, the band grows by two, with Ennis’s Orbital Express bandmates joining Tumbleweeds: Drew Duchscher on banjitar and Giannini on guitar.
We need the people to know that they don’t have to wait until the next Craven in July, because we will be there to conduct a party much like it.