There is something to be said for a band that is able to reflect their relationship to the place they call home in their music.
What would Neil Young be without a prairie wind or a harvest moon? Would the Sex Pistols have had as much anarchy without the U.K.?
For alternative folk band Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra (TMO), they are able to bring multiple stories into their music with members spread out from the scenic West Coast islands to the city of Calgary.
“We’ve just been doing it for a long time. It’s not really new,” explained guitarist Kurt Loewen as they drove out west from a recent four-stop tour in Alberta.
The band makes time to get together to rehearse during the year before they go out on tour – allowing them to keep things fresh.
Loewen and his wife Emily, who is also their sound technician, reside in Edmonton, Alta., percussionist Paul Wolda lives on Cortes Island, B.C., fiddler and singer Mack Shields lives in Victoria, B.C., bassist Keith Rodger lives in Calgary and accordionist Ian Griffiths is transitioning between B.C. and Alberta depending on the season and his other band.
“The transient nature of the band has taken the individuals and the band to all different places all over the world,” said Loewen. “It can definitely be said that the fact that we live and come from different places makes our music reflect that.”
And the latest place TMO’s music will be reflecting is that of Quadra Island, B.C. The band recently recorded tracks there for their upcoming album that is yet to be titled and will most likely be released about a year from now.
The album will be their fourth and is the followup to their successful 2012 release Follow My Lead, Lead Me to Follow produced by Juno Award winner David Travers-Smith.
Loewen explained that they have friends out on the island who have allowed them to take over their house every so often over the last five years to play and have some creative time as a band.
He described it as an immaculate six-bedroom house located right on the water with a beautiful open living room. The most important part for Loewen is that it doesn’t have Internet or cellphone service making it, as he put it, “beneficial for creating”
And being right on the ocean doesn’t hurt either.
“The ocean is really leveling in that way and it is kind of undeniable,” he said.
This was the first time they had recorded at this location and Loewen said that sound is reflected in the songs.
“It sounds like it was recorded in a beautiful house on an island,” he said. “It sounds like us, but it doesn’t sound like a studio – padded with isolated windows. It sounds like its own unique space.”
You can catch the Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra at Legacy Guitar and Coffee House Friday, Oct. 10. For more information visit thetequilamockingbirdorchestra.com.
