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sometimesalwaysmusic · 7 years

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SLACK BRIDGES

Slack Bridges (SB) has been making waves in the capital, having played many of the major and up-and-coming festivals in the region in their (relatively) short lifespan. In advance of their debut LP release show at the Rainbow Bistro, we caught up with bassist Garrett Bass for an in-depth conversation on influences, guests in their live show and maintaining their serious momentum moving into 2018.

VITALS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slackbridges/

Web: http://www.slackbridges.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slackbridges/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/slackbridges

Upcoming Release: Joy of Joys (LP, Nov 2017)

Upcoming shows: Saturday, November 11 - Slack Bridges LP Release, with Mushy Gushy & Zattar. The Rainbow, Ottawa, ON. 9PM.

SA: How did Slack Bridges come to be? SB: In 2014, Chris (guitar) and myself had just started rehearsing with a local soul group and we realized we’d rather just work with each other. We started meeting up semi-regularly and putting some song skeletons together, but a combination of us having trouble finding a singer and both pretty busy meant that the songs just sat there for about a year and a half. In late 2015, I heard an album by an old pal Matt Gilmour under his alias “Gold Bonds” and really loved the sound of his voice. I showed Chris and we decided to reach out and see if Matt liked any of the tracks. The rest happened pretty quickly - Matt joined, he recommended our drummer Paul, I tracked down our keyboardist Marcus and things started coming together. Now as we release our first full length (we put out an EP last May), we have Zac Sedlar on alto sax and a few musicians who play off and on with us.

SA: What bands, musicians or artists would you cite as the biggest influences on your sound? SB: As a group of people, our tastes in soulful and funky music are pretty diverse, but we all speak the same language. So, half of the time we’re referencing the vintage stuff, from Chicago style soul like Curtis Mayfield, southern soul like Don Bryant, Anne Peebles, etc. and jazz fusion pioneers like Herbie Hancock… and then the other half of the time we’re referencing classic hip-hop and modern R&B guys like Anderson .Paak, Kendrick, etc. I think it’s pretty cool that you can be so varied but still under the same umbrella. When we’re writing we’re referencing across the map.. “hey can you try some Chicago soul strings at that part?” “Can we get some of that Saturday Night Live sax ripping in the background here?” “How can we get a big Kendrick-style Moog bass on this one?” It’s cool! This type of diversity really shows through on our new record. We really do yield influence from the history of soulful music throughout the ages.

SA: Thus far in the band’s lifetime, what has been your biggest success? SB: We played Bluesfest this summer, which was pretty great. We also played Ottawa’s first soul music fest this year which some of us played a big role in putting on. It was really cool to see this kind of music as a community-builder, and a way of bringing people together. I’d say the biggest success has been getting a grant from the Ontario Arts Council though. It was really cool to have a big agency like that believe in what we’re up to! Plus it allowed us to take the album we’d been picking away at and get some guest musicians on it, get it professionally mixed, mastered, pressed on vinyl… we would be dropping a very different product right now without that cash. It's safe to say that we are proud of our record and earning that grant.

SA: On the other hand, what is the biggest challenge you have faced, and how have you dealt with it? SB: We’re mainly 9-5ers and being in a band can be a big time management piece compared to how it used to be when we were kids. We’ve got 6 schedules to work around and we’re always trying to find a fine balance between being fun, efficient and reducing burn-out. For example, I’m a teacher and Matt is a grad student, so we work hard all year and then have summer off. Right at that point, Chris starts working 10-12 hour days at all the festivals. It’s a lot of juggling to get people together and gett’er done. Fortunately, when we all get in the jam space and play music together it’s a blast and definitely cathartic.

SA: How do you approach the song-writing process? SB: I actually had a friend read the back of the album and say “oh come on, you guys don’t actually all write the songs together. Who brings in the song?” To which my response was… yeah, actually, we do, and it’s crazy. Haha! Usually someone busts out an idea and we just jam the hell out of until we have a song. I’ll record what we have and dump it onto the net, Matt will brainstorm and revise some lyrics for the following week and we’ll keep at it for about 4-5 weeks until it’s a done deal. Sometimes, we improvise or revise for fun, but crafting a song is one of the funnest parts of being in a band for all of us, and we compose democratically. I think that our new record is definitely a reflection of this democratic and diverse approach too.

SA: What are your thoughts on the Ottawa music scene? SB: I’ve been here for about 12 years and it’s better now that it ever was. There’s a ton of variety! I feel like you could see a wide array of music any night of the week if you’re not too picky about genre. I can name a few artists worth watching in just about any portion of the scene… soul/funk, jazz, punk, rock n’ roll, garage, reggae/ska, indie, songwriter, folk, celtic, gypsy. We feel lucky to be part of Ottawa's music infrastructure, and are excited to grow with it as it becomes more accessible to others. It's always sweet to see new people come out, new bands, labels, venues, and organizations dedicated to improving our creative community.

SA: You are set to release your debut full length album, Joy of Joys, at the Rainbow Bistro on November 11. Social media tells us that you've been rehearsing with Olexandra from the Peptides. Can you tell us how that rehearsals have been going, and what can fans expect from your upcoming release show? SB: Our set is feeling great! After festival season it’s nice to be able to add some new material. We have some really fantastic people joining us on the 11th. Olexandra has been a huge supporter of this band and does such a great job with the Peptides, so it’s awesome to have her come up for a bunch of songs. We’ll also have Nick Dyson crushing it on trumpet and a couple other surprises up our sleeves. Expect a fun, intense, energetic, dynamic, and powerful set. We will be be playing songs off of our new record, as well as some brand new material. There will be lots of opportunities to dance and wild out. Our friends DJ Zattar and Mushy Gushy will also be playing some killer tunes as well. It's going to be a really great party.

SA: Given each band members' history with bands of a variety of genres, what made you want to follow this style with this band, and how has your song-writing approach compared or contrasted with past projects? SB: For most of us, we’ve just really always wanted to play in this kind of group but it wasn’t a possibility a few years ago. In terms of songwriting, half of us come from a punk rock background where you jam out a song until it sounds good, and the other come from a jazz or blues background where you improvise and really explore an arrangement. Put the two together and it makes for some really fun songwriting. That being said, we all have a fascination with complex, impressive, and tastefully executed music from the heart. That remains consistent in our songwriting, but our new record shows an honesty and maturity in how we have evolved as people and songwriters alike. That growth is something we all go through.

SA: Ottawa Jazz Festival, Ottawa Bluesfest, House of Paint, and the list goes on. You guys have hit a lot of the major festivals coming through Ottawa thus far. Though this is quite the enviable position, how do you keep this kind of momentum building, given all the tremendous successes that 2017 had for the band? SB: We managed to do a lot without an official LP out, which was pretty amazing! A lot of what got us into those festivals was word-of-mouth, which we’re super grateful for, but we’re really excited to be able to push a unique record that we put a lot of work into and give new listeners a clearer idea of what we do. I think now the goal is to keep building momentum, enjoy writing and releasing even more material, and see if we can take our momentum to some of the bigger festivals in Montreal, Toronto and Halifax, etc.

SA: What comes next for Slack Bridges post album release, and moving into 2018? We wish you guys the best, and good luck! SB: We’ll just be trying to get the record out there for the next little bit, hopefully collaborating with some more great Ottawa talent in the process. Otherwise, we’re just going to keep experimenting and writing soulful music and try to represent Ottawa one funky track at a time!

#slackbridges #ottawa #newmusic #funk #soul #joyofjoys #albumrelease #houseofpaint #ottawabluesfest #ottawajazzfestival #rainbowbistro #thepeptides #ontario #canada

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cornellgerstaeck-blog · 7 years

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