“I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandanna.”
For those who have wondered what the harpoon reference in the opening line of the second verse of “Me And Bobby McGee” is all about, allow Shawn Hall to chime in.
“It was Matt’s idea; he had never heard a harmonica referred to as a harpoon, so that’s what gave him the idea,” notes Hall, referencing The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer, the Vancouver-based blues/roots music duo he formed 11 years ago with guitarist Matthew Rogers.
“It’s an incredibly literal name; a difficult name to cross borders with and get into kids’ festivals. At least we know that our band name means something and that it takes up a shitload of letters on a marquee.
“When ‘murderer’ is in your band name … well, we’ve been asked ‘Why do you guys have murderer in your band name?’ by so many border officials.”
With a Juno Award nomination and five albums to its credit — the latest, Apocalipstick, released just a few weeks ago — The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer is touring Canada this month; a trek that will bring the pair to the Market Hall Performance Centre (140 Charlotte St, Peterborough) on Friday, April 14th
“They (audience members) are not really going to believe what they’re hearing,” assures Hall, the harpoonist in the equation alongside Rogers’ axe (electric guitar), with a more than generous helping of foot percussion in the mix.
VIDEO: “Forever Fool” – The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer
“Supporting this record we’ve got two drummers (himself and Whitehorse-based Patrick Hamilton). We’ve got like a double thumping going on and we’re singing through a whole array of things that sort of thicken the stew and add textures … a whole bunch of psychedelic sorcery.”
“We’re not your mom and dad’s blues band. We certainly don’t shy away from blues festivals, and we get invited to a good chunk of them, and we love our relationships with blues communities across the country, but we realize how conservative this genre is.
“We’re not everybody’s bag. For us, it’s just really honest music that comes from pretty raw emotional places and blues music is one of the best genres for that traditionally.”
It was at a music jingle recording session in 2006 that Hall and Rogers first met and, according to Hall, came to the realization “that neither of us were that flaky, a miracle in the world of the arts.”
That said, there was something present that was well worth building on.
“We had a significant amount of follow through, stubbornness, determination, drive — whatever you want to call it — and we really admired a strong work ethic. Matt went out in Montreal and saw a show that really turned him on to finger picking. It was Michael Jerome Brown, just an incredible guitarist.
“That was kind of a turning point for him. He said, ‘Hey, what do you think of going back to the harmonica?’ I wasn’t relying on the harmonica to make money; it’s a difficult instrument to make a living off of.”
The union formed, The Blues Can Kill marked their album debut in 2007, followed by the release of a self-titled album the following year. Along the way, both quickly came to the realization that their musical bond could reap bigger dividends.
VIDEO: “Shake It ” – The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer
“I think we jumped on at the right time,” says Hall.
“Duos have been around forever. However, the economics of big bands … well, you see large bands that have been around for decades doing stripped down tours of two or three people. That’s not easy for the old cats who have been doing it forever. They didn’t design their songs as duos. It’s pretty clear the younger generation, 10 years, 20 years younger than me, are chomping at the bit to figure out if they can cut it in the duo world.”
“When it works on stage, which it does 90 percent of the time, it feels great — but there’s nothing to hide behind. Holy crap, do you know how many nights I wanted to not be the lead singer and the harmonica player and take it back and roll with that? We tried a few songs that were on commercial radio, tried them live, and they just didn’t quite feel right, so we reinterpret them and do them duo style.
“For this record, that’s why we went to The Yukon and got a really original interesting character (Hamilton) to bring to the band so that we can flesh things out and we could transform in front of people’s eyes, still keeping the nucleus of the duo but bring things into a larger world for us.”
VIDEO: “Roll With The Punches” – The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer
While more than one artist has downplayed the significance of award recognition, Hall makes no secret of the positive impact the Juno Award nomination for 2014 album A Real Fine Mess had, and still has, on their success.
“It threw us into the world of Sam Roberts, Rush and Barenaked Ladies,” says Hall. “It threw us into the Ontario world.
“The Juno nomination definitely helped us east of Winnipeg. It really helped bridge a gap. We got to hang out with (acclaimed producer) Daniel Lanois. That’s pretty cool. We got to perform on the non-televised night of the awards and it was very significant for us. We realized that awards have nothing to do with who wins. They have everything to do with the immense amount of passion and hard work that many of the nominated people put together to get there.
“We walked away from that weekend realizing that everybody is a winner who actually shows up. If you win (a Juno Award), you get a few more festivals and a hell of a lot more pictures but when the smoke clears, you’re back down in the trenches where you were.”
Hall’s musical weapon of choice is one he’s being familiar since age 14 when his grandmother gifted him a harmonica for Christmas along with, he laughs, a book titled How To Play Harmonica For the Musically Hopeless.
“My parents had a pretty awesome record collection. Bob Dylan was probably the very first record I tried to play along to, but Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee’s self-titled album was the one I learned everything from. It was the greatest teacher I possibly could have had. If my parents didn’t have that record, I don’t know to what extent I would have gotten into harmonica.
“That record is still my favourite all-time blues record. I’ve got an autographed copy of it at home from the original producer. He had three copies left of the record in L.A. and he sent me one of them. That’s my Stanley Cup.”
AUDIO: “Get Ready” – The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer
With Apocalipstick being very well-received — the first single “Get Ready” is charting high with “Forever Fool” on the cusp of release — The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer will arrive in Peterborough at the top of their game.
“I’m 41 (years old) and I’ve been playing in bars since I was 16 but this is different; this record is different,” assesses Hall.
“We’re getting much more attention with blues societies and commercial radio and CBC, and with folk communities. We’re getting a really, really wide range of attention this tour. We’re learning how to communicate, learning what the nuances of each community are and how to get people to feel more comfortable and let loose and enjoy themselves. What does enjoyment look like in different communities? Every crowd is different.
“It’s very much a challenge. You need to be pretty intuitive. Keeping wonder alive is a real day-to-day chore.”
Despite their success, don’t think for a minute that Hall or Rogers are taking anything for granted.
“Whenever we sell out gigs, we don’t go, ‘Yeah, this is what we do.’ That’s pretty pinch-me, pretty amazing, given how many bands are touring, given how fickle the climate is with people’s attention span to music. We feel incredibly fortunate.”
VIDEO: “Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To” – The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer
While the tour for Apocalipstick is the current focus, there is, Hall says, “a greater plan” to perform more in Europe.
“We’ve really carved Canada fairly decently. We’re very grateful for the fans we have here — we haven’t taken anything for granted — but we’ve been over there (Europe) a couple of times and had immense success, so we’d like to go there and dig into the festival scene and explore that some more. Then maybe take a break next winter because we both have very young families.”
As for the Market Hall show, it will mark a homecoming of sorts for Hall, who attended Trent University for two years.
“I remember going to see Big Sugar there,” notes Hall.
“I know they did a big reno there, right? I hope people can dance.”
Presented by the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre, general admission tickets for The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer cost $25 ($20 for students and $30 for assigned cabaret table seating) at the box office, by phone at 705-749-1146, or online at markethall.org. Tickets are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George Street North, 705-742-9425).
Ryan McNally
Blues/roots artist Ryan McNally from Whitehorse is opening.
McNally was raised in rural Quebec, south of Montreal along the U.S. border. He began pursuing music at the age of 10 when he first picked up the guitar. In his late teens and early twenties, he sought out the musicians he heard at cafes and bars for lessons in fingerstyle blues. His first release, Down Home, is a distillation of the genre.
McNally has a passion for studying acoustic traditional blues, jazz, and old-time music. This passion led him to spend a winter in New Orleans, where he wrote the majority of the material featured on his latest release, Steppin’ Down South.
Inspired by hillbilly blues and 1920s jug band jazz, with instruments like washboards and washtub basses, Steppin’ Down South is saturated with the sounds and rhythm of New Orleans streets.
McNally is currently touring with The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer as the opening act.
VIDEO: “France Blues” – Ryan McNally
VIDEO: “Cold to You” – Ryan McNally
VIDEO: “Maria” – Ryan McNally
