Ottawa based musician Jon Creeden is excited to bring the Alberta wing of Jon Creeden and the Flying Hellfish to the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Oct. 5. He released his  debut CD  “Stall” in April.

“I’ve been playing acoustically for years, but it has always been more of a pop punk sound. When I met drummer Jason Adair the first song we wrote was “Nailbiter” which is on the album. I went home and wrote lyrics, but  the music came together in like 10 minutes,” he said, adding he met the Calgary based Celtic punk band RiverJacks while touring Ontario and Quebec in 2015 and enlisted them to be the Alberta contingent of the Hellfish.

“So they’re returning the favour on this tour. I’ll have Spencer Jo playing guitar and Jordan Barrett playing guitar and Miles  playing drums and Jeff Barrett from the Medicine hat band One Shot Left who are one of my favourite bands, playing bass,” he enthused, adding he will also be playing guitar.

“ There’s five members in the Ottawa band and five in Alberta. There will be three guitars so it is a little bit of an overkill but it’s a lot of fun,” he said, adding he is flying out to play a trio of weekend shows in Calgary, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat with One Shot Left.

“ I did the math and with gas prices, it’s cheaper to fly out than it is to drive. I’ve never done anything like this before. but I’ve done enough touring. Canada is really beautiful, but it’s also really large. It’s a 36 hour drive from Ottawa to Calgary,” he observed.

 

Flying Hellfish is definitely a reference to the TV show the Simpsons.

“I’ve been playing acoustically for a long time and I wanted to keep my name in front of it but I also always wanted to play in a band and I was watching the Simpsons episode with Grandpa Simpson thinking about his past and forgetting. I was born in 1984, so the Simpsons was my life. I thought Flying Hellfish was a great name, and thought somebody would be using it, so I looked it up on the internet and nobody was using it,” he observed.

 They recorded the new CD and did a split EP a few years ago.
“We’ll be playing the new CD and some from the EP because we still have a few of those left. And I’ve been working  on a few new songs. We’ll see what  we can do in the one jam session we’ll have before the shows,” he said, adding he is looking forward to returning to the Owl Acoustic Lounge.

“I like Alberta. I like the dry heat especially in October.  I’ve only played there once at the Owl in 2015. I did a lot of touring that year, the year before I got married. I remember that train bridge and walking underneath it,” he said.
 Jon Creeden and the Flying Hellfish plus the River Jacks play the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Oct. 5. Admission is by donation.