Shawn Hall and Matthew Rogers aka Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer are excited about the current leg of their endless tour in support of their most recent CD “ A Real Fine Mess,” which brings them to Lethbridge to play the Geomatic Attic, Oct. 17.
This is because in addition to getting rave reviews and lots of support for their third effort, The Vancouver based blues duo will be joined by fellow Vancouverites Miss Quincy for this tour.
“We’re playing most of our western Canadian shows with Miss Quincy. They’re this great all girl blues band. We’re calling it Ham and Eggs. HAM for Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer and I’ll leave the latter up to your imagination,” said ‘Harpoonist’ harmonica player and singer Shawn Hall apologizing for spotty cell phone reception in Saskatchewan.
They have a long history with Miss Quincy as Matthew Rogers has known them since 2000 and helped produce their new CD and they have done a few shows with them at SouthbySouthwest in Austin and individual shows in Prince George, but this is the first big tour they have done with them.
“ Miss Quincy, Jody Peck is an incredibly solid person. She always has your back,” Hall observed.
“ And that’s the kind of person you want to be on the road with,” he enthused.
“ We’ll play with them and to return the favour, Jody Peck and Rachel Cardiello will sing with us and their drummer Jen Foster will play drums and do a double drum thing with Matthew (who plays foot drums as well as guitar and a several other instruments on stage.)”
He said because Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer are best known as a duo they have to be careful what hat musicians they add to the sound. Rachel Cardiello will be singing as well as playing organ.
“ Having a B3 organ and those extra voices really fills in the cracks. It takes the sound a lot further,” he said.
“And instead of having Matthew and I staring each other, you have three sexy girls to look at,” he said.
He noted so far the tour has been a lot of fun.
“The tour is going pretty good. We started off in BC in Chilliwack and now we’re booting it to Winnipeg. We’re driving across Saskatchewan now,” he continued adding they did 11 straight weeks of touring during the summer right after their CD was released, took a few weeks off to spend with their families and hit the road again.
They are playing a variety of venues on this tour from nightclubs, dingy bars, theatres, old movie theatres and Royal Canadian Legion halls.
“ You can’t be a Canadian band and not play Legion hall at least twice a year. They are such a big part of Canada,” Hall said.
“ We’re playing the Jasper Legion. Corb Lund held court there for many years,” he said.
He noted people are enjoying the CD and he is enjoying the radio support it has been getting.
“It’s doing really well. It’s on the CBC Hot 30 charts, which is great and it has been on the College charts for at least three months. And it’s in record stores . My son saw it on the shelves of an HMV, so it’s great to see that,” he continued.
They are still developing the songs on the road.
So far a few of the new songs have become favourites.
Matthew Rogers like the soulful ballad “Feel Me Now.”
“ We’ve only played it twice ever,”said Hall who loves singing “ Don’t Make ’em Like They Used To.”
“ We play it every night, but I don’t want to spoil anything short of having a monkey dropping from the ceiling, we do the best we can as a duo,” he said adding he is excited about playing the Geomatic attic.
“It’s nice to play an actual music room and not just a drunk room,” he said.
The show begins at 8 p.m.
Tickets cost $27.50.
