Thursday Jan. 27, 2011 Page 4

The Pioneer · January 27, 2011 · Page A4
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Finger Eleven rocks Belleville
Nearly sold-out crowd
enjoyed performance
of Canadian band
on Wednesday
Special downtown event
turns into regular event
at Sweet Escape lounge
By Adam Jackson
Canadian rockers Finger Eleven
made a stop in Belleville Wednesday on tour for their new album, Life
Turns Electric.
The new album, released in 2010,
has been performed live by the
group but this is their first real tour
with the album.
In front of a nearly sold-out crowd
at Empire Theatre on Front Street,
the group performed 10 songs, including a lengthy encore. Lead
singer Scott Anderson was suffering from a cold, but the group of five
musicians managed to please their
toughest critics – their fans.
“It was really good. I really enjoyed the show and meeting Elias,”
said an excited Ashley Wood, a
15-year-old high school student.
Finger Eleven, the headliner for
the show, played to a well warmedup crowd thanks to openers Elias
and The Envy.
Small venues like Empire Theatre
are known for their terrific sound,
and 34-year-old drummer Rich Beddoe agrees.
“I love playing in small venues, the
acoustics are great and it’s a nice intimate show,” said Beddoe.
Beddoe joined the group in 1994
shortly after they were dropped
from one label and re-signed to another.
This is not Finger Eleven’s first
Poets
share skills
at mic night
By Kristine Benham
Adam Jackson
Finger Eleven frontman Scott Anderson performs the song One Thing at Empire Theatre on Wednesday. The band
performed in front of a nearly sold-out crowd.
time performing in Belleville. In
the summer of 2009, the group performed in Empire Square alongside
rock band ZZ Top.
“I haven’t been able to see a lot of
the city yet, most of the time when
we tour all we see is the alley and the
venue we’re playing in,” said Beddoe.
“But the people seem really nice.”
Finger Eleven has been on tour for
six weeks and will continue to tour
across Canada and the United States
until mid-February.
Their next show is set for Jan. 27
at Cowboy’s Ranch in London, Ont.
Country singer appreciates his fans
Aaron Pritchett
there to the end
to sign autographs
By Mallory Haigh
Canadian country singer Aaron Pritchett chose
Tweed for the location of a CD release and fan
appreciation concert last Friday.
Pritchett, a multi-Juno award-nominee known
for his country anthems Hold My Beer and Let’s
Get Rowdy performed to a sold-out crowd of 300
at Trudeau Park.
The singer/songwriter has been travelling
across Canada performing small, intimate CD
release parties to recognize and appreciate his
fans.
“Since I got into this level and aspect of the
industry and playing to a lot of fans, it’s always
been about them,” said Pritchett, about making
an effort to meet with his fans after shows. “I’ve
never done it any other way.”
Pritchett super-fan Christina Boudreau certainly appreciates her favourite musician’s loyalty to
his fans.
“He makes me feel like a princess,” she said,
noting how Pritchett frequently dedicates his
song, New Frontier, to her when she is in the audience.
“His songs have helped me deal with a lot of
issues, and I’m very thankful for that.”
Boudreau came from Toronto for the show.
Over the past two years, she has attended 28
concerts, including Fridays at Trudeau Park.
Pritchett’s fifth studio album, In the Driver’s
Seat, was released in early November 2010 and
takes an entirely new direction compared to his
previous work.
“The sound is a bit different, a little more rock
than it ever has been,” he said. “That’s me. That’s
the way I was brought up. I listened to rock long
before I listened to country. I thought, ‘Why not
throw in some inflections of the artists I grew up
listening to?’”
Many of the songs feature darker lyrics, including Coming Clean, which speaks about the guilt
associated with infidelity. Pritchett felt it was
important to bring this issue to light, both the
positive and the negative, especially after recent
incidents involving high-profile celebrities.
Fans were entertained with old favourites, but
were also introduced to tracks from In the Driver’s Seat.
“Out of all my albums so far, I’m most proud of
this one. To have full creative control has really
helped,” he said. This latest work was released
under his own record label Decibel.
Pritchett stayed until the last photograph was
taken and autograph signed.
“People keep saying ‘One day, you’re going to
have to stop doing this.’ I just say ‘No way!’ I’m
always the last guy left; I joke that I’m the one
who has to sweep the floor. But when it’s all said
and done, if people come to the show to hang out
with me, that’s cool – it’s all about the fans.”
The song Coming Clean is slated to be the next
single off the album, to be released some time in
mid-February.
Trudeau Park will feature more Canadian country acts this year, including Jason McCoy on
March 26 and George Canyon in July.
Mallory Haigh
Hold My Beer singer Aaron Pritchett sings a song off
his new album, In the Driver’s Seat, to the delight of
300 fans at Tweed’s Trudeau Park last Friday. Pritchett came to Tweed to do a small, intimate CD release
show and to connect with his fans.
Some say that one good thing
leads to another and this is true
for the international support
worker students at Loyalist College.
Initially started as a fundraiser, the students’ slam poetry
and open mic night has started a
trend at Sweet Escape Dessert &
Coffee Lounge in downtown Belleville.
Heather Barker and Shamsa
Hassan, both ISW students, organized the poetry idea as a
one-time event in early November 2010. The hope was to raise
money for the ISW students’ trip
to Chiapas, Mexico.
The students left Monday from
Loyalist. They will be staying in
Chiapas for five weeks to learn
about community development.
After the first slam poetry
night, many regular customers
of Sweet Escape asked when the
next poetry night would be held.
“People that I don’t even know
have invited me out to this and
that’s pretty great,” Barker says.
There is a wide range in types
of content, including humour,
original prose, letters and songs.
There is a great deal of material
related to the spirit of the ISW
mission of helping others.
Barker says the event is open
and everyone is welcome and
encouraged to come and share
on a Friday night.
“It makes my night go by
faster, for sure. They are also
always up out front and it
makes us look busier,” says
Jessica Hindman, a Sweet Escape employee who has worked
several of the poetry nights.
The 15-person ISW group does
not have a set goal to fundraise,
but incidental fees and extra
costs such as flying, living with
a family, travelling around and
other costs are all out of pocket.
“The cost per student is
$3,500, which is above and beyond our normal tuition fees,”
Barker says, emphasizing on the
costliness of such a venture.
A global gala was held in a final attempt to raise money for
the group Saturday evening at
the Belleville Club. The semiformal gala included catering,
local music and art, information
tables and a silent auction.
The ISW program started at
Loyalist last September and is
offered as a one-year post-graduate program. The course’s goal
is to allow students to use their
previous skills to travel and improve the world, working with
international agencies.
The next slam poetry night is
on Friday, Feb. 4 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. The café is located at
194 Front St. in downtown Belleville.
Band heads to international blues challenge
Bad Poetry Band
to perform at
blues festival
in Memphis, Tennessee
By Natelie Herault
Lead singer Phil Smith’s silver eyes catch the
red lights while singing the blues Saturday
night at Stix and Stones in Trenton.
The Bad Poetry Band, along with solo act
Mark Taylor, are raising money to help pay for
the cost of getting to the International Blues
Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, a competition that both acts qualified for in an audition
put on by the Loyal Blues Fellowship at the
same venue last October.
Both acts are based out of Campbellford,
and a chance to compete at the world’s largest blues celebration represents a big step in
their careers. The festival takes place Feb. 1 to
5 along Beale Street in Memphis, where artists
will perform in various venues. Last year, it featured more than 110 bands, 82 solo acts and
32 young musicians. Grady Champion, from
Mississippi, took home the ‘best band’ award,
and Matt Andersen of New Brunswick won the
solo/duet category.
“I’m looking forward to being part of a really
huge music scene,” said Smith, who makes up
one part of the five-piece band (who call themselves Bad Poetry).
“I hope we can hobnob with industry people,
and get a sense of where to move forward.”
Mark Taylor, 32, began the show at 9 p.m.
Saturday, playing the audition set that landed
him a spot in the blues challenge. Despite
Natelie Herault
Ian Davis (saxophone/bongos), Phil Smith (singer/bass) and Peter Thorn (guitar), perform with
drummer Ken Layton and back-up guitar player Jacob Charles (not pictured) at a fundraiser at
Stix and Stones in Trenton on Saturday night. The event was to raise money for band, known as
The Bad Poetry Band, to travel to Memphis and compete in the International Blues Challenge. The
band, based out of Campbellford, recently qualified to compete after an audition by the Loyal
Blues Fellowship.
technical difficulties cutting short the playlist,
Walker met Taylor by chance one day, when
Taylor, a natural-born performer, didn’t miss he stumbled across the young musician playa beat in transitioning to a 12-minute song he ing in a garage with the door open.
had written for a friend he lost in a car crash.
“I’ve been watching him play for two years,
Mark Walker, Taylor’s self-professed number and I’ve never seen him miss a note,” Walker
one fan, couldn’t have been happier about this boasted.
change of plans.
Taylor is a local favourite, despite quitting
“This is the song where his hand moves music as a full-time gig in 2008 after eight years
so fast, you can’t even see it!” Walker gushed when his daughter, Rio, 2, was born. He now
about the song he first heard when Taylor lays floors for a living.
played it at his son’s wedding.
“It was a crazy lifestyle with a lot of partying,
“Just when you think it’s going to end, it and it got the better of me. I still play a bit, but
gets faster. This is better than most of the top now I focus on my family,” Taylor confessed.
10 on the radio today.”
Members of The Bad Poetry Band, whose
ages span over three decades, also have
“straight” jobs on the side.
“The blues doesn’t pay the bills,” remarked
drummer Ken Layton.
The Bad Poetry Band has gone through
many incarnations in the five years since
they formed. The current lineup, which includes Smith, Layton, Ian Davis, Peter Thorn
and Jacob Charles, has been in effect for two
months.
How the band’s unique name came about
was accidental.
“We used to hang out at the Stinking Rose
Pub in Campbellford,” said Davis, saxophone/bongo player, a founding band member.
Realizing they had a mutual interest in
music, the original band members started
playing together and got booked for a New
Year’s Eve gig.
“We needed a name, and there was this
book [at the pub] called Really Bad Poetry that we used to read out loud as a
joke. We made a snap decision to name
ourselves after it, and it stuck like wet
noodles. We’ve tried to change the name,
but we just can’t seem to get away from
it,” laughed Davis.
Smith described the band’s musical style
as an “eclectic party mix with blues influence,” which was certainly the case Saturday night when it seemed as though the
whole bar was up dancing.
“I hope that this experience will give us a
sense of the state of the blues today,” Smith
said of the blues challenge.
“Blues isn’t really commercial music.
It’s not overproduced like a lot of the music these days, and features real artists. I
look forward to just having a really great
time.”