FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1999. All Rights Reserved
| Music by FFWD Staff FREAKWATER "That fellah’s from Louisville," laughs Freakwater’s confused Catherine Irwin with a tremendous amount of pride in her voice, "Warren Beatty." Now I’m confused. I don’t remember Warren Beatty being sodomized by hillbillies in Deliverance. "No, Ned Beatty," the Kentucky native corrects herself quickly. Ah.... If you have to ask – and at this point, I’m guessing you do – Irwin and I are in the midst of a long, wonderfully rambling and laugh-filled interview facilitated by her lack of sleep from worrying about her missing passport (something she’s planned on keeping from her bandmates until her mom can locate her birth certificate). Seconds earlier another giggle bout produced what could only be described as a snort. Pigs snort. Pigs also squeal. Squeal like a pig. Deliverance. Ned Beatty. Louisville. Home again. Well, not actually home – Irwin’s crashing at the Chicago house of Freakwater co-creator Janet Bean until the band make their way to Canada for a Calgary Folk Music Festival date and some shoes (more about those later). Hence her need for some documentation, which according to mom is being FedExed out to her immediately. But if the birth certificate doesn’t make it she’s got a backup plan. "I think I’m all right. I went to a junk store the other day – to distract myself from my problems – and found this little Alberta pin with the Maple Leaf on it. I got that for 11 cents, so I’m going to wear it. I thought that might get me through." Calgarians better hope she does get through, because without her gorgeous vocals added to the Freakwater moonshine mix, the pickup truck and fishin’ hole hillbilly rock band would be about as potent as mashed potatoes and not potato mash. Maybe it’s in the breeding (no, not inbreeding), but for the past decade and over five albums (their fifth titled End Time is due out in early September), Irwin and childhood friend Bean (who is also the drummer for the band Eleventh Dream Day) have managed to keep alive the disarmingly traditional acoustic Appalachian sound while pushing it further into these modern days of musketry. To illustrate that consider in the past they’ve covered Woody Guthrie as well as Black Sabbath’s "War Pigs." The Ozzy nod coupled with their name and the name of the record label they’re signed to (indie rock home Thrill Jockey) have probably been the reasons behind their omissions from any other folk fest lineups during their lifespan. I mean, despite the fact their sound is perfect for a lazy summer day and as appealing as a skinny dip invite from Elly Mae Sue, you can’t take a chance in frightening the blue hairs away now can you? "Maybe the people with the blue hair and the people with the green hair are all going to come together," she jokes. "We’re unifying all hair colours under a single freak flag. "We’ve have always tried to get on these folk festival shows, but we usually end up... um, not," she says, laughing at her lack of elocution. "We end up not being asked and we usually end up playing bars. That’s best for us because I don’t like to think our audience is completely sober." Which brings us back to the shoes. The only other Canadian date on this trip up north for the band is in Edmonton, where they’re supposed to catch up with someone they met during a bar show in Vancouver two years ago. Apparently that person makes custom shoes in our provincial capital and took outlines of the bandmembers’ feet, promising to have them ready next time they met. "We don’t have a name or an address but some nice drunk person in a bar sketched our feet and promised us shoes – and dammit, we better get them," Irwin says before releasing another delirious snort. "That’s the only reason we’re coming." And with a reason like that, who really needs a passport? |
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