PREVIEW
MOCKING SHADOWS
DVD Recording Party
Monday, April 14
Studio 82
For those of you who have never been in a travellin’ band, imagine driving to a new city every day in a beat-up van that could break down at any moment.
That’s the good part.
As a touring musician, you also have to eat grilled-cheese sandwiches daily because of a limited band budget. While moving your clunky yet expensive equipment from your van to the venue, you pray that your gear isn’t swiped. Later, you "load out" after the show concludes at 2 or 3 a.m. – which means trying to navigate your equipment back to your vehicle while you’re half asleep. Then, the least sleepy band-mate takes the wheel and begins driving to the next venue a couple of hundred clicks away.
No matter how tired the rest of the band may be, it’s tough to sleep in a old, smelly band-wagon. Experienced roadsters that they are, Calgary band Mocking Shadows has discovered a way around this enervating routine. The members of this hard-working good-time band catch up on their beauty sleep and travel the great open road in style since purchasing a bus (originally from Greyhound) and converting it to a rock and roll house on wheels.
After working their tails off, Mocking Shadows are the only band in town to have a full-size tour bus. The bus, a classic ’66 MC5 with its destination set on "Special," has been previously occupied by a variety of musical alumni. The list includes Megadeth, Ziggy Marley, Bryan Adams, The Eagles, a Christian rock band and many others.
The bus sleeps 12 (with individual climate control and a reading light for each bunk), has a washroom, stereos, televisions, VCRs, speakers throughout the front and rear lounges, a microwave, a 15 gallon cooler and one pretty li’l hula girl on the dashboard. All it needs is a satellite dish and a workout room and these boys would never have to get off the road.
"This bus, we bought on our own," beams Mike Little, keyboardist for the jazzy blues combo. "There’s no help from any record labels. Anything we do is funded by playing, selling CDs and stuff."
The main impetus behind purchasing the bus was for Canada-U.S. tours such as the two (yes, two) they recently completed opening for the legendary blues guitarist B.B. King. It was a momentous occasion for the band to be asked to join King once, but any thoughts that the first tour might have been a fluke were eradicated when they were invited back to play a second.
"It was very neat because we showed up and it’s like ‘thank you very much for joining us’ and we’re like, ‘Thank you!’" says bassist and vocalist Jory Kinjo, with a laugh.
"Both (tours) were pretty good – B.B. would call us out onstage and shake our hands at almost every show. Yeah, he would pat us on the head like our grandfather, he’d sit us down, tell us not to drink and do drugs."
It would hardly seem possible that the band would have time for such nefarious pursuits. A stoically independent outfit, Mocking Shadows has been slogging away in the local scene since the mid-’90s. They have released three CDs so far and will soon be releasing their first DVD, following a video shoot this week. After that, the sky is the limit – with unperilous summer driving conditions to look forward to, the Shadows will be boarding their bus and returning to the glory of the open road once more. |
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