Preview
PARKAS
Thursday, October 16
Liberty Lounge
No matter how well they’re received, indie musicians are always hungry – literally.
Driven by a lack of funds and radio play, they throw themselves out to explore the wide expanses of this great country and depend on the kindness of strangers – a floor to sleep on, a hot meal every second day, a ratty promo T-shirt – all in the hopes of playing to a crowd of appreciative music fans.
Some bands, like the Parkas, live in the moment and enjoy the ride in a used van. For them, nothing is as sweet as being on tour.
Comprised of two brothers (Mark and Greg Rhyno), one cousin (Grady Kelneck) and a best friend (Mike Brown), the Parkas are definitely a family affair. "Our parents are musicians," Greg says. "So there was always instruments lying around. Grady's dad organizes the Muskoka Jams festival and one night, after it was all over, we just hopped onstage and started playing the abandoned instruments."
Growing up in Ontario, the band was inspired by all-ages shows and the Canadian punk scene. Greg is humbled to think that they have come full circle – going from young punks paying admission and having their hands stamped to being the ones up onstage.
While the members of the Parkas have all played in bands since their teens, being underage made it difficult to tour, since they had no car, driver's licence or money. Having whet their apetite playing shows in the East, the band is excited to play their first cross-Canada tour. They are taking it so seriously, in fact, that they all decided to quit their day jobs.
"I was a high school English teacher," Greg says. "Mark was doing his Masters in English, Mike's a visual artist and Grady was in Kinesology. We all felt like this was the time and we had to do it now, so it was an easy decision."
He attributes the band’s intense motivation to growing up in a small town. "The isolation helps. Growing up in Thunder Bay, it's eight hours away from anywhere. So if you want to see a show, you have to drive to Minneapolis and back in the same night to make it in time for work," says Greg.
"I think coming from a small town makes you want to work harder and gives you a more interesting sound. You're not influenced by anything around you. You just want it more."
The Parkas' first full-length album, Now This Is Fighting, has been getting some serious attention from music critics, and the band’s performances at Canadian music festivals has garnered comparisons to classic rock staples such as CCR, The Who and The Rolling Stones.
"We don't feel like critics’ darlings right now, sleeping on floors and being broke," Greg says sighing. "I think we've been placed in a strange category and written of as this poppy, party band. Actually we're pretty far from it."
Now This is Fighting is surprisingly dark and most of their songs are quite sad and introspective. Writing drinking songs for the lonely and depressed the Parkas camouflage them with pop harmonies and country-rock. Deceptively up-beat songs like "Giants in my Field" sound like good times but are about revenge and street-fighting. The track, "My Life of Crime," is about failing miserably at being good and reflects the band's love/hate relationship with cash.
"Starting out, you have to pay for everything out of your own pockets and promote yourself," says Greg. "When we first decided to do this and quit our jobs, we bought a van and were instantly broke."
The recent loss of income has been noticed. Things the band once took for granted when they worked a regular nine to five, like CD shopping or sleeping in a real bed, have moved down their list of priorities as real life comforts become secondary to promoting their new record.
The hardest part of being broke is that the band has just become acquainted with Canada's secret resource – the independent record store.
"This is the band's first trip out West and the people who put us up are always suggesting record stores to check out. There's always so much new stuff to listen to and buy. It's hard to catch up," says Greg, slightly embarrassed, after running off a list of records he's recently bought but hasn't had the time to listen to.
"I was in Vancouver's Scratch Records today," he says longingly. "I wanted to buy five albums but didn't have the money."
The Parkas seem genuinely embarrassed by all the press attention and feel most comfortable when onstage. It's not as if they mind being compared to some of their favourite bands, it's just that they're too busy having fun on tour. It's a lot of work but somehow even the mundane business of doing a sound check makes the band giddy as they gear up for the night's show.
In a lot of ways, the Parkas are learning as they go, quite happy to stumble along the way.
Celeb Top Five
The Parkas all-time favourite live bands:
1. Elvis Costello and The Impostors
2. Bruce Springsteen
3. New Pornographers
4. Fugazi
5. The Doves |
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