>>PREVIEW
STRING BRIDGES
Tuesday, December 5
Broken City
Sipping on beers and chatting about their music, the String Bridges could be the youngest people at a recent Saturday afternoon jam. But for Joel Cochrane (vocals, guitar, djembe), Tom Wyman (bass, vocals, harp, guitar) and Tj Waltho (guitar, harp, keys, bass), there's no place they'd rather be.
"I try not to look down," Wyman says with a laugh, noting the grungy floor at the 17th Avenue pub before settling around a table beside the stage.
Despite their collective youth, the trio appears pretty relaxed. With no one in the band over 20, they exude confidence despite playing with musicians more than twice their age.
"Joel writes music like he's been around for a hundred years. I'm always astounded," says Wyman. "Every time we jam together, I can't believe how much fun it is."
Their music has been described as progressive folk. It has a light-hearted, catchy personality with strong reggae and blues influences. For Waltho, who commutes two hours in his ’94 Civic nearly every weekend and some weeknights from Lethbridge where he is attending university, it's no big thing.
"We all just want to play our music. It makes sense for us," he notes.
As the main songwriter, Cochrane says he gets a charge out of parlaying his thoughts into musical form. "I love the storytelling aspect of songwriting," he says.
Still, the band admits their youth has created some challenges and the shortage of all-ages venues has meant they have to try even harder to find gigs.
"The support is there. That's been amazing. With the venues, it's been a real struggle because we don't have a label. I'm managing and booking the band right now and it's hard sometimes," says Wyman. "Because we're younger, we have a younger fanbase. It's hard to find venues to play for them. The loss of the multicultural centre had a big impact on the all-ages scene."
"When the kids are given a venue, the bands will get a whole lot of support. If you take that away, everybody suffers," adds Cochrane. "That said, we definitely promote drinking in our songs."
"We're not drunks or drug addicts or anything," Wyman explains quickly. "There's just something to be said for a good rip up. Of course you don't need booze to have a good time."
They admit having a liquor-lubricated crowd helps the vibe though.
"People dance and groove more at the licensed venues," says Tom. "They tend to be more reserved at an unlicensed event." So why hang out at a blues jam and not a skate park?
"We play pretty mature music," concludes Waltho. "I think it surprises people coming from us." |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.