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Dan Mangan with The Burning Hell
Knox United Church
Wednesday, November 17 - Wednesday, November 17

More in: Rock / Pop

As captain of the good ship Burning Hell, ukulele-toting, foghorn-voiced frontman Mathias Kom has previously claimed a crew of 14 members or more. However, for his touring expeditions of 2010 and the recording of his latest album, This Charmed Life (featuring only the trusty uke, cello and electronics), Kom has been steadily scaling back the hands on deck.

“When we started it was all about cramming a dozen people and a few dogs and babies in a van and having fun losing money across Canada,” he quips. “But the financial — and sonic — reality is that less is often much more. So, lately it's been between three and five people and often completely acoustic, concentrating on playing quieter shows. Which has all been really nice, since I'm getting pretty old.”

In the past, The Burning Hell’s backing band has included a veritable Monkey Island’s worth of Canadian music luminaries, including Jenny Omnichord, Shotgun Jimmie, Colleen “CoCo” Collins, Kim Barlow on banjo, Bucky Buckler on didgeridoo, and Dave Trenaman of Construction & Destruction. Fun and frenzied as this might have been, the fiscal realities have finally set in.

“The massive posse is amazing because it's easy to put on a big spectacle. Everyone I've ever played with has been a lot of fun and has unstoppable energy,” he says. “The downside to it is that there is absolutely no way to make even a meagre living when you're attempting to travel with such a huge gang. Sometimes I admit that I love having enough money to do things like eat food and buy the occasional used paperback.”

From March 10 to April 5, Kom also rounded up CBC Radio 3 host and Exclaim! writer Vish Khanna as the drummer for a West Coast jaunt with Wax Mannequin, where the pair also formed Wax’s backing band. Dubbed the Hear Some Evil Tour and documented daily on the radio show Wrath of Khanna, two questions begged: How were you able to coerce Vish away from his regular journalistic duties? And how often did you catch him on Twitter between songs?

“Touring with Vish was amazing,” says Kom. “He's a great musician and also possibly the funniest guy in the world to spend 24 hours a day with in a tiny car. Wax and I had a lot of fun playing with him, and Vish has so much energy that he can record a CBC 3 show, tweet a dozen times about his breakfast and play a drum solo all at once. Seriously.”

After this year’s 80-plus dates in Canada and Europe, Kom says “touring this much has definitely been overwhelming on the life-lessons front.” Yet no matter how tempted he’s been to switch continents permanently, he’s excited to finally return to his own bed in St. John’s, N.L., after recently uprooting himself from a longtime home base in Peterborough, Ont.

“I think the most important thing I've learned is that no matter how tired you think you are, you are never as tired as you will be tomorrow, and it's your own damn fault anyway for saying yes to homemade vodka,” Kom laughs. “And also that when you play folk music in Belarus, you should act cool and not be surprised if exotic dancers suddenly appear onstage and try to grind to the plinking of your ukulele. Because, hey, sometimes that's what happens and you just have to roll with it.”

“I'm tempted all the time to move across the pond — in fact I've just finished a long conversation with my girlfriend about whether or not it's feasible,” he concludes. “I love playing in Europe — audiences in general are amazingly appreciative and the coffee is almost always excellent. But Canada has far better greasy breakfasts, and amazing cities like Peterborough and St. John's and Edmonton, and I think that that will always keep me coming back home.”