The Dudes (pictured), Michael Bernard Fitzgerald and Dojo Workhorse are ready for a ‘wicked bro-down’ on Friday.

DETAILS

The First Waltz with The Dudes, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald & Dojo Workhorse
MacEwan Ballroom
Friday, October 9 - Friday, October 9

More in: Rock / Pop

According to Dan Vacon, anyone worth anything has seen The Last Waltz 100 times. It’s safe to say that it’s one of the greatest documented concerts of all time; a final goodbye from The Band as well as a musical love-in with some of the most influential musicians of all time. On Friday, October 9, Calgary label Load Music will attempt to re-create that magic with First Waltz, a musical extravaganza featuring The Dudes, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald and Dojo Workhorse. While it have the same degree inter-group collaboration that defined The Band’s epic finale (though special guests are expected), First Waltz also aspires to be an expression of a musical community specific to a time and place.

“It’s really about the community of friends that we’re a part of,” says Vacon. “Load Music is seeing this as a kind of launch for them, but I’m seeing this as a really wicked bro-down with my community. The Last Waltz really was the last hoorah for The Band and I guess how we’re looking at it is that this is our First Waltz — the first hoorah of many to come.”

This is particularly true for Vacon’s band Dojo Workhorse, which will release its highly anticipated Weapons Grade Romantic on Load Music on October 6.

Steve Furze, project manager at Load Music, agrees that they’re treating the evening as a first of many attempts to create a higher profile for not only Load Music but their small roster of artists.

“We’re proud of our roster with the two Dudes records, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald and now the new Dojo Workhorse album,” says Furze. “It’s all about quality music and the quality artists who deliver great live performances.”

It was just that — a great live performance — that put Fitzgerald on Load Music’s radar.

“I actually connected with Load Music through my set at Virgin Fest,” says Fitzgerald. “A review of that show got the first talks going and then over the following eight months it just came to be.” Fitzgerald is happy about his relationship with Load Music, which connected Fitzgerald with guitarist, songwriter and producer Russell Broom.

“I find that the gentlemen at Load Music have been really wonderful,” says Fitzgerald. “They’re great facilitators. I really get bogged down in details, so for me, it’s nice to have someone lift that stuff off my plate. I like things to happen fast, but I’m learning how to butt out and let things happen.”

In a time when more and more bands are doing it themselves rather than relying on an industry model that is proving archaic, Load Music has been able to combine the power and connections of a big record label with the philosophy of a smaller label.

“I think we’re a hybrid of the two,” says Furze. “We’ve got the flexibility of an indie label, being true partners with our artists. We participate with all aspects of the artists’ career, be it record sales, merchandise and touring. But we also have major label distribution through EMI, so we have the reach into the major channels of retail. It’s not as important as it was to have that reach, but some retail chains won’t touch you unless you have national distribution and if you’re looking to apply for different showcases and funding like FACTOR [Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Records] it’s helpful to have that distribution. If there’s important things that we need to be hands-on with, we’ll be there, from selling merch at the show to lugging gear after the show.”

Vacon agrees that having that kind of support is a benefit, but the hands-off approach that Load takes is more important to him. “Load Music gives me free rein,” he says. “They trust my instinct. They said, ‘We really like what you do and we want to be a part of it.’ I think the biggest part of it is that they help out with cash. I mean, regardless, I would have recorded the same songs for all the albums I did, but I wouldn’t have been able to spend as much time in the studio. They afforded me a little more freedom and a little more time to do the music I want to do.”