Calgary’s Mocking Shadows are extremely proud of their new tricked-out tour bus. But then again, who wouldn’t be?
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More in: Blues / Jazz
“My whole life I’ve dreamt about sitting at the wheel of a 40-foot-long Greyhound bus with my band in there and my gear in there, and this was the year that I finally got to do it!” Darren Bourne, keyboardist, singer and primary songwriter for Calgary’s Mocking Shadows, struggles for words to describe this defining moment in his musical career. “Heading into Toronto on a stretch of new highway, it’s the middle of the night and you’re at the wheel of this giant thing that you maybe need another 1,000 hours experience driving, it was just like cruising on a giant longboard or something.” Bourne, a veteran musician with thousands of hours experience driving both the Shadows and Calgary indie favourites Interstellar Root Cellar, had only gotten his airbrake ticket one week previous.
When Bourne joined the Shadows three years ago, their sound had already opened up to include more funk and soul influences in their blues and R&B base. Shortly thereafter, they released Check One, a teaser EP featuring seven catchy, funky Bourne compositions, and made plans to issue two more EPs in 2005. Unfortunately, just as this phase in the band’s 12-year journey crested, several key members left for other pursuits, leaving a core of Bourne, bassist- vocalist Jory Kinjo and saxophonist Gareth Hughes to take charge and navigate the next leg.
“We just had to basically look at it like it’s a company, and if the company folds, we’re all gonna have to go back to working normal jobs,” Bourne says. “That was much more horrifying than not knowing who the band was gonna be next weekend.” Staff were hired, contracts fulfilled and the Shadows, who perform roughly 200 gigs a year — largely private, corporate shows — fuelled up and gathered steam for the next phase.
“We’re using ‘official language’ now,” Bourne chuckles. “Whenever we appear in a corporate thing, we call it ‘The Mocking Shadows Rhythm and Blues Revue.’” Mocking Shadows, the original, non-cover-driven funk-soul collective, is now releasing The Sound, a full length package of self-penned, soulful, funky R&B that draws from a rich heritage while acknowledging modern hip hop and urban sounds.
“I hear the blues in everything,” Bourne says. “Even the songs that they brought me in to be a writer for, I can pick blues runs out of them. To me, what they were doing was blending classic R&B elements with more modern, funky, creative things.”
Although Bourne takes great care to separate the band and the Revue, the truth is, the Shadows’ originals are strong enough to hold their own in such auspicious company as the classics that are the band’s bread and butter.
“When I wasn’t in the band, when I was in Root Cellar, struggling, I remember being on a tour in some little mini van in Vancouver. I think I was making $500 a month and somehow surviving, and I remember hearing that the Mocking Shadows were on tour with B.B. King and I just thought, ‘Those fuckers!’ You know, I’ve been part of that sort of nay-sayer group against the band that I’m now a part of and trying to make as real as possible.” With the insight that comes with hindsight, Bourne acknowledges his good fortune to be able to make relevant, meaningful music and make a living doing so.
“If it’s the R&B Revue, even in the most pompous, private corporate setting, we’re still doing something that we can be proud of,” he says. “We’re keeping alive this old R&B and making it possible for a person to stand in a hall and hear a real horn section.”
