by Sheldon Birnie
Shred Kelly‘s unique brand of foot-stompin’, banjo driven roots boogie has been getting crowds up and off their feet for years now. On Monday, July 28th, the Fernie based group makes a stop-over in Winnipeg to play the Windsor. Stylus caught up with Sage McBride (vocals, guitar) on a short tour stop in Nova Scotia to talk about touring, getting stuck in Alberta’s floods in June, preparations for their new record, and their experience with the CBC Beetle.
Stylus: Where are you guys right now?
Sage McBride: We’re actually just outside of Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
Stylus: How has the tour been so far?
SM: Really good. We just played at a music festival called Evolve. It was a three day music festival in Antigonish, and so we’re just about to make our way back across the country now.
Stylus: You folks had some trouble on tour with the Alberta floods in June. Can you tell us what happened?
SM: Yeah, we had a week of shows lined up in Alberta. We ended up flying in the day that the floods started happening. A few of the guys had flown back a day or so earlier, but we stayed in Toronto. We were all supposed to meet in Canmore. So we had one member in Golden, two of us were in Calgary, and two were in Fernie. All the roads in every direction were shutting down. A lot of the shows got cancelled, and we were unable to make it to our Revelstoke show, just because of the road condition. The banjo player and I had to play a show in Olds just by ourselves, because the others couldn’t make it. Two of the guys got into a fender bender coming up through Calgary. So it was just one thing after another going wrong. On the Sunday, we finally got our drummer back. He had to hitchhike all the way around, up from Golden, BC. It was like a seven hour journey he had to make hitchhiking. When we all met up in Calgary, we were finally able to do a few shows together. It was a bit of a crazy time, for sure. News was not getting better. Finally on Sunday it all started coming back together.
Stylus: We were in Calgary for Sled Island at the time. It was crazy!
SM: It was nuts. My brothers live there, up high in the northeast corner. So we were there the whole time, hearing about what was going on. We thought, “Maybe we can do something,” so we tried to find some volunteering we could do. But on the first day they [Calgar] put out a message that said, “We appreciate your help and concern, but there’s nothing you can do at this time.” It was only after a few days, once they’d assessed the damages that they opened it up for volunteers to help. It was kind of wild.
Stylus: You folks seem to be able to play to not just a folk audience, but you seem to have a much wider appeal. Why do you think that is?
SM: I guess just because our music is cross generational. There’s definitely a rock element to our music, and people can dance to it. So it goes over quite well where people might not be “partying.” With the folk element, too, people can enjoy it just sort of sitting outside in the afternoon. We play a lot to kids, and they always seem to enjoy it. I think it’s just really nice to create music that can cross so many generations. We know we’ll be able to create it for a long time. It appeals to a larger market than just our age group.
Stylus: There’ a real evolution at work between your first record [Goodbye July] and 2012’s In the Hills. Are you guys working on a new record yet, or how is that working out with new material?
SM: We’ve recorded two songs in May, so those ones will probably go towards the next album. We’ve lots of songs that we’re writing, and we’ll be taking some time off in the fall to keep writing, and to get the songs we’ve been writing polished. Get them album ready. We’re hoping to record sometime early next year. The last part of this year will be dedicated to getting the songs ready. It’s an ongoing process, but a lot of fun.
Stylus: You folks took part in that CBC Beetle Roadtrip there with Grant Lawrence. How was that?
SM: It was awesome. Totally amazing. Grant Lawrence came to Fernie as part of his trip. We went river rafting and played him a song as we went down the river. We had two guides, and it wasn’t like crazy rapids. But we were concerned about how wet we might get. But the people on the rafts were like, “No, you can bring those instruments on here no problem!” We were like, “Really? Shouldn’t we just use some crappy instruments in case they get wet?” But it was fine. Grant did take a dip at the very end. Tim ended up knocking him in with his banjo, and he ended up swimming down the river.
And as we were going across [Canada, on tour], my mom noticed that Grant had been in Winnipeg the night before when we were coming through. My family’s from Minaki, Ontario, so my mom was like “Invite Grant and the crew over for dinner at our house.” They run a business Minaki Yurt Adventures, and she was like “Just extend him the offer!” So we did, and he ended up coming out with us. We had dinner, and a campfire, and sang songs until two in the morning. Grant’s a really great guy. He’s helped us a lot with publicity over the years, and he’s just a really interesting guy to talk to and spend time with.
Stylus: What can we expect from you guys here in Winnipeg when you play here?
SM: Definitely a high energy show, lots of dancing. We haven’t played in Winnipeg since last summer, so we’ve got a couple new songs. It should be a rocking time.
Don’t miss Shred Kelly as they rip it up at the Windsor on Monday, July 29, with guests Loon Choir. Doors at 8:00pm, show at 9:00pm. $10 gets you in.