by Steph Kolodka
Living Hour is a Winnipeg-based indie band that has been around for almost a decade, and with the group having been in various jam spaces over the years, it was a pleasure to see their current setup in a beautiful living room in the heart of Osborne, filled with natural sunlight. Living Hour consists of members Sam Sarty, Gilad Carroll, Adam Soloway, and Brett Ticzon. It was through his links in the music scene that Carroll found Sam Sarty, who became the singer for Living Hour. Other members of the band, Adam Soloway and Brett Ticzon, were long-time friends with Carroll and visit the space regularly to write songs and jam.
Pic 1 and 2 (jam space overview): Pictured is an overview of Living Hour’s jam space, set up in a rental house where Carroll and Sarty reside. Carroll mentioned that this setup is very convenient, as all they must do to practice and write songs is get out of bed and go into the living room—the downside is noise complaints from the neighbours. Living Hour gets around this by having sound boards set up in the space, which can be seen on the walls in the photograph. Between sound boards, rug hooking projects are hung up, a COVID pastime that Sarty thought as she put them up–“They’ll absorb sound!”
There were tons of interesting items, instruments, and gear around the space, and notably, a few prized possessions that Sarty and Carroll pointed out.
Pic 3 (Casio keyboard): The keyboard pictured, a Casio Tone 501, was acquired by Living Hour off Kijiji near the beginning of the band’s time together. This is a highly coveted piece by the entire band.
Pic 4 (Love Tester – Devo): While in LA on tour, Living Hour was invited to a famous recording studio by a friend in the music scene who saw their show. The studio is called “Mutato Muzika,” and while there, they encountered Mark Mothersbaugh from the iconic band Devo. They then traded a vinyl of their latest album for the “Kissing Love Tester” pictured. This whimsical item now lives in the jam space as a reminder of that fateful encounter.
Overall, as the band Living Hour has moved around in the past decade from different jam spaces, from a storage unit on Wall Street to the upstairs of a strip club on Garry, they are very happy in their current space. As Caroll states: “I hear Sam playing guitar sometimes, and I come down, and we write a song together.” And as the group hunkers down to record their fourth full-length album, it seems like they are in the best place they can possibly be.