{"id":3355,"date":"2011-12-09T10:16:08","date_gmt":"2011-12-09T16:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=3355"},"modified":"2011-12-09T10:16:08","modified_gmt":"2011-12-09T16:16:08","slug":"the-magnificent-7s-making-friends-and-getting-mean-across-the-continent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2011\/12\/09\/the-magnificent-7s-making-friends-and-getting-mean-across-the-continent\/","title":{"rendered":"The Magnificent 7s – Making Friends and Getting Mean across the Continent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>illustration: Natalie Baird<\/strong>
\nBy Sheldon Birnie<\/strong><\/p>\n

Winnipeg\u2019s Magnificent 7s<\/a> are a hard traveling, hard rocking bluegrass band. Preparing to release their sophomore album for local imprint Transistor 66<\/a>, Matt Magura and Andy Bart recently sat down with Stylus<\/em> to chat about All Kinds of Mean <\/em>over a couple pitchers of Two Rivers.
\n\u201cIt was recorded live off the floor, just solid takes on the songs,\u201d explained Bart. \u201cDid those songs a lot of times over until they were right.\u201d
\n\u201cIt was pretty strange being so isolated in the studio and still playing live, altogether,\u201d Magura says of the two weeks spent in Private Ear Recording<\/a> this past June with Neil Cameron. \u201cIt had a very different feel. On our first record we stood up in the [Rudolph] Rocker and we had one mic on everybody\u2019s instrument, one mic on everybody\u2019s vocal. Standing looking at each other the whole time.\u201d
\nSince the release of Dirty Roads<\/em>, in 2008, the Mag 7s are down two members.
\n\u201cChris [Bodnarchuk] went to the States for a while, and now he\u2019s living in Windsor,\u201d explains Magura. \u201cIngrid [Gatin] decided to go on her own pretty much after we played our first CD release party, and of course she\u2019s doing well, making lots of music and keeping herself busy. Other than that it was the five of us, the dynamic only changed because now there\u2019s two less people.
\n\u201cI\u2019d like to think we\u2019ve come a long way since recording that,\u201d Magura continues. \u201cWe didn\u2019t even really start touring until after that came out. We used to play like 50 shows a year in Winnipeg. Sometimes we\u2019d play like four shows in a weekend, we just played anywhere and everywhere. Since we put that first album out, we\u2019ve been touring a whole bunch. Last year between April and April we played about 100 shows outside of Winnipeg, and obviously drastically reduced the number of shows we\u2019ve played in Winnipeg.\u201d
\nBeing on the road so long certainly has its drawbacks, but that\u2019s the nature of the beast.
\n\u201cI think that\u2019s where a lot of the songs came up, was on the road,\u201d Bart admits. \u201cBeing on the road, whatever\u2019s happening, the inspiration sort of comes from that\u2026 being on the road, homesick, missing dirty old Winnipeg is a lot of the songs, maybe not depressing, but hard sounding. \u2018All kinds of mean.\u2019\u201d
\n\u201cSometimes band members complain about all the hours in the van,\u201d says Magura. \u201cBut myself, I find it totally satisfying staring at the scenery going by, because I\u2019ve never seen it before. Even if you don\u2019t get to stop. It\u2019s kind of neat to see the changing topography. But it is kind of disenchanting when you stop in a city you\u2019ve got half an hour to walk and get a coffee, you go down the street to sound check, you\u2019ve got a few minutes to prepare yourself for the show, you play the show, then you\u2019ve got to find somewhere to sleep. Then you have to wake up and take off.\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s always nice to make a connection,\u201d Bart adds. \u201cWhether it\u2019s people you\u2019re staying with, or people in the industry, musicians, bar owners, that\u2019s always great. Making friends, right? We\u2019ve done pretty well on making friends across the continent, so far.\u201d
\n\u201cWe were in St. Catherines recently, and we were playing this bar,\u201d says Magura, speaking to the diverse audience the 7s have been cultivating. \u201cThere were like 40 kids, like skiddy looking punk rockers, and everybody had a good time. A week later, we played to like 150 people in this beautiful old church that\u2019s been turned into an arts centre in Petoskey, Michigan, and like, the same thing. People seem to appreciate\u2026 sometimes it might just be the rocking energy, sometimes people really like the instrumentation, the musicianship.\u201d
\nWith the release of All Kinds of Mean<\/em>, the Mag 7s are showing no signs of slowing down their tour schedule. However, the group is looking to focus more on festivals in 2012 than previously.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s all fine to be an entertainer, but we definitely recognize the value of attending these music conferences and stuff like that,\u201d says Magura. \u201cYou\u2019re surrounded by your peers, by musicians as opposed to people who, whether or not they give a shit about your music, just want to get drunk and have a good time.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to forget these places where we\u2019ve played, the people we\u2019ve met,\u201d Bart stresses. \u201cWe\u2019re going to still do tours to keep up those connections and serious friends that we\u2019ve met.\u201d
\n\u201cWe work pretty hard, and sometimes we live pretty skinny,\u201d admits Magura. \u201cBut it gives you tools to conquer the impending battle that is life on the road. We look forward to playing some good shows in Winnipeg, too. Can\u2019t wait to fill some seats at the West End.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get your tickets to the Magnificent 7s release of <\/em>All Kinds of Mean today. The party goes down Thursday, December 15th at the West End Cultural Centre.<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

illustration: Natalie Baird By Sheldon Birnie Winnipeg\u2019s Magnificent 7s are a hard traveling, hard rocking bluegrass band. Preparing to release their sophomore album for local imprint Transistor 66, Matt Magura and Andy Bart recently sat down with Stylus to chat about All Kinds of Mean over a couple pitchers of Two Rivers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[563,582,1033],"class_list":["post-3355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-local","tag-magnificent-7s","tag-transistor-66"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}