19 - Fridays, January 29, 1984 - North Shore News

SPIRIT

OME

~~ he

. Shore band
takes folk

THE LYRICS are politically tinged, the music innovative,
the playing sharp. The group is Spirit of the West — folk
music on the edge, folk music with power, passion and

energy.

With a gritty mix of traditional
tunes and today’s topics, the band
of John Mann, Geoffrey Kelly and
Hugh McMillan is ready to smash
preconceived notions and seize the
music industry by the throat.

I think there’s room for a band
like ourselves — changes arc hap-

mn SPOtlight

pening,’’ says Mann, a 25-year-old
North Shore native. ‘‘(But) it gets
difficult when you turn on the
radio and there are bands making
money doing what everybody else
is doing."’

Doing things that others are not
is what Spirit of the West does
best. Taking on thorny topics and
weaving in the distinctive sounds
of bohdran, mandolin and
bouzouki, the three have tackled -
traditional folk music and come
out winners. .

With a growing brigade of fans,
a third album on its way and
cross-Canada concerts coming up,
the three may soon come face-to-
face with big-time success.

Topics such as controversial Ex-
po 86 evictions and lighthouse
automation are fodder for the
group’s spirited songs; notions that
they are crusading are brushed
aside. ; :

““What we’re doing is just writ-
ing about what we care about,”’
says Mann, the energetic lead vo-
calist. ‘‘We just bring out what’s

. important to us.°”. -.

Thriving on risks is how bassist
McMillan, 29, labels the group,
which as a ground-breaker :
musically is fighting a mainstream
current that often sweeps in-

* novative bands out to sea.

“Sometimes you get awestruck
by what you’ve undertaken,’’ puts
in McMillan. ‘There is a chilling
feeling at times.” :

Spirit of the West has changed,
but stuck to its roots. Starting out
with little musical training meant
knowing no rules; knowing no

rules meant nothing was sacred —
hence, experimentation. Results
were startlingly new.

“Our ideas probably aren’t as
(musically) radical now," says
31-year-old percussionist Kelly,

also a North Shore native. ““We'vd PAG i

got more of a handle on it and

we're more in control of our ex-
perimenting, but we're not going
to do AM hits cither.""

Their newest effort, a self-
produced LP tentatively titled
Labour Day and duc out this spr-
ing, follows the Paul Hyde-
produced Tripping up the Stairs.
With more vocal work, Labour
Day promises to be a complex,
progressive compilation. :

With the band’s third album be-
ing shopped around to major
labels, a first video in the works
and an expanded lineup of tours
set for the coming months, Spirit
of the West and the music industry
may just be starting to get along.

“It'd be great if the mainstream

- came to us,”’ is Mann’s wry obser-
vation on burgeoning future suc-

cess. ‘‘We have no problems with

‘making money.’’.-

Now Showing
an Irish Comedy

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7 aphet
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Spirit of the West at the “~~

Vancouver Folk Music Festival ...
McMillan, Mann and Kelly put on one

of the festival’s most popular performances.

NEWS photo Nell Lucente

directed by CATHERINE CAINES
featuring ANTONY HOLLAND §£
JAN. 27 - FEB. 13
reservations/information

986-1351

Coming up :
6 “Absent Friends” - Ayckbourn
“The Three Sisters” - Chekov

Courtesy of:
CONSDALE QUAY HOTEL”
VAS IAN FLORIS

* First 3 lines