With Banff being home to a couple of former coal towns in Anthracite and Bankhead, what better place for the Coal Creek Boys to stop in and perform?
The Boys, named after a small coal mining town in B.C.’s Elk Valley that once suffered a mine disaster, play Banff’s Rose and Crown, Oct. 24-26. Coal Creek Boys are Johnpaul Smith (vocals, guitar) and Dino Scavo (multi instrumentalist), along with Dane Alexander on drums.
Having moved from coaltown Fernie, B.C. to coaltown Lethbridge, it’s only fitting that the Boys make semi regular pilgrimages to the Bow Valley, a historical coal mining area.
Even some of the band’s music, written mostly by Smith, a former coal miner from Fernie – is about coal mining.
“We haven’t done a weekend gig at the Rose and Crown,”said Smith, “so we’re looking forward to it. We always have a good time at Canmore’s Hotel, and I’m sure it’ll be the same.
“Right now, we’re tightening things up for next summer when we’ll hit the States and a bunch of festivals there. Most of the time, like when we’re in Banff, we’re weekend warriors. Tours mid-week are usually not good financially because those nights aren’t usually busy. It’s the weekends we aim for.”
The Boys, Smith and Scavo, have been performing together for about nine years, with drummers like Alexander sitting in when needed. The Coal Creek Boys grew up in Fernie and Elkford, with Smith having worked in coal mines at the age of 17. “Coal mining… and music and touring is what it’s all about,” he said. “We’re doing this full-time, but I’ve got a wife and two kids and so stay home as much as I can. Still, we play about 200 gigs a year.”
Coal Creek Boys have released a pair of double disk efforts, Hard At It In Old Town (2012, 18 tracks) and Rose Town (2013, 16 tracks). A limited release of Rose Town on vinyl sold out in less than 50 days, with 98 per cent going to the U.S., a growing market for the band. Since 2011, the band has toured incessantly through Canada and the U.S.
The band’s next effort is pretty much in the bag and is expected to be release in 2014.
The band’s genre is country music. “Real country music,” said Smith. “What we call country in Canada they call pop in the U.S., so I guess we’re alternative country. But we do mostly original songs of historically accurate material, with some covers thrown in. Coal Creek is a town that had a mine disaster in 1909; we have songs about coal mining, about the civil war, we do a lot of research.
“The music has to have a truth to it. I can’t sing about horses or cows, but coal mining? That’s in Canada, Virginia, Kentucky.
“Oddly enough, in 1909, on May 22, 128 were killed in a blast at Coal Creek, while in Coal Creek, Kentucky, 28 were killed in a disaster. We go to archives to research stories, we’ve got a song about a Bellevue Mine disaster that’s researched down to a tee.
“It’s got to stay true, you can’t throw in a crazy fictional past. It helps keep you focussed. Doing the research is time consuming, but fun. There’s a lot of history around coal mining. Lethbridge has a coal mining past and there’s a lot of history in Canmore, too.”
The band is steadily gaining popularity, on both commercial and non-commercial radio, with highlights on top 40 radio stations and radio airplay on more than half a dozen U.S. radio stations, bulking an impressive American following.
Songs like “Old No.7,” “GI Highway,” and “Snow” are doing well in North America and songs are tabbed out on more than a few different guitar tab websites. The Boys came in second at the Calgary Folk Festival song writing competition with “Snow.” They’ve proudly shared the stage with George Canyon, Hey Romeo, Library Voices, Julian Austin, and other musicians and artists.
“One thing about country,” said Smith, “is you can keep learning. It’s got gospel, country, blues, there’s ‘70s outlaw country… It touches on the old way of life and at 37, I was raised in old school ways in a small town where your neighbours would tell your parents what you did if you got into trouble.
“The good thing about country, too, is that in Alberta we’re right in the heart of it. We don’t have to move anywhere and Americans like it. We don’t usually have to leave Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan and we’re busy all year.”
