This is the sixth in a multi-part series of the various jam and open mic nights held at pubs and bars around the region.
Monday nights, the place to play is Banff’s Pump & Tap Tavern.
Located in the basement of the mall at 215 Banff Ave., the popular locals’ bar has an open mic jam night which gets going at about 10 p.m.
Running the jam is Banffite David McGlade, whom the Outlook spoke with at the beginning of the Feb. 4 evening.
“I’ve been doing it almost two years, down here every Monday, it’s been pretty fun,” he said. “My friend Kyle was running it at the time, and me and a friend Andrew, we came in and played every Monday, and then we took it over after Kyle left.
“And then Andrew started doing his own jam Friday nights at Bruno’s, and I kept doing it here.”
The participants, along with the general denizenship of the bar, tend to be local, though anyone can come out and jam, said McGlade.
“We’ve had the bar to capacity quite often. Some nights there will be long lists with everyone playing,” he said. “There are slow seasons too, it changes at times, but generally it’s really good, and we get 30 or 40 people down there waiting to jam.
“There’s a lot of guys who work in kitchens and restaurants who get off around 11 and then come down and start jamming. If no one’s on the list, they get up right away.”
By 11 p.m. there’s usually a lineup of people waiting to play, he said.
“It’s so fun to see everyone doing their own thing and playing,” said McGlade. “Some people come every Monday, and sometimes new people come in and blow everyone away.
“We get random travellers, people from all over the world that come and play. We drink and play music with them, having a good time. People just get up and jam with random people. You can get anything from stand up comedy acts to guitar solos and a whole bunch of jammers just jumping on stage.”
McGlade moved to the Valley eight years ago from Haliburton, Ont.
“My uncle and godfather bought me a Fender Stratocaster when I was seven,” he said. “I didn’t really learn how to play it until I was 14, and then I started playing every day. I came out here and got into acoustic in Banff.”
The first jammer at the Feb. 4 open mic was Shea Goyette, who’s recently moved to Banff.
“I was excited to find out about all these jam nights that go on here,” said Goyette. “I just moved out here end of October and I’ve been working at the ski hill – I hadn’t been going out at nights when it was busy – but now it’s cool to do.
“We saw the ad and decided to go down and check it out.”
Goyette has spent much of the last few years travelling and playing music and was glad to find this venue to play.
“Before coming here I was travelling for a couple years through South America and that was one of the things I did,” he said. “I’d play music in restaurants and bars and things, and made money to keep going with the trip.
“I got some experience that way, but that was a different kind of music – I didn’t know a lot of rock songs – and this is something new,” he added. “I’ve been playing music for 20 years and I can’t stop. It’s a cool jam, it’s a nice atmosphere.”
A newcomer to the world of jam nights is Shawn Alain, who also played that night.
“I heard about (the jam) in December, by accident – I happened to be walking by and I saw the jamming – so I ran home and grabbed my guitar,” he said. “It’s a great jam. In Banff I find a lot of the jam nights are funner than in places like Calgary.
“With these, anyone can just jump in with a shaker or a pat on the bongos or do whatever, it’s a lot more laid back. You can go up there with spoons if you wanted.”
The Pump & Tap provides guitars, hand drums and a few other instruments.
“We get lots of guitar-singer combos that come in,” said McGlade. “A girl will be singing and a guy will be playing guitar, that’s pretty cool. The girls blow everyone away, get lots of applause, that’s cool.”
As for what people play, it can be anything, he said.
“It’s all everything. It’s your own music, it’s covers and oldies, it’s whatever you want to play. I like to play all genres as well,” said McGlade. “I like to play my own, but if I’m playing for hours I’ll do lots of covers. I’ll cover Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and newer bands.”
