While avalanches have been fairly common in the Rocky Mountains this year, a skavalanche notice has been issued specifically for Banff.
While avalanches have been fairly common in the Rocky Mountains this year, a skavalanche notice has been issued specifically for Banff.
According to the special notice, a skavalanche is a certainty for March 31 and April 1, particularly at the relatively low elevation of the Elk and Oarsman on Banff Avenue.
Those are the days when Nanaimo, B.C. ska six-piece Dope Soda rolls into town.
Dope Soda is Dave St. Jean (trombone, vocals), Matt Carter (baritone sax, keys, vocals), Phil Hamelin (trumpet), Andrew Fraser (bass), Mike Clement (guitar) and Jesse McNeill (drums).
The band, made up of grads and non-grads of the Vancouver Island University jazz department, features a funky rhythm section, rippin' three-piece horn section and keys and offers up a ska/reggae/jazz blend stable and unstable tunes.
“We're kind of all over the place, genre-wise,” said St. Jean, who's added his trombone when Victoria's Current Swell played Canmore's Communitea Café. “Every show can have a different flavour. We're mostly ska with reggae light, then on solos we might drop into more of a rock sound or fast ska.
“We've got a strong rhythm section and the musicianship is really good.”
Dope Soda was formed in 2011, mostly from the remains of the ska/punk Kiltlifters, which featured both St. Jean and Carter. Most of the band members also make up Vancouver R&B band Lovecoast, among other side projects.
In the middle of its latest Bottle Drive tour, the band will play from its 2014 Carbonation album, along with experimenting on audiences with music that will likely be recorded next year. Carbonation followed 6 Pack EP (2013) and The Malcolm Reynolds Project.
Carbonation is a beer-in-cheek look at video games, hallucinations, bar brawls, unsettled relationships and the trials and tribulations of wearing an eye patch.
The new work will be funded with money the band received from Sonic Bids.
“In the meantime,” said St. Jean, “we'll release a couple of singles and work on a new album until fall. Next year, after a new album, we'll look at a Canada-wide tour.”
Although in existence since 2011, “we went through various rhythm session guys until we solidified the lineup to this one in 2013. Before this, me and Matt hired friends to learn the songs and play; we needed session guys to get off the ground.
“We'd both been with the Kiltlifters since 1999 and that band kind of melded into this project. Basically, we stepped into Dope Soda where Kiltlifters left off.
“We're all from Nanaimo, except Phil, who's been living in Prince George and joining us for shows, but he's moving back here and he's stoked that he's on this tour with us.”
When it comes to creating the band's original songs, St. Jean and Carter pen most of the lyrics and in the past, did most of the arranging as well.
That's changed, though, since the band took on a more permanent status.
“To wright most of our new songs, we went to a cabin at Youbou (near Cowichan Lake on Vancouver Island). It's a small lake and it's a place that looks like if it was in a horror movie, we'd all be dead by now. We were there for three days, hanging out, with a couple of kegs of beer, writing songs and jamming in the living room.
“We didn't rush anything, it was relaxed and I think it's one of the best things we ever did. It kind of solidified everything and brought the band together.
“Everybody had input and all the guys are excited about playing what we put together. It makes a huge difference on stage.”
Having solidified things may slightly take away from the usual Dope Soda way of doing things, though – which kind of relied on Carter winging his vocals.
“Matt usually never writes his lyrics until we have to record something,” said St. Jean. “He kind of freestyles, because he never finishes his lyrics. That's why every show is different – if someone paid attention, they'd realize they're not the same lyrics when Matt sings.
“Usually, something from a conversation we had on the way to the show that night ends up in a song.”
Dope Soda has been staying close to home, for the most part, as St. Jean and Carter work at a cannery owned by the St. Jeans while other band members have day jobs as well, or teach, or work in constructions, or …
“We also do one-offs to Williams Lake, say, or Sun Peaks, they've been big supporters of ours. This tour is just 10 stops to Calgary and back and in Banff for April Fool's Day.”
