CANMORE – Geoff Hilhorst has been in the music business for over 20 years.
As you would expect, his journey across the rock 'n' roll landscape has produced its fair share of joyful moments, bitter disappointments, and notable stories from the road.
After all the ups and downs, Hilhorst remains fascinated by the magic that is music.
“Throughout my musical existence, I’ve always asked the same question consistently,” Hilhorst said. “’Why is it that I know how to even play music?’ Nobody in my family is musical, they’ll be the first ones to tell you that. There’s no musician, there’s no artists really.”
Hilhorst’s father was an English teacher, who also got involved in the dramatic arts at the school he taught at.
“Other than that, it’s just been me. Why was I able to do that?”
At the age of nine, Hilhorst’s parents bought his sister a guitar, and he picked it up one day and quickly figured out how to play the beginning of Stairway to Heaven on it.
“Which abruptly ended my sister’s guitar career,” Hilhorst said with a sheepish laugh. “After that, she got upset and didn’t want to play the guitar anymore.”
Before long he moved on to keyboards, and his relationship with the keys allowed him to tap into his natural gift, even without fully understanding where that gift comes from. The three-time Juno nominee (with his band The Deep Dark Woods) is intuitive and inventive on piano and organ and is adept at virtually every form of key instrument.
Natural talent encourages people to pursue those talents, and to explore where it leads can bring about thought-provoking revelations.
“The love of music is always an interesting thing. It’s like a love of self almost, in that I know I have this ability,” Hilhorst said. “It’s something that I’m able to do intrinsically, something that flows through me.
“So, my love of music is actually me loving myself enough to not turn my back on the fact I was given this ability.”
A revelation can be a blessing and a curse. At one point in his career, Hilhorst was doing 100 to 120 shows a year with The Deep Dark Woods, and the road can be a grinding existence and a test of one’s commitment.
“I’ve played in 36 states and I’ve driven 49 hours straight to get to a show,” Hilhorst said.
“When you’re sitting in a vehicle at hour three of a 49-hour drive and you think to yourself, ‘I can’t be in this van for one more second,’ and then all of a sudden you’re in Austin from Saskatoon on the 49-hour drive.
“Something clicks, something gets you through that, but it’s all for music. You’re sitting in a van with five people, all for music. You’re just running yourself ragged playing 20 shows in 24 days and getting incredibly high millage numbers, but it’s all about the love of music and not being able to turn your back on what was given to you.”
Hilhorst takes a moment to reflect on the experience, and adds, “You get tested, so I guess that touches on paying dues in one’s career.”
The Deep Dark Woods no longer tours at such a frantic pace, but continues to play and record.
Hilhorst also sits in on gigs with other bands, most notably Barney Bentall and the Cariboo Express, and the Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer. He also does studio session work with musicians from the Bow Valley who are working on new projects.
And lately he is inspired by his son Tatum, who is about the same age Hilhorst was when he picked up his first guitar. They listen to bands like the Beatles and the Grateful Dead together, and Hilhorst shares some of the wisdom he’s accumulated.
“I try to draw the curtains open on the stage, as it were, for him to be able watch that show.”
His relationship with music has evolved over the years, but after two decades as a professional, Hilhorst still has a passion for it, and a responsibility to it.
“What was given to me, I have to give it back in some capacity. And that’s honestly the way I’ve looked at it. I’ve put myself through hellish scenarios in an effort to make sure I’m not taking something for granted in my life.”
That’s what the magic of music will do if you give it a chance, it’ll take you on the trip of a lifetime.
Geoff Hilhorst will be on stage with Barney Bentall and the Cariboo Express on Nov. 1 in Calgary, Nov. 2 in Turner Valley, and Nov. 7 in Lethbridge. Ticket information can be found at barneybentall.com. The Deep Dark Woods is in the process of recording its seventh album.
