As many people are aware, especially in western Alberta, Jasper Ab. and Tunnel Mountain are classic Rocky Mountain locations.
As fewer people are aware, though, “Jasper Ab.” and “Tunnel Mountain” are also songs by Saskatoon folk rock band Young Benjamins, a four-piece that will roll into the Elk and Oarsman, tonight (Oct. 17). The Benjamins and fellow Saskatooner Smokekiller (aka John Antoniuk) will share the stage.
Fronted by Neusha Mofazzali (vocals, guitar), Young Benjamins includes Vaero Poulin (vocals, keys, violin), Kuba Szmigielski (drums, percussion), Brynn Krysa (bass) and Tyson Goodyear (drums).
Currently, the Benjamins are on the road for a short tour to Vancouver and back home, said Mofazzali, Thursday (Oct. 10) from somewhere near Revelstoke. They took part in the Breakout West festival in Calgary before heading into the mountains.
The band is on the road, packed in a Dodge Caravan, to support its 2012 full-length Less Argue, which followed an inaugural four-track EP in 2011.
“We try to tour as much as we can,” said Mofazzali, originally from London, England. “The band has been together for two years, but this is one of the first times we’ve been constantly on the road. We’ve had some gigs in Toronto and Pop Montreal and we played the Hillside Festival (Guelph).
“We’re doing this full-time now, but we’ve also got day jobs, too.”
Mofazzali does the bulk of the band’s songwriting, beginning with lyrics and some chords, then the band jams it out and tweaks. He studied music in England before moving with his family to Canada five years ago.
The Benjamins brandish contemporary folk songs with blistering flourishes and math-rock arrangements. The band has shared the stage with Wintersleep, The Wooden Sky, Rah Rah, Wilderness of Manitoba, Del Barber, Shotgun Jimmy, July Talk, Pokey LaFarge, The Beauties and Octoberman, among others. They performed at the 2012 Regina Folk Festival supporting Austra and Stars.
The Young Benjamins’ sounds ranges from haunting vocals and mournful violin in “Out There (In the Wild)” to guitar and drum-heavy ballad “Tunnel Mountain” to the harmonies-infused rocky “To Stay Here.”
The band’s three-song EP in 2011, “really got us going,” said Mofazzali. “It got us some notice. Then we got some airtime on CBC2 and some college radio stations.
“Now we’re on the road in our van. It’s crammed, but it’s amazing and I’m not going to complain about the small space. We’ve been playing small settings and large settings; it doesn’t matter to us, we just want to be out there playing.
“Banff is the last show on this tour and it should be a good time. I was there as a kid, but we haven’t played there before.”
Smokekiller is a singer-songwriter from Saskatoon whose songwriting has been compared to Lou Reed, Van Morrison, Ryan Adams, and Wilco.
In 2011, Smokekiller was awarded a 10k20 grant from Rawlco Radio and recorded an album of material produced by Leeroy Stagger. Always With You was released in September 2012 and a full North American tour followed.
