Fernie again:

Marcus and I drove from Nelson to Fernie one last time for a gig at Eschwig's Pub in the Northern Hotel. As usual, the drive back was very easy on the eyes. The Kootenays have got to be one of the best parts of BC. This was to be the last gig before heading home, so we decided to take off after the show and drive all night to get home for Monday afternoon.

The Gig:

Eschwig's Pub had just opened a few days before we got there and it is a great looking and sounding room. The show was ARCTIC opening for Danny Michel, who was also on a solo tour. Dale the sound man (guru) got both Danny and Marcus set up. It took a little longer than usual but for good reason - clearly Dale is picky about how a room should sound.

Marcus went on around 9:45 and had his best set of the tour, the sound was fantastic and his voice came through so clear. Despite the shorter set this one will stand out for me. The crowd was dead quiet during his songs but always gave a loud applause after each song. I think this was the best merchandise night as well. After Marcus's set Danny Michel came on and played a great gig too! To all aspiring musicians out there, you should check him out so you can learn the proper way to banter between songs. He puts on a great show, thanks to Danny for getting Arctic on the bill. Also a big thanks to Justin and Dale at Eschwig's.

The Road Home:

We left Fernie about 1:00 am and drove all the way to Vancouver in one shot, only stopping for gas and some breakfast in Osoyoos. One scary thing about driving at night out in that area is the overwhelming number of deer on or near the highway - but no accidents for us on this trip.

Well folks, the tour is done and we are home now. Lugging around an 85 lb pedal board might not sound like the best way to spend a vacation but it was a lot of fun and it was very interesting to see someone create music every night and to watch Marcus follow his heart and play for you and me. Since you are already on the site check the calendar for the next gig! Now I think I will go listen to some Motorhead - specifically "We are the Road Crew"!

Ian

The Road:

We left Fernie in the late morning to go to Nelson one day early, just to hang out. Once again the drive/ferry ride was absolutely beautiful. The ferry cuts across the top of Kootany Lake and is the best sightseeing bargain in the province (free!). One thing I like about Nelson is the fact that, barring chain restaurants, it is hard to have a bad meal here. We ate at three different restaurants (The Outer Clove, DJ's and Mazatlan) and each meal was very good.

"Other activities":

Before we went on the road, Marcus and I discussed the possibility of getting "road" tattoos. Well, only one of us did and that would be me. I stopped by Cats Tats to see if they could fit me in and luckily for me they had a cancellation that morning. As soon as I walked in, I got a good vibe about the place. It was open and airy feeling with lots of natural light. The artist/owner Ojas Cats is very easy to talk to and very good at her job, the bonus for me was that she liked to talk while working (keeps me from feeling too much pain) and had a lot of knowledge of Nelson. A good place to go if you want "ink".

The gig:

We arrived for sound check around 8 pm and by about 9 Marcus and the headlining act The Tuques were dialed in. The Royal is a nice place, great layout and a good sounding room plus lots of local brews on tap. Just before The Tuques got their sound check Marcus and I looked around the bar and noticed it was dead, we saw maybe 8 people - but by the time Marcus hit the stage 30 minutes later, the place was almost at capacity. Two songs in and the doorman did a head count!

The sound man had really done a great job because Marcus was on! The vocals were the best yet and the guitar was nice and rich sounding. Since Marcus was opening the set was a little shorter than some of the other shows, but it was one of the best so far. It was quite the contrast in style from The Tuques who I would describe as rock/bluegrass. During the last song Marcus had most of the room transfixed on him, it was a good crowd.

Well folks, Nelson is a nice town and it would be nice to stay another day but we are headed back to Fernie for one last show.
Arctic will be opening for Danny Michel at Eschwig's at the Northern Hotel. See you there!

Ian

Fernie day 2

The Day:

Since we had a show to do here we just looked around the town, I gotta say Fernie is a beautiful little town. The views are nothing short of stunning and the town itself has a downtown with real character. Too bad I was hung over. Never try to keep pace with someone from Norway!

The Gig:

We set up in the common room which was part kitchen, part dining room and billiard hall all in one. The show started around 9:15 and was to be one shortened set. Almost everybody in the hostel showed up at one point, we had no more chairs! During the first song all was well until one of the pool players had a little fall right on the side of the pedalboard, I think he got the worst of it. As he was lying there (with a piece of pool table in hand) Marcus and the crowd erupted into fits of laughter, needless to say the song never did finish. Folks - when lining up a shot on the pool table, always check the corner pieces to see if they are secure!

The rest of the show went off without a hitch and the impromptu PA that Marcus set up sounded pretty damn good. As he was winding down the set I overheard a guest say to his friend "wow this guy is pretty fuckin good", then repeated this to a different friend two minutes later. It looked as if everybody really appreciated the fact that Arctic put on a free show just for them. Every single person made a point of saying thanks and some sort of compliment as they left.

Looks like we are off to Nelson now, talk to you soon.

Ian

The Road:

The drive from Calgary to Fernie was nice and sunny for most of the way and very scenic in its own way. We went straight down Hwy 2 through farm country, passing such metropolises as Nanton, where I had a great burger in a small hotel cafe. Other towns of note were Fort MacLeod and Pincher Creek. We rolled into Fernie about 6:30 and went right to the bar where Marcus was playing.

The gig:

The Brickhouse started life as a bank but has recently been converted to a pub. The vault is partially intact and makes up about half of the men's room. The show started about 9:30 and was to be a two set night.
The first set was about 50 mins. and like Calgary had some changes and improv solos tossed in. The crowd was a little shy at first, they seemed afraid to clap but by the end of the set they became more extroverted.

The second set started at about 11:00 but was only about 30mins. This was the best set in my opinion since there was a guitar change mid song. Marcus went from acoustic to electric and really started to fool around with the songs, lots of slide guitar and some very cool delay effect (with my loaned pedal). I may never play live but at least my delay pedal has had a chance to rock the house. If you happen to be in Fernie, check out the Brickhouse - they've got some good beers on tap and it is a cool little room.

The Aftermath:

Once we had packed the gear up we treated ourselves to a beer and had a chat with the bartender and one of the locals. 45 mins later we headed back to the hostel where we were staying. As we walked in the front door we were greeted by the owner who invited us to have a drink with him and some friends. We chatted and played some pool and drank and drank. A good time was had by all, I guess this is typical of an after party.....booze, pool, filthy language, some nudity. As I am typing this I'm hung over so I am going to lay down.

UPDATE:

Arctic will perform a free show at the SameSun Backpackers Lodge tonight, Sept. 21 at 9:00 pm. Be sure to check it out.

http://www.samesun.com/destinations/fernie/calendar/

See you later.

More Calgary:

No travelling today, just exploring the town. Maybe it's just me but this city seems really spread out.

The gig:

This was a good news/bad news gig. The bad news was that due to the unexpected rescheduling of the date from the 18th to the 19th many of our friends and fans couldn't make it, but the good news is that the crowd was the most vocal so far. The venue is called Karma and it had the smallest stage that we have encountered so far. With all the gear on stage it would have been hard to fit the rest of the band up there. Luckily this is a solo tour.

Since I am the only fan that has been to all the shows I noticed that this particular gig had more changes in it, more experiments. A little slide, a longer solo and some different intros all added up to a very cool set.

Marcus and I would like to thank the good folks at Karma for being able to reschedule the gig.

The Road:

The drive from Enderby to Calgary takes us through the Rockies and I had not done this drive since I was very young. I had forgotten how beautiful this part of the country is. If Marcus ever does another tour out this way I will try to get time off to go just for that drive alone!

The Gig:

Cancelled! the venue had to close that night for reasons unknown.

Marcus and I will explore Calgary and all it has to offer.

Until next time.

[note from Vancouver: one of Karma's staff had a medical emergency and there wasn't enough staff to cover the event. they were very sorry. we hope everybody's okay now. THE SHOW HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR TONIGHT, September 19!]

The road:

The drive from Kelowna to Enderby is about 90 minutes, so we had a leisurely drive up. We stopped for lunch at a little orchard cafe and filled up on the Sunday buffet. Today I was more careful with drinking water in the van so no mishaps.

The venue for tonight is called Lorenzo's, it is an old one room school house that has been converted to a restaurant. The "stage" is sunk into the floor so that the patrons will be gazing downwards to the performers. The coolness factor of the place is very high, especially since it is about 6 miles from town.

Our hosts Loren and Leo the dog were very accommodating. I spent part of the afternoon messing about. The building had been enlarged over the years, the floors in the new part are from an old bowling alley. In the back of the building Loren had rebuilt one lane to actually bowl on.

The pins had to reset by hand and if Leo the dog was not around you could roll a frame or two. After an hour of time wasting (taking pictures and wandering) I was given a water powered Nerf rocket launcher, needless to say I soaked myself!!

Time to dry up and get ready for the gig.

The Gig:

Marcus had invited Devon, the bass/guitarist from Heading South to play an acoustic set. He brought his "stomp box" with him which turned out to be just that, a wooden box with a carpet covering for foot stompin! percussion in a box. Just as the night before he was great plus he played a 12 string for a few songs and that always get my attention.

Marcus came on after Devon and again played a great set but unlike the night before in Kelowna he wasn't freezing his fingers off. The sound in the room was almost perfect, there were many angles in the ceiling to help out the speakers. For posterity we taped the show.

Well it's off to Calgary. Bye for now.

Day 1:

The Road.

Hi everyone my name is Ian, I am a friend of Marcus's and his roadie, body guard? and merchandise seller all in one for this tour. This is my story of the journey.

For this tour we made a group decision to rent a mini-van so all of the gear would fit without any trouble, what we got was a van with ugly sea foam green paint job that would make the toughest bridesmaid cringe, but the gear fit and it drove fine so let's hit the road.

The drive to the first gig which was in Kelowna was routine save for a little accident I had while driving......it seems that eating a whole bag (small size) of Miss Vicky's Salt and Vinegar chips triggers a gag reflex in me and just as I was about to swallow a mouth full of water said reflex kicked in!

Water! all over the dash, steering wheel and of course me! Luckily we were close to our final destination so my discomfort was short. Because of his week M slept through my gaffe.

The Gig:

The venue was a place called The Grateful Fed at 509 Bernard in downtown Kelowna, this is a very cool little place. The contact person there is Karim and he was so easy to deal with, very pro live music. This was the best load-in I have had since I started helping out Marcus at some live shows. We parked the van on the street and walked about 15 feet to the outdoor "stage" which was really the patio.

The opening (and closing) band was "Heading South" and they supplied the P.A. for the night, which turned out to be a great system for a small outdoor venue. Once Heading South took the stage there seemed to be a temperature drop, we hit single digits but were dressed for summer....shit!

Heading South played first and rocked the joint, check out these guys if you can, they're great guys and they kick pretty good. You won't be disappointed.

Marcus came on around 10:30 and played for about 45 minutes. By the end of his set I could tell the cold was getting to his hands but despite the temperature his performance was killer! The sound mix was bang-on and despite the small crowd he had many pairs of eyes on him. One cool thing about the gig was the fact that the sound travelled well and people just driving by stopped to check out the show.

One sad note, this could be the last live show The Grateful Fed has since city council wants to pass some fucked up by-law to ban live outdoor patio music.... rise up people, demand more live music!!!

Well it's off to Enderby, until next time kids.

Ian