The Strumbellas string me along A one-on-one with lead singer Simon Ward By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor i February of this year, the Toronto- based six-piece band the Strumbellas released their debut album, My Father and the Hunter. The group embarked on a tour to promote the album ear- lier this month, and now this Friday, November 23, they’ll be stopping in Vancouver over at the Electric Owl. In anticipa- tion for the upcoming show, I spoke with lead singer and proud daddy Simon Ward just after the tour began. Since this was a special case, I chose to start off basic, what with there being six different members of the band. As cool as Ward is, I wanted to know about the group. “Well they’re crazy, each and every one of them,” Ward states. “And we all got weird stuff going on, like I’m an ele- mentary school teacher, our bassist [Darryl James] worked for a golf course company, another is a Ph.D. student—it’s kind of all over the map. We all just got jobs where we could take off any time we needed to.” Something as hectic as a touring band can create a very tight knit relationship for a group, especially a seemingly as normal batch of folks as the Strumbellas. One of the perks of having such an eclectic band of pals is that they each bring something differ- ent to the table. I mean, sure, five of them play multiple instruments on the album, but ’m referring to something very specific: this is the only band I’ve ever heard of that created a video game as a means of promoting themselves! “Our keyboard- ist Dave [Ritter], his girlfriend makes video games for a living, so Dave decided he’d learn how to make one. He spent a good 100 hours learning how to decode, but he made it.” The game for those wondering is a delightful musical platformer, with graphics ranging some- where between 8- and 16-bit. Each character is a little cartoon version of the six in the Strumbellas, paired with their musical instrument as a weapon. Using recordings of their own voices for sound effects and with chiptune versions of every song on their very folksy album for each level, I can’t stress enough how awesome this game (and band) is. And as an added bonus, Ward gave players a little tidbit: “According to Dave, Jon [Hembrey, our guita- raist] is the best character, statistically speaking.” I stated that the album was “folksy,” because I do feel that is the best category for the band. But you'll 6G find from just about every other source that the band is considered country—something I disagree with. “T think most call it country because with this album especially, there is alot of G, C and D. It’s very under-toned like a lot of country music. But when people ask what we are, I just say, ‘T don’t know.’ We just say we're not jazz.” Ward seems to always be the optimist, so when I| asked him what the album was about, to say I was shocked by his answer is an understatement. “It’s kind of a concept album, and it’s dedicated to my dad—that’s him on the cover. He died when I was younger, so it’s mostly a tribute album to him, and it’s about how I’m scared of facing the things he faced in life. You know how everyone is worried about becom- ing their parents. It’s basically about me as ‘the Hunter,’ and how I’m scared to follow the same path my father went.” ..But when people ask what we are, | just say, 1 dont know. We just say were not jazz. But, again, Ward being the cool guy he is, is always the optimist. “Tt’s weird, it’s a super dark album; death and my dad, that’s the whole album. I’m just going to tell people to put it on at parties.” Don’t let the subject Strumbellas | Photo courtesy of Heather Pollock matter bum you out though. It’s very obvious from the first song, “The Sheriff,” that the group is having a great time. The music is immensely upbeat, and Ward’s beautiful vocals, regard- less of what he’s singing about, are bound to put a smile on your face. Once again, the Strumbellas will be playing the Electric Owl this Friday night with the Tom Fun Orchestra. Get in on the fun, have a few drinks, and be sure to enjoy this very cool band from Toronto. If you can’t make the show, check out the game here: http://www. thestrumbellas.ca/ game.