Flux, it’s not just for welders…
When you’re a band that’s been around for close to a decade, keeping members together to keep gigging and playing the music you love, the lineup can be in more or less a constant state of flux.
At least, that’s the case with Slowburn, a blues band that boasts members from Nelson, B.C., Edmonton and Smoky Lake, AB and which plays Canmore’s Drake Inn, March 25-26.
“We’re always in a state of ongoing flux,” said Slowburn founder and bass player Phil Wilson-Birks. “We live in different cities, we all have other projects on the go and we just started with a new drummer.”
With Wilson-Birks are Todd Colbourne (keys, vocals), Kyler Schogen (guitar, vocals) and Steve Nixon (drums).
“Every band goes through it and morphs and over the past seven years we’ve had about 15 different players in the band,” said Wilson-Birks, the sole original member.
“It’s the nature of the music business that pretty much everyone has to diversify if you want to keep going. But we’ve all played for a lot of years and even though we’re not in the same city, when we get together, it all comes together.
“Getting back together is like riding a bicycle, you don’t forget.”
Because Schogen and Colbourne are in Edmonton, a lot of Slowburn gigs are in that area. The band tours Alberta and B.C. regularly, hits the summer festival circuit, and even busks like crazy through Edmonton’s crazy Fringe Festival.
“Everybody’s extremely busy in between,” said Wilson-Birks. “I also play bass in Kyler’s band and when Slowburn plays we do Slowburn originals, some of Kyler’s originals and some covers.
“And we’re always working on our own original material and working toward a new CD.” Past efforts include 2007’s Slowburn and ‘09’s All About The Journey.
Songwriting is a collaborative effort for Slowburn. Songs have been described as blues rock and blues roots, but Wilson-Birks said the blues is at the heart of the music.
“Everybody in the band has a different perspective,” he said. “I’m about the blues, for example, and Kyler’s thing is rock from the ‘80s.
“When I started Slowburn (in Edmonton), I wanted to be in a blues band. But I moved to Nelson a year and a half ago and I’m finding it to be a real cultural centre in B.C.
“But just because I moved to Nelson, I didn’t want to let Slowburn go, so we’re keeping it going.”
As well, though, a guy’s got to keep working and in June, Wilson-Birks will be back at the Drake with another Nelson band, Sunshine Drive (blues/rock/reggae/funk).
Not only is the Drake a favourite of Wilson-Birks’, the last time he played the Canmore venue, he penned a song about it – “909 Railway Avenue”.
Slowburn covers cover classics like those by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, even Clapton’s Cream.
“We like our sets to play like an evening where any song you hear can be a surprise.”
