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| Arkells gear up for first headlining tour |
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 By: Sheena LyonnaisOctober 5, 2009 It’s been almost a year since Arkells released their critically acclaimed debut LP Jackson Square. They’ve since toured the country supporting bands like Waking Eyes, Moneen and Matt Mays. They were nominated for the Verge Artist of the Year Award and are currently up for Favourite New Artist and Favourite New Indie Release at the Edge 102.1 CASBY Awards. They’re now gearing up for their first headlining tour that will take them to the West Coast and back again. We caught up with guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Dan Griffin at the TIFF Canadian Music Café where Arkells and other Canadian acts performed to a panel of music supervisors in hopes of getting a song or two featured in a commercial, TV show or movie. Despite the fact Jackson Square is getting older, the band has no plans of recording anything new anytime soon.  “It’s still new to us, so we really want to give it a chance. It’s like when you have a firstborn, you spend the most time with it, and then you have a second kid and it’s just let’s get it over with. Not that I have any kids, but I imagine that’s what it would be like,” Griffin said. They currently only have Canadian distribution, but “want to get it out to America, maybe even South America, as well as the UK and as many places as we can before we get tired with it,” Griffin said. Arkells’ music emits a strong blue-collar vibe, combining elements of the 60s, Motown and classic rock’n’roll. Their first two singles, "Oh, the Boss Is Coming!" and “The Ballad of Hugo Chavez" explore the life of the working class, though this isn’t their main intention. The sound is simply a combination of their varying musical influences, their experiences with life and love and of being in a band from Steel Town. “Being in a band in Canada – it definitely is working class. What you do is similar to a traveling salesman: you’re going from show to show, it’s just when we go to work every morning its in a van with five other guys and we show up in a different city every day, get up there and set our gear up, set our merch up, play our show and hope everyone leaves feeling like they got their money’s worth. It’s really no different than any other job like that. We get to do what we love, so it’s the best,” Griffin said.  Newfoundland’s the Novaks will be supporting Arkells on the tour throughout November. While I haven’t seen the Novaks live before, I can say you’re a fool not to check out the Arkells when they roll through your town. This band plays with more passion and heart than the majority of bands I’ve seen. Their genuine aura of energy boils down to how happy they are to be where they are doing what they love.
“We were doing this a few years back and playing really small clubs to nobody and still loving it, but not knowing if it would amount to anything. We never imagined we’d be doing it this long even and it’s only been a couple of years. We’re really happy,” Griffin said. For more information on the Arkells and for a full list of tour dates, check out: www.arkells.ca. Related Articles
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