The five guys who make up the band Mindil Beach Markets now live in Victoria and tour all over. But they still exude a Sunshine Coast vibe.
The same energy once fuelled three of them to organize the fundraising music project, Waking Life, out of Chatelech Secondary School while they were still students. Last fall, Roddy Campbell, Pat Codere, Matt Posnikoff, Daniel Kingsbury and Cam Ainslie released their debut album, also entitled Mindil Beach Markets (named after a marketplace in Australia), and it's a good one.
They jump through a variety of musical styles from reggae to funk to rock - all original material. The CD opens with Working Man Blues, a get down blues number, while the title song, Mindil Beach, is kind of sad. "I just wanna be where you are," sings vocalist Codere. On another tune, No Time, Codere's gravelly voice grabs all the attention.
One of the better rock songs I've heard recently is the last on the 10-tune CD, Machines. When you're saying something in your lyrics, it's good to be able to hear them, and these lyrics don't miss. In musing on the age of machines, the band thinks, "We forget some times what we did as human beings." There's some thought going on here, especially in their use of a jellyfish as a logo.
"The jellyfish represents the direction the oceans are headed if we don't clean up our act," Campbell said. "They also have many sides to them; they can be dark and menacing or extraordinarily vibrant and beautiful. This is kind of the way our music is as well."
The only song that jars slightly is Keep Kickin'. It's a great song, but it's rapped out in a kind of New York street language that seems strange coming from white boys.
The band has two music videos currently in pre-production using the tunes No Time and Machines.
"We are super stoked on the concepts for both videos and have great teams assembled to create them," Kingsbury said.
The band will probably be back on the Coast to perform in May or June - no specific plans are set right now. They have applied for festival gigs and hope to head off to Haida Gwaii this summer for The Edge of the World Festival.
The CD is available at www.mindilbeachmarkets.com, from iTunes or from MELOmania in Roberts Creek.
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Katherine Penfold is new to the Coast, but is not new to a musical life. From an early age at home in Nova Scotia, she sung Celtic songs in the grand tradition of the area, enjoying the many stories behind the folk tunes. Her father strongly supported her musical career, and she went away to university in Brandon, Man., to study classical.
"It didn't really speak to me," she said. "I switched to jazz - there are stories in the music."
In Winnipeg she met pianist Ron Paley who encouraged her to gig with his Big Band where she sang old favourites, such as Hoagy Carmichael's The Nearness of You, a song that now appears on her second album, Katherine Penfold, Live at The Park.
"We did the classics, because he knew I loved them," she said. "It's important to me that they continue."
At age 24, Penfold is a youthful singer who likes the old stuff. This live album, her second recording, covers mostly recognizable standards and some lovely originals such as Don't Be a Fool. It's good listening. She also loves the blues, she sings rock and has worked with a funk band. When she writes her original material, it is usually pop.
"I sing every genre," she laughs.
She has a big voice; her delivery uses vocal dynamics reminiscent of black vocalists such as Aretha Franklin on a gentler day. In a recent house concert, her first on the Coast, she worked with Boyd Norman on bass and Dan Richter on guitar. She was thrilled with the ability of the local musicians who managed to make each song their own.
It makes her happy that she and her Australian fiancé have chosen the Coast for their home where they are close to the sea and close to those who appreciate music.
Live at The Park was recorded in Winnipeg and produced by Jordan Jackiew. She's back to Manitoba soon to work with him again on her third album, but she also hopes to perform on the Coast in the near future. The CD is available from her website www.katherinepenfold.ca or from iTunes.
