If Fredericton band BlueCarpit had a middle name, it would be fun.
Front-man Ryan Gallen said the band doesn’t like to take themselves seriously. They love to make fun of themselves in their lyrics and music.
“I don’t really like music that’s too serious,” said Gallen. “If an artist as a group can’t even, you know, take like a stab at themselves they usually end up being an artist I don’t care too much about.”
First formed during their high school days in Bathurst, BlueCarpit broke up when the members graduated and moved away. Gallen, along with Adam Hodnett, Rick Couture and Ryan Robichaud, decided to give the band a second chance after three of the members graduated from St. Thomas University.
Gallen said they got back together in early November of last year before hitting the stage at Fredericton’s Capital Complex in mid-December. Gallen also plays guitar and sings in local group Hungry Hearts, but it had been a while since he’d been the front-man of a band.
“There was definitely some nervousness,” he said about their first show back. “There wasn’t too much movement on stage until towards the end of the set, but it was fun.”
Once they had finished the set and gotten their feet wet, Gallen said they all knew they were going to play more shows. They decided to dive into the sea that is the Fredericton music scene, which Gallen says may be missing a collective aspect to it.
“A lot of musicians don’t know about other musicians and I feel like the artists and the fans are a little more cliquey than other cities,” said Gallen. “Maybe it’s just a lack of communication on the artist’s part, you know, maybe we’re just the ones that are lazy.”
Even though Gallen admits they’re a band primarily for the fun of it, they’ve also been putting in some hard work. BlueCarpit has been re-working the old songs they used to play together in high school seven years ago, and every time they work on another song, Gallen said the quality keeps improving.
But they aren’t just re-hashing old songs – they’re working on some new ones as well.
“I come up with an idea that would be considered somewhat generic, a template if you will, and then it’s when I take it to the band that it becomes something that would be BlueCarpit,” Gallen said. “I’ve always really liked my rock music simple. We’d all be [some kind of] rock purists…the sound would be like Queens of the Stone Age for kittens. We’re all kitten-friendly here at BlueCarpit.”
The band is now recording their first EP, expected to be released in April or May of this year, and they’re headlining at the Cellar this Friday. Gallen said they’ll make a free download of their EP available, but there will also be the option of paying for the album in exchange for better quality files.
“We’re going to set a goal and choose a charity and once we raise so much money from the sales, we’re going to donate all that money to a certain charity,” he said.
After that they’ll stop charging for the album, move on to the next project and set a bigger goal.
“The therapeutic aspects of playing music is kind of the return that we’re looking for,” said Gallen, who remained adamant they’re not playing music for the money or the fame – but for the fun of it.
Plus, he said, “You can’t really go wrong with the free beers.”
Catch BlueCarpit at the Cellar this Friday, Feb. 10.
