Condensed in a modest sized house sits the members of Sawmill Creek, a new band on the Fredericton music scene who will be playing at the Cellar Friday night.
The musicians are divided among STU, UNB and Mount Allison University in Sackville. Despite distance and academia stresses, these guys are making it work.
The Tweedsmuir house which most of them occupy is lousy with instruments. A stand hangs several guitars, a drum set sits cozy in a corner, harmonicas, shakers, a djembe and more lay scattered around the living room.
“Well, we just play music every day anyway, so we might as well start a band and just try to get gigs, but our band is still all about jamming with friends,” said Michelle Morrison, one of the five members in the band.
The friends decided they were a band six months ago. One groggy morning last summer, band member Patrick Gushue awoke to call from a small Sussex church hall. They wanted him play for a senior’s tea. He took Michelle for the ride and had as wild of time as one can in these situations.
“That’s where we came up with the name. Sawmill Creek is the cheapest and best wine you can get and the night before we had drank a bunch of it and had an epic jam session,” said Gushue.
Most of the band spent their summer together and wrangled jobs at the same place. Their days were spent working at Fundy Park and the nights were dead in quiet Alma. Instead of succumbing to boredom they jammed. They jammed like mad for hours until a neighbour came knocking and told them to quit the noise for good.
Instead of laying off, their music repression crafted an EP. The band slapped out the recorded creation in seven days. The songs are diverse with stomping, Gaelic chanting, smashing beer bottles, scat solos and a slew of other layered textures. Their lyrics encompass everything and nothing from drinking beer and smoking weed to environmental issues and questioning religion.
“The toughest question is ‘what genre are you?’ because we do a little bit of everything. Rock, folk, bluegrass, psychedelic … we’re always changing. Also, we don’t restrict anyone to just one instrument, there’s five of us and there’s five vocalists,” said Gushue.
“We’re not marketing a specific image we’re just playing music and if people like it then that’s great and if they don’t that’s cool too,” said Morrison.
Since the release of their EP, the band has been moseying around the province playing festivals, benefits, bars, wine and cheese parties and whatever else they come across. In a short time they’ve been all over, but Friday’s show at the Cellar will be their first performance in Fredericton.
“We’re really excited for the Cellar gig because it’s a chance for us to finally show Fredericton what we have to offer them which is kind of a blessing,” said bass player Corey Thomas.
“Also, if someone was really stoked about the music and they really wanted to join in, I wouldn’t be like ‘no you can’t’ or just come up and dance, we really don’t care. It’s all about playing music and having a good time,” said Morrison.
Sawmill Creek will be playing with Seth Anderson at the Cellar on Fri. Nov. 22 at 10:30 p.m. Cover is $5
