It’s not a riddle it’s a stepping stone

I first heard Half Moon Run’s 21 Gun Salute and the intensely dramatic beginning to that song with lead vocals by Devon Portielje on the CBC at a live show, just a couple of months ago. It was meditative even ambient – and I was entranced –instantly inspired – including other songs like Full Circle.

Although I had not heard of them before, I felt it was a new mission of mine to share the gift of music with my family (including my preschool age children on some certain tracks (Call me in the afternoon even by one by one [x2 ]is sung around the hosue like a Christmas Carol substituting some words in for the obvious) and all my friends and social network so they too could enjoy this gift. That being said there was something sacred in hearing them for the first time. It was so different yet modern but there was a comfort in it that seemed to be missing in most modern music, and not felt by me personally, since artists like Bob Dylan, and Ballads from Simon & Garfunkel, I was introduced to in my youth.

That same day after discovering and enjoying the first album on iTunes (Dark Eyes Released June 2013) My musical journey with HMR led me to discover the second album which coincidentally was released that same day!

Sun Leads Me, Released Oct 23, 2015

It was a groovier sound and a more uplifting album than the first. It assisted in my creativity and put me in a greater mindset, having just emerged from the writing depths, after 10 years and creating again myself personally.

In researching the journey of the band, from recording in the desert (Texas) to California (For some seaside inspiration, leading up to the Second Album, and living in a dome shaped Oceanside house fit just right for a inspirational surf all day and late night magic sessions ) To experimenting in Europe in what appears to be a bit of a Rave Scene – road testing songs like Trust - it all lines up triumphantly.

I was lucky enough to experience this live set of troubadours on Dec 7th, 2015 at Sugar Nightclub in Victoria BC to a sold out show where some fans paid 9 x the door price just to get in. After staying late and meeting the eclectic mix of supporters, including a High School French Teacher and his wife who also thought their sound was as transcendent and made the journey to support them from up Island (Where most of the band hails from in Comox), to the sprawl of young woman who clearly were there for the "act" to the Lead Vocalist Devon Portielje who you could say in my excitement of après show and with my slight nerves "When a sip of gin saved an hour of speech - Nerve " I didn’t quite get the interview I thought I would - instead Briefly – you could say I found speaking with Devon clearly exhaustive from his end.

This band tours and plays almost nightly I would have asked him who "stole his Sunny Day" – but I could tell he was wiped. I asked him if the band would emerge on the Island again soon (Returning to play Rifflandia in 2016 like in 2014 but he didn’t commit to that.)

I spoke to his interests and would he get a chance to Surf the Jordan River on his visit to the Island but he said they only had 8 hours in the city and then off to Vancouver for the next nights sold out show at the Imperial.

This Band works hard – you forget sometimes when you haven’t seen an emerging act for awhile ( My last show was UB40 in the summer at the Commodore in Vancouver ) that to really put yourself forward you have to put in the hours (years ) on Tour (They actually toured Dark Eyes for three years !)

Just the fact that the Lead from the opening act for that nights show (Nick
Vallee from Folly & The Hunter) was assisting behind the counter at the merchandise booth after a long night and travel… well that’s a team of working mans bands.

More on the Music, there is huge variety in sounds on the current album, Sun Leads me – with the gritty Narrow Margins - There is a hint of Flamingo music that quickly folds into a somewhat Hip Hop beat – the sound not found anywhere else on the album, speaks like a story its very cool and soulful. It wasn’t played in the show, as I had anticipated – it’s a story of sorts that sounds very introspective.

Highlighting the further talents of Connor Molander (Harmonica being my favorite) one can find a cover done of the modern, Chvrches –The Mother we Share on the BBC Radio 1 (01/2014) then found again in the finale to the current live show touring with the Cover to Bob Dylan’s , Shall be released – seeing it live is spectacular - it was clever and mirrored the original art but with a tang of HMR.

There are confessional tones and a little sadness on both albums – and stories of what appears to be glimpse into the world of addiction – Music is a challenging business for anyone who has had this in their lives – this band however appears to live clean and is into a very healthy lifestyle from surfing to organic gardening mentioned to me by a family friend at the show about Issac’s Symonds (Mandolin extraordinaire and haunting vocalist) wishes for at organic landscaping book for Christmas.

I have heard Dylan Philips (Drummer – who has a great timing and a soulful sound as a professionally trained pianist – and always rocks the keyboard) said in other interviews that in terms of personal struggles that they have had the music guide them as a group – I noticed words formed around the struggle with being saved and loss of faith - perhaps even a loss of hope there – I hope they will continue to explore some further element of faith and that this translates to even more extraordinary music from this talented group, I am proud to call Canadian and will continue to share as their talents that will be sure to surprise us with further gifts in the future.

I clicked the you tube link on HMR’s website and watched some videos they had favored and found: TORA : and now I feel like the gifts just keep giving.

In the next feature story coming in January 2016:

　

Artist Profile: Half Moon Run

Singer Devon Portielje on vocals, guitar and percussion;

Conner Molander on vocals, guitar and keyboard;

Dylan Phillips on vocals, drums and keyboard;

Isaac Symonds on vocals, percussions, mandolin, keyboard and guitar.

8/31/2016 P.J.Tinham 

Little India

Conan Karpinski, Dallyn Hunt, Andrew Dixon, and Tim Morrison make up Langley's LITTLE INDIA. A delicous mix South African and Canadian roots with a strong passion for 80's British influence.  Their debut EP, “Up All Night” 2013, Miracle Skin (Acoustic EP 2015) are unique in themselves, pure joy in each track, and it has been a really fun journey delving into the history of this youthful and cultured group. The encourage a bright future  with the enhanced rock electronic sounds of the new album NEONjungle, (Pre-order PledgeMusic ) . It was a pleasure  to chat with Conan and Andrew about the evolved sound for the new album, musical passions and tour stories.

SLM: I love the merging of musical backgrounds and your sound is so alluring. I think is so amazing that you embrace all of your roots and different genres. Let’s talk about the New Album, Neon Jungle we just pre-ordered through Pledge Music will you be playing new tracks at Rifflandia Festival?

A: Thank you. We will playing the majority of the EP at Rifflandia for sure, there are only one or two more songs that we are trying to tidy up for live. The nature of the process was kind of interesting because we had written a couple of songs from couple of years ago , and some we had worked in the fall of 2015, but we actually had a couple of songs that were actually written in the studio which is something we’ve never had before. There is a track or two that we have never played as a band and another we have just jammed here or there. It’s interesting trying to fit those in but for the most part our set we be largely made of songs people have never heard before.

SLM: So you haven’t road tested many of these tracks ? We are very excited to hear them live at Rifflandia Festival in 2 weeks!

C: Rifflandia will be the first time that we will be doing it, the one track is called Young Blood, I think that is going to be our lead single, and shouldn’t be too hard for us to get together to play. That was the track that was written straight up in the studio while we were waiting for our producer to set something up. It was a spare of the moment thing.

SLM: That’s kind of magical.  It’s very interesting how it is all coming about in a sense, you are unveiling  NEONjungle in stages, there is a mystery to it, and the other events surrounded the EP . Can you tell us about the special project through Pledge Music.

A: We stumbled upon Pledge earlier this year and it’s great in a few ways. The biggest one for us initially at least was the fact that it gave us the opportunity to pre sell our EP to people as well as other things, so that we could design some of the merch we were doing and also some more intimate stuff like some song-writing sessions for people and giving people exclusive listens. They really give you the creative freedom to kind of come up with whatever you want, like that girl in Winnipeg that saw you one time that would want this kind of stuff or whatever. As we went on it we saw it as an awesome opportunity to market the EP and ourselves leading up to the release as well, because it’s kind of like we are just trying to send everybody to one place. So its been a really handy tool and an interesting way to release and nothing like we have ever done before.

SLM: Andrew I have read you say, “There’s no discussion on the direction of the song, only what elements are added to it, it’s almost like second nature now.” But there is more electronic music in the promo for Neon Jungle and the band seems to be going in a new direction can you guys elaborate some more on the feel of this album ?

C:  For this one it was interesting because the first EP we wrote (“Up All Night” 2013), it was just pretty much us jamming and playing music together in the basements and whatever we came up with. We hashed things around used what we had made up from old demos, bits and pieces from when I was in high school, and it was very raw and very rocky because at that time we were a three piece as well. But then we start realizing that we wanted more electronic elements, we started listening to a lot more electronic bands and 80’s ARTists and they use a lot of synths and we kind of fell in love with the feeling of that. So Tim (Tim Morrison) was a good friend of ours and he naturally joined and that was a no brainer for us. But this kind of direction we took, we definitely have a trajectory where we know we want to be able to do more synth based music in the future , not synth pop, but have all of those elements in there we thought that Neon Jungle was a great way to introduce that because we still have the raw, rock elements of Little India , where you have the screaming guitars, but then we put a lot of electronic with it, so I would almost say it’s “Rock Electronic” in a way. There was also a nice blending and stepping stone for where we want to go, because we don’t want to just be a different band right off the bat and all the fans you already have are like, whoa, where did this come, It’s totally different ? We want it to be a smooth transition. It’s really fun and a nice challenge to try and take rock songs and make them electronic as well.

SLM: As you mentioned you have all been influenced by other ARTists , in particular from the UK. I'm a child of the 80’s so for me especially The Cure (Toured this summer), Joy Division now New Order whom we saw at the QE in 2014 in Vancouver and UB40 a couple of months later. Many bands from that era continue to tour,  

(Amazingly Depeche Mode, announced just after this interview in early October that they start tour in 2017)

These ARTists have written some really amazing and beautiful music that is timeless, these groups in particular resonate with me and have had a lasting impact. What modern British ARTists today do you both think we have that lasting impact?

C: The Cure will never die, even though they are old school they can still be current without putting anything out. As for modern ARTists, the Arctic Monkeys, they are doing so well and have such a strong following. My personal favourite, is Bombay Bicycle Club they are doing something really unique that makes their music timeless especially with the last two records, (A Different Kind of Fix 2011/12 and So Long, So Long, See You Tomorrow 2013). They also did that thing where they took rock music and combined it with electronic music and sampling records which I thought was super cool. There is a band called Peace, they sound like they should be  from the seventies and eighties, super inspired by the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Stones (A: Great rockers !) Classic rock with a modern day twist on it. They have been a big inspiration for us on this EP as well.

SLM:  "Sleep", on the album Up All Night, (2013) had a sample of a Soweto choir in it, are there any other South African collaborations on the new Album?

C: On the new Album there is South African feeling, and South African guitar guns and licks but there is no direct sampling from South African music id say. We have a song called The Hunt and a song called Dancer that Id say they are very South African inspired, he riffs in the guitars are very in tune with South African Flavour.

A: A lot of the percussion as well, we kind of wrote the EP and then after we had got everything laid out, the bare bones we readdressed things and went into the studio with our producer Ryan (Ryan) we kind of just brought a bunch of like African inspired percussion and just literally just played a song through a few times and just grab different things at different moments and then play things back to see what sounded really cool. There was definitely some cool percussive after thought throughout I would say.

C: We have yet to hear a South African song you can’t dance to!

SLM: True. I just saw on Instagram ( @littleindiaband ) that Andrew has written about life on the road, can you share with us a band experience from that tour journal ?

A: We’ve been sharing some stories from past experiences those are things we like to share with people that we don’t usually get the chance to do. There is one story ….

“ There was this one time we were organizing our first ever tour through Western Canada, we had rented an RV and set off not knowing what the heck we were doing. We would drive with the instruments stacked on the beds, and sleep with the instruments on the floor…it was a horrible cycle, probably dangerous, but it worked. Honestly, RV life is luxury, so don’t get this twisted. But one night in the first leg of the tour we played at this hotel in Golden, BC and I think there were 6 people there…including us. We naturally were underwhelmed by the whole experience, so of course we were on the verge of bursting out into laughter 5 times per song. I think we made it to the last song…the epic closer, and had made it to the bridge where we were gonna tear the roof off of the place and blow those two lonely brains; but instead we burst into tears, laughter echoing through our microphones, dignity in the RV somewhere. Conan keels over in laughter, guitar still in hand, I spring backwards in laughter, bass still in hand. The tuning knobs of my bass collide with Conan’s forehead, and now we officially have blood running down Conan’s face, on the floor, and on my guitar. If you didn’t know there were only 2 people watching (the bartender and server…) you would think this is a banger of a night. But we persevered, we assured the 2 staff members that “it’s honestly such a good song, we have to finish it,” picked up where we left off and closed it out despite the tears of laughter. Safe to say we got out of there pretty quick.”

 SLM: Little India have been involved with o lot of projects involving different charities like Meal Share & Socks  which is a great concept and marketing idea on the site. Any other projects on the go?

C: Not right now, to be honest we don’t we would like to if something came up. Our Miracle Skin, that was our acoustic EP, all of the money that made went to Meal Share, we may have been better off donating the funds but we did get music out of it. This new EP was costly as well and when we get the music out and get a bit more established, then we would love to get on board with something else as well.

SLM: Any international tours or festival plans?

C: Well we are actually going to play some shows in the UK in early next year, we are making the hop - you’re the first person we have told about this.

SLM: That’s exciting where abouts?

C: London, we are going to play a few shows, and we will do a whole run there and then hopefully on to the rest of Europe.

SLM: Thank you so much guys and good like with the new Album cannot wait to see you guys at Rifflandia ! My kids are singing Oola in the car now all the time. When is the new Album released ?

C: Around the end October, but no definitive date.

We chatted further about travelling and music and these guys are truly gracious and kind, gentleman. I was able to get a preview listen and the Album is an amazing, their live show at Rifflandia was one of the best live shows I have seen in ages and a true highlight of the Rifflandia Festival. Pictures below help to highlight the passion this group has together - amazing, we will update you all with information as it comes out on the new album NEONjungle.

 

 

Conan Karpinski (lead vocals, guitar), Andrew Dixon (bass, vocals),               Dallyn Hunt (drums) and Tim Morrison (guitar, vocals ) are LITTLE INDIA

There is one story …