When people discuss a certain band, for whatever reason they generally talk about it in terms of geographical location. Ever since musical explosions in Seattle and Montreal, the general population assumes that where you’re from shapes your musical output more than other factors, like talent or musical influences.
Which is why when you hear about the band Hey Rosetta! and the fact they’re natives of Newfoundland, you immediately wonder if they sound a little Celtic, or if they use hand drums from time to time.
“People like to think about it, and we’re proud to be where we’re from, but to what extent there is a distinct sound to a Newfoundland band, I don’t know,” says Tim Baker, leader of Hey Rosetta!, whose new album Seeds is released on February 15.
Baker seems pretty bored by the idea of regional influence and stresses the fact that people think about their Newfie background a little too much. “I certainly get questioned on it quite a bit, ‘What degree does being from Newfoundland affect the way you sound?’ I think none, really,” says Baker, laughing. “Sometimes that idea works, but I think it has to be a specific time and place and sound.”
But it’s hard to blame the majority of Canadians for associating Newfoundland’s cultural output predominantly in terms of Great Big Sea, a few major league baseball players and the gastronomic abomination that is Newfie poutine.
Rock criticism aside, Hey Rosetta! has somehow managed to dodge (almost) any association with its home province and bands that came before their inception in 2005. This is because in the past three years of touring behind its sophomore release Into Your Lungs, Hey Rosetta! has become one of the most sought-after live acts in the country.
As Hey Rosetta! begins its current North American tour, including a free concert kick-off at Parade Square during the Canada Games on February 16, the band has already sold out shows across the country before even leaving the island. On top of that, Hey Rosetta! is set to perform sold out shows in Australia as well, but Baker concedes it’s probably because they’re touring with headliner City and Colour.
Still, Baker couldn’t be happier about adding another stamp to the band’s passport. “It’s a great time to be a Canadian band touring abroad. It’s almost like it’s a selling point that you’re Canadian.”
To fully realize its sound on Seeds, the band turned to Tony Doogan, producer of Mogwai, Belle and Sebastian and Wintersleep, to create an even more dynamic sound than previous records.
“When we started out, the band was very much song-oriented and arrangement-oriented. I think you can hear that on our previous records,” says Baker. “I think we’ve paid a lot of attention to the sounds and attempted to make every song distinct by creating moods. He made the palette of sounds we dreamed up a reality.” –Matthew Ritchie
Hey Rosetta!
w/The Novaks
Wednesday, February 16, 7pm
Grand Parade Square
free
This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2011.
Get your facts straight Richie. Like the difference between a baseball bat and a hockey stick. I’ll take ‘Newfi’ poutine over this poor excuse for journalism any day. Hey Rosetta…great band. Get out and see them people.
You forgot to include other well known facts about newfies such as: they eat live puppies for breakfast on Mondays, fly around on shilleaghs and sacrifice virgins to the pagan sun god once a year.
Justin Beiber = Mainland Canadian, Avril Lavigne = Mainland Canadian, Tar Sands = Mainland Canadian.
Your shit also stinks.
Hey Rosetta are fantastic, and doing the entire province proud. But this article stinks. It shows a blatant disregard for Newfoundland’s vibrant music scene, in an attempt to boil an entire culture down to a few kitschy sayings. And Hey Rosetta have already been to Australia, so they already have the stamps on their passports, you turkey.
“But it’s hard to blame the majority of Canadians for associating Newfoundland’s cultural output predominantly in terms of Great Big Sea, a few major league baseball players and the gastronomic abomination that is Newfie poutine.”
Ah, is it though? Are we really still having this conversation? And despite the writer’s obvious ignorance, I think I’ll give the rest of our country a little more credit than that.
Matthew Ritchie, I won’t embarrass either of us by even beginning to describe the varied and exciting new art and music being made by people from Newfoundland and Labrador. Let’s just say that our ‘cultural output’ is not quite limited to jigs and reels, nor has it ever been. Nor is ‘association with [our] home province’ something to be ‘dodged.’
And well done on somehow managing to say almost nothing about the actual music other than reassuring us that there’s not an accordion or set of spoons to be had. This article has turned out to be more about your ignorance about another Atlantic province than about the band.
Oh and one last thing. The word ‘Newfie’ might be embraced and reclaimed by some who take it to be all in good fun, but it’s a controversial word that many find insulting still. Some choose to use it, others don’t. My advice? Maybe avoid using it in the headline of a newspaper.
So, because they aren’t singing about Mary Mac’s Mother and the Night Pat Murphy died, you find it hard to believe that a band from Newfoundland can sell out venues? Really?
I just don’t understand how an editor let this go to print?! When I lived in Nova Scotia for years, The Coast was a published, public space where cultural prejudice and ignorance were left at the door. It’s disheartening to see that it’s not so anymore. Culture is dynamic, not static.
I’m trying to take a page from Ms. Aimee Wall’s book on this one, and hold back from listing and describing “the varied and exciting new art and music being made by people from Newfoundland and Labrador” but I’m finding it really hard. Call me childish or young, but I gotta point some things out to you.
To fully describe to you, Mr Ritchie, of all the incredible arts ventures going on here in Newfoundland, I’d have to write an article of my very own. Instead, I think I’d just like to draw your attention to some Newfoundlanders that are current, active, talented and non-Newfie poutine wielding musicians in the Halifax music scene.
Michael Dalton and Ron Hynes of The Transatlantic Zodiac Ensemble. Ryan Laite of the Sam Ryan Band and Brother Sister. Ryan Stanley of The Grass. Or how about two of the three central organizers for the In The Dead of Winter Festival? Amelia Curran and Don Brownrigg are from the rock, dontchya know?
I love traditional music. I love Newfoundland traditional culture. So this response isn’t steeped in any sort of cultural resentment. I dies for an evening dancing downtown to The Dardenelles. And this isn’t just an issue of me being a proud Newfoundlander. I’d be just as appalled if a journalist for The Scope wrote a piece about Wintersleep’s performance on Letterman but spent most of the article baffled by the fact that there were no bagpipers, highland dancers or cameos by Rita MacNeil. If you’re going to write about music; if you’re going to be a public commentator on arts and culture; if you’re going to be a journalist, research is crucial, dude.