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Tracks Pub to host Locomotive Ghost
Three-piece folk-rock band Locomotive Ghost will be showcasing cuts from its new album, Close Your Eyes and Listen, this Saturday at Tracks Pub.
The Calgary-based band is comprised of singer/songwriter Mike Buckley, bassist Ben Nixon, and drummer Cortney Osness.
“Olds has been one of our favourite towns to play in,” said Buckley.
“Tracks Pub is probably one of the best venues we’ve ever played.”
“We’re excited to bring our friends up there,” said Nixon.
Although Buckley composed and wrote the majority of the songs on their previous, self-titled album, they aimed to take a more collaborative musical approach for Close Your Eyes and Listen.
“This time I brought more skeletal forms of songs, less finished, less polished,” said Buckley.
This way, Nixon and Osness could incorporate their own creative input into the songs as well, he said.
Recently relocating itself to Calgary, the band has only rehearsed once since Ben’s return from his six-month stint in Katimavik, a Canadian youth-service volunteer program.
“It’s a big adjustment. We’ve only had one rehearsal so far, but we’re very, very excited.”
“That was actually probably the toughest thing overall was the time constraints. We had to get it done before I went to Katimavik,” said Nixon.
This meant from the start of the writing process to the mastering of the album, he had less than two months to work on the album.
“I was working 14 to 16 hours every day. It was really fun though,” he adds.
“Given an unlimited amount of time, I don’t think I’d ever be satisfied with anything,” said Buckley.
“But when you have those time constraints, you’re forced to just accept what you’ve created and just move on at some point. I think in a lot of cases, you get a more honest performance or piece out of that.”
The band attributes their unique take on the Folk Rock genre to their varying ages and Western B.C. hometowns (Nixon is the youngest at 21 years old, with Buckley at 26 and Osness 32).
“We span a decade, and I think we benefit in that sense, from our musical influences,” said Buckley.
Locomotive Ghost met at Selkirk College in Nelson, B.C., where they all took the contemporary music program, though naming the band was a process that took more than a year, and a couple of dozen rejected names, said Buckley and Nixon.
One day, as Nixon was flipping through a book of 20th-century poetry, he stumbled across a poem by Allen Ginsberg entitled, “Sunflower Sutra”
“There’s a line that says something about the ghost of a locomotive. But I figured “Locomotive Ghost” flowed a little better,” said Nixon.
Locomotive Ghost is actively involved in charity work, playing numerous volunteer gigs including the West Kootenay Eco Society's Earth Day, Kootenay Co-op Radio's Membership Drive, and the Keep the Beat Warchild Benefit.
“It’s such an easy way to volunteer too. We’re just doing what we love in support of whatever cause, so it’s certainly not a difficult decision,” said Buckley.
Nixon agrees.
“Volunteering is just awesome. It makes you feel great. It’s really something we look for.”
The band will be making stops in numerous communities in Alberta this summer, including Edmonton, High River, Waterton, and Lethbridge.
For complete tour schedules and music samples, visit www.locomotiveghost.com.
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