Introducing my Band: Different Folk
March 19th, 2013 by admin
I am in a Celtic/Maritime band called, well, Different Folk. We have actually been playing music together now since 2009 and named ourselves Different Folk in 2010. We had a busy weekend this past weekend playing St. Paddy’s Day gigs, so I thought I would tell you a little bit more about the group.
The band is formed of Kim Moller on vocals and bodhran, Will Toner on vocals and guitar and me on fiddle. I originally met Will when he was playing with another group for a Bloomsday celebration in Fredericton. I had stopped by to drop of a demo to someone else that I was hoping would hire me to play a gig later in the year. In the end, I was asked to sit in on the gig. While playing, I noticed that Will likes to sing in the same keys that Kim often signs in: E, F, and F# major. These are not usual keys! Most of the time I have played in bands I have played songs in D and G major. I also noticed that the tone of Will’s voice sounded like it would match Kim’s really well.
Not long after, Will came to perform at the Lougheed Pub in Harvey, where Kim and I live. I noticed the event listing and told Kim that we had to go because I wanted him to meet Will. We went and had a great time, with Kim singing along to almost every song that Will sang.
From that point, Will, Kim and I all ended up in the same musical circle and ended up doing some pick up gigs together, so gigs where someone would call around and see who was available to come out and perform. Nothing official. In 2009, Kim and I decided that we wanted to do a show with Will, so put together our first “One More Chorus” show in which we invited several of our friends to perform with us.
Our first outing as a trio was to Campobello in the summer of 2009. I had been asked to perform for the Lighthouse Days celebration and needed to take a band with me. The MC for the event could not remember our names, and we became “Heidi, Pat and the Other Fella”. At that point is became apparent to us that we were indeed a band, and also that we needed a name.
After much deliberation, and many other suggestions, we settled on Different Folk. We are all a little different, and we like to play a wide variety of music. Once we named ourselves and started telling people the name of our band, so many of my friends would reply, “Yes, yes you are!” The name was perfect!
Since then we have been busy playing at festivals, in pubs and in concerts. You can check out our music and see our upcoming shows at http://differentfolk.ca
We would love to get into house concerts as well. If you have any ideas as to places we should be performing, or would like to host a house concert, please let me know!
Photo by Clayton Morrisey http://claytonmorrissey.smugmug.com/
