The thrill of the road

CENTRE FOR THE ARTS: 2009-2010 season gets underway

Posted By KRISTINE MASON, SPECIAL TO THE STANDARD (St. Catherines)

September 25, 2009

After more than 15 years performing, some bands might decide to take a well-deserved break from touring, or at least start performing a weekly hometown gig.

That sounds a bit boring to Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle.

"I remember getting to play in concerts when I was 14 or 15 with my father and my uncle's band, I was always really excited, and I'm still really excited," said Doyle from his home in St. John's, N. L.

His own lust for life, coupled with the enthusiasm of fellow band members Sean McCann and Bob Hallett, is leading Great Big Sea on a North American tour in honour of their ninth album, Fortune's Favour, which was released June 24.

The tour includes a sold-out show on Sept. 30 at Brock University's Sean O'Sullivan Theatre, which opens the Centre for the Arts season.

"We had lots of good nights there (in Niagara), and a few foolish ones, playing the Event in the Tent and the New Year's Eve bash," said Doyle.

"I remember one particular New Year's Eve involved an altercation with a light display, but that's a story for another time."

Although their stop in Niagara provides a smaller venue than many of the arenas and sports centres they will be visiting, the audience can still anticipate Great Big Sea to put on its best.

"It's going to be excellent, jutting back and forth between big shows and smaller shows," said Doyle. "The population is so spread out, that's just the way this country is.

"All I want is for the room to be full, and whether that's 10,000 or 40, that's fine with me."

The band's performing roots nurtured in Newfoundland have prepared them for rethinking the show every night of the tour. "One of the things that has proven to be a great reward is having an internship at the pubs in Atlantic Canada," he said. "Sometimes you'd start at 8 p. m. and play until 2 a. m. and all sorts of people come in. It's just another arrow in your quiver to have that kind of experience."

When creating Fortune's Favour, scheduling between Great Big Sea and indieartist Hawksley Workman finally worked out to allow a collaboration. Workman is a Juno award-winning artist who originally hails from the Muskoka area.

"We've always been big fans of him, we love how he exaggerates music. It's sort of cabaret style, he taught us something about music," said Doyle.

"It was a great learning experience and there was certainly a lot of trust involved."

While Workman's style may seem an unlikely match for a band that built its reputation on ballads and traditional East Coast songs, the band was ready for the challenge.

"We've done it our way a lot of times, we really wanted to let someone else come in and teach us," he said. "That's all you want when you're a band, is to grow and do new stuff. The final product is an album that may be a bit more rock 'n' roll."

In its 15 years, Great Big Sea has toured more than 16 countries and visited every state except two. Although this isn't their first time travelling across Canada, the thrill of the road still calls to band members.

"It's so much work to get somewhere, especially when you live in Newfoundland. You better love it and if that 1 1 /2-or two-hour show doesn't do it for you, then you shouldn't be doing it," said Doyle.

"Other stuff has gotten hard -- leaving your three-year-old gets hard, being physically fit enough to perform gets hard, but it's not really hard compared to all the jobs my father had. Writing and performing, that's the fun stuff."

The tour is tightly packed with the band performing in Belleville the night before the Brock gig and Milwaukee the day after. But band members still plan to find some time to spend in Niagara.

"We pretty much always tour on a bus, and we'll probably get into the area around 8 or 9 a. m.," said Doyle.

"Unless we have other commitments, myself and Sean usually run. We get to see towns in a way you usually don't. Niagara is so beautiful, I'm sure we'll click out a couple kilometres while we're there."

Although the tour promotes the band's latest album, those with tickets for the show are sure to hear some of their old favourites.

"I've always liked singing Excursion Around the Bay," said Doyle. "I 've always been charmed by how simple it is -- maybe that says too much about me."