Gord Bamford and Joe Nichols are the juice in the bottle, but tonight's concert at CN Centre has a different kind of cork.
You could call them an urban jug band, you could call them slickgrass or Mumford's country cousins. Whatever the label, Canadian radio has been calling them money. Washboard Union literally plays a washboard in amongst the banjos and upright basses and acoustic guitars and tight harmonies, but they have no problem plugging in the electric guitars and revving the modern engines.
Washboard Union came together in a single house in Vancouver, where three guys from other parts of Canada - Aaron Grain and Chris Duncombe from Kelowna, and David Roberts from Ontario - happened to end up as roommates.
They happened also to enjoy scotch and play music. The brew fermented quickly and in only a few years they went from 'let's crack a cold one and see if we can write a hit' to turning on the radio and hearing their sizzling single Maybe It's The Moonshine intoxicating today's fans.
"We were actually best friends anyway," said Roberts who plays said washboard, handles a multitude of instruments and sings. They all sing.
"Being in a band is like the adult version of building a tree fort you never finish. You just get to hang out with your buddies and do fun things. I remember saying to Aaron one time 'what would you do tomorrow if you weren't in the band' and he said 'well, I'd probably phone you guys up and ask what you were doing.' That sums it up. We'd be hanging out anyway. Our respective wives and girlfriends bug us about it. We'll finish up a rehearsal, get home, it'll be the weekend, and I'll say 'well, I'd better give the boys a call and see if they want to do something.' She looks at me and says 'you were just with them all day.' Yeah, but that was work, now it's time to be friends."
They like friends. They used the word union in their name because they genuinely love nothing more than to jam, compose, experiment and entertain in big groups. So they called in another set of complementary musicians to round out their sound. They might be the only six-piece trio in the world.
They actually captured one of our own local musicians and washboarded him into submission.
"One of the guys who plays with us, Jimmy Baldwin, is from Prince George, and he was born in Fort St. John so he's a real northern boy," Roberts said.
You can spot Baldwin easily in the video for Maybe It's The Moonshine, he's the one who wins the band foot race on the Alberta gravel road (they filmed it around a gig they had at the Calgary Stampede last summer) to win a bottle of amber nectar at the crest of the hill.
"Perhaps based on a true story," said Roberts laughing affably through his trademark long beard. Between himself, bearded Grain, and stubbly (sometimes moustached) Duncombe, they make up the ZZ Top of Canada.
The look isn't out of place. They have had to get really comfortable in the heavy metal and progressive rock world. You could have knocked them all over with a guitar pick, but in their early days they somehow caught the attention of fellow Vancouverite Garth 'GGGarth' Richardson, whose production and engineering credits include L7, Hedley, Rage Against The Machine, Nickleback and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Note the decided emphasis on blown speakers in that list of crashers and bangers.
"GGGarth Richardson was the last guy you'd think, but the first guy who showed serious interest," said Roberts, with a tone hinting at disbelief even now. "We asked him one day 'what is it that attracted you to the band' and he said it was when he came to see a show at I think it was The Commodore Ballroom when we were opening for someone, and 'you just made me smile' he said. 'I looked around and everyone was smiling and happy' and he thought that was refreshing. It made him feel good."
The initial recordings by Washboard Union stamped them hard into the B.C. music industry's fabric. They earned themselves a BC Country Music Award nomination on their first release, and they got a call from stalwart Canadian music impresario Ron Sakamoto to perhaps join his booking agency's roster.
To test them out he flew them to Winnipeg where he informed them he had a showcase set up to test them out on stage. The "test" was to be the opening act for the Zac Brown Band. There may have been some talk of diapers in need of changing as they threw themselves into that fire, but with that one successful show, they made the Sakamoto team.
But those weren't the only big names starting to circle around Washboard Union. Richardson was a good friend and business partner with internationally legendary music producer Bob Ezrin. Ezrin called them in for a recording session. They got to spend two days in his Nashville studio and again, some diapers might have been put to use just before they walked in his door. Thankfully, Ezrin's professionalism came out in the form of relaxation and genuine interest in how their sound should be developing.
"We had to get over the fear of working with him," Roberts said. "You're thinking 'ok, this is the guy who did The Wall and Alice Cooper and Kiss and the guy who tied Peter Gabriel to a pole to get the best results out of him.' He's just a true gentleman, he's great, he didn't tie us to anything. And now whenever we go down to Nashville we drop in on him and there's a great little Mexican place close to his studio so we go eat burritos with him."
Now it is Nichols and Bamford who are next in line to help them out. Perhaps it's not such a leap of faith anymore, since Washboard Union has succeeded at climbing each wrung the music ladder has presented them. The next challenge: playing in Jimmy Baldwin's home town. Yikes.
They have their washboards tuned up and ready.
