The return of Josh Sandu means many things to the Prince George music community.
The leading point it presents is the introduction of Rube and Rake, the east coast duo Sandu shares with musical half Andrew Laite.
The secondary issue it brings up is an answer to the musical question whatever happened to The Arbitrarys?
This was also a duo, made of Sandu and Naomi Kavka. According to the critical reception they earned in the mid- to late-2000s, they were one of the best-loved progressive folk acts in northern B.C. They departed together for St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador a couple of years ago but only one of them came home. It wasn't Sandu.
Breakups at any level of life usually come with some amount of pain and acrimony, but whatever those waves were on The Rock, they have hit the cliffs and rolled back out to calmer seas because not only will Rube and Rake be headlining at Art Space on Oct. 10, Kavka will share the moment for a reunion of The Arbitrarys and Sandu is looking forward to it.
"I stayed here in St. John's because I was accepted into the education program, it's a nice place to live, and I worried that going back to P.G. would look like putting my tail between my legs and I didn't feel like that at all. I was having a great time here," said Sandu. "This is a big scene for a musician. It's a great place to play. I'm pretty new to the music scene there, I'm not that well known yet, but I'm meeting people. They are pretty accepting. If it ever feels cliquey, it's probably me, not them. If anything there have been quite a few musicians actually helping us get ourselves off the ground."
One of the lessons learned with The Arbitrarys was, no matter where you are based, you have to get your music out on the road if you have any aspirations for it. Sandu had an equal stage buddy in Laite. They are both multi-instrumentalists, singers, songwriters, they self-identify most with the acoustic core of Canadian folk, and they are both eager to show how portable their act is.
You can't get much more Canadianna that travelling across vast tracts of the country on the Via Rail line, entertaining the on-board guests at set hours of the day in exchange for reduced travel costs. Rube and Rake are part of a Via program that gets acts like theirs from point A to B while spreading the music. It is bringing them all the way to Jasper and they are getting to Prince George on their own after that.
"It helps us get us tighter for sure, to perform that regularly, three times a day on the train," Sandu said. "We were going to record an album for this tour but decided we didn't want to rush the writing and recording. We didn't want it to sound hurried. So we put together an EP and when we get through the tour, with more time to record properly, it will be fantastic at that point."
He wanted to clarify the name of the group. Neither of them is either a rube or a rake. It describes the range of themes or atmospheres they reach into in their music.
Audiences will be shown the details of the chain links between rube and rake on Oct. 10 when the incoming duo headlines at Art Space.
Joining them will be Kavka to reform The Arbitrarys for a night, and their buddies in the group Crones (Nathan Kelly, Britt Meierhofer, Landon Hilde, Chris Dibbens, Cal Hilde and sometimes others) will also share the stage.
"I have a lot of fond memories about P.G. and the music scene there," said Sandu. "One thing I think about a lot is how great it was with people helping you out and trying to foster what you do. Newfoundland is like that too. Eventually I'm going to move back west and P.G. will always be part of my considerations. It's going to be nice to play with friends next week. Coming home to P.G. is probably the highlight of the tour for me."
Tickets are $10 at the door. Doors open at 10 p.m.
