If the northern region had a house band, it would likely be Folky Strum Strum.
They play regular gigs, they are an attraction on the festival circuit, despite the miles between them all. Folky Strum Strum closes the gap this Saturday Night on the northern middle ground - Prince George.
"The bass player (Amy Gothard) is from Fort St. John, Iyan (Bruvold, guitar/banjo) lives in Rolla, and the fiddle player (Brianne Hudson) is from Grand Prairie, so I guess it has become a regional band," said Prince George's Danny Bell, the group's drummer.
Hudson is unable to attend so frontman Bruvold may call on other musicians from the area to fill in. The band has had local notables like Raghu Lokanathan, Jeremy Pahl, Eric Welscher-Bilodeau and more on stage participating in their strange brew.
"Iyan is the type of guy that can play with anyone and he usually invites more people to play with us," Bell said. "I started playing with them at Hootstock Music Festival (near 100 Mile House) in 2015, and Iyan and I felt an immediate chemistry that usually takes a long time to develop. We feed off of each other so well that sometimes it feels like telepathy. Kindred souls I suppose."
For Bruvold, the art of music and the art of living are closely intertwined.
"To me, music isn't really a business. It shouldn't be," said Bruvold, who has a job in public works as his main profession. He feels that frees him to write and perform the precise music he wants to, because there is no business pressure to obligate his style.
"That's the struggle of most musicians - being good at the creative side but not so strong on the business side," Bruvold said.
"If you remove the business thinking and just have it be a joy in your life, that's the best position to be in. There is a different perspective on it when you are actually making your main income from music, that's a different ballgame, that requires a different kind of commitment, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just something you have to totally give over to. But if you're definitely not going to make music your main job, but you've put all that time into learning how to pull thoughts and sounds out of yourself and put that on stage where you can look people in the eye and share that, that's an amazing thing. There's something really pure and free about that."
The band was first formed in 2004 by Bruvold, Graham Kerr who moved to Russia, and Rio Fitch who still plays mandolin with the group from time to time. They were called Folkie Strum Strum & the Postmodern Bluegrass Boys but as the lineup evolved to include female members, that wasn't accurate anymore so they cut it down to the core.
It was a move made out of social consciousness, and even though they evoke that spirit right in their name, Bruvold isn't comfortable with any conclusions being drawn about their political leanings. He likes to take each idea as they come, and he likes to make music for the sake of stages not soap boxes.
"This is a tough one for me, because a lot of people don't agree with what I think, so why should I wave it around like some kind of flag," he said.
"Everyone has their own ideas. I've never felt I've needed to push mine. I know many people have made it their mission to use music to convey a message to push belief and I listen to a lot of that and I have not qualms with that. I haven't written much vested in political views or faith views. I look at my music as a Polaroid camera, taking a snapshot of a moment you can see right away. But to say I've never used music for reflection, well that isn't right either, so I guess you can say I speak my mind but I don't try to judge yours."
He didn't wish for the wave of intolerance and broad-brushing being led by the new American regime, but he said he saw some fertility in what's happening south of the border and out in the bigger world of politics. He thinks it will trigger a response, a push-back the world of literacy and science and verified truth.
He believes - hopes at least - that there will be a strong expression of renewed multiculturalism and redefined humanism.
"That's what we have to strive for: what we have in common. Right now, we are talking a lot about walls and borders. We are in state of fear right now, focused on divisions, but building walls feeds that monster," he said.
He's a man who knows about the irrelevance of divides and distances. He has band members scattered all over northern B.C., into Alberta, and even in Russia. And even though there's a mountainous wall between his rural community of Rolla and the region's biggest urban settlement, he and his band thrive.
"There's a really diverse culture in Prince George. I don't know if you fully appreciate what you've got, when you're living in the middle of it," Bruvold said. "P.G. has always been a place I've felt accepted when I play. The people I get to talk to there and play music with there, we all seem to feel the beautiful things that are going on there, and it can come out in our music. P.G. has blown up into this awesome Mecca for music, and a place where arts and ideas can come out. It feels like a second home to me."
Folkie Strum Strum performs Saturday night at the Royal Canadian Legion (1116 Sixth Ave.) starting at 9 p.m. (doors open at
8 p.m.) for a $10 cover.
The opening act for the show is Prince George's modern alterna-prog-folk band Frontal Lobotomy starring Bell on drums, Lokanathan and Samantha Scott.
