Red Haven is a little bluesy, a little folksy, a little souly, a little swingy, a little country-y. Ok, the description is kind of bumpy but the sound is whisky smooth. The touring group has a strong affinity for the Prince George area from past shows and they are back for a concert at the Brunswick Street Senior's Centre on Saturday night.
"It's great to delve back into the past and find songs people don't pay attention to a lot of the time," said band member Brendan Steele. "There's a lot to be learned from that history of music and it's valuable to bring that forward, as players and for the audience too."
Bandmate Jen Charters said part of the training to be a good musician is learning the history and context of where music comes from, especially the stuff you play live for your audience.
"This gig inspired us to go searching around," Charters said. "People say 'oh you have to learn blues music' or 'you have to learn folk music,' there are so many ways to specialize, but we wanted to do something that represented our own style and have fun playing it. It was really a joy to discover some stuff I don't think we'd have ever found if we had gone looking for it. We just went on YouTube and let our own tastes lead us around, and I can't wait to show people what we found."
Red Haven has been a band for about a year, and they have a growing following based on their fearless touring, and visiting places like the Robson Valley and Nechako Valley spreading their style. They haul around a lot of instruments in their Astro van, but they remain portable because almost everything is acoustic.
"We are the music of the streets and the campfires," said Steele. "A lot of rock bands I've played in are all about being loud, and sure that's a lot of fun when you're playing it, but in the long run it is great to strip away those layers."
"And you can make acoustic music foot-stompy and rowdy and dancey," said Charters. "We want to get people stoked about folk music again and show that its fun, its full of good times, and you can dance to it."
There is a buzz coming from this area, too, the Red Haven folks said, so they like coming here to be closer to that source.
"P.G. has some really great stuff going on now," Charters said. "It is hard to find a date where you have the night all to yourself, because there is so much art going on. And you've got Cold Snap, which is one of the really great festivals in B.C. You've got the Winter Games coming. So P.G. has a lot going for it right now."
Tickets are $25 each ($20 for members of the Blues Underground) available in advance at Books and Company or at the door while supplies last.
