Barrie is in for a real treat next month when My Son the Hurricane comes to town with a brand-new hot-off-the-press album. Ride the Bullet’s official release date is April 12 but they will have it in time for the Barrie gig April 5.
“What I can say about this album is this is the most true to us that we’ve ever put out,” said Jacob Bergsma, co-frontman for the band. “This is as close to the experience of a live show that you can get.”
He credits producers Darren Magierowski and Jill Zimmermann, who are new to the band with this album. Ride the Bullet is also the first record to feature vocalist Sylvie Kindree in its entirety since she joined MSTH mid-2016. She co-fronts the band, vocals, with Bergsma.
The live experience features a band of around 12 people and includes a brass section of saxophone, trumpet, and trombone. Most of the musicians have had musical training, graduated from music at the University of Toronto or Humber College and some are also session musicians. Many, including Bergsma, keep a part-time job for between tours. He works in a music store in St. Catharines, his hometown.
The musicians span a geographical area from Ottawa to Owen Sound and Toronto. The band draws on an active roster of 22 to play their distinctive, genre-defying mix of New Orleans style grooves, funk, jazz, and hip hop. The Barrie gig is part-way into a 75-date tour of North America.
“We haven’t a great deal of opportunity to get the music out in front of people so, in Barrie, we’re coming with bells on,” he laughed. “It’s a bit of a different band now that Sylvie is involved and a very different band than 10 years ago and five years too. We’re excited to bring it to Barrie.”
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The band was founded by Danno O'Shea, who continues to serve as drummer and band manager. He started the group with only a few people after he heard New Orleans music for the first time and fell in love with it.
Bergsma met him during their regular Friday night gigs at a bar in St. Catharines, O’Shea’s hometown. Bergsma, at the time, was making the transition from metal to rap music. One night O’Shea invited him up on stage and Bergsma said it was one of those “serendipitous moments” where everything clicked.
A few weeks later he joined the band and has been serving as vocalist since their first show. He grew up in a house with one television and nine guitars, a musical family where everyone played an instrument. Voice, he said, was the only instrument left.
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Songwriting is a collaborative effort. Many are written by O’Shea and guitarist Chris Sipos, who also serves as the third vocalist. Kindree’s husband Mike Weir, who is not in the band, wrote the title track for Ride the Bullet.
My Son the Hurricane plays Mavricks Music Hall, 46 Dunlop St. W., downtown Barrie on April 5. It’s a 19+ show. Special guest is Katey Gatta. For tickets see https://mavricksbarrie.ticketfly.com
