Johny604 + Musician in Vancouver, BC

SEEKING

ABOUT

music [at] johnarthur [dot] ca

Aim for a pub residency spotlighting vocal harmonies, in rootsy sets weighted to BC & Canadiana standards, Celtic & maritime trads, underplayed roots deep-cuts, an unplugged pop conversion or two, and my own wistful originals (no classic rock or bro-country, no drum machines or loop pedals, no jamming or gigging sheet music)

We'll prep a few of the usual Americana standards ready on request, but otherwise exclude overplayed radio hits from planned sets. We'll aim to write and weight originals to majority eventually, but never 100%. I'm fairly protective about my writing so I prefer to start with trads/standards to get build the vibe and a tight groove.

OFFERING a gregarious tenor with a knack for harmony and lyrics; that’s typically F/G/A maj keys or Em/Fm/Am (but I find melody in B or C keys typically tends too high or too low for my best). I also sing in French, Spanish, and a wee bit in Gaelic.

Willing to share rhythm-guitar duties a bit but I much prefer to play mandolin, fiddle, blues-harp, or even just beat a bodhran. Strong theory from an early Classical education gives me fluency with arrangements and chord voicings (but I'm not a 'violinist': have no interest in playing others' compositions from classical notation. All good folk music is learned by ear, and basically improvisational.)

As a happy bachelor with light gov hours at my M-F day job, I have availability to commit time aggressively to get up to scratch.

SEEKING a disciplined and driven roots singer, with guitar...

You are able to memorize simple chord progressions quickly to reach the 30-50 tunes we need to go gig 3h+ shows. Once our arrangements are tight as the core duo, after a little open-mic and busking, we'd next find a standup double-bass to gig professionally as a trio. Ambition is to offer a scaled-up band depending per gig revenue, ideally adding piano, accordion (or small-pipes), and optionally percussionist on bodhran and/or brushed-snare.

I'd be quite content with a quick-study guitarist who has other concurrent project(s), e.g. a pop band or a solo singer-songwriter act, even if that's your higher priority. So long as you can learn tight changes and chorus lyrics as a side-man/side-gal, I'm happy to do the rest. A good voice is much more essential here than guitar technique: e.g. solo chops as Lead would be less valuable to me than familiarity or ambition to explore Drop-D tunings on Rhythm e.g. DADGAD, play high-strung on 2-guitar arrangements, etc.

Willing to hire some startup practice/rehearsal in early weeks, but once tight we'll be playing for gig revenue. Start-up wages wouldn't make this a vanity project: you must dig the vibe. But I am realistic that strong singers willing to strum in support are a scarce resource. :)

Conversely, if you prefer to invest time in equal partnership, for equal say in sets / arrangements / writing / etc, I'm an open-minded bandmate. If keen to solo as Lead Guitar I'm willing to support on Rhythm Guitar myself, it's just not my priority.

Screen name:

Johny604

Member since:

Oct 11 2014

Active within 24 hours

Level of commitment:

Very Committed

Years playing music:

35

Gigs played:

50 to 100

Tend to practice:

More than 3 times per week

Available to gig:

2-3 nights a week

Most available:

Nights

Influences

I’d define “folk” as music that’s intentionally out-of fashion, more comfortable sounding old and inherited instead of contriving to sound new and fashionable, as pop must in order to sell. That oldness naturally sounds consistent with lyrics tending to explore historic or political content, because folk sounds inspired by longer life-experience and wider collective context than does the hyper-personal love-and-loss tropes of youth-oriented pop lyrics.

Continuity from unrecorded traditions ensures no single studio track is ever recognized as the definitive version of a song, so all true folkies naturally keep a few old standards in their sets, because curating the tradition is equally valued as attempting to extend it; a fresh arrangement can be as creative as a fresh song.

Plenty of acoustic-guitar pop is not at all folk music (guitar crooners e.g. Passenger, Ed Shereen, etc); electric folk can and does exist.

I dig:

Spirit of the West, Be Good Tanyas, The Paperboys, The Duhks, The Waillin' Jennys, Basia Bullat, Kathleen Edwards, Neko Case, Jason Collette, Joel Plaskett, Great Lakes Swimmers, K.D. Lang, Whitehorse, Viper Central, Joy Kills Sorrow, Cowboys Fringants, Vent du Nord, Rankins, Barra McNeils, Barr Bros, Sarah Harmer, Jill Barber, Lynn Miles, Steven Fearing, David Francy, Corb Lund, Prairie Oyster, Blue Rodeo, The Hip, Feist, Cowboy Junkies,
The Band, Neil, Joni, Gord, Bruce, Ian, Stan, Stompin' Tom...

Springsteen, Dylan, Simon, CSN, Fleetwood-Mac, The Dead,
Van Morrison, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Counting Crows...

Mipso, Solas, Dervish, Skippinish, Lake Street Dive, Chris Thiel, The Civil Wars, Laura Marling, Maya de Vitre, Aoife O'Donovan, Sara Jaroz, Gillian Welch, Mandolin Orange aka TheWatchhouse, OCMS, Lord Huron, Fly My Pretties, Brandie Carlisle, Molly Tuttle, L Florence+TheMachine, Bon Iver, etc

Instrument experience:

Vocalist:

Advanced

Vocalist - Tenor:

Advanced

Violin:

Advanced

Background Singer:

Advanced

Fiddle:

Advanced

Rhythm Guitar:

Moderate

Acoustic Guitar:

Moderate

Other Percussion:

Moderate

Mandolin:

Moderate

Harmonica:

Intermediate

EQUIPMENT

Sharing a practice studio near Clark & Hastings.

mandolin (w/ pickup)
fiddle (w/ pickup)
electric fiddle
bodhran (jumbo, tunable, w/ pickup)
acoustic guitar (w/ pickup)
harmonicas, collar-rest
penny-whistles
tambourine, shakers

- 4x budget vocal mics, 2x stands
- portable Roland busking amp
- big messy box o' wires
- Tascam interface (analogue)
- iPad & GarageBand

MUSIC