Harpoonist and the Axe murderer vocalist/ harmonica player Sean Hall is excited to be back in Lethbridge for the Wide Skies music Festival, July 31 to headline the free outdoor show featuring Fellow B.C. musician Shakura S’ Aida and The Weber Brothers.
They continue to experiment on their latest CD “ Apocalipstick, which was released late last year.
“ We definitely paid for it. we didn’t get a Juno nomination. It is definitely not a blues album. People in the industry like it better if you stay in the same little box, ” said Hall, who will be joined in Lethbridge by guitarist Matthew Rogers and vocalist Dawn Pemberton, who Hall described as “the Queen of B.C. Soul.”
“She’s the queen of B.C. Soul. She’s got her a whole bunch of things— her choirs and she’s in a funk band,” said Hall
They also sometimes perform with singer Andrina Turenne.
“She’s really the salt of the earth. She’s from Winnipeg and musicians there chomp at the bit harder than anyone else, Hall enthused.
“She sings country soul, but country soul like Otis Redding used to sing and she brings tambourine and percussion. She’s very special to be able to step into a duo,” Hall continued.
They have a couple of plans in the works including releasing a video for “Running” in the fall.
“And we‘re going to completely remix “Apocalipstick.” We’ll completely strip it down and keep the vocals and most of the guitars, but we‘re not going to bring in European EDM artists,” he said.
“ We’re gong to call it ‘Post-Apocalipstick,” he said adding he is more excited about the prospect of recording the band’s first live album.
“We’ve never done one before, which is unusual because the live show is definitely not the same as the recordings. I guess we’ve never been narcissistic like that. So we‘re going to book two or three days in December at the king Eddy in Calgary and record it with the Rolling Stones mobile recording unit. So it will be a throwback to what live albums sounded like back then,” Hall enthused.
“ We‘ll play the new songs and go back to some of the songs from ‘Checkered Past,’” he enthused.
The band has spent a lot of time playing overseas everywhere from Copenhagen for the Copenhagen Jazz Festival and Bristol to Mexico City.
“It is hard work playing in Canada and getting to this point. Musicians spend a lot of time pounding the pavement. But the blues has been relevant for 50 to 70 years now. We sing about love, pain, lust, heartbreak and a lot of people relate to that,” he said.
Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer play the Wide Skies Music Festival, Tuesday, July 31. There is no cost to attend.
Festival passes are $105 which include admission to Shovel and Ropes and Little Miss Higgins on July 30 (tickets are $60 plus a five dollar service charge for that concert otherwise) and Frazey Ford and The Cave Singers on Aug 1 ($50 plus $5 service charge otherwise) as well as the July 31 afterparties at the Owl Acoustic Lounge featuring the Weber Brothers and at the Slice with Tom Phillips. Otherwise admission is $10 for each of those. Passes also include priority seating in the church if it rains during the free outdoor festival and a swag bag.
