Rick Stiebel/Black Press Contributor
Listening to Petunia and the Vipers is like feeding your mind a bowl filled with many flavours of Jello that shimmy, shift and quake in different directions with each shake. Somehow the flavours come together in a way thatB次元官网网址檚 packed full of flavour, but difficult to describe.
B次元官网网址淥ur music canB次元官网网址檛 really be pinned down,B次元官网网址� admits the man they call Petunia. B次元官网网址淚 really wouldnB次元官网网址檛 know where to begin.B次元官网网址�
The songs switch gears from elements of country, rock, hillbilly, ballads, jug band, rhythm and blues, jazz, gypsy, Roma and the odd yodel. B次元官网网址淵ou could call it a mix of early American music painted out with our ears by modern musicians.B次元官网网址�
Petunia and the Vipers bring their unique sound to the Oak Bay Recreation CentreB次元官网网址檚 Upstairs Lounge for a rare dance event at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 1. Rare, because Beacon Ridge ProductionsB次元官网网址� promotions are generally B次元官网网址渓istening shows.B次元官网网址�
Petunia grew up in St. Dorothee, a former farming community thatB次元官网网址檚 been paved over near Montreal.
B次元官网网址淚 did a lot of travelling in my teens before I became a musician, hitchhiking and bumming around,B次元官网网址� he says. Although he played trumpet in high school, music wasnB次元官网网址檛 a big part of his life until a guy he met introduced him to guitar.
B次元官网网址淚 fell in love with a woman (a few years later) who turned me on to classical old-time hillbilly music and inspired me to play and sing. I wouldnB次元官网网址檛 be where I am without her.B次元官网网址�
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Petunia and the Vipers is where heB次元官网网址檚 been for the past 15 years. Based in Vancouver the past eight years, the band tours and performs with players from a posse of about 20 musicians. The bandB次元官网网址檚 core has been together for a decade; guitarist Stephen Nikleva, Jimmy Roy on lap steel guitar, Joseph Lubinsky-Mast on stand-up bass and drummer Paul Townsend.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e been blessed with a long line of really great musicians,B次元官网网址� Petunia says.
The bandB次元官网网址檚 last performance in Victoria included sax and clarinet, trombone and trumpet. B次元官网网址淭he horns have been loosely assembled for two years leading up to a new album weB次元官网网址檝e been working on for the last eight months.B次元官网网址�
The group has a devoted following forged through numerous tours and 15 albums.
B次元官网网址淚f you listen hard you may find threads of a sonic continuum, but each album is very different.B次元官网网址� Petunia notes. B次元官网网址淚 enjoy songwriting, but itB次元官网网址檚 not something I just wake up and do. I write when I think I have something to say. The songs form in my mind and come out when theyB次元官网网址檙e ready.B次元官网网址�
Petunia recently completed a pilot film, The Musicianer (), which has been making the rounds on the festival circuit B次元官网网址� it won him a best sci-fi actor award in New Jersey. B次元官网网址淚 play a time-travelling musician who never knows what time heB次元官网网址檚 in. IB次元官网网址檓 hoping it gets some legs from Ken Burns country documentary buzz.B次元官网网址�
When heB次元官网网址檚 not playing or writing, Petunia can often be found playing ball.
B次元官网网址淚 love baseball. We take bats and balls on the road looking for pickup games. ItB次元官网网址檚 a great way to warm up before a show,B次元官网网址� he says.
Tickets for the Nov. 1 show are $25, available online at . You can check out for more on the band.
editor@mondaymag.com
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