LOCAL GROUP STRIVES FOR SUCCESS
By: Gary Boole
After adding drummer Charles Wilby, whom the three met through a mutual friend, the group members figured the lineup was complete. However, they felt there was still something missing from their sound. While Kim and Peter were performing at a jam session for the NB Film Makers Co-op, talented saxophone player Helen Kahlke got up to perform a few numbers with the musicians.
"We realized it was almost a revelation how nice it was to add the sax with the type of music we were doing," said Lockhart during a recent band rehersal. "We landed a show at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival last year and because we had a mixture of blues material, we wanted to add a horn and Helen was the perfect person to ask."
All the band members have a vast amount of musical experience and it shows in their playing, including the ability to perform various styles of music including pop, blues, jazz, and rock. They add a fresh perspective when doing songs from such artists as Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and others. The group also takes great care in what songs get added to their repertoire.
"We listen to a song and think, can we do it well and can we do it justice," says Lockhart.
"We'll take everything from old blues, like Slim Harpo or T-Bone Walker and interpret it with our own little twist. We try to cover a broad spectrum of things that we feel our audience will enjoy."
Top Left - Charles Wilby, Kim Richard, Tony Scott
Front row - Pete Lockhart, Helen Kahlke
Photo by Gary Boole
While the band enjoys playing the clubs, they also get a kick out of performing outdoor shows in the summer time. They put on a great performance at Officer's Square for Fredericton's Canada Day Block Party and recently on the northside at the Nashwaaksis Commons.
"We've been playing quite a bit over the last year, but most of it has been in bars, pubs, and at private functions," says Kahlke, who is originally from British Columbia and moved to Fredericton six years ago.
"In the bars it's all adults but when we played the Commons, it was open to everybody. We had a lot of parents come out with ther kids, so it was nice to see a different type of crowd." For the near future the band hopes to keep on playing and will soon be busy working on a demo CD and promo pack that they use for getting work and are looking at doing more professional recording in the next few months and getting a couple of originals nailed down.