As Estevan looks to attract large-scale artists to its new flagship venue in Spectra Place, there are others coming to the Energy City with a reminder not to forget about the little guys.
Mike Dawson, formerly of Estevan and a part of the band Library Voices, has been tasked with bringing Saskatchewan's young or up-and-coming musical acts to smaller venues throughout the province. Whiskey Manner is one of those acts.
Adam Ennis and Roberto Giannini play drums and guitar respectively, while also supplying vocals to the Regina-based band Whiskey Manner. The band, which is now a six piece, after a "falling out" with their fiddle and ukulele player, is performing at the second Estevan Art Gallery and Museum After Dark this Friday night.
Whiskey Manner is a collaborative band made up of a group of musicians who have known one another since high school. The band began as a side project for the members, who are each part of different rock bands, but has now become a little more than that for the band members, who vary from 22 to 25 years old. Playing live as a group twice last year, they are now scheduled to play three times in a two-week span.
"We are a folky type band that sounds like Saskatchewan, but we leave our plaid shirts and tight pants at home," said Ennis. "We're not a pretty bunch, but we give a good show."
"We got the rock and roll going and wanted to soften things up," Giannini noted.
If they had song ideas that didn't suit their rock bands, they didn't want to scrap the song. Forming Whiskey Manner allowed them to explore a different side of their music.
"We all come from rock bands. In those we play a certain type of music. It's heavy, but the influence comes from music we enjoy, like hard rock, folk and blues," added Ennis.
They first played together on Dec. 4, 2010.
Giannini said it's a lot easier to write songs with the big group, because everyone will be working with their own bands and then come together with complete songs to present to the group.
Ennis said they are in no rush to move the band in any particular direction and they are looking to present the music as a live sounding band.
Dawson said there is no set format for the shows, adding that "they are very interactive and they're very intimate performances.
"Just having an attentive audience to hear the music performed and not be background music at a bar legitimizes the experience," added Dawson. "We tend to undervalue what is in your own backyard."
Despite that he said the Saskatchewan music community is "shockingly" large and one of the burgeoning artistic places in the country. He pointed to the five or six Juno nominations Saskatchewan artists received this year as point of pride for the Prairie music scene.
"They're working together to try to help each other. There are so many and they're learning from each other's experiences."
"We'd like to open some eyes and ears now," Giannini said about their goals while performing a small-venue show through the Cultural Exchange. The program to get artists around to these communities is supported through Culture on the Go, which works with the Saskatchewan Arts Board.
A big part of Dawson's job is to find people passionate about the arts who will provide the venues for these acts.
"I'm building a network of presenters like Amber (Andersen) in Estevan, finding people committed to the arts and committed to their communities."
He said a lot of people in the arts world try to make quick moves to larger centres, so finding people who wish to bring artists into rural communities is rare but welcome.
"The art gallery has fantastic acoustics and Amber is so dedicated to the arts," added Dawson.
The first show was organized in Gravelbourg, with the second held at the EAGM for After Dark. Opening for the band will be a solo acoustic performance by Estevan original Carl Johnson, lead vocalist for the Library Voices.
Dawson said there are a lot Saskatchewan musicians who are looking to get outside of their own towns to perform, and this initiative can help make that happen. He said he remembers being a kid in Estevan interested in putting on concerts in galleries or somebody's basement.
"Now we can deliver it on a professional level so everyone feels very welcome," he added.
EAGM's After Dark evening is this Friday beginning at 8 o'clock at the gallery.
