ATHABASCA — It’s a tongue-in-cheek comment to say ‘Nashville North’ but since backing a young, new band, it’s the start of a journey which may end up making Colinton just that.
Music isn’t just a passion or a hobby for the members of local band 25 Cigarettes, for Fred Minville and Dennis Habel, it’s life itself. The blood that runs through their veins is pure guitars and drums; guns and thunder, so when they saw the same in the Magnificent River Rats Festival Battle of the Bands winner, Us, they jumped at the opportunity to help.
“These guys are great, really cool people to hang out with too and they need that guidance; they're pretty young,” Minville said in a July 27 interview. “So, we figured, might as well help them out because music is like any other business, it's a people business and try to make as many connections and forge as many friendships as we can.”
In a world where it’s difficult to find a sound that’s different from everyone else, Minville and Habel, who aren’t afraid to experiment musically themselves, recognized something unique in the Edmonton band,
“You have to go into the Grateful Dead, Phish style,” said Habel. “That's the kind of vibe they're going for right now.”
And it was a hit at the Magnificent River Rats Festival July 1 too.
“We've got into Athabasca and just seeing people's eyes perk up and all that kind of stuff," said Us front man Braden Ramstead. “It happens to us a lot at private shows that we play for some reason; people are in a good mood or a party atmosphere and we're kind of an energetic band, so people get it.”
But between the Battle of the Bands in May and the festival in July Minville and Habel approached the trio and offered to record them, for free.
“We've had other people that are wanting to record us, but things weren't happening quick enough,” said Ramstead.
So, he appreciated Habel and Minville encouraging them to get their songs ready for recording and the Us band drove from Edmonton to work with the 25 Cigarettes band, to create six song EP Come Along with Us which was released Aug.1.
“Dennis was on my ass about recording,” he said. “It was a Saturday, we all went up there, probably got there at like 11 a.m. or noon and went to work at Fred's place. We recorded all of the tracks all in one day.”
They even got a couple of songs done on the first take.
“It was all recorded live off the floor,” said Ramstead. “The drums and the guitar and bass all set up kind of isolated from each other, all being recorded into the producing room and Dennis was in there just watching levels and making sure everything sounded good.”
The belief in the band came with a contract, that 25 Cigarettes only makes money if Us makes money.
“We’re a label for us, we do our own music,” said Minville. "When Us came we didn't charge them anything. We just financed it for nothing. We're doing the same work as a label, in a sense, but I don't know if we'll ever get to that point, but we did sign a contract.”
“It’s a percentage we get from them if they become successful,” Habel said. “We believe in them. It's just a risk.”
And it’s not like Minville, Habel, and Rob Smith, the third in the trio, are resting on their laurels, or waiting for Us to start pumping in money, they have moved on from their album 2021 to Hexahedron, which included filming music videos at the Old Brick School, to the five-song album Paper, Money, Plastic released in October, started a podcast which is on their YouTube channel, as well as performing from Fort McMurray to Edmonton.
“We got a new album,” said Minville. “We're finishing it (July 28).”
For their new protégés though, Ramstead said they are taking a bit of a break.
“We're probably going to take it a little bit easy after the summer,” he said. “And then just focus on writing new songs, forming better relationships and all that kind of stuff.”
And telling their friends to come to Colinton and record in Minville’s barn he said.
