Ivory Faces

 

"When I think of The Deep Dark Woods I visualize a man driving across Canada eyes wide just waiting for the moment when the hills swallow the sun. Truly amazing band with a great future ahead."- Ivory Faces



After the release of 'Winter Hours' the critically acclaimed album earned Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, alt-country band The Deep Dark Woods a Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Roots Recording and Canadian Folk Music Award nomination. With that the boys release a brand new album 'The Place I Left Behind' on Six Shooter Records. A album that leaves you breathless. A masterpiece.

Like all their albums, 'The Place I Left Behind' jumps a step ahead of its predecessor and reminds me of why I love the band. With Ryan Boldt’s lazy vocals comes a truly beautiful album. It’s enveloped in cold lyrics about a rambler that holds no love but for “the place I left behind.”

 I was really pleased when I received an email from their management saying that they would love to do an interview for Ivory Faces. I waited and after not receiving anything back I assumed they had forgotten until this weekend when I received an email from the management again. Enclosed were the answers to my interview questions and my heart skipped a beat.

Q1. You have recently released an album called 'The Place I Left Behind'. How has the new album been received?

 

'The Place I Left Behind' reception has been very good among critics, peers and radio.

Q2. What’s the main achievement of your new album? 

It has gotten us a great US label (Sugar Hill Records) and a great US agent. 

Q3. How do you see yourselves evolving as a band? 

We are always evolving as a band but it's hard to see sometimes as it happens so gradually.  This record was the first to have our fifth member, Geoff Hilhorst, play on it.  We also took the leap in to production, self-producing the album. I think the whole band feels like we finally made an album that sounds the way we wanted it to sound.

Q4. I always wonder how bands get together. Could you please tell me how you came together?   

It's a pretty lengthy story of how we all met but I will just start by saying that the four original members of the band had known each other for some time before we started the band.  Chris, Luke and I played in another band together but never toured.  When that band disbanded, Ryan was living near Victoria, B.C.  He came back to Saskatoon for a visit and ended up recording a bit with Chris and I.  He soon moved back to Saskatoon and we started playing.  We played for a few years, touring as much as we could before we met Geoff Hilhortst, who was on the road playing with a couple different groups.  We felt he would be a good fit, hired him for a tour and he has been with us ever since.

Q5. What would you say influences your writing of lyrics and music?  

I can't comment too much on Chris' lyrics but i know Ryan is influenced by story songs and murder ballads.  Stories about murder seem to really influence him.  On the music side of things i think we all draw on our favorite instrumentalists in the bands we love and it just ends up sounding the way it does.

Q6. Are you planning on coming on tour over the big pond to England? 

We are definitely planning on it!  We have been since we started touring.   Being a band of our size, having as much gear as we do, it isn't just as easy as hopping on a plane. We will get over there eventually, I promise.

Q7. Would you say being on tours and writing music effects your normal day life? 

Yes of course.  I tend to really value time at home more after being on the road.  I also appreciate being able to cook a meal that i want to eat.  The summers are especially busy so we've all missed a ton of weddings, fishing trips, family reunions etc.  

Q8. What would you say is the hardest thing to overcome as a band. I mean going on long tours must cause some strains? 

We've been on some long tours, and those are especially hard in the fall/winter months in Canada.  Lately we've tried to keep the tours to under 3 weeks in length (2 weeks if possible) which wears way less on our sanity.

Q9. If you could play any festival around the world, which one?

Whatever festival Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers are headlining.

Q10. What can we expect from The Deep Dark Woods next year? 

Lots of tour dates and festival dates in Canada, US and hopefully overseas. 

If you don’t own albums by The Deep Dark Woods yet, you are missing out. It’s bands like this that inspire the imagination and keep me blogging.

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