Kitchener-Waterloo Record (Kitchener,
Cambridge,Waterloo, Guelph)
07/13/06
by JASON SCHNEIDER
Plugging in to America
8-man U.S. band finds kindred spirit in Kitchener's Rob Szabo and repays a visit
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When Kitchener native Rob Szabo was home recently to promote his excellent new album Like A Metaphor, he was most animated talking about one song from it, The Johnstown Kids. It was a tribute to the members of the underground rock community in the small town of Johnstown, Pa., where Szabo found himself playing a show one night.
So inspired by their love of music and courteousness toward him, Szabo wrote the song and is now hoping to introduce his audience to the scene's primary band, Endless Mike & The Beagle Club, by bringing them to Canada for the first time as his opening act.
Fronted by twin brothers Mike and Matt Miller, the band actually has a lot in common with Canada's current penchant for musical collectives, as it will consist of an eight-member line-up playing a wide variety of instruments. Mike says that when Szabo made the offer to do the shows, it was an opportunity they couldn't pass up.
"We actually met in Connecticut when we ended up on the same bill together," Mike says. "We did the usual CD exchange and I really liked his stuff, so when he asked if he could play in Pennsylvania sometime, I said of course, as long as he played the song Good Son, which was my favourite off his Late Bloomer EP."
Clips of Szabo's first trip to Johnstown are featured on Like A Metaphor's accompanying DVD, and from the footage it's easy to see how he immediately connected with the small-town DIY enthusiasm. Mike Miller expects to have a similar response when he first sets foot on Szabo's home turf.
"The only thing I'm a little concerned about is that our music is really rooted in the current political and social climate in the United States," he says. "Our new record, which Rob sings on, really deals with the whole notion here of everything being divided into either Republican or Democrat, but I think there's still enough personal stories in the songs that most people can relate to."
Mike says that The Beagle Club formed around his solo work and quickly blossomed into its own entity.
"It's really become something where I'm the only guy who needs to be there. Whenever we play, we just want it to be like a celebration of making music, no matter who's there or not. A lot of our messages are political, but at the same we want it to be fun, because that's what it should always be about."
The band will have its latest album in tow, entitled The Husky Tenor. Mike says it's the product of a year's worth of recording that saw the songs take on many different forms. That's translated to their live show, which requires the full line-up to faithfully reproduce many of the arrangements.
"We'll have cello and violin, accordian, banjo, and also a musical saw with us," he says. "We just decided to try any idea we could come up with, and most of the time it worked. Hopefully, it'll be something different that people in Kitchener haven't heard before, and we'll get some new people interested in what we're doing."
CONCERT
Who: Endless Mike & The Beagle Club; opens for Rob Szabo
Where: The Boathouse, Kitchener
Day: Wednesday
Time: 9 p.m.
Cost: $10
Phone: 519-745-7202
