Sep. 10, 2008 - Issue #673: Sex in the City 2008
Surefire Machine
Surefire Machine looks to the slopes ahead
“There’s always the raw rock ‘n’ roll that comes back. That’s where I feel we are at—a big rock ‘n’ roll resurgence, with bands like Priestess, and stuff like that,” guitarist Zeke says. “I love it. I like to check my problems at the door when I go to a rock show, you know. I don’t go to listen to somebody whine. I like to hear the songs about driving cars and women, and drinking and having a good time. That’s what we do.”
It probably comes as no surprise, then, that it was watching old footage of Jimi Hendrix that caught a young Zeke’s attention. But it wasn’t until moving to Golden, BC in 2000 and starting a band, with the guys who eventually went on to form Disaster Man, that he realized he might actually have a future in music.
Together with vocalist and guitarist Rail Road Wilson, the pair formed TarBender, doing the ski-town circuit before heading out to Toronto to find a rhythm section and the big times.
“That was the decision, you know?” Zeke says. “If we’re going to do this, let’s do it properly. Let’s not just be stuck here—not necessarily stuck, because we love Golden and stuff. It’s just, where are we going to go if we’re pursuing music? What are we going to do out of Golden really effectively?”
After spending most of his life in the Rockies—Zeke was born and raised in Banff—Toronto was a bit of shocker.
“It was definitely different, but it’s an amazing place because there’s so much to do and the food’s great,” he explains. “But I lived outside of Toronto for most of my time there. I was actually living in a barn, just north of Toronto in Caledon, that’s where we were living. So a good redneck like me, I fit in. The city was definitely an eye-opener, but the playing there has been great.”
Zeke and Wilson joined forces with bassist Bones Bowman and drummer Jonny Fantastic, both formerly of Banned from Caledon, and Surefire Machine revved to life. Most recently, the band has been blasting down the country’s highways with a stack of new CDs—a self-titled debut—holding down the gas pedal.
They need something to help them drive, after all. When the band returns to Toronto in the fall, it will have travelled from coast to coast twice in four or five months. And Zeke wants to make sure he’s ready to do some winter touring in the Rockies and Kootenays.
“I love doing the ski-hill tours. That’s what we used to do, so it would be good to get back out here. I love ski towns, man. Everywhere you go, you know somebody,” he says. “I gotta get some skiing in too, man. It’s been two years off, just two years that I’ve dedicated just full time to this.”
There is only rock ‘n’ roll. V
Thu, Sep 18 (8 pm)
Surefire Machine
The Taphouse, St Albert, $8
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