We are currently indepenedent
We are increasingly indignant.
“Who are you?” I ask.
We
call ourselves the Rocky Fortune because an angel once appeared to our
drummer the Flo as he lay slumbering in the AM one night.
According
to his account, a winged celestial figure descended from the heavens
with a shoulder-borne boombox and threw down some dope rhyme about a
hard-luck-but smooth-singin detective named Rocky Fortunato.
Flo seemed so grave about the whole encounter; that the name became a sticker.
Our
primetime picker, Ty, sometimes reminds me of Lindsay Buckingham
sometimes of Johnny Marr, but then all that will change and he'll
suddenly remind me of Wilt Chamberlain
Or some kind of 6' 4" musical mantis.
When he plucks that banjo though,
he reminds me of Jesus.
In addition to being a tambourine tyrant, and a velvet voice, our drummer, Flo can lay out the beat any way you need it.
I suspect he sees halos and auras.
Mr. Fletcher plays the organ like he was born with magic fingers.
We got a new kid. Says his name's Chris,
but I know it's really Rudolph.
You'll find his fingers most frequently foolin with the four fat ones (bass y'all) and doing so with deftness and defness.
Kid could cut a groove in a hailstorm.
Now the eye ogles inward, on me: the fox of fortune.
I say that words are just warmer numbers.
and I'm a grammathematician,
A dandelion farmer…
Basically rabble.
Our newest record is finished.
It's called “Back of the Beeside”
(Like a cassette with a stinger.)
It's all analog; tracked and mixed.
No computery-autotuney-binary –pointy-clicky-cut-paste-waveforms-and-why-are-we-wasting-our-time-with-this?”, shenanigans.
No sir.
We keep it real
from reel to reel
We
cut all the beds in seven days off the floor of Calgary's MCC studios
with our engineer and co-conspirator-Josh Gwilliam, then jumped a jet
with the tapes down to Austin, Texas for seven more days of mixing and
vocal sessions.
Enroute we endured 8 hours of thunderstorm delays, a cancelled flight, and a most grotesque seizure.
Don't mess with Texas indeed.
Upon
finally arriving intact in Austin we worked our first day at Cedar
Creek studios. It was an old ranchouse where Stevie Ray Vaughan and
Lonnie Mack used to trade licks in the 80's and where the Dixie Chicks
recorded their first record. It was a charming place buzzing with warm
Texan vibes so we cut vocal tracks for the whole day.
On our
second day down south, we left Austin and wended our way through the
countryside to Pedernales Cut n' Putt. This is Willie Nelson's studio
and 9-hole golf course. Our young mixing engineer Jacob Sciba, whose
aural talents have been employed by Grady, the Joel Plaskett Emergency,
Government Mule, and the Butthole Surfers, seemed to me, a younger
slimmer Rick Rubin with an eye that was apt to pop-a-wheelie at any
second.
He mixed like a madman for us, and we Love his work.
We met his right hand man Lovey,
his crew chief Poodie,
but we never did meet the elusive Willie Nelson.
Smoked some of his fine green though.
Poodie hooked us up.
The
Rocky Fortune are Craig John Florence, Tyler John Toews, Chris Rudolph
Van Berkel, Steve Fletcher and Todd Norman Gesshe. The Rocky Fortune
have been together officially for three years and lived together for 2
of those years in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They live apart now
sometimes but are far more together. They have opened for the
International Noise Conspiracy, Ani Difranco, Tricky Woo, C'mon, Cuff
the Duke, and Hawksley Workman. The band was recently featured on
MuchMusic's Going Coastal Spotlight on Calgary. They just bought a used
Quebecois school bus (une autobus), and are converting it to bio-diesel
for touring. On their new record "Back of the Beeside" you will hear
songs about educated ladies, uneducated men, and the hot black blood
the keeps us all greasy. You will hear guitars, synthesizers, banjoes,
and B-3. Bass, fiddle, a ton o tambourine, a flailing rope, some random
pipes, the wooden spoons, rhymin', stealin', and all of it with
feeling.
The Rocky Fortune will honor the beat anywhere with anyone.