Back on home soil

The Great Lake Swimmers have travelled the globe, but their In The Soil concert Friday at Brock marks a return to their Niagara roots.

By HANS NIEDERMAIR, SPECIAL TO THE STANDARD

The St. Catharines Standard
Thursday April 22 2010

Things appear to be going swimmingly for Tony Dekker and his bandmates.

When they hit the stage at Brock University's Sean O'Sullivan theatre Friday night as the headliners of the In the Soil Festival, the Great Lake Swimmers will be fresh off of performing at the Juno Awards show in St. John's last weekend.

The band will also be considerably closer to home following an extensive touring schedule that included stops in China in January.
The fact that they're from around here could be gleaned from the band's moniker.

"I guess it's a bit of a geographical reference to where most of us grew up," Dekker told The Standard. "I grew up on the shores of Lake Erie in Wainfleet, and I used to go to school in London (Ont.), and visited Lake Huron quite a bit.

"Now we're living in Toronto, on Lake Ontario, and it all kind of makes sense, coming from that geographical pocket."

The Great Lake Swimmers are the brainchild of Dekker, who attended Lakeshore High School in Port Colborne. The Swimmers' first full-length album was a self-titled 2003 release.

"It basically started as a solo project. The first album was basically stripped down with a few musicians helping out," Dekker said. "In 2004 or 2005, I started putting a band together, which was always my vision."

After a few personnel changes over the years, the Swimmers -- whose performance of Pulling on a Line at the Junos marked their first gig on nationally broadcast television -- include Dekker on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Bret Higgins on the upright bass, Miranda Mulholland on violin and backup vocals, Erik Arnesen on banjo and electric guitar, and Greg Millson on drums and percussion.

"We've tightened up as a pretty solid lineup," Dekker said. "I like to think it's sort of a slow progression. It's developed more into a band sound and it's a little more flushed out. It's more of a collaborative effort."

That effort earned their fourth full-length album, The Lost Channels, a nomination as Canada's best roots and traditional album of 2009, according to the Juno judging panel.

"We've kind of stepped up things on the latest album, so we can safely call ourselves a folk rock band," Dekker said. "Side A is more of a folk rock sound, whereas side B is more of a quieter sound, which is more of what Great Lake Swimmers listeners expect from us."

The Lost Channels was recorded on the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River, with tracks laid down in such acoustically diverse locales as Singer Castle on Dark Island and St. Brendan's Church in Rockport.

The Swimmers are known for choosing unique recording spaces, and followed up Lost Channels with an EP called The Legion Sessions, which was released last weekend.

"The Legion Sessions are songs from the Lost Channels. We recorded them acoustically in a legion hall in Toronto," Dekker said. "They turned out so well that we decided to record them as an EP."

While Dekker's often soft-spoken, melodic vocals may remind some listeners of Neil Young, the primary influence for the band's songwriter is decidedly more baritone.

"Leonard Cohen has definitely been a great guiding light in songwriting," Dekker said. "He's one of the greats of Canadian songwriting."

Like Cohen, the Great Lake Swimmers have earned numerous accolades and stellar reviews from major international publications, but you're unlikely to find them on mainstream radio.

"We have a really great underground following," Dekker said. "I'm happy with the small underground audience that we have. I think it's great because we can kind of organically grow our band in a grassroots way, rather than come off as a flash in the pan.

"Our audience is sort of one that sticks with us."

The Swimmers' Niagara fanbase is likely aware that it's been a while since the band has played here, with local gigs including appearances at the SCENE Festival a few years back.

"I grew up playing in St. Catharines on St. Paul Street all throughout my high school years, my formative years," Dekker said. "But we haven't been back for a while, so we're very excited to be playing the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre (Friday). It's nice to do something closer to home, having come off of big extended tours."

While Sunday's Juno nomination will surely fuel a surge in sales of The Lost Channels, the Swimmers won't be resting on their laurels, with plenty of touring on tap for the upcoming months, including the Winnipeg Jazz Festival and the Meadowgrass Festival in Colorado Springs.

And Dekker's pen is unlikely to remain sheathed for long.

"There's a lot of life left in The Lost Channels, but I'm sort of starting to get the itch again to start something new with the band."

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IN THE SOIL

Niagara's Homegrown Arts Festival

WHAT:Great Lake Swimmers, Jesse T. Reid, The High Wire String Band, Climbing Vines.

WHERE:Brock University, Sean O'Sullvian Theatre

WHEN:Friday April 23, starts 7:30 p.m.

TICKETS:Limited tickets available, $20. 905-688-5550, ext. 3257.

OTHER IN THE SOIL EVENTS:

Kerri Michalica, Shawnee Lynn Talbot, The Sweet Peas, L-A Tunes. Strega Cafe, tonight, 7 p.m. -10 p.m.

Northern Primitive, Atom Division, Elk, Hoas Hoas, Old World Vulture. Mansion House, tonight, starts 8:30 p.m.

Fred Speck's Camp Combo, The Black Flies, The KaC Himself, Jake & Jack, The Overfiend. The Mikado, Saturday April 24, 8 p.m. -midnight.

Visit inthesoil.on.cafor more information

Article ID# 2545623