James McKenty & The Spades - Jan 5 in Kingston!

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This show is mega-awesome. Seriously.

This Thursday, January 5, Rock Crew Productions and Elixir Nightclub present James McKenty & The Spades with special guests Kris Ward and Mississippi Grover. Tickets are $6 at the door, or in advance at www.rockcrew.ca

Relying on craft, not gimmick, James McKenty and The Spades are a high-energy band who draw musical inspiration from classic rock’n'roll and infuse it with a youthful vibrancy which is all their own. Formed in 2003, the trio of James McKenty (vox/guitar), Winchester Street (drums), and Chachi Robichaud (bass) deliver a solid, vigorous live show which excites audiences and critics across the country. Blending infectious rhythms, vocal harmonies, and skilful, soaring guitar to create a seamless sound which belies their age. With producer Gord Sinclair (Tragically Hip), JMATS worked on capturing a live, raw sound at The Hip's Bathouse Studio for their debut album "Burning on Fumes," released August of 2004.

Growing up out of the fertile music community of Peterborough, Ontario, the band's members have played and recorded with some of Canada's leading musicians, including The Sadies, The Silver Hearts, and The Tragically Hip. They are influenced by the music which surrounds them; their community and friends as well as the larger Canadian scene. JMATS in 2004 opened for The Tragically Hip twice playing in front of crowds of 15,000+ in Sarnia and also being part of "Across The Causeway" in Kingston! As well as opening for The Hip, JMATS have shared bills with such Great Canadian artists such as Matt Mays, Cuff The Duke, Jim Cuddy, Matthew Barber, Matthew Good Band, Wide Mouth Mason, Joel Plaskett, Brothers in Stereo, The Golden Dogs, The Sadies, The Trews, Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir, April Wine and international artists Seether and The Blind Boys of Alabama.

The simplest of questions can sometimes lead to the most complex of answers. In this case 22 year old Ottawa born singer-songwriter Kris Ward asks the question, Why is Everybody, Anybody? in fact it is the title to his debut album. Released in May of 2005, this disc contains 10 eclectic songs that show a singer and songwriter attempting to discover reasons for the way people are. The album deals with a wide variety of themes ranging from love and relationships to politics. In fact this album sounds a lot like someone in their mid-20’s attempting to discover just who they are and their place in this often confusing and frustrating world.

The journey began in 1998 when Ward, then 16 purchased his first guitar. Something as simple as a music video was able to permeate the rough skin of a then-teenager and convince him to pick up his guitar and look at the world through new eyes and with a new purpose - do something with your life that you will love to do every minute of every day - he chose to take the route of 'musician'. Ward's headphones travelled across the pond to the UK where he stumbled upon bands such as Oasis, the Stereophonics, Doves and the Verve - bands that had figuratively written the book on modern-brit rock. Taking notes and writing lines, Ward took the brilliant melodies, ringing guitars, and pounding drums with him back across the water and into his own world he had now created.

For the past 6 years, Kris has toiled through the Ottawa music scene, bridging the gap between british rock and indie rock. Working with criticially-acclaimed producer Dave Draves (Kathleen Edwards, Jim Bryson, Kepler) at Little Bullhorn Productions, Ward has created an album that could not only turn his life around on a dime, but the way the entire world views Canadian music.

During the late '90s, after moving back east from Vancouver, I decided to stay in Ottawa for awhile. I lived in a bachelor pad at the back of a house in which some of my friends also resided. While sitting in my basement I heard two of my friends/neighbours, Darrell and Tim, start to mess around on guitar and drums respectively; they were creating this raunchy, swampy garage rock that I could hear as clearly as if I was sitting in the next room, which essentially I was. One day, they asked me if I'd like to play harmonica for a song or two – I said, “Sure!†The next thing I knew, I was playing accordion on a couple tunes, and pretty soon they'd asked me to play organ for the rest of 'em, and “Mississippi Grover†Watson had become a full-time Desecrator.

Oh yeah, that's what we were called, just in case you were wondering – The Desecrators. A raucous, loud and drunken band, we would whip the crowd into a frenzy (people actually stopped talking and watched us when we played at the El Mocambo in Toronto!), incorporating Darrell's frothing sermon intros, guest percussionists, and of course, fire into our sets. Like all great things, The Desecrators eventually decided to call it a day, and we all moved on to other musical projects – Darrell's now in the Golden Famile, Tim's in The Glads, and I've been doing a live version of The Orange Alabaster Mushroom for a few years now.

Last September, we got back together, adding Nat (Glads) on second guitar, to do a “reunion†show at the Dominion Tavern in Ottawa. I had such a great time – maybe this is the Labatt 50 talking – that I wished it wasn't just a reunion gig. When I got back home, I started to put together a set of “Desecrators-esque†songs, finishing off a few unwritten ones, pulling ancient ones out of my felt hat, and filling it out with the odd Link Wray or Little Willie John cover. In February, I picked up a second kick drum pedal, and attached it to my snare drum, allowing me to play both bass and snare drums with my feet. Thus, Mississippi Grover was born again as a one-man-band. Yeah, I know what you're saying: everone's doing that these days. But you see, I live in the country, so bandmates are few and far between, let alone ones who would understand the swampy garage/broken blues stuff I have in mind. Plus, it's quite a bit of a challenge for me to play drums and guitar, and sing at the same time – it's sorta like speaking English while writing in Mandarin Chinese, or playing the accordion. I dig that kind of challenge.

My first one-man-band gig happened in mid-May of this year, after practising for only a couple of months, opening for Merle Knurling & The Silent K up in Ottawa. It was sloppy, I had technical difficulties coming out my wazoo, but damn, it was fun.

Anyway, Mississippi Grover is available, cheap, for your show, houseparty, barmitzvah, whatever - drop me an email. I'm a one-man travelling medicine show, and my tonic is sonic, baby!

www.thespades.ca

www.krisward.com

www.theoam.com/mississippigrover

www.elixirnightclub.com