Great Big Sea: Revelling
in the Tunes They Love
Great Big Sea is one of Canada's best-selling artists with well over one million records sold in Canada since 1993.
Alan Doyle, Sean McCann and Bob Hallett are best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year-old Irish, English, and French heritage.
Based in St. John's, the Juno-nominated band fuses Newfoundland traditional music with modern pop in a crowd-pleasing formula both heartfelt and vital. A pure force of nature - much like the ocean surge they take their name from.
In late 2005, they released their long-awaited "traditional" album, The Hard and the Easy, on which they recorded their favourite Newfoundland party songs. The title of the album comes from a line of the song Tickle Cove Pond, one of two songs on the album about a horse falling through ice.
Also in late 2005, Great Big Sea released its first podcast, with clips of the band bantering back and forth in the studio mixed with various songs by them and other artists. They have since released several podcasts.
Great Big Sea also performs original material and their blend of instruments like mandolin, bodhran, fiddle, and concertina, along with their vocal harmonies, revel in the melodies they create and the Newfoundland tunes they love. Their sound bellows joy.
Band leader Alan Doyle said this is the music that they grew up with and the music they learned as children. Their appetite for it is genuine. "There were a thousand amazing songs in our backyards," said Alan.
Fans may recall that on the band's last visit to British Columbia in February 2006, they made the six o'clock news when their tour bus tipped on its side into a ditch on the Trans-Canada Highway, about 80 kilometres east of Vancouver near Abbotsford. Their driver suffered minor head injuries, but everyone in the band was unhurt.
The band went on to continue their tour, including their performance that evening at The Centre for Performing Arts in Vancouver where they delivered their usual high-energy performance to a jubilant crowd just hours after the accident.
The band is back on tour this year, with two shows scheduled for the Lower Mainland. Tickets are now on sale to see Great Big Sea on November 2 at the Red Robinson Show Theatre in Coquitlam and on November 3 at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond. Call Ticketmaster at (604) 280-4444 or visit: www.ticketmaster.ca to book online.
ALAN DOYLE, lead singer of the popular band Great Big Sea from Newfoundland.
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