Union Duke describes itself as two-fifths city, two-fifths country and one-fifth whiskey. The band just began a western Canadian tour, and will be in Yorkton on November 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the Anne Portnuff Theatre as part of the Yorkton Arts Council’s Stars for Saskatchewan series.
“Luckily most of the towns we hit so far fit with our branding, which is nice,” said band member Matt Warry-Smith.
The group is a live band more than anything, Warry-Smith explains, and that has influenced the recording of their latest album, Golden Days. The album was recorded live from the floor, a first for the group, and the reason they decided to try that out was because they wanted to get their live energy in the studio.
“We took some time and brought together an album that’s a collection of songs we’re really happy with and tells a good story.”
Recording an album is a challenge for the band, explains Warry-Smith, just because the studio environment encourages perfectionism and they want to get it right.
“It’s tough to do justice to your music. Once you get into the studio and everything’s under a microscope, you really start looking at things differently... It is difficult to bring your songs to that format, do them justice and have them all come out in a way that you’re very, very happy with. We got lucky that we have a team of people who we work with, and we’re a very democratic band... We’re very lucky that we work so well together and can go in the studio and still have fun with it.”
The band’s sound is one that “is purposely existing out of time,” Warry-Smith explains, which is one of the things he likes about folk music in general. They don’t limit themselves to any one era, as they can go from traditional to electric guitars within the same song.
“There’s no denying that we are living in 2017, so some of the modern feeling comes into it, but we try to make music and videos that exist a little bit out of time. We want to confuse people, keep people on their toes a little.”
A good expression of what the band wants to do is their latest video, for the song Heavy Wind, directed by long-time friend of the band Banner Isaac. Set in a seventies music show, the show goes off the rails when an enthusiastic elderly audience member takes to the stage and eventually dives off. The idea for the video came from Isaac, a Toronto-based director and a long-time friend of the group, and the band trusted Isaac completely. The old man in the video was even played by the director’s dad.
“One of the things we really try to aim for is the mixing of old and new, electric and acoustic. That embodies that spirit pretty well.”
The band has known each other for a long time. Warry-Smith, Ethan Smith, and Jim McDonald formed bands in high school together, and have been working together for 15 years, for example, and band member Will Staunton started the band a year and a half after it was formed. While touring together the band can get on each other’s nerves, as one would expect, Warry-Smith says that they’re incredibly close as a result.
“I frequently have to remind myself and tell other people that I’m so, so fortunate to have found people when I was so young who were so like-minded and wanted to do the same thing as me and wanted to put in the work... It’s impossible to imagine doing it without them.”
The newest band member – who started with the group six years ago – is Rob McLaren, who is from Red Deer and Warry-Smith notes that when they were auditioning him, they noticed he was someone they wanted to hang out with, important because they would spend so many hours in close quarters. Warry-Smith jokes that he’s also their license to play country and folk.
“I’m born and raised in Toronto, people say who the hell do you think you are playing country music, but I say ‘well I’m friends with Rob.’”
Not everyone would do a tour in November in Western Canada, but as they consider themselves a live band first and foremost, Warry-Smith notes that they will tour any time, anywhere, and when planning the tour with OSAC they were more than happy to play the province.
“We’re not afraid of a little snow, it’s not a problem for us.”
Touring brings the band to all sorts of places they never expected to visit, and that’s also why they like it, Warry-Smith explains.
“We’ve toured Canada a lot, coast to coast, every single province, tons and tons of small towns. Meeting people all over the place, hearing their stories and realizing that people in tiny, tiny towns are people just like they are in big, big cities, they just have different stories and different lives. Experiencing all of that is one of the things I count myself as super, super lucky to be a musician, so I can experience all those things.”
