The Grid Pickers are back with a new CD release; ‘Cheap Kazoos & Bad Tattoos’.
The Grid Pickers are the husband and wife duo of Mike and Rachel McKerracher who are currently rooted in Buchanan.
“Right now we live south of Buchanan on a piece of land, and before that we kind of floated around, looking for a place to set up and raise our family,” said Mike, who added he “was born in Alberta, but haven’t lived there since my teens.”
Rachel said it was a similar story for her.
“I have a similar situation, I was born and raised in Southern Ontario but haven’t lived there for over 10-years now,” she said. “Where a person is born and where they belong are certainly different things.”
The couple came together as both were exploring music through solo careers.
“I was living in a big house that had show’s in the basement to host touring and local bands, and Mike came through on tour as a solo act, ‘Haybale’,” recalled Rachel. “We started jamming together and it sounded so good, the rest is history. It is surprisingly hard to find a person to play music with where you compliment each other’s style.”
“We met back in 2007, and at first had a band with another member, ‘Thick as Thieves’,” continued Mike. “Eventually we branched off to form The Grid Pickers in 2009.”
In 2014 the duo released ’Shack Wacky’, recorded in their home, a process repeated with the new effort.
“It was the same for sure, we live off grid with a small solar setup so it was the generator that powered our recording equipment,” said Rachel. “We recorded the whole thing over the winter, taking turns watching the kids or taking them in to town when they got too loud. We are very meticulous in our recording process so it does take a while, but the finished product is very polished and professional for being do-it-yourself.
“I’d like to say it was smoother, but the way that we choose to live and record our music is full of hurdles and just like any project it feels good to conquer them,” continued Mike. “Maybe the winter was a bit milder. That always helps.”
“We really focused our efforts this time, and worked really hard,” added Rachel.
So what style of music will you find on ‘Cheap Kazoos & Bad Tattoos’?
“We get asked this a lot, and it’s tough to answer,” said Mike. “We have a lot of influences from old-time music, as well as folk, bluegrass, country, celtic and ragtime.
“Sometimes we put a little bit of a darker spin on things and I have heard us described as folk noir.
“We take bits and pieces of the things we like from every genre, like old time harmonies and celtic fiddling and make it our own,” added Rachel. “It’s nice to have tradition in music, and it’s also nice to reinvent it.”
In terms of material Mike said they simply look at life, and write about that.
“The inspiration for all of our music is real life,” he said. “We like to go back to the basics and sing about our personal past and present.
“We also remade a few older songs on the new album that were never recorded and added a couple cover songs that we like to play.”
In terms of process writing in a team effort for The Grid Pickers.
“Mike usually has a riff and some lyrics floating around in his head, and then we collaborate and I write my part to it,” said Rachel. “It works for us because Mike is really gifted at lyric writing, and I find it easier to come up with my part when there is something already started. The blank slate intimidates me!”
The process has remained rather constant through the two recent albums.
“We write music the same way always because it works,” said Rachel. “If anything this album came to fruition a lot faster than our other album ‘Shack Wacky’. I think we have really put a focus on music lately and put other projects on the back burner for now.”
Mike said it’s a case of staying in tune with their music,
“We spent a lot of time jamming and just being connected to our instruments,” he said. “We had to juggle our days with all of the other stuff going on and set aside specific times for music.”
The actual material on the new release is a mix of older material brought back to the forefront, and some new efforts mixed in.
“Some of the songs are ones we’ve been playing for years and some are brand new,” said Rachel.
“‘Tinfoil Top Hat’ for example is a brand new song we made a music video to (https://youtu.be/rGkkIddWK0Y), it was fun to shoot and has helped to promote the album a lot.
“We have gotten a lot better at our instruments and I have noticed songs coming along easier and sounding better.”
And the duo likes the development they hear with the new release.
“I am very happy with it,” said Rachel. “We really wouldn’t put out anything we weren’t happy with, because a recording is forever, you can’t go back and change things if you wanted to.”
“I think the style of the new album is similar but the feel is a bit different,” said Mike. “We have been playing this type of music for a long time so it will always be the same style, but there will always be a natural evolution that happens.
“Our new songs are becoming more dynamic. Like the song ‘Sun Dogs’ that has slow parts, fast parts, picking parts and stomping parts.”
“This album feels more upbeat to me in general, all the songs you can dance to,” agreed Rachel.
And of course there are gazoos, among a number of instruments carrying the sound on the new disk.
“We like to change instruments often because we are just a duo and it keeps things fresh and exciting for us as well as our audience,” said Rachel. “It’s like getting a full band with two people.”
“The instruments we bring on stage are guitar, fiddle, five-string banjo, tenor banjo, baritone ukulele, and dobro,” added Mike.
“And yes the rumours are true I play the kazoo.”
Now The Grid Pickers hit the road to support ‘Cheap Kazoos & Bad Tattoos’.
“We will be touring all of Western Canada this summer, with the help of a grant from Creative Saskatchewan,” said Rachel. “It has been a while since we have hit the road with our music, but our recent success with the CBC Searchlight Contest and making Top-10 in Saskatchewan has really helped to promote the tour.”
“We are playing the All Folk’d Up Festival July 3-6 here in Saskatchewan, and are really looking forward to it,” added Mike. “We are also playing a few festivals in BC and have had good reception there.
“It is really exciting for us to play for these new fans live. The university charts all over the country have picked up on our music too!”
The new disk is available online at www.thegridpickers.bandcamp.com, and at Fuzztone Music in Yorkton.
