Two of the Valley’s local artists are being recognized for their songwriting talents.
The Fire Coulee Bandits and Joe Vickers are finalists in the Calgary Folk Festival’s songwriting competition. The Bandits for their song Old Willie and Vickers for Into the Darkness.
Into the Darkness is the first track in Vickers' newest album, “Valley Home” made for the mining centennial. The song was inspired by Vickers' great grandfather and many of the miners who came to the Valley and tells the story of an immigrant who arrives in Canada, makes his way out west to work in the coal mines.
Vickers is quite excited the song was selected, especially considering he had poured so much into making the album.
This will be the first solo appearance by Vickers in the competition, he had been in it twice before as part of Audio Rocketry.
Vickers has also been selected to participate in a prestigious songwriting workshop run by Bill Henderson, of Chilliwack fame, and Roy Forbes.
For the Bandits, this will be their first original song submitted to any competition.
“Now that we’ve started to record our original material, we thought it would be nice to enter some of it into competition,” said Mike Dooley, who plays acoustic guitar. “To have a song chosen and our work recognized as a finalist is a huge honour.”
Old Willie was written by lead vocalist and guitar Layne Syvertsen several years ago. The song is about a man who lives on the road and is going through some hardship. It was also influenced by the Bandits' trip to Fernie, B.C., to play a St. Patricks Day show several years ago.
When developing their original material, the Bandits wanted the song on their first album.
“It was something that we were playing around with and we knew we wanted to adapt it for the whole band,” said Dooley. “The whole point of the song is that he’s going to keep going no matter what.”
The Bandits started their career rocking the classic tunes, but have been increasing their repetoire of originals songs to the point where they are working on their first album.
The Bandits have also been attracting greater attention from out of town.
“We’re starting to get a lot of attention outside of Drumheller, which is cool,” said Dooley. “We enjoy going out and playing for new crowds, but we love our Drumheller fans who come out and support us. We really appreciate that.”
Both Vickers and the Fire Coulee Bandits will be playing their respective songs at the Ship and Anchor in Calgary on Saturday, May 5. Fans are more than welcome to come explained Dooley.
“Come out and support us on May 5 and listen to some great music.”