Sean Pinchin鈥檚 hitting the road, playing shows and peddling his new blues album, Rust Bucket.
鈥淭his tour is like a personal journey鈥攖hree weeks of taking my rust bucket guitar and my rust bucket van and and selling Rust Bucket to people,鈥� he said from his home in Toronto.
Pinchin, who has four other albums under his belt as a folk-rock artist, said this album was an evolution into the blues sound that he鈥檚 always loved and played, but never recorded.
鈥淚鈥檝e been a blues musician for the last 12 years, playing in Toronto, but as a songwriter, the people that I was touring with and the artists I was doing shows with, well, there just weren鈥檛 a lot of blues players in my scene, so to speak.
鈥淏ut in this recording, I was just trying to write a blues album.
鈥淚鈥檓 using my favourite guitars鈥擨 got rid of everything that was conventional鈥擨鈥檓 using an old mid-30s National steel guitar with a duct tape guitar pick and angry little guitar amps.鈥�
In Toronto, Pinchin plays with a five-piece band, but on this three-week tour, which will take him from Moose Jaw, Sask. to Thunder Bay, Ont, with stops throughout Alberta, he鈥檒l be playing alone, utilizing a kick board to get 鈥渁 nice beat going.鈥�
鈥淭his tour will sort of shed some light on solo versus band,鈥� he said, noting that although he loves to play solo, his band helps him where he struggles.
鈥淪inging鈥檚 always been the thing that I鈥檓 chasing. Guitar was always the easiest thing, so it鈥檚 nice to have an arsenal of voices.
鈥淓mma-Lee from Toronto sings live with me and another singer called Jessica Mitchell, so I have this sort of powerhouse female backup section, which is really a lot of fun for me.鈥�
Rust Bucket, which hosts a whole cast of Toronto musicians, including Adam Warner on drums, Mark McIntyre on bass, Steve Strongman on guitar and harmonica and Emma-Lee on backups, is a 10-track album that tells stories of Pinchin鈥檚 personal struggles and triumphs living with depression.
The result is a collection of songs that range from moody to evocative.
Although the album hasn鈥檛 yet been released, Pinchin will be performing his new tunes, along with some old ones, during his 15-stop tour.
鈥淚鈥檒l be playing the entire album,鈥� he said, noting that he鈥檒l also be selling download cards for the album.
To learn more about Pinchin, visit his website at seanpinchin.com.
Nicole Veerman
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