The Fabulous Bee Feeders

The Fabulous Bee Feeders • With Sallys Krackers and Radiovacana • Sidetrack Café • Mon, Dec 26 (8 pm) At this time of year, most mainstream American music publications tend to take a look back at the so-called “Year in Music,” ostensibly trying to identify and catalogue the ever-changing face of modern music with what is, in reality, a desperate attempt to fill issues at a time of the year when nothing seems to be happening.

This year, most of these corporate rags are making at least passing mention of some kind of vaguely defined Canadian-collective-folky-romantic-anthemic movement percolating, and, to be fair, they’re kind of on to something, albeit something pretty obvious: 2005 belonged to bands like the Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene, large ensembles with varying lineups who play difficult to classify yet extremely accessible pop. Edmonton’s the Fabulous Beefeeders don’t tend to get mentioned in the same breath as these groups, and while they certainly don’t think of themselves as sounding anything like their Montreal- and Toronto-based contemporaries, they do see some striking similarities.

“All these people are mentioning how much they enjoy Broken Social Scene because it’s a bunch of different artists working collaboratively, but that’s pretty much what we’ve been doing for years,” says Bee Feeders frontman Aldon Brewer. Since forming in 1997, the sextet has pursued a bigger sound than most local rock acts, and with so many members collaboration and lineup variations are the norm—something Brewer sees as adding another dimension to the Bee Feeders’ sound.

“Because there’s so many of us, the lineup varies a bit,” he explains, “so no matter what happens or no matter who the personnel might be on any given night, the Bee Feeders are going to put on a wicked show.”

In addition to focusing on their circus-like live show, the Bee Feeders are also eager to return to the studio, hoping to record a followup to last year’s Proto Mojo at Edmonton’s Black Box studios in time for an early February release. Until then, though, Beefeeder’s fans will have to be content with seeing how the big band intends to bring their show to the smallish stage of the Sidetrack this Boxing Day, although Brewer is quick to point out that the Beefeeders have certainly played smaller.

“The Sidetrack stage isn’t as small as some we’ve squeezed ourselves onto,” he relates. “Sometimes we might have had like two or three square feet each, you know, so all my dance moves get cut from the act and the keyboard player gets jammed in a corner and the drummer goes down to a three-piece kit and whatnot.”

But the show must go on, right? “It’s all about rolling with the punches,” Brewer laughs. V

- Vue Weekly

FEEDERS DIGEST
By LEAH COLLINS

Fabulous Bee Feeders frontman wants his band’s live show to be fabulous too

But Brewer wasn’t born with a mic in his hand; originally recruited by his brother Sean to bring up the rear on drums, Brewer found himself craving centre stage while keeping time for the group. “I was playing drums for a while,” he says, “and then I realized that a really important factor in a band is someone who can connect with an audience, someone who’s always there looking at them and telling them what to do—‘Dance, now, dance! Get moving, you crazy kids!’ So I said, ‘We need a frontman, and I think I’m going to be that frontman.’ I think a lot of that was my old theatre background coming up and going, ‘I want to be in the spotlight, and I want to be at the front of the stage just enjoying it.’”

Indeed, Brewer’s background (he was the founder of a Stony Plain theatre troupe and has accumulated plenty of improv and theatre sports experience) gave the group more than an energetic frontman; it also gave the Bee Feeders a livelier approach to their performance. The one-time Grateful Dead-style jam band has slowly evolved into a P-Funk-inspired party group complete with light shows and costumes in the works.

While the Bee Feeders’ showmanship has improved, Brewer laments that not enough bands consider the sensory potential of a live show. “Musicians and actors can kind of teach each other something,” he says. “Musicians always know that they’re being listened to but they’re never really aware that they’re being watched. I’ve seen so many bands; you go see them and there’s really nothing going on. Their music is great, it sounds awesome, but when you’re at a show, it’s like a total sensory experience apart from just going and listening—which is the main reason you go, because it is music, after all. But let’s face it: human beings, we’re visual creatures, we like things to look at.”

Brewer is more than happy to give the audience some rock spectacle—if he had the means, he says, the Bee Feeders would be performing entire rock operas with acts, intermissions and costume changes. And while he loves being in a theatrical rock band, Brewer wouldn’t want to go back to the theatre; collaborating with like-minded artists such as his bandmates was tougher, he says, as an actor.

“I often say that I quit being an actor because I couldn’t stand actors and I like musicians a whole lot better,” Brewer says jokingly, careful to add that he doesn’t include his actor buddies in that generalization. “I do find, and this is in a general sense, but I find that actors are very much self-absorbed. It’s all about their performance, it’s all about what they did compared to everybody else. Whereas I think with musicians, it’s really difficult to be a solo musician because you have to play everything, you have to take care of the whole nine yards. When I’m in a band with six people, I can lay back as the lead vocalist, and maybe just shake my tambourine for a minute or two while somebody else takes the spotlight and is the number one. It’s really about the ensemble; it’s all about the whole band and how the whole thing comes together as a show.”





- Vue Weekly

Proto Mojo deserves to be heard.
One hour on the nose, the CD lures the listener into a sprawling, psychedelic-fed, long strange trip through country-rock, fuzz-pop, reggae, funk, and pretty, late-era Beatles-esque semi-balladry, gleefully dragging the adventuresome spirit of the late-’60s with them. Informed by mind blowing, sing-a-long lyrics packed with myriad cultural reference points and raw sentimentality, it’s a fun, amusement-park ride of a record for those who have affection for long-winded jamming and epic songs.

Brewer notes that they do keep their gigs looser experiences, though. "No two shows are alike–we’re not a formula band. Usually, I don’t get set list until I am on stage. We don’t even rehearse a ‘set’–just songs."

"There’s a morph taking place with our sound, overall. We’re moving away from long jam-hippie-rock towards a more urban feel. Our new material is more danceable." Brewer laughs, "We’re far from exclusively psychedelic, anyways–it takes too much out of you to try to be trippy all the time."

CHRISTA O’KEEFE
- Copyright ©2005 SEE Magazine

Come to the honeycomb hideout

Drawing on the awesome power of ’70s rock and the pop sensibilities of the ’60s, the Fabulous Bee Feeders want to pour sweet, sweet honey into your ear.

...Evolved into an epic, ass-shaking musical machine. “There is still definitely an improvised aspect to our stage show in that you never really know what we’re gonna do or say or anything like that,” says lead singer Aldon Brewer. “We’re always trying to throw a monkey wrench into everyone’s expectations. We’re honing the sound in to something that’s a little more danceable, a little more funky. A big funk orchestra, or something like that.

With an eye for flair and a killer sound to back it up, the Bee Feeders are part of a new generation of Edmonton bands trying to lure fans back on the dancefloor and keep them there. “There’s definitely a move in live music to more of a dancing, toe-tapping, party atmosphere as opposed to just going out and having a soundtrack to get hammered to,” Brewer says. “We want to get people involved—it’s a show, right? I grew up in a theatre tradition. I didn’t start with music; I started with theatre, so I always approach a show as a show. You gotta make it entertaining for people to make it memorable.”


- VUE Weekly