Blackberry Wood
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | SELF
Music
Press
"The line-up is under wraps until spring 2013, which means festival goers will have to buy their tickets blind. However, rumoured performers include The Stone Roses, Radiohead, Plan B, The Vaccines, Professor Green and Blackberry Wood, according to eFestivals"
- The Week
“Blackberry Wood’s energy was as amazing as it was infectious. Their wild costumes, fantastic music, and incredible stage presence got everyone in the audience up and dancing through their set – start to finish. Based on their reputation I expected a lot, and they definitely lived up to it. I couldn’t be more pleased with having booked them.” - Clayton Brander, Director, Sunshine Music Festival
" Blackberry Wood' s frantic energy & love of the stage spread a contagious frenzy throughout our Saturday night festival audience! " - Shara Gustafson, Director, Robson Valley Music Festival
"Gave me the impression of a big modern inner-city version of the traditional hoedown in the neighbours barn kind of night. I felt something like what I imagine farmers felt when they hung up their overalls for the week and hustled down to the crossroads for a little long-awaited good ol' jumping around to shake out all the kinks of field work" - Kevin Potvin, Republic of East Vancouver
"Were they country, were they rock, were they polka, or were they punk? Were they burlesque? Or were they just plain fun? Yes!" - Linda Solomon, The Vancouver Observer
"Blackberry Wood – a motley crew of guitar, horns, and accordion led by Music Waste's originator Kris Mitchell – kept up the night's fun energy with a sound best described as bar mitzvah-meets-barn dance." - Streethawk Magazine
"High-powered acoustic dance music aptly describes the bohemian beat. It's a sound that works in clubs, parties, big festivals -- you name it." - Stuart Derdeyn, Vancouver Province
Headlining is Vancouver’s Blackberry Wood, who are bringing their original high-energy, body shakin’, foot stompin’ cabaret spin on a broad range of musical genres, with numerous instruments, vocal melodies and fantastical costumes.
No strangers to the area, the band has previously entertained locals in Vernon’s Spirit Square for the Civic Sounds summer concert series, as well at the Komasket Music Festival.
Since coming to town last, Blackberry Wood has released its third album, Strong Man vs. Russian Bears, spent the spring touring the U.K., and performed at numerous summer festivals. - Vernon Morning Star
Discography
"Strong Man vs. Russian Bears" released September 2012
“Travelling Horse Opry” released May 2010
"Blackberry Wood" released in Jan 2007
Photos
Bio
Since its creation in January of 2006, the musical melange of alt-country-gypsy-circus music that is Blackberry Wood has maintained a long-standing reputation as a vessel of infectious energy, ever-charged and ever-ready to transform any dance floor into a good ol-fashioned foot stompin' jamboree. They have recorded three albums to date: Blackberry Wood, in 2007, Traveling Horse Opry in 2010, and their most recent album Strong Man vs. Russian Bears, released in September of 2012. Their magnificent list of influences include Yard Dogs Road show, Old Crow Medicine show, Tom Waits, Gogol Bordello, The Tiger Lilies, The Sadies, and Drive by Truckers. They tour both domestically and internationally and have been featured in festivals as such as Glastonbury, Frostbite, Robson Valley, Artswells, Starbelly, and Islands Folk Fest. Whether they are at a bar, a party or headlining a festival, Blackberry wood transports audiences into a world of frenzied dancing and uninhibited fun anywhere and everywhere they plop themselves down.
The brainchild of band leader Kris Mitchell and Corinne Mundell, Blackberry Wood began in 2006 as a melting pot, containing in it the rich experiences of genre-bending only to be gained by a lifetime in the music business in Vancouver’s bohemian centre, Commercial Drive. The band quickly integrated themselves into the East-Vancouver community by winning a monthly night at the famed Café Deux Soleils, being featured in Vancouver’s famed “In the House Festival” as well as many other community events. The year 2008 saw Blackberry Wood take a massive step forward with their first tour in the UK, playing such famed events as the Antics Banquet Festival in Norwich England, the Mayor of London’s Thames Festival, and many other popular London club nights. 2008 also brought them to new Canadian ground, playing festivals like the Bonfire Music Festival and the Blizzard Festival. Since then Blackberry Wood has been playing a steady stream of Festivals and club shows.
Some highlights from the past couple years are: Glastonbury Festivals 2009 and 2010 where they graced the Club Dada stage in the Shangri-La area, only to be followed by a surprise set by Fame herself, Lady Gaga; a 50 day tour of the United Kingdom in 2010; discovering Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Yukon Territory through countless Western-Canadian tours from 2010-2012; and working with the amazing hit-songwriter-turned-producer Steven Drake of “The Odds” on Blackberry Wood’s album “Travelling Horse Opry” and latest album “Strong Man vs. Russian Bears” which have sold over 2500 copies off the stage and at small record stores and cafes.
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