Nick Ferrio & His Feelings

Those old country Feelings
By: Justin Brake Oct 3, 2012

Nick Ferrio & His Feelings are pushing the envelope with a debut album that infuses 50s-style honky tonk with contemporary lyrical observations of relationships, murder trials and life on the road in a traveling band. They've made landfall and are here for a four-day tour of the Island.

Nick Ferrio’s got a lot of feelings. And he likes to cultivate them, take them into the studio and on the road. In fact, they’re crossing the Island right now.

The Peterborough-based singer-songwriter and country-folk musician is no stranger to Newfoundland; he’s visited a number of times in recent years with various musical projects, including The Burning Hell and The Kindness Killers. This time he’s bringing his own band and their debut self-titled album for a short tour of the island, which kicks off tonight in Corner Brook before continuing on to St. John’s and Port Rexton.

Ferrio’s new project might be of interest to country music listeners who find themselves conflicted over where the genre’s roots have grown, or over the disconnect between their own life experience and the lyrical substance of today’s ‘hot country’.

Enter ‘Nick Ferrio and His Feelings’—Ryan Perks, Emmott Clancy, Liam Wilson and Sarah Theobald—and their personalized approach to channeling an old tradition.

Country, with a modern ‘twang’

“I’ve always been writing songs that are in the vein of country music or folk music,” Ferrio explains on the phone. “I grew up listening to that stuff, but also to punk rock and 90s rap and hip hop, which seems to be like most Ontario kids,” he laughs.

“I first remember hearing people like Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell and George Jones, and then hearing people like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and Towns Van Zandt. The first time I heard Hank I was cutting lawns with this guy, and he was driving an old pickup truck and he turned up a song that came on the radio … and it blew me away. It sounded like an atom bomb had gone off in my head or something — it was a revelation.

“And I played in a lot of different bands, but I always found country music to be really exciting and really interesting, especially the songwriting in the 60s and 70s. I find it to be some of the best songwriting. And that’s what draws me to music in the first place — the lyrical component.

Over the years Ferrio has played in his fair share of touring bands, including the now-St. John’s-based group The Burning Hell, which just spent the summer touring Europe, recording an album and breaking a world record after playing 10 shows in 10 countries in 24 hours. But it’s that time on the road that inspired Ferrio’s own creative output, which just happened to emerge in the form of twangy ballads with a heavy second generation country music influence.

Road inspiration

“I worked on these songs two summers ago on tour with The Burning Hell … (and) before the show or after the show I’d be working on my own stuff with the goal of coming home and putting together a band,” he recalls. “I had the people I wanted to be playing with in mind. And it’s not so much a project with a backup band; it actually functions like a real band would.”

“Kolnischer Park” was penned in Germany on that 2011 tour and recounts a Berlin city park where two large, captive bears are on display a pen: “I just brought my little guitar down there and hung out with the bears for the afternoon,” says Ferrio. “And while I was there some kids kicked the soccer ball over the wall and the bears ripped it to shreds. It was kind of wild to see these giant creatures that are so strong and powerful be tamed in this space, and then once they had the opportunity to show off how ferocious they could be they destroyed the soccer ball in seconds, and that inspired me to write the song right there.”

Musically, “Always Searching” sounds like old classic country number, but with lyrics that shatter the boundaries of what a country music song is — even today. A love and longing song through and through, it’s romantic lyrics culminate in Ferrio passionately singing at the end, “You want to hear me say that I want to f–k you.” “It’s about when you’re touring in a van with your band mates and have been away from the person you love, and you want to talk to them about things that you usually don’t talk about in front of groups of your friends in an open way, but you kind of have to talk,” he explains. “I remember driving in the van and wanting to say ‘I miss you’ and whatever else, but the band was sort of all eavesdropping because there’s nothing else to do in the van and it’s dead silence, right? So I was thinking that through and taking it to its ends I guess,” he laughs.

“The Trial of Mary Harshbarger” recalls — well, the trial of Mary Harshbarger, the American woman who shot her husband while on a hunting trip in Central Newfoundland in 2006. Harshbarger’s trial was underway when Ferrio visited Newfoundland - The Independent: Newfoundland and Labrador

Those old country Feelings
By: Justin Brake Oct 3, 2012

Nick Ferrio & His Feelings are pushing the envelope with a debut album that infuses 50s-style honky tonk with contemporary lyrical observations of relationships, murder trials and life on the road in a traveling band. They've made landfall and are here for a four-day tour of the Island.

Nick Ferrio’s got a lot of feelings. And he likes to cultivate them, take them into the studio and on the road. In fact, they’re crossing the Island right now.

The Peterborough-based singer-songwriter and country-folk musician is no stranger to Newfoundland; he’s visited a number of times in recent years with various musical projects, including The Burning Hell and The Kindness Killers. This time he’s bringing his own band and their debut self-titled album for a short tour of the island, which kicks off tonight in Corner Brook before continuing on to St. John’s and Port Rexton.

Ferrio’s new project might be of interest to country music listeners who find themselves conflicted over where the genre’s roots have grown, or over the disconnect between their own life experience and the lyrical substance of today’s ‘hot country’.

Enter ‘Nick Ferrio and His Feelings’—Ryan Perks, Emmott Clancy, Liam Wilson and Sarah Theobald—and their personalized approach to channeling an old tradition.

Country, with a modern ‘twang’

“I’ve always been writing songs that are in the vein of country music or folk music,” Ferrio explains on the phone. “I grew up listening to that stuff, but also to punk rock and 90s rap and hip hop, which seems to be like most Ontario kids,” he laughs.

“I first remember hearing people like Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell and George Jones, and then hearing people like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and Towns Van Zandt. The first time I heard Hank I was cutting lawns with this guy, and he was driving an old pickup truck and he turned up a song that came on the radio … and it blew me away. It sounded like an atom bomb had gone off in my head or something — it was a revelation.

“And I played in a lot of different bands, but I always found country music to be really exciting and really interesting, especially the songwriting in the 60s and 70s. I find it to be some of the best songwriting. And that’s what draws me to music in the first place — the lyrical component.

Over the years Ferrio has played in his fair share of touring bands, including the now-St. John’s-based group The Burning Hell, which just spent the summer touring Europe, recording an album and breaking a world record after playing 10 shows in 10 countries in 24 hours. But it’s that time on the road that inspired Ferrio’s own creative output, which just happened to emerge in the form of twangy ballads with a heavy second generation country music influence.

Road inspiration

“I worked on these songs two summers ago on tour with The Burning Hell … (and) before the show or after the show I’d be working on my own stuff with the goal of coming home and putting together a band,” he recalls. “I had the people I wanted to be playing with in mind. And it’s not so much a project with a backup band; it actually functions like a real band would.”

“Kolnischer Park” was penned in Germany on that 2011 tour and recounts a Berlin city park where two large, captive bears are on display a pen: “I just brought my little guitar down there and hung out with the bears for the afternoon,” says Ferrio. “And while I was there some kids kicked the soccer ball over the wall and the bears ripped it to shreds. It was kind of wild to see these giant creatures that are so strong and powerful be tamed in this space, and then once they had the opportunity to show off how ferocious they could be they destroyed the soccer ball in seconds, and that inspired me to write the song right there.”

Musically, “Always Searching” sounds like old classic country number, but with lyrics that shatter the boundaries of what a country music song is — even today. A love and longing song through and through, it’s romantic lyrics culminate in Ferrio passionately singing at the end, “You want to hear me say that I want to f–k you.” “It’s about when you’re touring in a van with your band mates and have been away from the person you love, and you want to talk to them about things that you usually don’t talk about in front of groups of your friends in an open way, but you kind of have to talk,” he explains. “I remember driving in the van and wanting to say ‘I miss you’ and whatever else, but the band was sort of all eavesdropping because there’s nothing else to do in the van and it’s dead silence, right? So I was thinking that through and taking it to its ends I guess,” he laughs.

“The Trial of Mary Harshbarger” recalls — well, the trial of Mary Harshbarger, the American woman who shot her husband while on a hunting trip in Central Newfoundland in 2006. Harshbarger’s trial was underway when Ferrio visited Newfoundland - The Independent: Newfoundland and Labrador

After many years playing in the Burning Hell and tending to side projects, Peterborough’s Nick Ferrio is really stepping out with his new country band, Nick Ferrio & His Feelings. When I say "new country band," I don’t mean that they play "new country." On the contrary, Ferrio is an aficionado of pure, classic country, which is readily apparent on his band’s stunning new, self-titled LP.

“When I was a young kid, I used to work as a lawn-mowing assistant for a guy and he listened to country music a lot,” Ferrio says on the phone from Peterborough. “I listened to Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson and people like that and it really drew me in. I listened to punk music growing up and it sounded like punk music but done 40 years earlier, which was intriguing.”

“It’s seemingly simple but it speaks some truth,” he continues. “I found listening to say, Minor Threat or Black Flag, those bands spoke some truth to me growing up. And then hearing something like ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,' as a boy who’d been dumped, also spoke to me in the same way.”

Ferrio’s band has a string of shows coming up, including a Toronto record release at the Silver Dollar on Thursday, Sept. 27. As a frontman, Ferrio admits that humour is a key element to his songwriting, an aspect he says he picked up from being around the Burning Hell’s Mathias Kom, who has inspired Ferrio to tell funny stories from his life.

“On a tour we did last summer, I got stuck on a waterslide,” he says with little prompting. “I only had cut-off jean shorts to wear and of course I got stuck until a bunch of German children shot down and knocked me through the tube. It was dark and I was trying to get going and was really scared but also laughing at how ridiculous it was to be in my mid-20s, stuck on a waterslide and thinking, ‘If this is how I go, this is how I go.’”

Then there are Ferrio originals like “The Trial of Mary Harshbarger,” which he says was completely cribbed from a CBC Radio news report. Harshbarger and her husband were on a hunting trip in Newfoundland when she mistook him for a bear and fatally shot him. Harshbarger was found innocent at her trial and, according to Ferrio, lives with her dead husband’s brother. All of this has been immortalized in a riveting, jaunty new tune.

“It sort of wrote itself,” Ferrio marvels. “It just fell into my lap.”


Listen to "The Trial of Mary Harshbarger" by Nick Ferrio & His Feelings.

Even though Nick Ferrio & His Feelings have only just released an album, Ferrio reveals that he has a dozen new songs and that the band is scheduled to head up to a cabin this December and record with producer/engineer Ian Romano. It’s clearly a fertile creative period for Ferrio, whose new music has struck a nerve with music fans of every stripe.

“We played the Fred Eaglesmith Picnic in Aylmer, Ontario, and that’s primarily baby boomers – 50 and 60 year olds – and they really liked it,” Ferrio recalls. “Then the next day, we played a show with a bunch of punk bands in St. Catharines and it was neat to go from one place where everyone’s sitting in lawn chairs to another show where everyone’s wearing denim cut-off jackets with patches on the back. And it was the same batch of songs, which was cool.”

See Nick Ferrio & His Feelings at the Silver Dollar in Toronto on Sept. 27 and beyond. - CBC

After many years playing in the Burning Hell and tending to side projects, Peterborough’s Nick Ferrio is really stepping out with his new country band, Nick Ferrio & His Feelings. When I say "new country band," I don’t mean that they play "new country." On the contrary, Ferrio is an aficionado of pure, classic country, which is readily apparent on his band’s stunning new, self-titled LP.

“When I was a young kid, I used to work as a lawn-mowing assistant for a guy and he listened to country music a lot,” Ferrio says on the phone from Peterborough. “I listened to Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson and people like that and it really drew me in. I listened to punk music growing up and it sounded like punk music but done 40 years earlier, which was intriguing.”

“It’s seemingly simple but it speaks some truth,” he continues. “I found listening to say, Minor Threat or Black Flag, those bands spoke some truth to me growing up. And then hearing something like ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,' as a boy who’d been dumped, also spoke to me in the same way.”

Ferrio’s band has a string of shows coming up, including a Toronto record release at the Silver Dollar on Thursday, Sept. 27. As a frontman, Ferrio admits that humour is a key element to his songwriting, an aspect he says he picked up from being around the Burning Hell’s Mathias Kom, who has inspired Ferrio to tell funny stories from his life.

“On a tour we did last summer, I got stuck on a waterslide,” he says with little prompting. “I only had cut-off jean shorts to wear and of course I got stuck until a bunch of German children shot down and knocked me through the tube. It was dark and I was trying to get going and was really scared but also laughing at how ridiculous it was to be in my mid-20s, stuck on a waterslide and thinking, ‘If this is how I go, this is how I go.’”

Then there are Ferrio originals like “The Trial of Mary Harshbarger,” which he says was completely cribbed from a CBC Radio news report. Harshbarger and her husband were on a hunting trip in Newfoundland when she mistook him for a bear and fatally shot him. Harshbarger was found innocent at her trial and, according to Ferrio, lives with her dead husband’s brother. All of this has been immortalized in a riveting, jaunty new tune.

“It sort of wrote itself,” Ferrio marvels. “It just fell into my lap.”


Listen to "The Trial of Mary Harshbarger" by Nick Ferrio & His Feelings.

Even though Nick Ferrio & His Feelings have only just released an album, Ferrio reveals that he has a dozen new songs and that the band is scheduled to head up to a cabin this December and record with producer/engineer Ian Romano. It’s clearly a fertile creative period for Ferrio, whose new music has struck a nerve with music fans of every stripe.

“We played the Fred Eaglesmith Picnic in Aylmer, Ontario, and that’s primarily baby boomers – 50 and 60 year olds – and they really liked it,” Ferrio recalls. “Then the next day, we played a show with a bunch of punk bands in St. Catharines and it was neat to go from one place where everyone’s sitting in lawn chairs to another show where everyone’s wearing denim cut-off jackets with patches on the back. And it was the same batch of songs, which was cool.”

See Nick Ferrio & His Feelings at the Silver Dollar in Toronto on Sept. 27 and beyond. - CBC

By Justin Wesley

Nick Ferrio is a country singer-songwriter from Peterborough, ON who has played bass for The Burning Hell for the past six years. Now, Ferrio is venturing out with a solo effort of exquisite country songs under the cleverly named (and inarguably fitting) backing band moniker of Nick Ferrio & His Feelings.

The nine songs that comprise Introducing Nick Ferrio & His Feelings are a refreshing combination of the sort of old-school country the sort that Willie, Merle, and George Jones played with heart and gusto. They have the feel of lost classics captured with vintage recording equipment, and they’re brought to vivid life with Ferrio’s poignant, often clever, and always heartfelt storytelling. Ferrio’s music is not the brand of bloated, overproduced country that floods radio stations and halftime shows. His songs are the sort carved from tens of thousands of miles touring across rural landscapes, lyrics scribbled upon napkins on Formica tables in greasy spoons, and Dylan and Hank records spinning on the turntable in the corner while you dance in the kitchen with the one you love hours after dark.

Ferrio’s voice and music get in your bones and make you keep inching closer, like a spitting campfire under the stars on a chilly autumn night. These are songs with a skilled, if refreshingly unglamorous, old-school country voice with an ear for romantic-minded storytelling. Ferrio utilizes much to his great advantage here – lilting lap steel, Sun Records-style chugging tempos, rousing guitar lines, and a pure knack for classicist country melodies; but Ferrio’s strongest asset is his ability to write clever, romantic everyman lyrics that register as witty heartache poetry, rather than the kind that strike the listener as overly trivial or sentimental. He is a keen observer of human emotions and longings, and he slides knowing human feelings into songs that precisely capture the spirit of country music at its best.

Much of the vast heart within the album is rooted in a knowingness of love and the yearning for it when it’s out of reach. It’s a theme that predates country music, but it sounds damn fine to discover it brought to life so strongly on a debut album, especially in a time when popular music skirts essential heartache altogether or polishes and neuters it with incessant melisma or recording gimmickry.

The album opens with “Night Garden,” and it utilizes the simplest of metaphors to sum up life on the road while the one you love is back at home.

All these cities and all these towns / And the places I’ve found / They don’t compare to your garden for me… Your branches and vines / How I wish they were mine / Oh, how I long to be in your garden again

“Popular Flower” calls to mind the great George Jones (Ferrio’s favorite poet) with Ferrio’s tearful ruminations of women dressed up as intoxicating flowers. In the chorus, he sings, “You’re the state flower of the Volunteer State, Tennessee.” He follows with cutting self-deflation.

But I / I’m no garden flower / I’m a cut when you shave / I’m the one who just barely makes it / Before it’s too late.

“Always Searching” is the most jarring and divisive of Introducing…’s songs on first listen, but the resounding, catchy honesty of it makes it one of the most essential tracks on successive listens. Yet another song drenched in Ferrio’s favorite theme, “Always Searching” brazenly cuts through every ounce of fat to get to the heart of miscommunication and games between men in women in the pursuit of romance. The song opens with “I’m always searching for the way to say the things I wanna say,” before diving into the list of complications (phone wires, crowded vans, misinterpreted codes) that get in the way of saying what the woman “really wants to hear.”

On that note, Ferrio rips into full release with a chorus of “I wanna fuck you, fuck you, fuck you,” It’s a perfectly matched volley with an equal sentiment bouncing back courtesy of female accompaniment. It’s the only song of its kind on Introducing…, and it’s bound to offend some and be skipped; it’s the kind of refrain that would’ve given Tipper Gore a psychotic break back in 1984. It’ll be nothing less than a goddamned shame if that’s the case, because “Always Searching” gets everything right with honesty and biting wit better than thousands of rock, rap, country, and pop songs that have come before it.

“Free Man, Switzerland” is Ferrio’s autobiographical account of finding himself detained in a Swiss jail. It’s a true winner that would’ve fit squarely on either side of Nashville Skyline. The is fleshed out with moaning lap steel behind Ferrio’s skilled first-person narrative, soars upon Ferrio’s chorus of “I’m a free man, Switzerland. I’m a rock that can’t be stopped,” and sprints for the border with a blistering electric guitar at its back.

Ferrio digs up a bouncing Man in Black chug and a fiddle bridge for the fantastic cut “Otonabee,” a song that sounds calls to mind - No Depression

By Justin Wesley

Nick Ferrio is a country singer-songwriter from Peterborough, ON who has played bass for The Burning Hell for the past six years. Now, Ferrio is venturing out with a solo effort of exquisite country songs under the cleverly named (and inarguably fitting) backing band moniker of Nick Ferrio & His Feelings.

The nine songs that comprise Introducing Nick Ferrio & His Feelings are a refreshing combination of the sort of old-school country the sort that Willie, Merle, and George Jones played with heart and gusto. They have the feel of lost classics captured with vintage recording equipment, and they’re brought to vivid life with Ferrio’s poignant, often clever, and always heartfelt storytelling. Ferrio’s music is not the brand of bloated, overproduced country that floods radio stations and halftime shows. His songs are the sort carved from tens of thousands of miles touring across rural landscapes, lyrics scribbled upon napkins on Formica tables in greasy spoons, and Dylan and Hank records spinning on the turntable in the corner while you dance in the kitchen with the one you love hours after dark.

Ferrio’s voice and music get in your bones and make you keep inching closer, like a spitting campfire under the stars on a chilly autumn night. These are songs with a skilled, if refreshingly unglamorous, old-school country voice with an ear for romantic-minded storytelling. Ferrio utilizes much to his great advantage here – lilting lap steel, Sun Records-style chugging tempos, rousing guitar lines, and a pure knack for classicist country melodies; but Ferrio’s strongest asset is his ability to write clever, romantic everyman lyrics that register as witty heartache poetry, rather than the kind that strike the listener as overly trivial or sentimental. He is a keen observer of human emotions and longings, and he slides knowing human feelings into songs that precisely capture the spirit of country music at its best.

Much of the vast heart within the album is rooted in a knowingness of love and the yearning for it when it’s out of reach. It’s a theme that predates country music, but it sounds damn fine to discover it brought to life so strongly on a debut album, especially in a time when popular music skirts essential heartache altogether or polishes and neuters it with incessant melisma or recording gimmickry.

The album opens with “Night Garden,” and it utilizes the simplest of metaphors to sum up life on the road while the one you love is back at home.

All these cities and all these towns / And the places I’ve found / They don’t compare to your garden for me… Your branches and vines / How I wish they were mine / Oh, how I long to be in your garden again

“Popular Flower” calls to mind the great George Jones (Ferrio’s favorite poet) with Ferrio’s tearful ruminations of women dressed up as intoxicating flowers. In the chorus, he sings, “You’re the state flower of the Volunteer State, Tennessee.” He follows with cutting self-deflation.

But I / I’m no garden flower / I’m a cut when you shave / I’m the one who just barely makes it / Before it’s too late.

“Always Searching” is the most jarring and divisive of Introducing…’s songs on first listen, but the resounding, catchy honesty of it makes it one of the most essential tracks on successive listens. Yet another song drenched in Ferrio’s favorite theme, “Always Searching” brazenly cuts through every ounce of fat to get to the heart of miscommunication and games between men in women in the pursuit of romance. The song opens with “I’m always searching for the way to say the things I wanna say,” before diving into the list of complications (phone wires, crowded vans, misinterpreted codes) that get in the way of saying what the woman “really wants to hear.”

On that note, Ferrio rips into full release with a chorus of “I wanna fuck you, fuck you, fuck you,” It’s a perfectly matched volley with an equal sentiment bouncing back courtesy of female accompaniment. It’s the only song of its kind on Introducing…, and it’s bound to offend some and be skipped; it’s the kind of refrain that would’ve given Tipper Gore a psychotic break back in 1984. It’ll be nothing less than a goddamned shame if that’s the case, because “Always Searching” gets everything right with honesty and biting wit better than thousands of rock, rap, country, and pop songs that have come before it.

“Free Man, Switzerland” is Ferrio’s autobiographical account of finding himself detained in a Swiss jail. It’s a true winner that would’ve fit squarely on either side of Nashville Skyline. The is fleshed out with moaning lap steel behind Ferrio’s skilled first-person narrative, soars upon Ferrio’s chorus of “I’m a free man, Switzerland. I’m a rock that can’t be stopped,” and sprints for the border with a blistering electric guitar at its back.

Ferrio digs up a bouncing Man in Black chug and a fiddle bridge for the fantastic cut “Otonabee,” a song that sounds calls to mind - No Depression

Nick Ferrio’s country twang has a folky flavor that allows him a certain crossover appeal. Pedal-steel guitar, a lilting twang and a handful of Tennessee references give “Popular Flower” a decidedly Southern feel. It’s the romantic story of a musician on the road, someone who wants nothing more than to be with the woman he loves. Nick Ferrio And His Feelings release a self-titled album of these sentimental gems today via Shuffling Feet. Download “Popular Flower” below. - Magnet

Nick Ferrio’s country twang has a folky flavor that allows him a certain crossover appeal. Pedal-steel guitar, a lilting twang and a handful of Tennessee references give “Popular Flower” a decidedly Southern feel. It’s the romantic story of a musician on the road, someone who wants nothing more than to be with the woman he loves. Nick Ferrio And His Feelings release a self-titled album of these sentimental gems today via Shuffling Feet. Download “Popular Flower” below. - Magnet

By Kerry DooleTaking time out from his role as a member of both the Burning Hell and Baby Eagle & the Proud Mothers, Peterborough, ON-based Nick Ferrio delivers a solo debut significantly different from the sound of those two fine bands. His forte is hardcore, old school country, with an occasional Flying Burrito Brothers feel, so there's plenty of pedal steel punctuating his original tunes. There's an authentic high'n'lonesome feel to his voice as well, showcased on album highlight "Popular Flower" and "The Trial of Mary Harshbarger," the latter song exploring the real-life case of an American woman who shot her husband during a Newfoundland hunting trip. Ferrio draws upon his travels as a musician on "Free Man, Switzerland" and "Kollnischer Park"; it's a nice change of scenery from all the Texas or Tennessee references common in this genre. The warm sound of the disc reflects the fact that it was recorded on two-inch tape, then mixed by Dan Weston (City and Colour, Daniel Romano). This is an impressive introduction.
(Shuffling Feet) - Exclaim!

By Kerry DooleTaking time out from his role as a member of both the Burning Hell and Baby Eagle & the Proud Mothers, Peterborough, ON-based Nick Ferrio delivers a solo debut significantly different from the sound of those two fine bands. His forte is hardcore, old school country, with an occasional Flying Burrito Brothers feel, so there's plenty of pedal steel punctuating his original tunes. There's an authentic high'n'lonesome feel to his voice as well, showcased on album highlight "Popular Flower" and "The Trial of Mary Harshbarger," the latter song exploring the real-life case of an American woman who shot her husband during a Newfoundland hunting trip. Ferrio draws upon his travels as a musician on "Free Man, Switzerland" and "Kollnischer Park"; it's a nice change of scenery from all the Texas or Tennessee references common in this genre. The warm sound of the disc reflects the fact that it was recorded on two-inch tape, then mixed by Dan Weston (City and Colour, Daniel Romano). This is an impressive introduction.
(Shuffling Feet) - Exclaim!

Peterborough singer/songwriter Nick Ferrio makes country music like your grandfather used to.

In a world where country and western has given way to the saccharin sweet and sickeningly slick ‘new country’ of Keith Urban, Big & Rich and Taylor Swift, it’s nice to know that Ferrio remembers music before Porter Wagner.

Ferrio, who plays with Burning Hell and Baby Eagle and the Proud Mothers, has a voice that’s raw and honest even when he’s waxing lyrical lies. His Woody Guthrie via Willie Nelson style firmly cements the ‘and western’ back on the tail of his coun- try, both as a songwriter and storyteller.

Ferrio dusted off ribbon microphones and reel-to-reel tape machines to record Nick Ferrio & His Feelings, though it’s im- portant to note that the authenticity of the album is in the song writing and perfor- mance not just a kitschy vintage recording process.

The next time you accidentally land your radio dial on Blake Shelton or Rascal Flatts, pop in a copy of Nick Ferrio & His Feelings, don a cowboy hat, put your thumbs in your belt loops, nod at all you pass and let Ferrio remind you that before ‘hot country,’ country was cool. (Stephen Hargreaves).
- The Lance - University of Windsor

Peterborough singer/songwriter Nick Ferrio makes country music like your grandfather used to.

In a world where country and western has given way to the saccharin sweet and sickeningly slick ‘new country’ of Keith Urban, Big & Rich and Taylor Swift, it’s nice to know that Ferrio remembers music before Porter Wagner.

Ferrio, who plays with Burning Hell and Baby Eagle and the Proud Mothers, has a voice that’s raw and honest even when he’s waxing lyrical lies. His Woody Guthrie via Willie Nelson style firmly cements the ‘and western’ back on the tail of his coun- try, both as a songwriter and storyteller.

Ferrio dusted off ribbon microphones and reel-to-reel tape machines to record Nick Ferrio & His Feelings, though it’s im- portant to note that the authenticity of the album is in the song writing and perfor- mance not just a kitschy vintage recording process.

The next time you accidentally land your radio dial on Blake Shelton or Rascal Flatts, pop in a copy of Nick Ferrio & His Feelings, don a cowboy hat, put your thumbs in your belt loops, nod at all you pass and let Ferrio remind you that before ‘hot country,’ country was cool. (Stephen Hargreaves).
- The Lance - University of Windsor

Peterborough singer-songwriter Nick Ferrio is best known as the bassist of The Burning Hell and his work with Baby Eagle and the Proud Mothers – but his debut country album will most certainly change all that.

The album is broken down as Side A &B – Side A features three of the best tracks which all capture life/loneliness on the road (“Night Garden”, “Popular Flower” & “Always Searching”) while Side B feels more intimate and mysterious with standout tracks found in “Story’s Long, Story’s Old’ and “When We Sang Together”. One word of advice though – blast this record on headphones – it sounds like Nick Ferrio & co. are playing their hearts out to an empty bar. The whole album is beautifully produced courtesy of some old analog equipment and a commitment to the songs.

Nick Ferrio and His Feelings is due out September 18 and is well worth your time as Ferrio brings his own brand of storytelling to classic Western sounds. (Shuffling Feet Records) ~ 3.5 Stars (by Jason Gladu). - Stage Door Reviews – Blog

Peterborough singer-songwriter Nick Ferrio is best known as the bassist of The Burning Hell and his work with Baby Eagle and the Proud Mothers – but his debut country album will most certainly change all that.

The album is broken down as Side A &B – Side A features three of the best tracks which all capture life/loneliness on the road (“Night Garden”, “Popular Flower” & “Always Searching”) while Side B feels more intimate and mysterious with standout tracks found in “Story’s Long, Story’s Old’ and “When We Sang Together”. One word of advice though – blast this record on headphones – it sounds like Nick Ferrio & co. are playing their hearts out to an empty bar. The whole album is beautifully produced courtesy of some old analog equipment and a commitment to the songs.

Nick Ferrio and His Feelings is due out September 18 and is well worth your time as Ferrio brings his own brand of storytelling to classic Western sounds. (Shuffling Feet Records) ~ 3.5 Stars (by Jason Gladu). - Stage Door Reviews – Blog

A dreamy, steel-guitar ode to the horticulture of Tennessee is about a fella who chases rainbows and a pluckable girl and/or flower called Iris. Lovely stuff. - The Globe & Mail

A dreamy, steel-guitar ode to the horticulture of Tennessee is about a fella who chases rainbows and a pluckable girl and/or flower called Iris. Lovely stuff. - The Globe & Mail

There’s a point in the middle of “Popular Flower” where I stopped thinking about the fact that Nick Ferrio & His Feelings recorded this song, along with the other eight on his self-titled debut, with Ian Romano in the studio he shares with brother Daniel here in Welland, and just enjoy the fruits of their labour. Ferrio has taken his experiences as a member of both The Burning Hell and Baby Eagle & the Proud Mothers, his time on the road, and his love of classic country and fashioned a heartfelt look at the modern world through old recording techniques. While being reminiscent of the past, Ferrio is not trying to recreate those bygone days, he’s making new ones that will one day be looked back on as being classics. “Popular Flower” is just one of the songs on the album that explores homesickness while being out on the road, but there’s other subjects he explores as well, most notably in “The Trial of Mary Harshbarger”where Ferrio recounts how a Newfoundland woman mistakenly shot and killed her husband, who she thought was a bear. Now that has all the markings of a future classic.
Nick Ferrio & His Feelings features Ryan Perks on lead guitar, Emmott Clancey on drums, Liam Wilson on bass, Chris Altmann on pedal steel, Caylie Staples and Spencer Burton on harmonies, and will be released on on Shuffling Feet Records, run by Evening Hymns’ Jonas Bonnetta and Sylvie Smith on September 18, 2012. - Quick Before It Melts

Over the last few years, other than hip hop, I’m not sure any genre of music has been bastardized or pillaged more than traditional country. Second rate, tear in your beer confessions dominate the music scene, citing names like George, Willie, and Hank as influences is as common as designer cowboys shirts, and lap steel is a requirement to record music.

But for Burning Hell/Baby Eagle supporting player Nick Ferrio, his self-titled debut LP is more than an artist catching the end of a long tail of a popular sound. Ferrio recorded his songs with traditional equipment and techniques, and while his quest for authentic sounds shows dedication, it’s his subject matter that is more refreshing. Ferrio ignores overused country images and emotions and wisely chooses to sing about what he sees in the world around him (“The Trial of Mary Harshbarger” documents the bizarro incident where a US woman shot her husband, claiming she thought he was a bear – side note, no jury in the world would convict if Corey Crewe was the victim).

There are moments that sound familiar – I get a bit of a Traveling Wilburys, “Handle Me With Care” vibe on “Free Man, Switzerland” and you can’t help but embrace the Cash like chug that drives “Otonabee” – but Ferrio’s natural and strong song writing deserves better than sounds-like comparisons. People often give the backhanded compliment of saying songs could have been unearthed from a time capsule, and while I get the intent, I feel Ferrio would be prouder to know that music lovers that embrace the same classic names he does, will find beauty and worth in his songs. - Herohill.com

Killing us kindly

Wednesday, 01 December 2010 12:05

"If you're looking at me, you're looking at country," sings country-western music legend Loretta Lynn in her classic tune "You're Looking at Country."

These were the words scrawled across the top of the poster advertising the release of the Kindness Killers' new self titled e.p. Seeing the poster sandwiched between advertisements for cheap Jager at the Red Dog and comedy nights at Johnny Eh's, the line seemed a little out of place. Country music? In Peterborough, Ontario? Really? Who would I be looking at when 'looking at country'?

Peterborough's music scene is widely known as one that has developed out of a foundational love for roots, folk and bluegrass music. Many of our town's finest musical exports have been heralded as purveyors of a contemporary spin on traditional music. The list includes The Silverhearts,Washboard Hank, The County Boys, Catfish Willie, Sean Conway, Kate LeDeuce and, of course, the late Willie P. Bennet. However, as far as real-deal, string-tie and spur, ten-gallon hat and the horse-it-rode-in-on country-western music goes, well Peterborough - Nashville you are not.

Naturally, stumbling across a poster for a show featuring the Kindness Killers, with its flagrant declaration of real-dealness, left me intrigued (and admittedly, skeptical).

Entering Bluestreak Records a little late, I was greeted by an act that was most certainly not country. Diffidently scurrying past swinging electric guitars blocking the door, joining a small crowd of Peterborough scenesters, I was looking at Bad Teen Ensemble, a new local surf-punk-pop outfit fronted by soft-spoken punk rock heretic Kevin Buckle.

Loud and raucous, with improvised lyrics bordering brilliant and malignant (some of which would certainly clear out any bible thumping southerners in the room), BTE tore through the remainder of their set with an energy quite contrary to the typical audio-library aesthetic of our town's finest record store.

Amy Devillers added excellent B-52-esque backup vocals, while Andy and Brandon Root provided the thunderous rhythm section. Some endings were more than a little sloppy, and it was a shame not to have the presence of Julia Fenn's Moog due to tuning issues. Surf music, though, in all of its three chord predictability, is always fun to move around to. And indeed, BTE added some great twists and turns, musical and lyrical, that veered their songs away from what could be a cookie-cutter five piece, to something interesting and intoxicating.

However, still no country.

Following a brief intermission and some complimentary refreshments courtesy of Bluestreak's so-hip-it-kind-of-hurts proprietor, Tim Haines, The Kindness Killers took the stage (or the tiny carpeted area cleared out at the front of the store).

Fronted by Benj Rowland, arguably Peterborough's most skilled young musician, who took turns between acoustic guitar and accordion, and featuring Julia Fenn on ukulele and vocals, Charity Justrabo on cello and Nick Ferrio on lap steel and back-up vocals, the band quickly revealed themselves to be the bona fide flag-wavers that their poster so proudly proclaimed.

Not only does the band fill the high-shafted leather boots of the influences they wear so well on their sleeves with respectful authenticity, they bring something new to the table. Something definitely not from the South; something reflected in the eclectic mix of records, c.d.'s and posters piled about the venue; something new and, simply put, something very enjoyable.

The cello, in the place of an up-right or acoustic bass, combined with the eerie lap-steeling of Ferrio, and the surprising choice of ukulele, immediately expresses the group's fresh approach to a traditional form. With their innovative instrumentation applied to time-honoured song structures, the Kindness Killers' sound is both familiar and daring. Rowland, Fenn and Ferrio all sing with enough twang to faithfully represent their influences, but in such a way that is neither contrived nor farcical.

Their choices of cover songs lean towards the spooky side of traditional, and their original work fits in so unassumingly that it is hard to tell which songs are nearly a century old, and which were composed last week in an apartment on Hunter Street.

As the band's set neared its end, I realized that I was in fact looking at and hearing country music in a very pure and honest form. Though the band members were not raised in the Southern States, it is clear that their record collections were. This influence, in combination with the influence of a small Ontario blue-collar town, has resulted in a sound that, while unique to the Kindness Killers, can most certainly be labelled as country music.

You can find The Kindness Killers' self-titled e.p. for $5 at Bluestreak Records, or catch them live on Saturday, December 4 at the Red Dog with the Burning Hell. - Arthur The Peterborough and Trent University Independent Press

Bloody Miracles are a quaint quartet from Peterborough, ON that have composed an auspicious debut with this rustic, twang-y effort. Primary songwriters James Kent and Nick Ferrio are adept at spinning a good yarn to suit folk instrument staples such as guitar, banjo, mandolin and piano. With the Silver Hearts’ Dave Tough providing only occasional bass, the emphasis here is more on heartfelt vocal harmonies and melodies rather than rhythm. Kent’s songs are often the most earnest, with quasi-tribute “Royal City” using the popular Three Gut band as inspiration to soundtrack a vivid tale of lost love. “Rainy October” is similarly winsome, with Kent barely keeping his shit together to sing a romantic break-up song in his quavering voice. Ferrio’s songs are no less effective, though something like “These Friends of Mind” deals more with abstractions on the rural experience. His high, lonesome voice is well suited for the old-time country sentiment behind “Star of the Prairies” and the impassioned “All Gone Now.” The recent addition of a drummer will likely push the Bloody Miracles into even more interesting territory, as they clearly have a firm handle on writing hauntingly sparse folk/country music.(Independent) - Exclaim Magazine April 2007 - Written by Vish Khanna

The Bloody Miracles
By Adam Smith

Independent

4/5


Peterborough's Bloody Miracles (James Kent, Ben Rough Mike Duguay, and Nick Ferrio) have just released their self-titled debut album on Backlash Projects. Despite having only been together for about a year, they have a remarkably familiar sound that somehow just seems right. If you're in need of a way to categorize them, think of some weird amalgam of Jim James, Jeff Tweedy, Conor Oberst, Hayden Desser, and Tony Dekker. It is, in fact, one of the Old West, indie-folk, shoot-out, minimalist rock albums that we have grown so accustomed to here in Sackville.

The comparisons are simply that; nothing more. Bloody Miracles carve out their own space in the terrain quite well, with a smashing display of instrumental variety, including glockenspiel, banjo, accordion, organ, fiddle, and lap steel. The arrangement is thoughtful and complementary and the whole album has a natural flow to it that doesn't get boring, despite the fact that it is a fairly long album. There are fragile songs here, there are working-class laments, and there are longings for connection severed by progress. "Frank, Alberta" and "Star of the Prairies" are heart-felt, ghost town anthems of industrial despair, but there is also an acceptance somewhere within the forlorn lyrics. But there is another side to the album - a hopeful, romantic side where songs about ruined life and love rule the moment ("Lilacs", "Rainy October", "All Gone Now"). The hidden eleventh track is actually a thank you list, which is pretty charming, too.

This album encompasses a lot of genres, but if you like the alt-country advanced by the likes of Tweedy, Jay Farrar or Jason Molina, then this will be an enjoyable listen. The length of individual songs is a bit of a turn-off, but other than that it is an exceptional debut album. - The Argosy - written by Adam Smith

The Bloody Miracles
By Adam Smith

Independent

4/5


Peterborough's Bloody Miracles (James Kent, Ben Rough Mike Duguay, and Nick Ferrio) have just released their self-titled debut album on Backlash Projects. Despite having only been together for about a year, they have a remarkably familiar sound that somehow just seems right. If you're in need of a way to categorize them, think of some weird amalgam of Jim James, Jeff Tweedy, Conor Oberst, Hayden Desser, and Tony Dekker. It is, in fact, one of the Old West, indie-folk, shoot-out, minimalist rock albums that we have grown so accustomed to here in Sackville.

The comparisons are simply that; nothing more. Bloody Miracles carve out their own space in the terrain quite well, with a smashing display of instrumental variety, including glockenspiel, banjo, accordion, organ, fiddle, and lap steel. The arrangement is thoughtful and complementary and the whole album has a natural flow to it that doesn't get boring, despite the fact that it is a fairly long album. There are fragile songs here, there are working-class laments, and there are longings for connection severed by progress. "Frank, Alberta" and "Star of the Prairies" are heart-felt, ghost town anthems of industrial despair, but there is also an acceptance somewhere within the forlorn lyrics. But there is another side to the album - a hopeful, romantic side where songs about ruined life and love rule the moment ("Lilacs", "Rainy October", "All Gone Now"). The hidden eleventh track is actually a thank you list, which is pretty charming, too.

This album encompasses a lot of genres, but if you like the alt-country advanced by the likes of Tweedy, Jay Farrar or Jason Molina, then this will be an enjoyable listen. The length of individual songs is a bit of a turn-off, but other than that it is an exceptional debut album. - The Argosy - written by Adam Smith