Ragged Mane

An up-and-coming Antigonish-based band is starting to make its mark on the music scene.
Ragged Mane, a six-piece indie-folk group, recently made the third round of CBC’s National Searchlight music contest.
“We are thrilled. We all feel fortunate to have made it that far,” Johnny Deyoung, the band’s percussionist, said in an interview with the Casket on the heels of their elimination.
He added the support the band re-ceived from fans, along with their friends and family, was incredible.
“It has given us some great exposure. It has been a lot more than we ever expected,” Deyoung said, noting they have received an invitation to play at a June celebration in honour of departing StFX president Sean Riley.

Musical evolution
The seeds were planted for what is now Ragged Mane when childhood friends Deyoung, Zack Pettipas (man-dolin) and Justin Layes (rhythm guitar) formed a band while in Grade 9 at East Antigonish Academy in Monastery.
“When high school ended, we all went to StFX and we met Matt (Howard),” Deyoung said.
Howard, now the band’s lead singer, was performing at a kitchen party.
“He was playing guitar and singing, and we thought ‘we have to make a band,’” Deyoung recalled.
“We got together a few times and did a few open mics at StFX and coffee-house shows.
“It just started rolling from there,” he added.
Eventually, the foursome determined it “needed another piece,” according to Deyoung.
That’s where John Stephenson, another StFX student and Cape Breton native, came in. He brought his talents on violin and electric guitar to the mix.
“It just started to click then and the wheels started rolling,” Deyoung said.
“It was really easy to get exposure with the [StFX] students, and they were really receptive to what we were doing.”
Adam Bourque (bass) – the final piece of the musical puzzle – joined the band a couple years later.
“When we did our album [Five Nights], we added a lot of extra instruments on a few tracks, and we ended up adding mandolin on almost all the tracks,” Deyoung said, noting Bourque also plays that instrument.
“We figured if he didn’t mind, he would do mandolin instead of bass because it just added this texture that we were looking for with our genre.
“It has been working very well; I think this is the sound we were looking for the whole time – over the last three years – and we have finally found it,” he added.
They are delivering that sound not only live, but also on their 10-track EP Five Nights, which they released around New Year’s. There is a free download offering on the Ragged Mane Facebook page.
“We really wanted to be able to have something to just show people,” Deyoung said, noting the group “will be pushing [the CD] all summer.”
“We have all kind of agreed to try to make our music as free as possible and as accessible as possible.”
Deyoung said the band likes selling hard copies as a “memento for people.”
“Online we have everything for free or just pay what you want because we find the live show is what we want people to be paying for.
“If they want to pay for our music, that is great, too, but we do want to make it as accessible as possible, so that’s why the CBC stuff worked out great. We put the whole CD on there and everyone was able to listen to it anytime they wanted,” he added.
He noted the band hopes to return to the studio in the fall.
“That’s really going to be for the new sound that we found and we really want to push that,” he added.
Deyoung said the six-song or so EP will be about “showing people where we are at now with our sound.”
When asked about their musical style, he said it is “definitely folk-oriented.”
“We have been going with a more folk-alternative sound because we do like to add our own little spin on things, and we have so many different genres that we all bring to the table that it does give a different sound,” Deyoung said.
“We really like to base [it] around folk and then very poetic lyrics,” he added.
Layes and Howard do most of the song writing.
“They really put a lot of emphasis on making sure the lyrics – you could read them as a poem basically; they want to really have the two aspects: a good song and very well thought out lyrics,” Deyoung said.

Many layers
As for the band name, it came from a brainstorming session at a coffee shop.
“We sat down all day and we thought ‘we have to have a band name at the end of the day because we have too many shows lined up,’” Deyoung said, noting the band had been using a different one prior to each performance.
“I think one we went by was The Turtles for one show,” he noted, with a laugh.
Often, those who booked them came up with a moniker and “put in on a poster,” Deyoung noted.
That changed with the selection of Ragged Mane, a multi-layered choice.
“We all wanted to tie in a lot of Nova Scotia. We are all amazed by Sable Island and the horses there; that’s what I think the actual root of the name was,” Deyoung said.
He noted the name “helps with the folk genre.”
“I always picture the mane of a horse and just the tattered mane of the Sable Island horses,” he added.
Deyoung said Stephenson, from Cape Breton, likes to associate the name with a “rough miner,” because his father mined coal.
“He just pictures a big beard on him,” Deyoung added as he rubbed his face.
Howard and some of the others band members picture wildlife, such as elk “and the big mane that they have on their chest,” according to Deyoung.
“It all ties together and that’s why on the cover of our album we have an elk on the front,” he said.
“We are actually contemplating what way we want to go with the next one; we want to tie the name in each time and capture everyone’s vision of it,” Deyoung added.

Little steps
As the band’s evolution continues, he said “all the little things are coming together now and we are glad we have taken the steps that we did to get where we are at.”
“We are glad we did all the little shows, shook everybody’s hand after shows and met everyone because now they can put a face and a name to us.
“When they think about our band, or hear it on CBC, or read about it in the paper, they are going to think I met that person at that show and they thanked us for coming out and talked to them about the music for a bit,” Deyoung added.
Taking the stage, Deyoung said is “kind of what attracted us” to making music.
“We get really excited about that part.
“We started off with the goal of being a performance band, so when we write songs I think we always remember how we think people will react live and we want to orient it in a way so that everything is high energy,” he added.
Deyoung said the band’s performances are “always energetic.”
“We always have a point in the song where we can have people dancing or hollering,” he added.
Deyoung said the band already has several gigs lined up for the coming weeks.
“We are gone every weekend in June,” he added, noting the group also got accepted to play during Halifax Pride, a July festival that takes places in Halifax.
“We have been staying busy and we really want to continue that,” Deyoung said.
The next local performance for Ragged Mane will take place Friday, June 13 at The Split Crow on Main Street in Antigonish.
“A good luck show,” Deyoung said, with a laugh. - The Casket

Almost a year after my first interview with this Antigonish-based band at a quiet open-mic night at The Rock Bottom, I have the privilege of reviewing Ragged Mane’s new E.P., Five Nights.

Anthony Leclair

“I want to find a place of my own.”

Opening with a crash, Ragged Mane starts off Black Lantern with vim and vigour. A thrumming violin, played by John Stephenson, paces through the song over the sweet piano of Justin Layes and the driving drums of Jonathan Deyoung. Pulling back only at the top of each chorus, the constant energy and subsequent rests paint a picture of a journey; a search for a place to fit in.

“This is bigger than you.”

Keeping the pep raring, Lines are drawn between two souls and we are torn by the rock edge of the guitar and light twang of the mandolin played by Zack Pettipas. Clearly a song about loss and love, whether between lovers or between blood, I’m not sure, but the juxtaposition of the rocking and upbeat licks and the sorrowful lyrics puts me in mind of someone struggling to carry on, regardless of the pain of the past.

“Young Hearts burn so good.”

Still focused on the muffled and echoed lead, the mood is brought low and solemn as Young Hearts are seemingly broken and carried far away from each other. I cannot stress the heightened and ethereal vibe of the songs enough. In the tonality of the lead guitar is another world where the story of this album takes place.

“…told his boy he’d be back when he made twenty one.”

Popping into some punk funk, XXI plays with great stilted guitar riffs and dancing mandolin over a very thoughtful song of a traveling man, in search of something greater. The cello adds just the right classic flavour for this philosophical fancy.

“Oh, there is a warning, oh, in this grey morning”

The varied and stilted instrumental composition of this song dances in scattered cohesion and, in tandem, the added tambourine and sax make a wonderful sound. A seeming reminiscence of past and contemplation toward the future, Amethyst warns of a coming storm.

“Windows in the midnight sky, no use in asking why.”

The quiet of the folk picking is covered just bars in by an echoed lead and a smooth piano is carried in after the first chorus of Broken Windows, creating an ethereal vibe of reflection and introspection. There is a heavy feeling of important time lost and perhaps wasted. The sullen nature of the song really lends itself to the folk-picked undertones and the echoed lead and piano puts me in mind of The Fray.

“We are the same as you. I hope you know it’s true.”

A continuing journey with solid rock lead over fun bass and balladic piano, this track seems to suggest just what the title clues us into: We Are The Same. A pounding drum beats the point home with precision and a muffled scream from the leads puts one in mind of a communication breakdown between the storyteller and the world; “please see that we are all in this together” seems to be the undertone of this tune.

“We’re young. It’s okay, we’re young.”

An invigorating vocal effect tops this pseudo ballad, justifying the angst and actions of youth and relishing in the same. Tailed with images of brotherhood and togetherness, Carry Me sets up the final track of the album with a haunting innocence.

“Oh, oh, oh, where do you where do you go…my sensitive, sensitive soul.”

I cannot sing praises of this song enough. I don’t want to put words in their mouths, but I think this track is the heart and soul of the album and it comes across with Howard’s vocals, the heightened drama of the violin, and even the soulful and somber guitar; the entirety of the album is summed up in this one track of love and loss of a very familial kind.

This is the perfect ballad of a young man going off on his own to find his way in the world, swayed by the wonders of all things; a sensitive soul, pulled this way and that. In spite of all of the ghosts that haunt this young man’s journey at every turn, in every town, he has a home in his family, even if he doesn’t know it. A roving wanderer, this sensitive, sensitive soul embodies this entire album which makes the most perfect ending to a great journey. I want to Thank You.


A well produced musical story, I’m looking forward to hearing what Ragged Mane comes out with next. - Guff Magizine