Interview: The Harpoonist and The Axe Murderer Work the Blues

Posted by RiffYou On September 30, 2014 0 Comment

Blues can be interpreted in a myriad of ways. Some find it depressing, while others find it inspiring. Many can dance to it, but others would rather sit near it with a drink in-hand. Certain individuals feel the need to talk about life after a listen, as the other side wants the music to speak for them.

In many ways, when you capture Canadian blues duo, The Harpoonist and The Axe Murderer in action either on-album or onstage, embracing any of the aforementioned interpretations can happen at a moment’s notice.

“What got us into the blues was our parents listening to it and us being inspired by that,” explains the duo’s guitarist and drummer, Matthew Rogers while in conversation with Riffyou.com. “During the formation of the band, we were influenced by early folk-blues and not the electric jam-band blues.”

“I got out of the blues because it wasn’t cutting the mustard as a teenager,” interjects vocalist and harmonica player, Shawn Hall. “In my mind, we probably got out of the blues for a decade each. Getting into it for a second time – during the last 10 years – has been much more fascinating.”

The band’s latest album, A Real Fine Mess, doesn’t sound anything like its name would suggest. It’s a cohesive, funky album, with superb musicality and a vocal edge that any blues group worth their weight should possess.

When chatting with Rogers and Hall, you learn rather quickly that while they are very much interested in bringing their own spin to the blues format, they have the utmost respect for the genre: a respect that has ultimately brought the band to where it is today.

“We were trying [to get better musically] in our 30s and re-approach our sound. We weren’t naïve anymore – which thankfully I was when I was younger, because that’s what got me into [the blues]. We really needed to do our homework and respect the music that we were working with. It was very humbling,” reflects Hall, who also explains that this re-education process meant digging deeper into the genre and further exploring matters like what music inspired Eric Clapton.

“I went to a show in Montreal and watched this finger-picking blues show,” adds Rogers in reference to his return to blues. “I was so inspired by this style that I had never really gotten into in the past. So, I decided that I was going to try and learn it. After I got a bit of a grasp on it, I called Shawn and said that I thought a blues duo for us would be a really fun band to have.”

The guys have obviously made the right call. A nice chunk of critical acclaim has been bestowed upon them, all the while having the opportunity to expand a fan base by participating at festivals across their homeland. They even took the Blues Act of the Year honour at the 2013 SiriusXM Indies.

The audiences are getting bigger and the eyeballs are growing wider. Now on their fourth album in seven years, it appears as if The Harpoonist and The Axe Murderer have slayed the dragon.

“When you’re performing – when it comes to getting to a level where you’re happy, the crowd is happy, and it’s going to grow – that takes a lot of years to achieve,” offers Hall. “Whenever I see duos, the first thing I ask is ‘how long are they going to last?’ Duos tend to have a burnout. But, when you see them do well, you know they have seven or eight years behind them.”

-Adam Grant