For Daniel Chalmers, having a day job is a way to feed his music habit.
The Bellfonix drummer said his job serving at the K-Rock Centre isn’t his main focus — it’s a way for him to afford his drug of choice.
“All my life, music has been my main focus, and I’ve always just found jobs that help me to afford that habit of mine,” he said.
All members of Bellfonix have jobs outside of being the Mansion’s Monday night house band.
The Kingston cover band is made up of Chalmers, lead singer Heather Bell, bassist Winston Vinh and guitarists Matt Kirby and Van Sheen. They took over the Monday night residency at the Mansion in December from Buffalo Tree.
“Most of the members of Buffalo Tree work at the Mansion and they saw us play a show and we’re also friends, so it was them passing along the torch,” Chalmers said.
Chalmers said the band hopes to continue playing their residency at the Mansion for another year.
Listening to the Bellfonix, Chalmers said people can expect to hear “songs you know by people you don’t know.”
“We’re all young and in our early to mid-20s, so we do stuff we’ve liked through our childhood, which is mostly stuff from the 90s and 2000s.”
The band members agree to play songs that they all listen to, Chalmers said.
“We’re one of the only young cover bands out there, so we want to play the stuff that we want
to hear.” He added that having a female vocalist allows them leeway when choosing which songs to cover.
“We love to do Adele, Amy Winehouse, No Doubt and Serena Ryder as well,” he said.
Though the group has only been together since the summer, Chalmers said they all have the same vision for the music.
“It’s mostly a hodge podge of whatever we like and whatever we think is going to be fun,” he said. “We’re out there to have a good time, so we throw a set together accordingly.”
Chalmers said while the group is happy at the Mansion, they do have bigger aspirations in the long term of their music careers.
“We’d love to release a full EP of all our own material,” he said.
Until then, the band’s going to do their best to make sure every Monday night is a memorable one.
“We do realize we have a job to make sure our Monday nights are as enjoyable as possible.”
Bellfonix plays the Mansion every Monday night.
Tags
Bellfonix, Daniel Chalmers, Interview, The Mansion
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.