The New Pornographers, Broken Social Scene and Britain’s Reindeer Section are just the latest additions to a musical tradition with a long history—the supergroup. A supergroup—first seen in bands such as Cream and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young—is made up of musicians from other bands. Here in Kingston, The Gertrudes are set to become the city’s first local supergroup.
The band is made up of a number of well-known characters from Kingston’s music scene—piano man Jason Erb is usually known as the caterwauling, tambourine-waving frontman for Infotourist, along with drummer Ian Montgomery; bassist Josh Lyon is a former member of Toronto’s Entire Cities; singer Greg Tilson is the promoter behind Little Joe Management, and singer and banjo-player Annie Clifford has long been playing sweet and yelpy solo shows. All nine members, including trombone player Pim van Geffen, accordion player Owen Fernley, lead guitarist Matt Rogalsky and theremin player Chris Trimmer, have been seen on stage with the wild troop of open mic freak-folkies, the Backyard Sex Band.
The band’s combined experience is their best asset—from their obvious on-stage ease to their willingness to experiment creatively, nothing about this band suggests they formed this year. The Gertrudes came together after many of the musicians involved pooled their talent for the 24-hour Tidal Mass event in September. Their first public appearance as The Gertrudes was on a Wednesday night last fall at The Grad Club’s open mic night, and their first official gig was at Modern Fuel’s silent auction event in December.
The band’s genre is hard to nail down—their sound is entirely determined by the combination of instruments playing at any given moment. Their contribution to the Skeleton Park Music Festival compilation is a haunting, echoey ballad about distance and differences, called “Lonely Days.” Trimmer’s theremin, an electric instrument that plays notes based on the placement of the player’s hands relative to metal antennas (it is one of the few instruments that can be played without being touched), adds true sadness to a song already carrying tragedy in its lyrics.
“I wrote it when I first came to Kingston and I was extremely lonely,” Clifford said.
The band’s songs are written by Clifford and Tilson, though Tilson’s songs are new, while Clifford’s are songs written in the past, but never brought to fruition publicly.
“I actually haven’t written a song for years,” Clifford said. “As for Greg, he seems to turn out a new song every week or so, but every one is extremely good.”
The band’s name comes from a familial story that was shared between two of the bandmates. “You know what? This is funny,” Clifford said. “Greg’s grandma [who’s name was Gertrude] had a stroke the same day that Greg’s little sister was born, and somehow the spirit of Greg’s grandma ended up in Greg’s little sister. Which sounds weird, except that it turns out that Pim is named Wilhelm because he has a story with his grandfather having a heart attack on the day of Pim’s birth or right around there. Pim didn’t know it, but his grandfather was a trombone player and he didn’t know it until years and years later.
“Also, it’s a nice name.”
Though they’re a newer group, all nine members are passionate about both the band and the feeling of community they get from playing together. Although the Skeleton Park compilation was their first recording experience, they plan to record more extensively and continue playing gigs locally. In the meantime, you can still find The Gertrudes playing at The Grad Club’s beloved open mic most Wednesday nights.
The Gertrudes play at the Sleepless Goat at 91 Princess St. this Sunday night at 8 p.m. Admission is pay what you can. They play next Wednesday at the central branch of the Kingston Public Library at 6:30 p.m. The band also plays at open mic at the Grad Club at 162 Barrie St. on Wednesday nights.
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