03-20-2012, 10:18 AM
Looks like The Campfire Liars Club has put out a CD:
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Songs around the campfire Songs around the campfire
By Greg Burliuk
The Campfire Liars Club may like to joke around, but they take their songwriting seriously. That’s evident upon listening to the quartet’s eight-song CD, soon to be released. The Liars perform on Friday, Feb. 24 at Kingston’s Time To Laugh Comedy Club.
So who are these self-professed tall storytellers? They are The Tragically Hip’s Paul Langlois and three fellow singer-songwriters, Jim Tidman, Jeff Montgomery and Greg Ball. In performance, each takes turn presenting and singing a song, while the others chime in, much as they would if they were all sitting around a campfire. They all also happen to be on Langlois’ Ching Music record label.
“That’s really after the fact,” says Langlois. “I produced Jeff’s record for My Friend Andy and Jim and I became friends after I did his album. Then Jeff said there’s the other guy Greg and brought him around. We’re all songwriters and we all sound different.”
Listening to an advance copy of their CD, one notices that all of the songs are fairly serious with nary a carefree love song among them. “That’s the funny part, because we’re pretty funny guys,” says Tidman. “There’s a lot of banter that goes on between songs. It’s true the songs are a little bit darker. But most people come away from our shows talking about how they laughed.
“I went to Nashville a while back and one of the places I went to there was the Bluebird Cafe, where anyone can get up and have a few minutes to explain the song and then sing it. It’s a nice way to get people into the song.”
So picture yourself for the next few minutes back in the summer time, sitting around a campfire while the Liars pass the guitar around each taking a turn to explain one of the songs on the CD, something they have actually done many times.
We’ll start with Ball, who hasn’t been heard from yet and who will talk about his song Revenge, which features a terrific line where the singer says he wants to be, “the guy you wished you never met.”
Ball says, “I consider myself to be a pretty amazing boyfriend so it’s not about me. I work as a bartender and one night I saw this guy walk win with a girl I know and just watched him melt down. He was just a crazy person and out of it so I tried to figure out what was going through his mind.”
Next up is Langlois with Homeless in Aspen, a song he also released on his own solo record Fix This Head earlier last year.
“We were playing in Aspen with my other project (The Hip),” he jokes. “It was the off-season in October and it was really quiet, there were just the staff and friends around. During the day I was walking around town and I saw this guy who looked like he was homeless. He looked at me and I started thinking about what it must be like to be homeless in a place like that. It would be fairly depressing as it would be really cold and there wouldn’t be many other homeless people there. For the melody I was thinking old school like Sinatra or the Rat Pack.”
Then there’s Montgomery, who was chatting about his song The Show.
“I wrote it just about the time a friend of mine lost his second wife. We drank a lot of beers together and I was trying to relate to what he was going through. In baseball they talk about being called up to The Show, and it’s some place better. He was going through a lot of stuff.”
For Tidman, it was a mining song called Shovel and A Bird.
“A lot of the songs I write are story songs,” he says. “I was reading about the Westray mine disaster and I have a friend whose dad was a miner. I’m fascinated by people who are born into a life of struggle.”
The Liars have performed several local shows together and have also played in Stratford. Accompanying them on a couple of songs is Tidman’s brother, Dave Tidman, who plays a soulful sweet harmonica.
And how does Langlois compare this experience with that of The Hip?
“They’re very different, but the one similarity is that both are done among friends,” he says. “I’m 100% comfortable with both sets of guys.
“In this case, I’m doing my own songs and I haven’t done a whole lot of singing. It’s pretty low pressure because I only have to sing one song out of four.
“With The Hip, I’m a mute on stage and I’m fine with that. In this group, we’re all abusing each other on stage and it’s a lot of laughs, but there also lots of mutual support. It’s an interactive thing.”
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3473425">http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3473425</a><!-- m -->
Songs around the campfire Songs around the campfire
By Greg Burliuk
The Campfire Liars Club may like to joke around, but they take their songwriting seriously. That’s evident upon listening to the quartet’s eight-song CD, soon to be released. The Liars perform on Friday, Feb. 24 at Kingston’s Time To Laugh Comedy Club.
So who are these self-professed tall storytellers? They are The Tragically Hip’s Paul Langlois and three fellow singer-songwriters, Jim Tidman, Jeff Montgomery and Greg Ball. In performance, each takes turn presenting and singing a song, while the others chime in, much as they would if they were all sitting around a campfire. They all also happen to be on Langlois’ Ching Music record label.
“That’s really after the fact,” says Langlois. “I produced Jeff’s record for My Friend Andy and Jim and I became friends after I did his album. Then Jeff said there’s the other guy Greg and brought him around. We’re all songwriters and we all sound different.”
Listening to an advance copy of their CD, one notices that all of the songs are fairly serious with nary a carefree love song among them. “That’s the funny part, because we’re pretty funny guys,” says Tidman. “There’s a lot of banter that goes on between songs. It’s true the songs are a little bit darker. But most people come away from our shows talking about how they laughed.
“I went to Nashville a while back and one of the places I went to there was the Bluebird Cafe, where anyone can get up and have a few minutes to explain the song and then sing it. It’s a nice way to get people into the song.”
So picture yourself for the next few minutes back in the summer time, sitting around a campfire while the Liars pass the guitar around each taking a turn to explain one of the songs on the CD, something they have actually done many times.
We’ll start with Ball, who hasn’t been heard from yet and who will talk about his song Revenge, which features a terrific line where the singer says he wants to be, “the guy you wished you never met.”
Ball says, “I consider myself to be a pretty amazing boyfriend so it’s not about me. I work as a bartender and one night I saw this guy walk win with a girl I know and just watched him melt down. He was just a crazy person and out of it so I tried to figure out what was going through his mind.”
Next up is Langlois with Homeless in Aspen, a song he also released on his own solo record Fix This Head earlier last year.
“We were playing in Aspen with my other project (The Hip),” he jokes. “It was the off-season in October and it was really quiet, there were just the staff and friends around. During the day I was walking around town and I saw this guy who looked like he was homeless. He looked at me and I started thinking about what it must be like to be homeless in a place like that. It would be fairly depressing as it would be really cold and there wouldn’t be many other homeless people there. For the melody I was thinking old school like Sinatra or the Rat Pack.”
Then there’s Montgomery, who was chatting about his song The Show.
“I wrote it just about the time a friend of mine lost his second wife. We drank a lot of beers together and I was trying to relate to what he was going through. In baseball they talk about being called up to The Show, and it’s some place better. He was going through a lot of stuff.”
For Tidman, it was a mining song called Shovel and A Bird.
“A lot of the songs I write are story songs,” he says. “I was reading about the Westray mine disaster and I have a friend whose dad was a miner. I’m fascinated by people who are born into a life of struggle.”
The Liars have performed several local shows together and have also played in Stratford. Accompanying them on a couple of songs is Tidman’s brother, Dave Tidman, who plays a soulful sweet harmonica.
And how does Langlois compare this experience with that of The Hip?
“They’re very different, but the one similarity is that both are done among friends,” he says. “I’m 100% comfortable with both sets of guys.
“In this case, I’m doing my own songs and I haven’t done a whole lot of singing. It’s pretty low pressure because I only have to sing one song out of four.
“With The Hip, I’m a mute on stage and I’m fine with that. In this group, we’re all abusing each other on stage and it’s a lot of laughs, but there also lots of mutual support. It’s an interactive thing.”
"We're forced to bed, but we're free to dream"
Dana