Mountain deep,
river high

The strong currents of bi-coastal
band Spoon River

WE’RE WITH THE BAND: Spoon River

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Once the Montreal act unofficially tapped as “most likely to succeed,” the Royal Mountain Band’s tale is truly tragic. The band had struggled on the local circuit before snagging a juicy collective role as Canadian rockers the Band, backing up Cate Blanchett in Todd Haynes’s Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There. With good reason too—the Band was one of the Royal Mountain Band’s biggest influences, so considering they already knew how to play all the songs, they were a shoo-in. An album was tracked and preparations made to coincide the release with the film’s, but the collection of songs was sadly stillborn, never making it to the final mixing stage.

“It had really hit a critical mass and the dynamic that worked so well in the band at the beginning kind of started going against us,” says guitarist/singer Tavis Triance. “We just weren’t comfortable with each other anymore, but that’s kind of to be expected when you have 35- to 40-year-old guys in a band. It was just time to move along.”

Move along they did. Triance and a fellow royal mountaineer, keyboardist Jeff Louch, merged with the rhythm section of local boogie rockers Bullmoose to form Spoon River. Solo artist and former Soft Canyon guitarist Jason Kent completed the line-up.

It’s ironic that when I talk to Triance, Spoon River have just gotten off the stage at a Richard Manuel tribute at a music festival in Stratford, Ontario, hometown of the Band’s keyboardist Manuel, who took his own life in 1986.

“This is just so amazing, because the Band is probably my favourite band of all time, so it’s just such an honour that the Manuel family would ask us to be part of this. Just being able to hang out with Rompin’ Ronnie Hawkins was amazing in itself.”

Triance now calls British Columbia home. Despite living on opposite coasts, technology has helped the band grow organically. “Everybody has Pro Tools, so we can just send files to each other—so it’s going pretty good. I just spend all day working on boats, with no distractions, so it’s great to write songs—and that’s where I want to be.”