Willy Blizzard is a band on the road! Our songs literally come from our experience of the land.
We travel all across our beautiful country in the world’s tiniest camper van. We try to stay off the Trans-Canada highway, away from the clutter of franchises.
Last fall we put on over fourteen thousand kilometres, stopping along the way to visit anything that intrigues us. After a few gigs in the Kootenays we hit the road for the big trip east. At the last minute, we threw in the house cat. She tells me she had a great time.
We always make a point of visiting sights that connect with our music. For example, the song Train Through a Northern Town comes from the northern Ontario community of Wawa, a stop on the Algoma Central Railway.
Rolling down the highway on the northern shore of Lake Superior, we are always reminded of those iconic scenes immortalized by the Group of Seven painters. One day, we stopped at Old Woman Bay and the Old Woman River. Our hikes led us to an old fur trading post and an abandoned pioneer cemetery. Of course, we are now writing music about painters and fur traders.
The song Maritime Blue comes from our stay in Newfoundland, where we learned about newfie steaks. Yum!
Santa Fe Train was written whilst picnicking on the banks of the stunningly beautiful Thompson River in southern British Columbia. The whistle blew, and before us was a massive locomotive. It was literally a Santa Fe train, on the CN line.
January is the archetypal Canadian weather song, a reminder of just how cold those long winter nights can be (especially sleeping in a camper).
We’ll be hittin’ the road again in 2010 with our new album “In from the Cold” with more stories of the endless journey.
About our vehicle:
We selected our second-hand vehicle on the basis of the lightest possible ecological footprint that could reasonably act as a touring vehicle and home for a band that includes our gear, a full sound system, an upright bass, and an elderly cat. (Our non-touring months you’ll see us on a 50 cc scooter, an electric bike, and a peddle bike. We’re basically carbon neutral, although we look ridiculous.)