Bahamas, a.k.a. Afie Jurvanen, does not like to feel boxed in from an artistic standpoint. He wants to make whatever music piques his interest at whatever time he feels like doing so.
Associate yourself strictly with a defined genre and you may not always get such leeway. Jurvanen feels some bands (like AC/DC) appear to make "the same album over and over again," which a lot of people enjoy listening to—but that doesn't interest him as a creator.
"I think of guys like David Bowie, where it just feels like on any given album, things can go in any direction. That's exciting for me as a creative person, and I hope it's exciting for listeners," he says.
Jurvanen's latest album, Bootcut, roped in a CCMA Alternative Country Album of the Year nomination. The one before that, Sad Hunk, won the 2021 Juno Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year. In all of his content, Jurvanen tries to explore new lyrical frontiers: to sing about modernity and his own life in a manner that is poetic and compelling.
"You try writing a song with the word 'email' in it," quips the Barrie, Ont. native. "It's hard, you know?"
Hard or not, Jurvanen knows how to make magic happen. The Grammy nomination and five Junos on his resume attest to that fact. Other successful artists like k.d. lang, Wilco, BTS and even Taylor Swift are known to appreciate his content, while a global fanbase has racked up 1.5 billion streams and counting.
When Jurvanen reflects on achievements like these, the first words to cross his mind are "eternally grateful."
"Part of me just assumes every time we put out an album [that it] will be the album nobody cares about, and then the whole thing will just come crashing down," he remarks. "At some point that time will come. Maybe the music will be less popular or people won't want to come to shows as much, and I'll still be a musician.
"I won the lottery in some ways 25 years ago when I became a professional musician. I didn't finish high school. I didn't really have any other prospects. At the time, it wasn't a huge decision. It was more just like, 'this is what I'm doing, for better or for worse.' The most meaningful thing to me is being able to collaborate with so many wonderful musicians all over the world … in Toronto, Los Angeles, Nashville and Australia."
'There's a lot of wonderful reasons to be out there for Canada Day'
Jurvanen is proud of his Finnish heritage, but also considers himself to be a Canadian guy with a quintessential Canadian upbringing: eating Timbits, playing on local soccer teams and jamming out with his friends. Barrie's music scene was dominated by cover bands in that era, but trips to Toronto exposed Jurvanen to different kinds of music in his teen years.
Eventually he'd like to play a show in Finland, despite the logistical issues associated with getting there.
For now, the Sea to Sky will have to do. Jurvanen visited Whistler last year, enjoying a round of golf at Nicklaus North and supper at the Red Door Bistro when he wasn't performing. He's thrilled to be giving Whistlerites an encore on Canada Day, and his mom (who has never visited British Columbia) is tagging along to cross an item off her bucket list.
"I'm always looking to do more things that are free, or at least as close to it as possible," says Jurvanen. "A lot of concert tickets have just gotten out of control, and the prices are the opposite of inclusive. If you're selling concert tickets for $200 or $300 or $400, clearly you're trying to brand it as a luxury event. Some of the most powerful shows I ever saw were five bucks to get in the door … I appreciate the fact that the [Whistler concert] is free. There's a lot of wonderful reasons to be out there for Canada Day."
Helping deliver the Bahamas experience are vocalist Felicity Williams, Darcy Yates on bass, guitar player Christine Bougie as well as two percussionists: Don Kerr and Joshua Van Tassel. Although their names aren't as famous as the moniker "Bahamas" is, Jurvanen wants you to know: they're phenomenal musicians.
In some ways they might be better than him, and that's just how he prefers it.
"I half-jokingly like to say: 'I always want to be the weakest link, the s—ttiest musician in the band' because it forces me to stretch out a little further, reach for things that might be a little bit scary," Jurvanen explains. "If you just stay in your lane, that gets boring pretty quickly. You have to constantly be willing to look like a fool in the pursuit of truth, in the pursuit of entertainment and art.
"The reality is, when you take a risk, people admire it because they say, 'look, he was willing to put himself out there. Maybe I'll do it on my stand-up paddleboard, or I'll do it in my next work meeting.' We're not looking to reinvent the wheel every night. I feel like the songs are really good quality, but that being said, it's nice to feel like if you want to change things rhythmically or melodically, the band is certainly of the highest calibre and can go there at the drop of a hat. I'm spoiled. I get to play with the best musicians."
DJ Soul Club will open the Canada Day musical festivities at 6:30 p.m. before Bahamas emerges at 7:30 p.m. Visit whistler.com/events/concerts/ for more details.
