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Bedouin Soundclash solidifying message

Canadian band bring jazz, punk, reggae, hip hop influences to Whistler Music Festival
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Bedouin's Men Pat Pengelly, Jay Malinowski and Eon Sinclair are coming to Whistler this weekend

Who: Bedouin Soundclash

When: Saturday, July 19, 2:30 p.m.

Where: Base II, Blackcomb

Tickets: $67.50/day or $120 for two-day pass

In a matter of days, the musical stylings of some big name performers from both sides of the 49 th parallel will be echoing through the mountains.

The men of Bedouin Soundclash were in Florida just last Friday as part of the annual Warped Tour, but this weekend, they’ll be in our neck of the woods to perform during the first Whistler Music Festival.

With Eon Sinclair on bass, Pat Pengelly on drums, and Jay Malinowski on guitar and vocals, Bedouin Soundclash’s music is an amalgam of reggae, rock, punk and soul.

Best known for their mainstream hits like, “When The Night Feels My Song,” and “1259 Lullaby,” which ended up on the hit TV show, “Grey’s Anatomy,” the group’s musical influences are deep and varied, and their overall sound is rich and distinctive.

The guys all met while studying at Queens University, and discovered they had a shared love of music.

“We had no intention of starting a band,” Malinowski said. “I met Eon and we just started trading records, actually… and then one day I walked by his room and I saw him playing bass and I was like, ‘we should play something sometime.’”

The three friends hung out for months before they started making music together, and it took a while longer for them to actually admit they were a band.

“We always thought it was kind of clichéd that we were in a band,” Malinowski said with a laugh.

They certainly never imagined that their band would transform their love of music into a viable career.

The music didn’t drive them to abandon academia — they all stuck it out and finished their respective degrees — but it turns out they haven’t put them to much use yet. Since Bedouin Soundclash first came onto the scene in 2001, the trio has been pretty busy, releasing three full-length albums, making music videos, and touring extensively. So far, they’ve scored an award as the Best New Group at the 2006 Canadian Radio Music Awards, and a 2006 JUNO Award for New Group of The Year.

Growing up in Vancouver, Malinowski was raised on a steady diet of West coast punk and bigger names, like the Clash, that helped him transition into reggae, which is an integral part of Bedouin Soundclash’s signature sound.

“We all come together, I guess, on that one point,” Malinowski said. “To us, its just soul music, just really good soul music.”

Though reggae has traditionally been a powerful medium, Malinowski is quick to point out that there’s no social or political message behind their music.

“I think, actually in Canada, it kind of gets relegated to being left wing student music… and it’s just such a wrong perception,” he added. “To me, it’s just feel good music for people.”

While Malinowski brings in a lot of the group’s punk influence, Pengelly has more of a jazz background, contributing the band’s complicated beats, and Sinclair plays behind the beat, with an ear trained to dancehall and hip hop rhythms.

While the group is focusing on promoting their newest album, Street Gospel , right now, they hope to start working on new material at the end of summer, and release a new album by next spring.

Their music certainly isn’t growing stagnant with time, but Street Gospel is much deeper than their last release. A bit more sombre and lyrically introspective, their latest effort has helped the group to establish their signature sound.

“We kind of felt the need to really solidify what we were doing and what we wanted to say,” Malinowski explained.

Now, the idea is that they will have a lot more room to grow, expand and experiment with their next album.

After wrapping up the Warped Tour they’re performing here in Whistler, then heading to play more festival gigs in Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle and Japan, where they just shot their video for “1259 Lullaby.”

“By our standards, it’s not really (busy),” Malinowski said. “Usually we’re playing every… day.”

Malinowski is stoked for their upcoming gig in the mountains of Whistler, adding that he only managed to make it up to snowboard once or twice this season, and is thinking about hitting the bike park while in town.

But he’s also happy to see that the concept of outdoor music festivals seem to be catching on in his home country.

“I’m excited because it seems like in Canada there are just a lot more festivals taking place, and in Europe, especially, the coolest things I’ve seen musically have always been at festival shows,” Malinowski said, adding that the atmosphere at an outdoor festival is amazing, as the focus becomes more about capturing a moment with the audience.

It’s also a chance for everyone, even the performers, to check out new talent.

“It’s a chance to get to see a lot of bands you’d never see,” Malinowski said, adding that while on the Warped Tour, he’s discovered the Aggrolites, an L.A.-based dirty soul, reggae band.

Interested in discovering some new music? Check out the full lineup for the inaugural two-day Whistler Music Festival:

Saturday, July 19

Serena Ryder, 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Meshell Ndegeocello, 12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Bedouin Soundclash, 2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m.

The Roots, 4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Thievery Corporation, 6:45 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Sunday, July 20

Medeski, Martin and Wood, 11:00 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.

Robert Randolph & The Family Band, 12:50 p.m. – 2:10 p.m.

Allen Toussaint Band, 2:40 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Broken Social Scene, 4:45 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.

Elvis Costello and The Imposters, 6:45 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.