By Nicole Fitzgerald
Who: Run GMC
When: Friday, Dec. 8 & Saturday, Dec. 9
Where: Dusty’s
Tickets: $5
Lead vocalist Aaron Grain describes a Run GMC experience in three stages.
“The first thing that goes through your mind is ‘Why didn’t I pick another club?’” Grain says with a chuckle. “Then they find themselves singing along and they don’t know what to make of it. Then they are usually laughing at this point and have this look of question, ‘What the hell is this and why am I stomping my foot to it?’”
The unidentifiable is one good old trucker band. The kind of seven piece that lights into crazy old time music — Johnny Cash, Roger Miller and even a touch of gospel — the kind of music your dad would listen to, or more likely your dad’s dad.
Run GMC makes a truck stop in Whistler Friday, Dec. 8 and Saturday, Dec. 9 at Dusty’s.
“Keep your lids peeled for a banjo pickin’, slide slippin’, washboard jamming, storytelling bunch ’o hobos roadside with their thumbs up,” he said foreshadowing what Dusty’s audiences are in store for. “We are somewhat tongue and cheek. We stay true to the music with a whole lot of attitude. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, neither do our fans, but they always show up.”
Each concert is a reunion for the seven boys who, in their daily lives, are spread out across Canada. That’s why the group looks forward to catching up over instruments. David Roberts is on washboard, Chris Duncombe on banjo, Sam Masterson on lap slide guitar, Giles Panton on drums, Briton Liakakos on bass and Matt Van Dyke on cowbell — and the rest of the crazy lot, Chris Pollen and Dany Gagnon are on some kind of booze.
Songs covered are all about truck stops, getting a load in on time, cups of joe and hitting on the waitress at the local café. The show reads like an ode to a no-tell hotel love affair on some highway, with plenty of words to fall over.
“You don’t hear that kind of storytelling anymore,” Grain said. “It’s becoming more relevant again with hip hop, which rattles off words all in one breath. It’s got country-style roots with a bit of twanging. All words rattled off with crazy rhythm. That is what has always appealed to me.”
The Saturday concert also includes a bull riding competition starting at 7 p.m.
Cover is $5.
