Fresh off the launch of their first studio album, Edmonton’s The Provincial Archive stopped in Ottawa on Sept. 20 with intentions to celebrate amid the glow of the Zaphod Beeblebrox’s purple neon lights.
It’s All Shaken Wonder, the band’s third album and first since signing with Canadian label Black Box Music and a new music video were released at an album launch party in Toronto on Wednesday before the Ottawa tour stop.
“I’m just happy to be on the road and performing our new songs for people,” said lead singer Craig Schram before the show.
The show was the first since Zaphod’s owner Eugene Haslam announced he was considering walking away in an exclusive interview with the Ottawa Business Journal on Sept. 17.
According to Schram, the venue—which has had acts like The Rolling Stones and Alanis Morissette walk through its rustic old doors on York Street—is worth celebrating.
“Zaphod’s is amazing,” said Schram. “It’s cool to play because it’s such a storied music venue in Ottawa.”
The Provincial Archive’s set, which lasted an hour, saw the band transition from opening the stage up for Schram on Land Machines, a solo ballad about “young love” to the xylophone and drum-heavy song Common Cards, a track about trading baseball cards.
“It’s good to see bands being unique and coming out with different things,” said Dan Kelly, a 20-year-old Algonquin College student. “They aren’t your typical four-piece band. They change it up with things like the xylophone.”
Schram paused between each song to elaborate on his meaning or inspiration.
“This tune is called Weight And Sea and it’s about a dream I had,” Schram said, humming out the words “drifting as a bird asleep” as keyboardist Nathan Burge and bassist Stephen Tchir clapped out a beat, the crowd joining in for the entirety of the four minute song.
“It was like imagery,” Kelly said, when discussing Schram’s storytelling.
As the set neared its close and Schram announced their final song, the night’s earlier acts joined the crowd to sing and dance, screaming and clapping at each pause.
“We’re going to play a sad but beautiful song by Tom Waits, who’s a hero of ours in a few ways,” Schram said before jumping into a rendition of Fish & Bird as drummer Bramwell Park whistled along in the background.
“That was new,” Schram laughed in an interview following the show before adding, “Tom Waits is a song-writing inspiration, musically and lyrically for me.”
Those in attendance spoke enthusiastically about the night.
“I thought it was great,” said 24-year-old Sonja Dumendiak, who is travelling Canada from Stuttgart, Germany.
“We enjoyed every minute of it,” Schram said.
