ST. JOHN'S -
On Jan. 14 a 26-year-old Norris Arm native Chris Kirby and his band members The Marquee were among the performers listed to appear at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC), following calls and visits to the province to attend cultural events, chose performers who will perform at the Games.
"We showcased in Moncton in October at Contact East. That was essentially a trade show for performers, where booking and concert agents can speak with and view performers," said Mr. Kirby. "While we were there, a gentlemen who is in charge of booking Atlantic Canadian performers for the various concerts during the Vancouver Olympics spoke with us and he called my manager about a month or so later and asked if we were interested in going and of course we said yes.
"I had to read the e-mail a couple of times when the invitation first came in, I didn't really believe it. It's the biggest and most international stage that you could ever do."
Mr. Kirby and The Marquee will be performing at Atlantic Canada House located on Granville Island at 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 24 at the Backstage Lounge.
"They're flying us in, they're paying for our accommodations and our meals - it's wonderful," said Mr. Kirby. "We are also getting paid for the show, so even if we perform and no future opportunities come from it, we get to go to the Olympics and we are getting paid to do something that we are so lucky to do."
Mr. Kirby and band members Craig Follett and Mark Marshall leave for Vancouver on Feb. 23 and return to Newfoundland on Feb. 25.
"It's pretty whirl-wind, but we are hoping we get a few minutes or grab a ticket to catch a hockey game or something while we are there," said Mr. Kirby. "We are also going to look to get some booking agents and record label representatives out to see us.
"The Olympics will be our big selling point for a while until the next big thing comes along, but it's going to be hard to beat this one."
Among the other performers attending from this province are Fergus O'Byrne, Great Big Sea, Hey Rosetta!, The Irish Descendants, The Navigators, Ron Hynes, Shanneyganock, Shaun Majumder and Tara Oram.
Vampire Hotel
Mr. Kirby moved to St. John's in 2001 where he began playing in a number of bands associated with the local club scene. The bar scene of downtown St. John's was completely different from the music Mr. Kirby grew up playing in his hometown.
"I have been playing piano since I was five years old, but it was never the kind of playing I do now," he said. "Like a lot of people, I lost that after high school when I moved to St. John's and went to university. I didn't have a piano in my house to keep up my rehearsals, so when I started playing in bands it was the guitar that I went back to. However, I later found my way back to the piano and here I am."
When Mr. Kirby released "Chris Kirby on the Rum & Religion" in 2006, he emerged as a solo artist, songwriter and performer.
With his second album released in Toronto in July 2009, Vampire Hotel, Mr. Kirby is proud of the songs he wrote on the album, with production spilt between Fat Tracks Studios in St. John's and Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studios in Austin, Texas.
The title of the record is in fact a nickname he gave a downtown St. John's bar, while playing there frequently.
"The nickname is one I used for a bar that used to be on Water Street called The Spur," said Mr. Kirby. "I used to call it Vampire Hotel because I played there quite often and quite often I would leave there in the morning with the sun burning. The later you stay, the more interesting people became.
"I remember one night in particular a friend of mine came out to do a duo and we went down to the basement to pack up our guitars and when we were heading back up the stairs to have some more sociables, the whole vibe of the room seemed to change. The lighting was different and the people seemed to have transformed and I said 'The vampires are out now, time to go home,' and that's where it started. The song on the CD called Vampire Hotel, that song is actually about The Spur."
Accolades and upcoming
Mr. Kirby won a MusicNL award for 2009 Jazz/Blues Artist of the Year and is nominated for Solo Male Recording of the Year, Blues Recording of the Year, R&B/Soul Single of the Year for his song entitled 'Come Clean' and FACTOR Recording of the Year for the 2010 ECMAs.
"The ECMAs are March 4-7 in Sydney, Nova Scotia this year and I'm scheduled to play in the Songwriters Circle and there will be a special guest at the show Amy Sky, which is pretty cool," said Mr. Kirby. "However, the award I'm most excited to be nominated for, and I don't anticipate winning because I'm in very high caliber competition, is Recording of the Year. That's the biggest compliment that I could get."
Until the Olympics, Mr. Kirby is kept busy with his two full-time jobs and other hobbies on the side.
"I'm a full-time musician and full-time software engineer," he said. "I also just started producing this year and right now I'm producing one record for The Mountains & The Trees and one for Shawn Beresford. The Mountains and The Trees are a folk group and Shawn Beresford is a soul and blues guy, more along the lines of what I do myself."
Mr. Kirby and The Marquee are also performing at the Arts and Culture Centre in Grand Falls-Windsor on Feb. 12 and in Gander on Feb. 13 at 8 p.m.
"My old high school, Lewisporte Collegiate, and my former music teacher Lindy Whitt will also be joining us on stage," said Mr. Kirby. "It's bound to be a treat for anyone who attends."
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