Happy Birthday Shakey
Local bands serve up tribute performances to celebrate Neil Young’s 60th
Melissa Martin


On Nov. 12, elusive rock icon Neil Young will blow out 60 candles on his birthday cake.

That’s a big milestone, and one that Winnipeggers aren’t about to let go unnoticed. To celebrate the occasion, the Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club is placing old Shakey’s music front and centre with NeilFest, a three-day celebration of one of Winnipeg’s most legendary sons.

This is no ordinary tribute festival, either. Each night, one of the city’s premiere roots acts will perform an entire Young album from start to finish, bolstered by showings of some of Young’s films plus original sets by a variety of performers.

On Nov. 10, Scott Nolan and his band will take on Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, The Turnstiles dive into Tonight’s the Night on Nov. 11, and bluegrass rebels D. Rangers will twang their way through Zuma on Nov. 12.

Like most things at the cozy Main Street venue, the inspiration for NeilFest came straight from the music community. Times Change(d) president and janitor John Scoles was turned on to the idea when The Turnstiles approached him about performing a whole Young album during their upcoming Dec. 17 gig.

“We wanted to do something longer because the D. Rangers and other musicians had talked about doing something similar in the past,” Scoles says. That’s when he realized the Rangers were already booked for Nov. 12.

From there the idea caught fire. D. Rangers enthusiastically helped solicit the involvement of other acts, and The Turnstiles hopped on board in order to preview their December gig (which will feature a stage show inspired by Young’s mid-’70s touring style).

“It evolved into this whole thing,” Scoles says. “The process was very organic, which is typical of the club and the community… It took on a life of its own. It’s the way we make things happen. We find ways to celebrate almost from nowhere.”

In addition to the album performances, the festival will include sets by Romi Mayes, The Perpetrators’ Jason Nowicki and Ryan Menard, Andrew Neville, and Matt Allen. Projectionist Mike Maryniuk will be lending his visual talents to the mix.

Turnstiles guitarist Rob Pachol says that the challenge of performing a whole album is what originally sparked the idea.

“As big fans, you tend to find yourself trying to crack the nut of your favourite musicians and get inside their heads,” he says. “We probably do about half the album as it is, so we thought it would be a really audacious manoeuvre to learn the whole album from beginning to end.”

After rehearsing the disc for around 20 hours over the space of five weeks, The Turnstiles have got most of Tonight’s the Night under control, though some of the album’s quirky harmonies posed a challenge. They’ll be previewing much of their efforts on Nov. 11 before unveiling the entire record at their December show.

“Some of it has come really easy, some of it has been tough,” says Pachol, who explains that Young’s music is a pleasure to play.

“You can really explore your abilities. It allows you to test your mettle… You can play sloppy or inspired.”

For Scott Nolan, taking on Young’s 1969 release Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere was similarly a labour of love. Nolan and his band dubbed their last tour the ‘Neil Young for Prime Minister Tour,’ and his guitarist, Chris Carmichael, is a fervent fan. In fact, Scoles calls Carmichael a master of the Young guitar sound.

Initially Nolan and his band were intrigued by performing Young’s 1972 smash hit Harvest, but Everybody Knows... eventually won out. It was Young’s second solo record and his first album with famous backing band Crazy Horse, so Nolan says there’s something special about the disc.

Then again, there’s something special about much of Young’s eclectic catalogue. The key to the icon’s longevity, says Nolan, stems from his musical courage.

Young has always led a fiercely uncompromising career, one which has invited both conflict and critical praise. With Southern Man he angered Lynyrd Skynyrd enough to earn a retort in the form of Sweet Home Alabama, abruptly walked out on a tour with Stephen Stills in 1976, and spent the mid-’80s making himself a thorn in the side of his then-label, Geffen, by writing a series of progressively more musically obscure albums. Through it all, Young has remained one of the titans of roots music.

“It’s his guts,” Nolan says of Young’s appeal. “There’s something unpretentious about him. He’s done so much stuff, and I don’t get the impression that he’s much of a panderer. He’s done stuff that’s made him unpopular… He seems to rely on himself. He’s a real, true original.”

Few venues could better accommodate the music of an original than the truly unique Times Change(d). Scoles notes that Young’s music fits in perfectly with the club’s diverse musical mandate and grassroots atmosphere.

“When people talk about what we do, and what type of music is here… what he’s done is exactly representative of that,” he says. “It’s the combination of folk, blues and rock ’n’ roll. It’s roots, and it’s an example of its longevity, how strong it is and continues to be.”

While each act will undoubtedly put its own special stamp on Young’s material, don’t expect any wildly divergent interpretations of the tunes. Nolan says the old songs are a perfect musical fit for himself and many other roots musicians who drew much of their early inspiration from Young.

“When you get to the bottom of it, we’ve all ripped off Neil Young,” Nolan laughs.