I am excited to report that the May 2012 edition of Beatroute Magazine includes a review of my new album ‘Inner Alchemy’.  Beatroute is a music magazine based in Calgary, Alberta and is distributed across Western Canada.  Written by Cait Lepla, here is the review of ‘Inner Alchemy’ in it’s entirety:

“Calgary based artist Ethan Collister seems to wear his influences on his sleeve, as every song on this album showcases the thickly layered, intricate sound of being written in jams.  With unusual structuring and a wide range of instruments, it resists classification but invites the varying aesthetics of his guitar, harmonica and sitar, alongside others’ upright bass, trumpet, banjo, cajon and guest backing vocals.

Each instrument seems to take turns being emphasized in the music rather than backing each other in patterns, which infuses it with a certain dynamism.  The chiming rhythms are entrancing, but it seems more intentional than intoxicatingly experimental.  The pace is quite relaxed and often in cheerful major scales and there are some songs that people could even slow dance to if they wanted.

His lyrics are often discussing hopefulness about where life unpredictably leads us and looking for companionship but wanting to explore.  At times, it can really come off like a metaphorical train of thought because they will start to rhyme, only to then stop when you somehow expect it would continue.  His pleasant voice is a bit like Ian Anderson’s (Jethro Tull) and it would be most wonderful to hear him at sunny outdoor venues or in cafes.”

- Cait Lepla, Beatroute

Thank you Cait and Beateroute Magaizine!

Thanks to the Inglewood community in Calgary for having my band and I play at their river clean up party on Sunday!  It was a bright and beautiful afternoon and cleaning the river was a wonderful reason to bring this lovely community together.  My band and I were honored to be provide music and good vibes for all of the hard working volunteers.  Seeing such a caring group of people take pride and responsibility for their community was very inspiring!

The CBC estimated that roughly 2,000 volunteers across Calgary took the time to help clean up a winter’s worth of trash from the river shores and adjacent bike paths that wind through the city.  Nearly 10,000 pounds of garbage was gathered and disposed of including some bizarre finds such as wigs, hiking boots, shopping carts, bicycles, mattresses…..even dishwashers and washing machines!

Congratulations, Calgary, on your commitment to a clean and green community. We were all too happy to provide the soundtrack!

I am always fascinated when people are inclined to ask “What is your favorite artist or band?”  It seems like an impossible question to answer.  I have certainly met people who have their minds made up and can quickly identify their number one favorite, but I have not been afforded the luxury of such a clearly defined sense of taste.  Tchaikovsky, Bob Dylan and Django Reinhardt are all virtuosic artists that I enjoy and admire immensely, but each of them approaches music in an entirely different way to the next.  Because I like all three for such different reasons I have trouble distinguishing who I would constitute as my favorite.

There is, however, one band that I often bring up in these sorts of discussions.  That band is Tool, and though I would be hesitant to crown them with a superfluous title like “my favorite band of all time”, their music has had an incomparable impact on my journey as a human.  They have challenged me to look inside myself and to face the darker sides of my own humanity, to travel through the places inside of me that cause me fear and apprehension, and to emerge from the shadows with a greater and more compassionate understanding of myself and the world around me.

Considering that I tend to base my own work in the genre of folk, I suppose it’s a little funny for me to declare my allegiance with an alternative metal band like Tool.  But I have always felt that any genre of music can be done with integrity and I have never limited my listening to any one aesthetic.  In fact, if I were to pick a favorite genre of music to listen to I don’t believe I could say anything other than “good music”.

If you have never experienced the magic and mysticism of Tool and are interested in exploring their world, I recommend you strap yourself in.  Tool is not passive listening.  If you are looking for music to distract yourself from the day to day  then you might want to pick up the latest Riana album instead.  But if you are willing to engage and be challenged, to work for a higher understanding, to be dragged through the swamp in search of cleansing, Tool can take you to some amazing places.  To truly immerse yourself in a Tool album is akin to spiritual deep sea diving.

Please copy and paste this web address into your browser to check out a YouTube interview with Maynard James Keenan, the singer of the band:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-_a7FzzGps

This interview serves to show not only that Tool is a progressive and illuminating band, but that music is capable of leading humanity to higher and more enlightened levels of understanding.

Brave explorers of the self, journey onward!

A month or two ago my friend and colleague Yolanda Weltzin approached me about participating in a special assignment.  She and some of her peers at Mount Royal University in Calgary have been working on a project intended to reduce crime in urban communities through environmental design.

They came up with the idea to set up a public piano that anyone could play.  “How will this reduce crime?” I asked.  Yolanda explained to me that by offering the community a greater chance to share and connect the piano would increase the overall safety of that community.  Reducing crime through environmental design……It’s all about coming together!

“Public piano? Music? Greater sense of community?” I said. “Sounds great!  Where do I fit in??”

Yolanda said that I could help their campaign by appearing in a YouTube commercial.  She introduced me to her friend and fellow student Bronson Ha and he filmed a commercial featuring an performance of a cover tune.  I was thrilled that he asked me to sing one of my favorite Beatles’ songs: “Come Together”.  Check out the commercial by clicking this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bipNsQyokI&feature=youtu.be

Thank you Yolanda and Bronson and to anyone else involved in this project for including me. I hope that what I had to offer is useful to you on your mission to reduce crime through environmental design!

Please help spread the love and come together at the 2nd Cup on 4th Street South West Calgary this June 23rd to celebrate the installment of a new public piano in Mission!

On Sunday night I ventured South of Calgary an hour or so to Black Diamond, Alberta, where Fred Eaglesmith gave an afternoon concert at the Black Diamond Hotel.  For those who are unaware, Fred Eaglesmith is a legendary Canadian songwriter who has penned such country hits as “White Rose”, “49 Tons”, “Wilder Than Her”, “Alcohol and Pills” and “Time To Get a Gun”.   He is a famous and well proven name in the music industry and his songs have found great commercial success, though his own performances are rarely “hits” in the music mainstream.  Moreover, Fred’s songs find their greatest exposure when covered by pop artists such as Allan Jackson and Miranda Lambert. Despite the mainstream success of many of his songs, Fred exists predominantly on the underground.  It is likely that his raw, gritty and unyielding approach to music has kept him on the fringe of pop culture, but it is definite that his penmanship has won him a highly respectable position on the international songwriter’s totem.

I had already begun to explore Fred Eaglemith’s music, but it was when my good friend Justine Fischer joined his band a year and a half ago that I began to become a true Fred Head.  Justine is a delightfully talented upright bass player with a heavy groove and a sensitive musical ear.  She and I met through music and she joined my band in early 2010. We became good friends and toured together on several occasions in support of my “Wishing Well” album.  In the fall of 2010, to my excitement, she joined Fred Eaglesmith’s band and hit the road on a permanent basis.

Now, whenever the Fred Eaglesmith band comes through Southern Alberta, I go out to enjoy a show of outstanding songs and get a chance to catch up with Justine. I have been fortunate enough to meet the rest of the band and even to talk with Fred Eaglesmith himself. As an aspiring songwriter it is a privilege to catch a glimpse into the world of a such longstanding and legendary talent.  I think what is most inspiring to me is how true Fred Eaglesmith has stayed to himself.  He is completely unapologetic and he operates on his own terms.  Great songs and great character!

The show in Black Diamond was certainly up to standard.  It wasn’t the first Fred Eaglesmith show I’ve seen and I don’t believe it will be the last.  Thanks, Justine, for being a good friend and for sharing Fred’s music with me and with the rest of the world!

As many of you are aware I work Monday through Friday as a Youth Counselor at a residential program that is part of an agency in Calgary called Hull Child and Family Services.  This week I had something particularly amazing happen at my job.

A 16 year old boy that I used to work with dropped by the program to say hello and give us an update on his life.  To offer a bit of background on this youth, he had been a child in care for most of his life.  He did not have a family and was raised in residential programs like the one that I work in.  When I first started working as a counselor he was in our program and had a reputation across our campus as a particularly challenging youth to work with.

But his life started to turn around when he began working with a mentor.  His mentor was a very kind and giving middle aged woman who had children of her own, and the two of them ended up getting along very well.  He began spending more and more time with her and her family, and eventually she chose to adopt him!  Talk about a Cinderella story!

He moved out of our program to live with his new family.  Needless to say, with some consistent love and care in his life he began to flourish and come into his own.

Having him stop by to say hello was incredibly inspiring.  He is now attending classes at my old high school and excelling in shop class.  He has transformed from a challenging and socially dissonant teenager into a very gentle, well adjusted and mature young man.  And the most inspiring thing that he said was that he is now volunteering on our campus with pre-adolescent children that are living in care!  In fact, he is volunteering at the very same program that he spent most of his childhood in!  Is that not amazing??

I don’t think that there is anything as inspiring as people giving back to the community, and this seems like such an incredible example of the way that things can come full circle.  It’s always a righteous move to give something back, and a story like this just goes to show…….all you need is love!

My new album ‘Inner Alchemy’ is finished and is available for download from this website! The release of the new album was celebrated with a special concert in Calgary on March 23^rd that turned out splendidly.  Thanks to all the outstanding musicians who joined me on stage and to all of the tremendous people who bought tickets and came out to enjoy the event.  It was a tremendously successful evening and I am grateful to everyone who shared in the good vibes and great music!

You can listen to “Inner Alchemy” and purchase a digital copy by visiting the ‘Music’ section of this website.  The album will be available soon through Itunes, Amazon, etc.  and if you’d like a hard copy of the CD (which includes delectable artwork by my friend Bryn Thorhaug) please email me your coordinates and I can arrange to have one sent your way.

Stay tuned for upcoming news and show announcements!

Sincerely,

Ethan Collister

I am excited to announce the completion of my new album entitled ‘Inner Alchemy’.  The release of ‘Inner Alchemy’ will be celebrated on March 23rd with a special concert at the Crescent Heights Community Hall in Calgary.

The concert will feature an outstanding ensemble of musicians that I have been working with including Aleksandra Danicic on violin, Vanessa Williams on bass and Adrian Roddick on cajon and drums.  For tickets ($15) please email ethancollister@gmail.com.

Stay tuned…. ‘Inner Alchemy’ will be available for download from this website shortly!  Make sure you stop by again soon!

Sincerely,

Ethan Collister

This article was featured in a recent copy of the Lakeview News in Calgary.   Special thanks to Allie Tulick for doing a great job on the article!  Lakeview is the community that I grew up in and it was very flattering to be written about in this publication.  Could I get any closer to my roots?!

I am excited to announce that I have eight of ten songs recorded for my new album!  I have been hard at work at SymPul Studios in Calgary with my friend, peer, and co-producer Derek Pulliam and I am inspired by what we are creating.

Please click the hyperlink to listen to a rough mix of one of my new songs entitled “Medicine Fish”.  The new album is going to be an exciting and eclectic mix of my best and grooviest work to date.  It will be titled “Inner Alchemy” and should be ready for the world early in 2012!

I am also thrilled to report that my delightful and talented friend Angela Larson will be doing the artwork for the new album.  Angela does mesmerizing mixed media digital art.  Here is a link to one of her pieces that was inspired by my song “Wishing Well”:  To check out more of Angela’s work online please follow this link: http://goo.gl/e1chN.  For those of you in Calgary she will be exhibiting and selling her work at the Market Collective on October 22^nd and 23^rd.

I’m playing a few gigs around the Calgary area this fall so please check out the Gigs list.  There are new gigs posted all the time so please check back often and stay tuned for more news on my upcoming album!

Sincerely,

Ethan Collister