Folk singer John Bottomley is performing at the Brackendale Art Gallery on Saturday (Feb. 2).The time-tested songwriter from Bowen Island should fit right in at the eagle hub. Bottomley's sound and lyrics work to create new worlds through natural and fantastical imagery in the style of roots and folklore.
He's perhaps best known for the 1990s hits "You Lose and You Gain" and "Long Way To Go." Never one to become stagnant, Bottomley taps into rock, country, blues, folk, soul, hillbilly, spoken word, celtic and bluegrass."I always try to keep it a bit different every time," he said while resting after a series of seven straight gigs on Vancouver Island.
He started his career in the 1980s progressive rock/punk band Tulpa before moving on solo, opening shows for the likes of the Tragically Hip and Steve Earle. Last year he released Songpoet, his eighth album.
"It's a real West Coast record," he said. "It's a story sort of record and it's kind of about a different time."
Written partly about the historic gold rush town of Barkerville, 小蓝视频, Songpoet is a mixture of the old and the modern. Songs like "Ghosts of Gold" and "I Drifted by the Creek" make the listener think of old surreal western settings while pondering the lives that once occupied it and their relation to our own.
"I try to invent my own world - an artistic world or whatever you want to call it. It comes from its own place."Imagination still relies heavily on environment, said Bottomley, and where he writes affects what he sings."If I was in Toronto it would be different. I wouldn't be writing what I write so I think environment is really important," he said.
Having once described his career as "something like Alice in Wonderland," Bottomley reflected on what side of the rabbit hole he finds himself now. Years in the music business have allowed him to separate his music from the dictates of the industry. He finds himself on his own path following only the apparitions in his own mind.
"An artist has to find his own voice, right? You can't really rely on other people to find it for you so that's sort of what I've been doing," he said. "As you mature you sort of go on your own path."
The show starts at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets cost $12 and are available in advance at Mostly Books and the Brackendale Art Gallery, as well as at the door.
