Sometimes it’s just about the music.
With many twists and turns in both his personal and professional life, none of which need to be enumerated in the context of this article, suffice it to say that they have been often unexpected, unfairly plentiful and eminently frustrating, Trevor Hurst has come back the where he started – inspired to make music for its own sake.
The founder, frontman and primary songwriter for Canadian alternative-rockers Econoline Crush has seen his passion for writing and recording new music rekindled as he and his bandmates get set to make a short touring sojourn in Ontario in the coming weeks as part of their Weapons of Mass Disruption Tour, with bigger and better things on the horizon.
The band that unleashed a host of heart-pumping, melodically memorable, emotionally intense and creatively crafted songs such as You Don’t Know What It’s Like, Never Enough, Get Out of the Way, All That You Are, Sparkle and Shine and Make it Right, is performing at This Ain’t Hollywood in Hamilton on Aug. 11, The Mansion in Kingston on Aug. 12, Maxwell’s in Waterloo on Aug. 13, Rockin’ The Wheel (with Finger 11) the next day in London and wrapping up the jaunt at The Rockpile in Toronto Aug. 15.
“I remember having a conversation with Gordie Johnson [Big Sugar] and his outlook is a lot like myself – there’s a real passion to make music. The other stuff, the business side of it you have to deal with, but you’re rather not. So it’s all about focussing on our passion for playing and writing music these days,” said Hurst, a native of Brandon, Manitoba, who is back living in his hometown and wrapping up his studies of psychiatric nursing, as he also pushes Econoline Crush back into the limelight.
“The other thing was getting a team of people together who shared that vision. When Econoline Crush started we were in a bunker in the bottom of this parking lot, carving our songs or going to [producer] Rhys Fulber’s father’s studio and making demos. We were working on it all the time and we were all focused and we were all on a mission.
“But as you get older your life gets splintered. You have family and other financial concerns and you sometimes lose sight of that original passion, which was to create music. What’s been interesting is over the last couple of months it feels like [longtime guitarist] Ziggy and myself have gotten really organized. We also have a drummer named Greg Williamson who has been in the band for a while and he has taken on the role of being in charge of our logistics on the road. Everyone is taking on various tasks and deciding that this little cottage industry called Econoline Crush is worth putting in the time and effort.”
He said it really does feel like the band is back to being a hopeful, optimistic, energized DIY band again, willing to do what it takes and make the necessary sacrifices and adaptations to achieve a goal – this time to re-establish the Econoline Crush brand back in the hearts and minds of music fans.
“At this point we’re a just a bunch of guys really wanting to start churning out material. And it just seems that we’re getting things in synch and I can just feel it all falling into place naturally. And one of the biggest things is capturing that live performance element again – having everything super tight and creating really, really strong live performances like we have always been known for since we started 20-plus years ago,” Hurst explained.
“We’re just going to try and build every time we can get a tour together. Going forward we are going to put a lot of effort and money into lighting and stuff. This round we’re doing in August is about how we sound, and then we will add lights and imagery each time out.”
He said one of the interesting quandaries he encounters is that there is what he calls a ‘disconnect’ among a lot of music fans between the songs that they know and the band that created them.
“I was in a special meeting room with my professor and I had been talking with her for a while about music and made the casual assumption that she realized what I did prior to coming into her class. And we were talking about my future in that line of work and should I contact the RCMP and deal with the potentially dangerous people I would be dealing with. I asked her if I should even worry about it?” he said.
“And she said, ‘what are you talking about?’ And I said, well I am the singer for Econoline Crush and these people could easily find me. She paused and then started laughing so hard because she didn’t put the pieces together and she was a fan of the band. I have that happen a few times. So it’s stuff like that where I realized how strange it was that the band is so popular, yet so unknown in some ways.”
One thing that will quickly be reminded of is Hurst’s incomparable charisma as a frontman. With a theatrical, occasionally maniacal and always intense gift for capturing the attention of any audience he encounters, he creates an atmosphere at Econoline Crush shows that is as cathartic for those who witness it as it is for himself.
“I just go out there and let it all out. I will do anything to rock because I just love the whole experience. And for me, after a rock show I feel like all these little demons at the back door banging away are gone – they have disappeared. Being onstage and even witnessing a great rock show help you exorcise those demons,” he said.
“I like to lose myself in a song. It’s one of those rare times, almost like when you have something building and building inside you and then you just unleash it – like yelling at a ref at a hockey game or something. There is just that release of all those emotions. I think that’s the same thing that happens when I am up there singing – I get to let it all out.
“Ziggy and I have talked about this; when I go out on the road I want to have fun, but I always want to make sure that I am delivering a product that people know and want to see again. If they are going to see Econoline Crush on a Wednesday night in a club that it’s going to be the same as on a Saturday night on a big festival stage. Look out; it’s going to be a full-tilt rock show.”
Hurst said from the earliest days of his burgeoning music career, he was fascinated with singers who had that certain, special something that set them apart from the crowd.
“It’s weird because whether it’s because of the nature of his death or because his songs are so poppy, but Michael Hutchence of INXS never gets the credit he deserves, and I was really drawn to him. To me he is one of the best ever. He had that ‘something.’ And Jim Kerr of Simple Minds was awkward as all get out, but I loved the fact that he held his arms wide open and the way he just sort of gave himself to the music – he had that ‘something.’ You take that and Bono and Hutchence and a little bit of Mick Jagger and you pile it all together you get kind of a true, emotionally sexy performance,” he said.
New music is also on the way, which should thrill Econoline Crush fans. The last new material to come from Hurst et al was the well-regarded three-song EP The People Have Spoken Vol. 1, released in 2011.
“We have got about six things that I have been working on that I have sort of finished up. Then there are a few things that I have been working on with Ziggy, so there has been a bunch of writing. But regardless of what happens in terms of sales – and we as a group talked about maybe releasing singles – I think for me right now, I would like to write an album. I need to put together a bunch of material with all these ideas. It’s like finishing a book – I need to write a full album and get all this stuff out. This vision isn’t going to work with EPs and singles. It’s all got to come together in one package,” he said, adding that he is confident Econoline Crush can become an impactful, contemporary player again on the Canadian music scene, yet still allowing him to pursue his second career and continue to be a good dad to his two kids.
“I feel pretty good about the decision to get an education and have a job scenario that can support my art – again like a lot of indie and DIY bands. I feel that the only way to make a living in this business is to tour, and I can’t leave my kids for those long periods. But if we’re able to produce product and produce the images and buzz to go with it, I think that’s how you create a following and engage both the old fans and new fans so that when we do play selected shots, it’s a special event and these people will be there.”
And there’s little doubt that fans will be there throughout Econoline Crush’s mini-tour of Ontario. Besides, Hurst, Ziggy and Williamson, the live band will be rounded out by noted western Canadian bassist Lex Justice, who has jammed with Big Sugar among others, and is the bassist/vocalist for rising Canadian industrial-metal band KingDoom.
For more information on the band and tour, visit http://www.econolinecrushofficial.ca/
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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