Trio keeps sound tight

Ask Chris Yaholkoski what he would do if he wasn’t a musician and all he’ll say is he will always, no matter what happens down the line, no matter what industry or trade, be working for himself.

“I guess it’s just arrogance on my part, but I think I can pretty much do everything better myself,” he says with the deep chuckle of one who can rock out a heavy, even tearful song with the best of them, night after night, on the road.

“I’d rather make less money working for myself than more money working for someone else,” he says.

The hangers-on you find in most work environments can sort of “suck your soul” if you’re the type that likes to get work done, Yaholkoski adds.

The explanation pretty well lays out how Bluessmyth comes by its tight-knit nature, with each song crafted by a three-piece ensemble, leaving little to no room for extras on stage.

They’ve tried adding other instruments, he says, but it never really works out and having just found a drummer they really connect with last year, after four years as a band, one understands there might be little appetite to tinker with the mix at this point.

The Yaholkoski brothers, Jason and Chris, form the backbone of Bluessmyth with Chris on lead vocals, guitar and harmonica and his brother adding the deep undertones on bass to carry their sound.

With rough and often haunting vocal lines, somehow, their albums leave the impression there could be 10 more people in on each set even as they roll through a highly eclectic set of tracks.

When they connected with drummer Celene Yohemas, they had already transitioned through several other drummers, but Yohemas, says Yaholkoski fits perfectly, right down to the Y kicking off her last name.

A native Calgarian, Yohemas too casts off the genre box, leaving her pretty ripe for the Bluessmyth concept.

Start trying to pigeonhole their sound and pretty soon you’re describing Bluessmyth as a rock-blues-jazz—might as well stop there as they incorporate everything in their music, though it leans on the heavier side of the fence.

Growing up in Winnipeg, Yaholkoski says he became interested in music through a love for the guitar, listening to metal bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Yet, it was his brother who first made it big in the Winnipeg-based indie band Chains on 20, described as a “biting folk rock band.”

When that group wrapped and went their separate ways, the pair decided to go out on their own and they now earn their living touring Bluessmyth, though largely still in the Western Canadian and U.S. market. After this stop in Kelowna, they’re heading east, hoping to start building their name in the heart of the country where many of their promotional staff are based.

“We’re really just getting started in Ontario…which is proving to be very challenging,” said Yaholkoski. Everything from their contracts to accommodation questions seem to be a lot more challenging to secure in the larger market, he said, admitting it’s just going to take time to get a feel for the business in a new location.

Their latest album, Sola Gratia, follows a self-titled effort and their first album, 30 Pieces of Silver. Selling their sound in Canada has proven a tricky task under that Bluessmyth name, which Canadians don’t always get at first blush, Yaholkoski admits.

Like Blues Traveler, the band is not really a blues band, but rather a way of describing how they cobble their sound together like a Blacksmith, crafting each tune with unique influences.

Sola Gratia, for example, features a Latin rock fusion in Snake in the Satellite, though the song falls on the same album as Rosemary’s Blues, a tough ballad about drug abuse, and a tune incorporating the blues slide guitar called Down On My Luck.

Bluessmyth plays Doc Willoughby’s this Friday, Nov. 6.

Sola Gratia is available on iTunes.

jsmith@kelownacapnews.com

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