Labrador and more in "The River"

The album is titled “The River” after of one of the featured tracks, written by Mike Michelin.

Tunker Campbell, band member, said the song was a great album name because it represented what The Flummies stand for – Labrador.

“It’s all about Labrador life,” he said. “All of the old timers always had something to do with a river, for trapping or fishing, they made their living on the river.”

“The River” is just one of the album’s 12 tracks. Tunker said it’s a mixture of new unreleased work, and material picked up and enjoyed over the years.

One song that sticks out for him is “1950,” written by his uncle Ray Campbell, who also wrote a Flummies crowd pleaser “Comb Your Hair Flat Down.”

“It was one of those unrecorded Labrador songs the band had to get recorded,” he said.

So his cousin showed him how the song went and the recording process for the song began.

“It was a good chance to learn it and put it down,” he said. “Because before you know it, it would have been gone and nobody would have knew how it went.”

Tunker said he also enjoys the humor in the new album. He said humour can be found in the songs, “Sawdust On The Floor Of Your Heart”, and “Up In The High Arctic” which was written by band member Leander Baikie.

Leander said the song came about when the band was playing a gig in Iqualuit and had their shoes stolen.

He explained the band had went to someone’s house for a jam session for a couple of hours, and when they went to leave someone had made away with 14 or 15 pairs of boots.

Only one pair was left, he said, and those belonged to drummer Ray Montague.

Tunker chuckled as he said, “We aren’t sure why they left Ray’s.”

Leander went on to say the owner rushed around the house to try and find what boots he could for the people, but some had to walk back to the hotel, through the snow in socked feet.

“So we woke up the next morning and Alton (Best, band member,) just found it to be so funny and said ‘Boys that’s worth a song,’” he said. “So on the airline from Iqualuit we were all putting in different words and lines on my Blackberry, when we got home we had a humourous song to put on the album.”

Mr. Baikie said the album also contains “Grand Old Mokami” written by Terry Riley, better known as the Teddy Bear Man.

He said over the years Alton and Terry became good friends and Alton would take him out to his cabin in Kenamu.

Leander said you could see Old Mokami from the cabin.

Richard Dyson, accordion player for the band, said it wouldn’t be a Flummies album without a few jigs, and he has three specially prepared for the album, “ Maple Sugar”, “Pious’s Favorite”, and “CFLN Jig.”

“To work on this in your home town really helps you to prefect the songs, get the chords right, find the right tempo and get the right feel" - Leander Baikie

He said the CFLN Jig just came out of the air one day.

“Every morning 20 past eight it use to come on the radio, so I taped it off and learned it,” he said. “Nobody seemed to know the name of it so it’s called the CFLN Jig.”

The album also includes “Little Town of Nuttak”, “Cold Canadian Waters”, “Hearts Desire”, and “Going to Alberta.”

For the sound the band said they kept with the sound that makes The Flummies, The Flummies.

The album, they say, is traditional mixed with country and toe-tapping ‘Cabin Party’ fun.

A couple of the tracks have the addition of a fiddle, courtesy of Lester Montague, and harmony from Richard Neville.

Leander said it’s great to be able to avail of the vast Labrador talent to help complete the album.

Tunker said the big difference you can hear on this album compared to previous works, is the use of a live drummer.

The band spent six months recording the album at Mukluk Studios, Tunker’s home recording studio.

Leander said this allowed the band to get things the way they wanted to sound.

“To work on this in your home town really helps you to prefect the songs, get the chords right, find the right tempo and get the right feel,” he said.

When everything was ready to be mixed and mastered, Tunker said it became quite a time consuming project.

He said it was nothing to sit down at the computer to do a little work on the album and four hours had gone by.

“And I work to make a living so I can only work on it in the evenings and weekends, and our drummer works in Voisey’s Bay, so that made it a little slower,” he said.

But the three members of the six-man band agree it’s perhaps the best sounding album the band has produced.

“Personally I’m satisfied with it,” Richard said. “It’s a good sound and hopefully everybody likes it. But I’m happy with it.”

Leander said the real test will come when the album hits the airwaves.

He said the album contains a broader cross Canada feel, for fans across the province, stretching west to Alberta, and up north.

He said the band has been received really well in Northern Canada, and the album will also appeal to the expatriates living away.

“We want to reach out across Canada a little more, try to expand our musical horizons and expand our audience,” he said.

The band plans to have “The River” on shelves by the first week of September.