NEW RELEASE! How Long
.png)
Brent Halfyard
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
"I picked up the bass at 13 and started a band, joined a bunch of other bands, toured the country and started writing songs about my life experiences. I have a colourful imagination and a creative mind that conjures melodies and lyrics at a seemingly frantic pace. I also love to produce, collaborate, paint, write and do yoga. My Influences go all the way back from Sabbath and Zeppelin to Marley, U2, Lana Del Rey, Jack Johnson, Hozier and Sting".
GIGS & PRESS
releases
How Long' is now out!
Thunder Rock EP now out!
gigs
-
September 26: Ukee Poke 6:30-8:30
SLOW WHALE (story) "When I saw a photo of a surfer sitting on his board staring at a massive humpback whale swimming nearby I was floored! What was the surfer thinking? And more important, what was the whale thinking? It conjured a memory of my own experience snorkelling with whale sharks off the coast of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. It seemed no matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep up with the massive beautiful creature. It looked like it was swimming in slow motion, like a 'slow whale'. With this memory combined with the photo, I came up with the story of a whale who has a a conversation with a surfer and eventually saves his life! Slow Whale is a fun song with a latin style intro / outro with a solid reggae one-drop in the middle".
LET'S GO SURFING (story) "After moving to the beautiful wild west coast of Vancouver Island, I took up surfing and loved being in the water. I'm still a rookie but met some really cool people and wanted to create a sort of local anthem about surfing. I'm also a huge Brian Wilson / Beach Boys fan, and wanted to create a layered vocal sound with doubled harmonies just like the old recordings of the 60's that Brian did. I kept the song bare with only bass, drums, ukulele as the instruments. That left room for the big vocals to be front and center".
TROPICAL TOE SLAP (story) "I bought my first Ukulele on my second visit to the magical Island of Kauai, Hawaii from Scotty's Ukulele's. Scotty corrected me many times to say 'oo-kuh-ley-ley, not YOU-kuh-ley-ley! I then stared strumming and learning the basics and came up with the idea of a silly song about doing hive five with your feet instead of your hands! I had a few mai tai's that helped come up with the lyrics like, 'Me an my baby drinking one night, kicked off our shoes and it felt so right, tropical toe slap'. It was kind of a joke but when I performed it live in my home town of Ukee (Ucluelet) and in neighbouring Tofino, people loved it! It's now a staple in my set when I want to cheer up the vibe. It's another sparse arrangement with bass, drums, ukulele and bongos as the foundation. A fun song I used to be embarrassed about!"
AY MI CIELO (story) "This song started out as an instrumental track with a riff I created from an Em7 chord after learning 'Over The Rainbow' by Iz. I loved the sound of that chord and was also listening to Buena Vista Social Club and the Gypsy Kings a lot at the time. I then invited a friend and mentor, Ed Powell to play acoustic guitar. He added a great intensity to the energy. The original drummer, Richard Lang, is still in the track with added samples for punch. (us three were in a band back in the 80s!) I had some lyrics and tried singing in Spanish but it wasn't working so I recruited my musical friend from Colombia, Camilo Salamanca, who penned the lyrics. This song was a true collaboration and now has a distinct 'Cumbia' vibe that I somehow came up with on the Ukulele!".
Heading 1
