Quick & Dirty - The Rural Alberta Advantage
By: Cheryl Stornelli
Jan. 20, 2009 – Toronto, Canada
Sometimes the most heartfelt, honest music originates from familiar times and rediscovered memories. On an album filled with the theme of a changing province, elements of heartbreak peek through.
After picking up and leaving Fort McMurray, Alberta, population 35,000, in search of music, and putting together a band in the multicultural city of Toronto, Nils Edenloff was left a little intimidated and homesick.
"Once I got here in 2002, it seemed like all this great stuff was happening. How could I do something that was me when there's all this other great stuff going on? I actually didn't do music until things fell through with a previous girlfriend and I was living alone," Edenloff explains.
With a juvenile start at hosting empty open mic nights to amateur recordings by friends to playing a sketch comedy show, The Rural Alberta Advantage (The RAA) began to take form. Their acoustic style began with just Paul Banwatt on drums and Edenloff bringing guitar and vocals to the mix; other members were coming and going. Then Edenloff wanted to "fill out what the band was lacking" and singer Amy Cole was added to the group.
"After Amy joined it just came together," remembers Edenloff. "It gave us a simple, stripped down sound. The first show we played was like, yes, this is the way it should be!"
The RAA's first album, Hometowns, is a beautiful combination of soft guitar and light piano. Lying perfectly overtop are Edenloff's strong vocals and Cole's sweet, pure tone. Standing out on the album is "Frank, AB", a song that hung like a stone around the band's neck for some time.
"Nothing seemed to work with the song. Right before I was going to Germany on vacation, we got the keyboard dance feel and there was excitement of something new. The other songs were previously recorded as demos, so there was less excitement and feeling of, wow this is happening right before our eyes!" Edenloff exclaims.
Among the things happening before Edenloff's eyes was his realization of how growing up in Alberta not only shaped who he is today, but contributed to lessening the feelings of intimidation and being homesick. "I started writing about things I identified with. Remembering stories of kids running away, vacation in the town of Frank, all these things made me who I am. They're special to me," he says. "Everyone has a special place that's their home. That's what I hope people can identify with."
Unfortunately, with every annual Christmas visit back to Fort McMurray, he becomes painfully aware of the city's growth that's bringing about an unsettling change. Only in his memories does the small town you could take a walk through at anytime remain. Now, his family relays stories of drugs and crime.
"Maybe it's because I remember it as my small hometown where I went to high school. But when I went back, it was this totally scary town. More and more people are just going down there to have fun, make money and blow money. It's completely different than my memories. All these oil clowns are ruining it for everybody."
Though no aspect of our lives remains the same for very long, Edenloff won't completely rule out going back home. "I'm not about to cut up my Alberta health card and piss on the border," he jokes. "I'm here [in Toronto] for a reason. There isn't a lot of diversity there and I've got a pretty open mind." Plans are in the works for a new recording that will complement Hometowns, along with possible tour dates in the US.
Though it's easy to get lost when you're in the big city of Toronto, it was here, thousands of miles from what is now an unrecognizable hometown, that Edenloff eventually found the music niche he was looking for. Sometimes it takes challenging not only yourself, but your comfort zone, to realize who you really are.
