Rock stars are meant to vacation intensely: yachting in St. Tropez, sunbathing in Bombay, rehab in California. But Bedouin Soundclash drummer Pat Pengelly’s vacation plans didn’t include drugs, bikinis or sunny locales.
“We’ve been off for a whole week!” Pengelly exclaims as he walks down a Kingston, Ontario road. Cell phone in hand, he wanders through his hometown, taking in the nice weather and catching his breath after what’s been a very busy year.
“It’s cool to see the momentum of what we were doing six months ago really come together,” he says. “We’ve had a lot of great opportunities. Traveling to new places-we’re playing festival shows all summer, from Montreal to Winnipeg to Scotland to Ireland.”
Indeed, Bedouin have done so much since they were last in Calgary-playing to drunks at Bermuda Shorts Day and last summer’s Warped Tour-that if they were more like the rocker stereotypes, they’d have picked up an eating disorder and an STD or two. Rather than sounding burnt-out or fed up, Pengelly is excited listing off the venues they’ve performed, collaborations they’ve done and places they’ve been.
“It’s really neat going somewhere new and everyone there already knows the music,” Pengelly admits. “Right after we’re in Calgary we’re heading off to Newfoundland, which I love. But then we love playing in our hometown, too.”
Beneath Pengelly’s cheerful facade there lurks deep turmoil: a love for touring and playing to new and different audiences has to contend with the satisfaction of staying in one place. Whatever troubles Bedouin Soundclash may encounter, they tackle every one with vigour and enthusiasm.
“There’s a lot of different stuff we’re excited about,” says Pengelly. “We’ve got a few new songs for our next album, but we’re not hurrying, we’ve got the luxury of time now. Our first album was recorded in a day and our second in six. It’s nice to be able to really sit on it.”
For fans who’ve fully experienced Bedouin’s sophomore release Sounding a Mosaic and are craving new work, Bedouin is being a little more forthcoming with their other forays into recording. They’ve been playing music for “Money Worries” collaborator Vernon Buckley and concocted an EP of Bedouin/Bad Brains mashups while visiting producer D Jenifer at his home in New York. Right now, they can be seen alongside Canadian MC Kardinal Offishall in “Last Soldier Standing,” which is poised for heavy rotation.
“The video for it was filmed in Cuba,” Pengelly reminisces. “I hadn’t been and I really wanted to go, but we were slated to perform a Paul Simon tribute concert in Montreal-which was amazing. So we filmed our part in Lake Erie. Lake Erie is really cold.”
It’s hard to hope for better than interesting music played with great musicians, but for their next project, Bedouin Soundclash is hoping for a little warmth. In barely no time at all, the boys from Kingston will grace the Calgary Folk Festival’s mainstage alongside Jeff Healey, Macy Gray, Kris Kristofferson and Ani DiFranco.
“The three of us are all huge music fans first,” Pengelly, who is eager to see DiFranco, confirms. “At festivals, there’s so much music and the crowds are bigger and more varied and you get to play with people you’d usually never get the chance to.”
Although the trio behind Bedouin Soundclash are wide-eyed and excited, their dilated-pupils still fit into level heads, meaning their vacation plans don’t include snorting blow off a hooker’s ass, rather counting down the days until they get back to business.
Bedouin Soundclash will be performing at the Calgary Folk Festival Fri., July 28 between 5:30 and 11:30 P.M. Check out www.calgaryfolkfest.com.