FireRescue and Kill Chicago team up for a pair of shows.
FireRescue and Kill Chicago are teaming up for a pair of shows in the coming weeks with a performance at the Tide and Boar Gastro Pub in Moncton on February 27 before hitting The Capital stage in Fredericton on March 11, 2016.
Until now, Moncton’s FireRescue, featuring members of All of Green, Morse Code Alphabet, and Fair Trade Commission, have kept their performances close to home. Taking their “more is less” brand of indie rock beyond the Hub City’s borders has never really been a high priority.
“We’ve just been happy to get together and play some tunes with one another, let alone for a crowd,” said vocalist and guitarist Matt Gillis, who together with fellow musicians Eric Babineau, Mario Gautreau and Pascal Raiche-Nogue, is content with the simple act of making music. “We weren’t in a rush to go anywhere, really,” he said. “We’ve got a few songs now and we’re hoping people will listen.”
FireRescue’s Fredericton debut presents a bit of a homecoming for Gillis who grew up making music as a member of All of Green and Piper Perabo among others.
Similarly, Greg Webber of the Fredericton band Kill Chicago can trace many of his early musical roots to the Moncton scene. While growing up playing music in Fredericton as a member of one-time local favourites, Dionisus, Webber is quick to credit the Moncton music scene for its support and the many friendships that came about during his early musical endeavors.
“Certain relationships between Dionisus and The Ditchpigs have been the strongest of my band life,” he said. “I invited Hope to play my wife’s birthday party one year, and I may have become a man during a Sour Grapes show at the Knights of Columbus hall.”
While Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John can each rightfully boast strong music communities, performance partnerships such as this remain an exception to the norm. Gillis believes more acts of inner provincial diplomacy such as this could prove beneficial for New Brunswick music as a whole.
“I’ve had amazing experiences in all of these places throughout my time playing music,” he said. “Moncton has an amazing variety of music going on. I know that Saint John and Fredericton do as well. It’s easy to shut yourself off and not look outside your city. We just need a few folks to keep us all in touch with one another. You’d be surprised at how big our Maritime scene could be, if we all just supported one another.”