Fur Eel
4-Piece Funk, Soul & Rock | Regina, Saskatchewan
Highlights:
- Debut album released in 2011 & currently recording and mixing a new album for a 2012 release
- Various mini-tours throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta
- Chosen to perform at 2012 Canadian Music Fest in Toronto (March 21-25)
“Fur Eel”: A play on words that might suggest a hairy sea creature or a response you’d hear from a young adult engaged in a conversation involving something unbelievable. “For Real?”
This funk band from Regina will definitely leave you thinking, “For Real?” as you bob your head and tap your feet along to their music. After the show, it will take you days to get the catchy lyrics, “Who am I writing 4 for…for?” out of your head.
The band Fur Eel formed in the summer of 2010 after Justin and Thomas wrote the song “I See”. Taking from each band member’s eclectic music tastes, Fur Eel delivers a sexy stage presence reminiscent of the biggest 80′s pop stars combined with the classic rock guitar riffs and solos comparable to your favorite hits, layered over top of grooving drums and bass that will get your feet tapping and your hips swaying.
Justin, the lead singer, is strongly influenced and inspired by Prince and it shows in his on-stage dancing swagger and deliverance of lyrics. Each word is punctuated, accentuated, and delivered with specific tone and pitch and followed up with precise and melodic finger-picked solos.
Indie403 had a chance to sit down with the lads in Fur Eel and talk all things furry prior to their set at The Ironwood on January 3rd, 2012.
Thomas St. Onge: “There are not a lot of people doing what we’re doing in Regina. Most people our age are doing the Indie rock stuff and the generation ahead of us is playing a lot of country music. Most of the venues in Regina are well attended though, so you get a lot of support throughout the scene.”
Currently working on their second album with an anticipated release in the spring of 2012, Fur Eel prides itself as a fully functional DIY Band. The albums are self-produced with the help of Thomas’s father, who primarily takes on the mixing aspect of the album production.
“We’ve been doing it all ourselves. We’ve never tried to tour before, put out an album…it’s been a learning process and we’re having a lot of fun with it”.
~Justin Sheppard – Fur Eel
Justin Sheppard: “We honestly have super supportive families. It makes all the difference to have their support. Thomas’s dad helps us with the mixes amongst other stuff, James’s parents lent us their van to drive out on our last mini-tour, Travis’s dad is at pretty much any show he can make it to, including a few shows in Winnipeg and Saskatoon, and my mom helps us out with the business side of being a working band. A lot of bands don’t get that kind of support base in their family.”
“Fur Eel is not just about performance and entertainment…they are musical magicians. They own their instruments as well as the stage”.
~Indie403
Fur Eel just returned home from a mini-tour that saw them play in Calgary, Regina, Brandon and Winnipeg, with a video and interview session in Saskatoon for an episode of Stripped Down. They hit the road again in February for a week and will be returning to Calgary to funk up The Distillery on February 18th, followed up by a month long cross-Canada tour in May.
Be sure to watch for Fur Eel at this year’s Canadian Music Fest in Toronto from March 21st-25th. Music fans at the Toronto festival will soon know who funk’d up The Prairies.
Fun Fur-ry Fact:
The Leader Post, Regina’s most subscribed newspaper, recently had an article that featured top choices in music from 2011 and Fur Eel was one of Mike Shiplack‘s selections. The rest of the selections are listed here.
