Photo by Warren McColl Jones
Australian Lloyd Spiegel is bringing the blues to the Esplanade on Sept. 19. Spiegel's show is the first of this season's Medicine Hat Brewing Company ON-Stage Series.
cbrown@medicinehatnews.com@MHNBrown
The series is the same, but the artists are all brand new.
The Esplanade welcomes Australian blues performer Lloyd Spiegel to Medicine Hat to kick off this season’s Medicine Hat Brewing Company ON-Stage Series on Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Spiegel is an 11-time at the Australian Blues Awards, including three album of the year honours. The Cut and Run tour, named for his album released last month, marks the end of a chapter for Spiegel.
“The last three years I’ve written one album while touring the previous, so it’s a natural progression that each group of songs is a response to the last one. ‘Cut and Run’ has a positivity and clarity in it that for me, resolves a great deal of questions I asked myself on the last two albums,” he explains.
Before boarding a plane from the Land Down Under to the Great White North, Spiegel answered some questions for the News.
Medicine Hat News: You’re done this tour of Canada in October, then plan to come back in the spring. Are you purposely avoiding Canada’s winter?
Lloyd Spiegel: My official excuse is that there’s so many festivals during Australia’s summer that I need to be home…. unofficially??…. I’m a huge wimp who can’t handle the cold.
News: What is it about Canada that keeps you coming back here?
Spiegel: I really felt like I found my people when I started touring Canada. It’s got all the pieces of the puzzle for me. Bordering the USA means that the understanding of blues music is complete, whereas in Australia I find that I’ve had to spend a lot of time explaining the genre. The long history of acoustic music and storytelling matches with the show I like to do and the European influence means that art and culture is important. Something I am particularly fond of.
Also, I change the delivery of stories from country to country because the humour changes. I don’t change a thing in Canada. We are very similar in that way. We both have this fantastic ability to lean into our own cliches and make fun of ourselves.
News: How does the blues scene in Canada compare to Australia?
Spiegel: It’s similar in the sense that it’s supported and cultivated by blues societies and groups across the country who really form a family. It’s quite unique and it’s what drives the artists.
Musically I find it quite different. Canada has a much closer connection to the roots of blues and a clearer definition of the genre as a result. Australian blues tends to merge with other minority genres a little more. But that’s true of the whole world. The most intriguing thing about blues music to me is how such a simple form of music is still being changed all these years later based on where it’s being made. Practically every country I travel to has its own blues sound.
News: The tour starts here in Medicine Hat. As a performer does the first date on the tour hold any special meaning?
Spiegel: When the first show on a tour is in a place that isn’t familiar, there’s an extra sense of fear and excitement. Thirty years touring and I still get nervous in places I’m going to the for the first time. You haven’t quite beaten the jet lag and you’re working out what essential piece of equipment you left at home and it’s all a little bit crazy. I thrive in that situation though. I play for a living but I travel to feel a little lost.
Also, I love knowing an entire audience is hearing me for the first time. I enjoy making the connection and the energy is better because everyone in the room, including me, is on the same page.
News: This performance will have the fans on stage with you. Have you ever done anything like that before?
Spiegel: A couple of times. It’s a really great idea.
I want to put my best foot forward everywhere I go. I’m not known to the area so a full scale theatre show is out of the question but my show isn’t suited to a bar or really even a blues club. An on stage show allows me to put on the show I came to give, in a theatre but in an intimate setting with great sound and an attentive audience. It’s a win-win as far as I can see.
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Tickets for Spiegel’s show are available online at tixx.ca, by calling 403-502-8777, and in person at the Esplanade box office or the Medicine Hat Mall guest services desk. Bundle packages are also available for the ON-Stage Series.
Next up for the ON-Stage Series is Ian Sherwood on Oct. 17.
