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Music education instrumental to Amity Beach

January 31, 2012
By Kevin Hurren

 

In the 1975 thriller Jaws, the patrons of Amity Beach had to keep an eye on the waters for the ominous approaching fin. It seems Western now has its own Amity Beach to watch out for, but instead of imminent danger, eyes fall on uprising talent. The band Amity Beach comes out of Grand Bend, a southern Ontario town on the shore of Lake Huron, which is where the five members met.

“It started as a pretty small town kind of thing. We went to the same high school then just starting playing music and it developed from there” says Andrew Gill, a trumpet major in the music program at Western and one of the members of the band. Though Amity Beach has humble origins, they recently launched a three–track extended play album, a feat which the band couldn’t have done without the help of a former educator.

“We recorded [the EP album] at Swamp Songs Studios with Matt Weston. He’s our former music teacher and he’s great at recording because he went to Juilliard,” says Gill. “With him we really worked hard on these songs to make them as good as we could for a solid EP.”

This wouldn’t be the last time Amity Beach took advantage of the resources available to them thanks to their educational background. The band recently did an on-air performance with Western’s radio station CHRW.

“We’re a pretty young band at this point and doing a live performance like that added a lot of pressure, but it was definitely a great experience and something we’re starting to get used to,” adds Gill. The band isn’t done with CHRW yet as they get ready to compete in the station’s battle of the bands on February 3.

In preparation for the competition, the band will fine tune their many instruments including everything from guitars to glockenspiels.

“I think what sets us apart from a lot of other bands is our instrumentation. It’s kind of difficult, but it is more fun than anything,” explains Gill, who also cites Western’s music program as an assisting factor. “We have a lot of horns in our music, which I think stems from the fact that I play trumpet in the band, and since I’m going to Western’s music program for the trumpet I’ve gained some knowledge in horns and other instruments, so that’s helped out.”

As the band makes plans to tour around Ontario for the summer, they continue to develop their signature sound that—much like the shark in the other Amity Beach—Gill says they hope will follow you around for a while.

“[Our instruments] create a pool of memorable, summery tunes which is really what we’re going for at this point. Nice catchy tunes.”

Catch Amity Beach perform at CHRW’s Battle of the Bands at the Spoke on Friday at 8:30 p.m. The event is free, but 19+.

 

 

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