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September 17, 2010
Duo’s reputation is growing
Jon and Roy will play at a CBC-recorded Chan concert.
JEANIE KEOGH
Folk-reggae-rock band Jon and Roy are the scheduled season openers for the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts’ annual Live Sessions program, which CBC Radio co-sponsors and records for its Canada Live series.
The Chan Centre also happens to be a stone’s throw away from Ron Vizer’s parents’ house and where Vizer played at his high school graduation more than 10 years ago, before leaving for the University of Victoria, where he met his musical match in bandmate Jon Middleton. At the Chan, the duo will be playing songs from their CD Homes, which was released in April and which they promoted during their summer festival tour, with stops at all the major central and western Canadian folk festivals.
“I think Homes is a natural revolution of our music. The first two albums were pretty sparse in terms of what we would add to our songs from performing them live, so we were somewhat hesitant to add a bunch of stuff. On this album, we felt a little more free and got some really great musicians to play some solos and just sort of layer it more,” Vizer said about the recording, which took much longer to produce than their previous albums, Sitting Back and Another Noon. They also added more instrumentation and collaborated with guest artists who contributed fiddle, keys and mandolin to the mix.
“CBC has been incredibly supportive since about two years ago, so it’s been really great,” said Vizer. “This is about the third or fourth CBC-sponsored show that we’ve had and they always have a very high level of production and they’ve really got good people working on the sound.”
This year, Jon and Roy, who are based in Victoria, managed to complete their tour without the help of sponsors, getting by instead on the strength of their reputation and their booking agent. Increased exposure on Vancouver and Victoria radio and being chosen by Starbucks for its Pick of the Week download card, which features new artists, have given the band an added leg up.
Throughout his journey as a drummer and percussionist, Vizer said he owes a debt to the Vancouver Jewish community for their support and he expects to play to a sold-out crowd.
“Early on, we had good support from the Jewish community. I have a good network of friends in Vancouver and the Jewish community is pretty strong there so, in that sense, it has been good. A lot of our Vancouver shows have ended up being Jewish reunions almost,” he said.
Although Vizer’s current musical tastes are not specifically Jewish, he said his drumming is definitely influenced by Middle Eastern styles. However, he said he is open to exploring new types of music beyond what he is creating with Middleton.
“I always thought of doing a klezmer-reggae mash-up at one point, but I really don’t know where I’m going to go with it yet,” he said.
For now, the musical fusion he is creating with Middleton is where he is setting his sights.
“When I met Jon, it worked really well in a musical sense, so we started playing music together and it felt pretty natural, so we just kept it going,” he said.
Tickets for the Sept. 23, 7 p.m., Jon and Roy performance in the Chan Centre’s Telus Studio are available through Ticketmaster.
Jeanie Keogh is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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