SFUO’s second spontaneous show brings west-coast group to the U of O
Spencer Van Dyk | Fulcrum Staff
Photo by Justin Labelle
VICTORIA, B.C.-BASED BAND Current Swell rocked the Jock-Turcot University Centre (UCU) with a surprise performance Nov. 23.
The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) created a Facebook event well before the show announcing there would be a special musical guest on the UCU’s Agora stage that Friday, but the identity of the group was not announced until Thursday, the day before the performance. This is the second pop-up show the SFUO has organized to date.
It’s fitting that a Facebook event would be the avenue for promoting the performance, considering the band’s relatively fast rise to fame via its massive Internet fan base. The band’s vocalist and lead guitarist Scott Stanton explained that the group started in 2005 when he and the band’s other guitarist and vocalist Dave Lang, at the time only acquaintances, began writing together. Their visibility grew from there.
“We never really thought about starting a band,” said Stanton. “We just wrote songs together, and friends of ours were like, ‘Play this show, I got you a show.’ It was very organic. We never tried to be a band—it just started.”
Current Swell now consists of Stanton and Lang along with the bassist who goes by the name Ghosty Boy, drummer Chris Peterson, and trombonist Dave St. Jean. The band’s style is hard to define as it draws from several different influences such as folk, classic rock, indie, and bluegrass.
First-year international studies and modern languages student Ellen Whitehouse had never heard of Current Swell before but was impressed and pleasantly surprised by the performance.
“It was really great,” said Whitehouse. “The musicians are really talented. You can tell they’ve been performing with each other for a really long time.”
Current Swell has opened for bands like Dispatch, Xavier Rudd, and the Beach Boys. Stanton said they would love to open for Canadian greats like The Tragically Hip or, in a perfect world, Neil Young, but to narrow down their list of ideal collaborations is impossible.
“When it comes to collaborating, it’s tough to say, because I’m such a fan of everyone,” he said. “Like, where do I start, and where does it end?”
Stanton explained that the SFUO’s last-minute format has just as much merit as a massive show in front of thousands of people, but for obviously different reasons.
“I think the band just really loves playing live, as long as someone is listening,” he said. “That’s why we do it—we love to write music, and sing, and perform.”
SFUO vp social Jozef Spiteri said Current Swell had been on the SFUO radar for a while and was even considered for 101 Week. Spiteri said he believes the experimental concert format is working so far, but he’s still seeking feedback on how to improve it.
Current Swell performed a full show at Mavericks later that night along with Ottawa roots-rockers Silver Creek and Cody Allen.
