MUSIC OF THE WEST

The Rural Alberta Advantage

This multi-faceted Canadian band thrives on different sounds and styles: And Alberta-honoured songs that ping between existential sadness, mighty resilience and the beauty that resides within it all. An interview with lead singer, Nils Edenloff.

The big sound of The Rural Alberta Advantage (RAA) isn’t something you’d expect from a band consisting of only three members. Yet the group’s unique talents combined, set the stage for a performance that is onethird runaway melodies, one-third haunting vocals and one-third a thunderous, percussion show. Live, RAA intensifies every song and there’s a human connection the audience cannot gain from other musical performers: This rings true for fans around the globe, but especially for Albertans. Because what really sets RAA

I’m always surprised every time a sliver of a memory wriggles its way into a song. Nils Edenloff “

The Rural Alberta Advantage. Nils Edenloff (left), Amy Cole (middle), and Paul Banwatt (right). CREDIT: Leroy Schulz

apart, (in our eyes anyways), is their consistent homage paid to the Wild Rose province.

With four albums and one EP, The Toronto, ON, trio comprised of Amy Cole, Nils Edenloff and Paul Banwatt has been nominated for two Juno Awards and a Polaris Music Prize, charted on the Billboard U.S Top 200 and played at such prestigious events as Coachella. They’ve earned reviews from Rolling Stone magazine, Pitchfork and the New York Times. The band has toured the world and headlined at the Calgary Stampede. They’ve maintained level heads, a remarkable sound and have a way of balancing feverish heartland folk with astonishing humanity – in each and every one of their indie punk anthems.

And that’s another thing. Its hard to pigeon-hole the sound of RAA into any one genre. On one hand, some listeners might define them as modern folk country. Others suggest they are an anthemic indie rock trio. Folk darlings. Their song Dead / Alive (released in 2017) was even coined as featuring “distorted cow-punk surging guitar” by Toronto Now.

Dig deep into RAA lyrics and you’ll be transitioned into another dimension, with no shortage of Canadian references and story-telling. Part of the band’s longevity has to do with the vivid detailing in their songs, mostly written by Edenloff. He savors certain particulars from his childhood memories growing up in Alberta and themes range from provincial disasters (for instance, Beacon Hill), to hometowns (The Deadroads), to Edenloff’s travels and roadtrips (Vulcan, AB).

Yeah, they actually have a song entitled Vulcan, AB – and it’s one of my personal favorites.

Along with the wheaty timbre of his voice and the crisp acoustics of his guitar, the painstaking phrasing of his lyrics make up a crucial part of Edenloff’s appeal as a singer / songwriter. He finds beauty in sorrow. Warmth in a fresh snowfall. And a kernel of creative joy in confronting tribulations.

Here, we get the opportunity to interview lead singer Nils Edenloff and get inside his head, just a little bit.

Q. THERE ARE SLIGHTLY CONFLICTING REPORTS ABOUT WHERE YOU GREW UP. WAS IT IN DONALDA, AB – HOME TO THE WORLD’S LARGEST OIL LAMP? OR FORT MCMURRAY – THE APEX OF THE OIL SANDS?

I’ll take the blame for muddying the water there.

The full story is that I was born in Edmonton, AB, and moved up to Fort McMurray, AB, between grades seven and eight, and then came back to Edmonton for University.

So while I haven’t been back to Fort McMurray in quite some time, I feel like both Fort McMurray and Edmonton are hometowns for me, with both playing equal roles in the person I am now.

As for Donalda/Meeting Creek, AB, that is where my Father grew up and where [the family] still has a cabin. So, there were a number of summer evenings spent down there when I was younger, given that it holds a special place in my heart.

To be perfectly honest, the band name was cribbed from an email my brother sent me after a weekend, “…hanging out at the farm and exploring the rural Alberta advantage.”

The RISE EP. CREDIT: Leroy Schulz

Q - CAN YOU TELL US A STORY ABOUT YOUR TIME SPENT ON THE FAMILY FARM IN DONALDA, AB?

I wish there was a single definitive story that I could latch on to, but at this point, it feels like a blur of interconnected events. Like trekking through the coulees looking for petrified wood and fossils, visiting the church down the road and seeing more headstones with “Edenloff” on them than family I’d met to that point in my life.

I do have a vague memory of them building up the cabin though.

I was so young at the time that I’m not sure if that event took place over the course of several weeks, or just an afternoon. Regardless it is interesting to see the change that happened on the farm over the course of several decades.

Q - BAD LUCK AGAIN IS MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITE RAA SONG. I KNOW BEACON HILL IS ABOUT THE FORT MCMURRAY FIRES IN 2016 – BUT IS BAD LUCK AGAIN A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT DISASTER TOO?

I hadn’t really thought about it, but the fires likely did contribute a certain amount to the vibe of Bad Luck Again.

That being said, the first half of 2016 involved a series of personal and public events (i.e./ David Bowie, Prince, Gord Downie’s diagnosis…) which led to this general malaise, like, “…when is this going to end?” Which – I’m not going to lie – in hindsight sounds wonderfully naive, given the current state of things.

Q - WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO WRITE TORNADO ’87? AS AN F4 TORNADO, THAT SONG REFERENCES CANADA’S SECOND LARGEST TORNADO IN HISTORY AND ONE OF OUR DEADLIEST – DOES THE BAND EVER RECEIVE FLACK FOR IT?

I feel like, in the early days of RAA, I was awash with ideas rooted in seminal memories from when I was younger.

It was before we ever recorded the first record that I remember talking to Paul (RAA Drummer) about wanting to write a song about the Edmonton Tornado. I was talking about the idea of it maybe being an A cappella song, driven by the drums, but that could have been due to the fact I was listening to a lot of “The Microphones” at the time.

Fortunately, we’ve never received any flack about the song – at least that I’m aware of. If anything, I’ve probably met more people after shows sharing their memories about the Tornado and how it affected their lives, and not just limited to the Edmonton area. Q - BEING AN ALBERTAN MYSELF, I LOVE THE BAND’S NAME. IT’S HONESTLY THE THING THAT DREW MY ATTENTION TO YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE. HOW DOES IT TRANSLATE IN ALBERTA VS. THE OTHER SIDE OF OUR COUNTRY?

I think there is always going to be a certain camaraderie regarding the band name and the songs. This is probably why I moved to Toronto, ON, and found myself largely hanging around the ex-pat Albertans that I went to high school with.

That being said, I think when you look past the band name there is a universal theme to many of the songs that people on either side of the country can relate to.

I’ll always remember one of our first shows in the US. We were playing a show in New York and after the show, I was chatting with a guy, and he said something that stuck with me, he said: “I’m originally from a small town in Midwest, and I don’t know the first thing about Alberta, but there is something about the songs that really speak to me, and that’s all that really matters.”

I remember at the time feeling like that was a pretty major win, and I guess I still do.

Q - PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR LYRIC WRITING / STORYTELLING, WHILE LIVING IN ONTARIO. ARE YOU WORKING OFF YOUR MEMORIES? OR DO YOU COME BACK TO ALBERTA FOR MORE EXPERIENCES?

I still have a large amount of family in Alberta, mostly around the Edmonton area. So between family and playing shows, I get back quite often, and every trip is another chance for new experiences to draw on.

However, the human brain can have a shocking capacity for retention of memories, and I’m always surprised every time a sliver of a memory wriggles its way into a song.

Q - NOT ONLY IS CANDU A FANTASTIC SONG, I ALSO LEARNED ABOUT URANIUM CITY, SK, FROM IT. HAVE YOU BEEN THERE? DO RAA FANS EVER REACH OUT AND TELL YOU THAT YOUR SONGS HAVE EDUCATED OR ENLIGHTENED THEM, AND NOT JUST MUSICALLY?

I did visit Uranium City when I was very young. My parents took me up to visit my Mom’s uncle who was working up there at the time.

While I don’t remember much of it, the city always held this mythical status in my mind, partly due to the name, which felt like something from the Wizard of Oz, but also

The Rural Alberta Advantage in the studio. CREDIT: Colin Medley

because it’s a mining town that collapsed in the ‘80s.

When CANDU first came out I did have a number of friends reaching out letting me know about family members who had originally worked up there. In addition, a number of fans were contacting us on social media letting us know that they were learning about Uranium City for the first time.

Oddly enough, after the song was released, a good friend from Fort McMurray, whose dad grew up in Uranium City told me that after the mines closed, a large number of houses in Uranium City were barged down the Athabasca River to populate one of the neighbourhoods in Fort McMurray.

So, I guess I’m also being enlightened by the song.

Q - AT THIS STAGE IN YOUR CAREERS, DO ALL THE RAA BAND MEMBERS STILL HAVE DAY JOBS? IF SO, HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN TIME TO PRACTICE? AND TOUR? HOW DO YOU KEEP THE BALANCE?

Fortunately, we’ve been able to find a balance between our work lives and band lives, while still maintaining our sanity. I think it helps that all three of us have a pretty solid support system, both personal and band-wise.

I’m not going to lie, it can certainly be difficult trying to balance all these aspects, but I think we all try to look at things through the lens of how our younger selves would respond to the opportunities, and we feel incredibly lucky to be doing something that we always dreamed of.

Q - RAA HAS BEEN FEATURED IN ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE. WHAT WAS THAT LIKE?

Every piece of press that comes up and has nice things to say is incredibly flattering, so yeah it feels pretty good.

Q - WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM THE RAA IN THE FUTURE?

We are currently trying to play catch-up after being sidelined by the pandemic, but we’ve got some Canadian shows planned in the fall of this year – including a run of the west coast and Alberta in September. And of course we’re working our butts off to try to get some more new music out in the world. WHR