We manage to catch Steven Genevich an hour before he catches a ferry to Starbelly Jam Music Festival in Crawford Bay, BC.
He kind of needs to be there. One of the fest’s two artistic directors, he’s also the media director and is scheduled to lead a swing dance workshop and a swing jam.
“It’s a big one,” he says, of the weekend. “It’s really fun.”
He’ll be joined by the other members of his band, The Misery Mountain Boys, for the jam. Formed over a dozen years ago in Peace River, AB, the group started with high-energy folk then moved to bluegrass. They didn’t stop there.
“I ended up going to music school at MacEwan and getting into traditional jazz and swing music and it sort of morphed into this,” says Genevich. “It’s been the swing, jump blues for about eight years now.”
They remain committed to the genres. “I’m lucky to get to play with some really awesome musicians who really love the style of music and love to dig into it,” Genevich says.
We asked him what he loves about that style of music.
“I love the chord progressions,” he says. “It’s got a lot of really beautiful music and a very storied history. So many amazing musicians came out of the swing era, like Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian.”
“It’s really fun music to play and to share with people,’ he continues. “It’s engaging. It’s improvisation-based music which I really love. Maybe most importantly it’s dance music and I’ve always loved to dance. It’s high energy music.”
The band’s been busy throughout the summer, touring western Canada with their new album, Somebody Stole My Peaches.
“My feeling is that it’s our best record and my best songwriting to date,” says Genevich. “But you spend so much time with it you can kind of lose perspective. You need other people to give you their opinions on it.”
Fortunately, they’ve heard nothing but good things.
One of their next stops is Festival Place in Sherwood Park on August 6. And if you’re into planning ahead, they have some fun gigs coming up in Edmonton, later in the year: a big swing dance party at Sugar Swing Ballroom on October 18 and then, their classic holiday show, Miserable Christmas at Blues on Whyte on December 12. Check out their band website for all the info.
“If You Want Me” by The Misery Mountain Boys
