Shotgun Jimmie’s Most Anticipated US Tour

 Shotgun Jimmie  No Responses »
Mar 212009
 

To follow the release of the album Still Jimmie, Shotgun Jimmie will be having a US debut tour with Attack in Black which is also a Canadian rock band from Welland, Ontario. For three consecutive weeks, the “Old Magic Red Eye Tour” will witness both bands travel through the United States. They will visit various cities in the Eastern Coast and the Midwest. They will also take a stop in Austin, Texas for the Flatstock Festival. An artwork on the tour with photos highlighting the concerts will be showcased by Pedal Printing, a print studio based in New York. Continue reading »

Shotgun Jimmie: A Great Indie Rock Performer

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Mar 212009
 

Jimmie Kilpatrick is a previous member and founder of the defunct but legendary Canadian band Shotgun & Jaybird. He is popularly known as Shotgun Jimmie of the said band which was organized at Ajax, Ontario. The group had successful album releases from the year 2003 when the first started out until 2006. Around the year 2004, he was out on his own, fled Ajax and lived a secluded life in the Marshwinds Farm. During those solitary moments in his home studio, he composed and recorded his own music and created his first solo album The Onlys which was produced by Delorean Records.

The use of warm guitars, echoing drums, and organic rhythms became the musical characteristic of Shotgun Jimmie’s songs in the album The Onlys. The solo debut contained thirteen songs with interestingly creative lyrics. This included the rhetorical “Onomatopoeia”, indie rock songs such as “Janitor’s Luck”, and a song he composed that is close to a country ballad, “Big City Boi.” There were also songs that talked about cereal toppings and instrumental jams.

His second album is entitled “Still Jimmie”, which has a more contemplating atmosphere than the first release. His songs would talk about his nostalgic experiences of his Yukon days or being apart from the family.

The screen name Shotgun Jimmie was coined back in his high school days when he was challenged by his friends in a competition to occupy the passenger seat of another person’s van. Being competitive in nature, he took the dare and from then on, his colleagues started calling him Shotgun Jimmie.

Shotgun Jimmie is a one-man band that has both the talent of a vocalist and a songwriter. He had a successful launching of his first solo album at Sackville, NB in October of last year. Following the said concert, he had series of performances with Baby Eagle and Construction Deconstruction.

Shotgun Jimmie’s Still Jimmie

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Mar 212009
 

Shotgun Jimmie’s second album entitled “Still Jimmie” was released by You’ve Changed Records last March 10th. It is exclusively distributed by Outside Music Distribution. It is made available in record stores and outlets throughout Canada. Tracks of this album can also be digitally purchased from Zunior and other related online music shopping sites such as iTunes. The album has 12 tracks in it and these are:

  • Mind Crumb 3:32
  • Road Animal 1:51
  • Province to Province 4:03
  • Used Parts 4:11
  • Loius Depson 3:12
  • Quicksand 4:32
  • Waist Deep in the Water 3:48
  • The Cost of Doing Business 3:28
  • Dawson City 1:21
  • Valentine’s Day 3:05
  • I Asked Cupid 3:20
  • Tread Water

The song Mind Crumb, the first track in the album, opens with a harsh and rough pounding of drums and jangling guitars. The song Province to Province is a rework of the Shotgun & Jaybird Classic and uses up more of the string instrument. The song Quicksand features a female vocalist and has a captivating intro that goes “Lately, I know I’ve been letting you down, and I feel like a dirtbag”.

Nice opening lyrics describing how he feels toward rock n’ roll can be found in the song Waist Deep in the Water. The line goes ” I like rock n’ roll. Somehow it just soothes my soul, even though I heard it all before.” Actually, most of his songs are full out rock. Other songs like Loius Depson and Cost of Doing Business are loud as well. It just suits well with the kind of off-kilter voice quality he has.

Songs like Dawson City and Valentine’s Day have a mellower and less harsh melody. The songs are presented with quite melodious and calmer approach. The last track in the album, Treadwater, expresses the artist’s insights on the music industry, particularly the indie music scene. The song has a dashing and somewhat jaunty tune.

Shotgun Jimmie: The Onlys

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Mar 212009
 

Canadian Indie Rock artist, Jim Killpatrick, alias Shotgun Jimmie, together with Dick, of Jaybird, created Shotgun and Jaybird. Broke up, like most bands, Shotgun Jimmie ventured into a new album, The Onlys.

Kilpatrick’s previous pairing, the critically acclaimed Shotgun and Jaybird, came up with his new album, that presented us with a new style, and novel descriptions for Shotgun Jimmie: endearing and quirky, of lo-fi indie tunes that will “add some sugar to your cereal”, which, I guess, would probably mean that the songs from this album are sweet and charming, new adjectives for indie type of music.

Lo-fi, another word that is presented here, that may need a little definition, or background, perhaps means an artistic form in music production which uses low fidelity recording practices. It is sometimes used because of the artist’s financial limitations, but would artistically sound better if described as a “deliberate rejection of so called main stream music”. Many lo-fi artists use inexpensive cassette tape recorders, in this new age millennium.

The Onlys album offers thirteen songs that glow, hum and destroy. That is something new again, for Shotgun Jimmie who has always been on the “rock” type of indie music. Shotgun Jimmy’s creative roundabout way of expressing his thoughts and viewpoint and feeling has resulted in an appealing and melodic indie rock album. Now that is kind of…new and interesting, isn’t it?

The album, The Onlys, sets off with Duet, one of the most entertaining and capricious yet “fanciful” songs you could hope to discover or possibly hear, on an indie rock record. Indie music aficionados who love Jim’s off-beat personality need not feel any apprehension that he’s made a just the regular rock album. With the individuality of Shotgun Jimmie still shining through, The Onlys is among the best Indie album yet and we can be sure of more and more great albums to come from Shotgun Jimmie.

Three Reasons Why We Love Shotgun Jimmie

 Shotgun Jimmie  No Responses »
Mar 212009
 

Indie Rock Music is not that popular in the music scene nowadays what with the existence of main stream music such as pop, r & b, jazz, etc. It can be challenging for indie artists like Shotgun Jimmie to get an opening to the hall of fame in music when people would opt to listen to more familiar and unthreatening types of music, something that readily appeals to the general public. But if you can get to learn and know the music of Shotgun Jimmie, you will appreciate the essence of a true artist.

One reason why we love Shotgun Jimmie is the authenticity and creativity of his lyrical composition. Being an indie artist, he writes is own songs, expressing various emotions in the lyrics such as that of the song “Treadwater” wherein he expressed his insights and views of the music scene especially that of indie music. He creatively uses metaphorical lines in the song “Onomatopoeia” and then switches to country ballad lyrics in “Big City Boi”.

Another reason to admire Shotgun Jimmie is his original and artistic blend of melodies and his creative use of the available musical accompaniments in indie music which are guitar, bass, or drum. The way he changes from a calm and mellow tone to a more strident and jaunty melody is uniquely interesting. The placid atmosphere in Marshwinds Farm brought about the hushed and rhythmic results of his first few songs. The influence of the rock band Attack in Black allowed for a raucous effect on his next few tracks in the album Still Jimmie which was just recently launched.

Shotgun Jimmie’s passion for music is one other reason why we love the artist. Even with his separation from his previous band which released four albums before they disbanded, he still did not give up in pursuing his career in music. Rather, he independently took his own trail and evolved into a low-fi one-man band. Now, he’s gradually stepping into the light with the series of shows he’s making along with Attack in Black.

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