Shotgun Jimmie

Shotgun Jimmie jamming with Attack in Black and Ladyhawk? Such artists, who may not be regularly heard and watched in your usual MTV channels, nor seen in billboards, are Canadian artists who sing Indie numbers.

Indie songs are independent from major commercial records, hence the loose term “Indie”. In a nutshell, it focuses more on artists who want to represent and produce music more than getting rich and wealthy.

Jim Killpatrick, better known as Shotgun Jimmie, is the former front man, of the aptly named indie outfit “Shotgun & Jaybird”, which was formed in the Yukon, when both Dick (who is “Jaybird” to Jim’s “Shotgun”) & Jimmie were living in that area. As what happens to usual bands, Shotgun & Jaybird broke up early 2008.

Attack in Black, another Canadian rock band, was formed in Welland, Ontario. Their self-titled album debuted in 2005. Their music merges old school rock and roll with modern day punk rock. Some say though that this band resembles some common melody or tunes with the lively punk rock in it.

Ladyhawk, on the other hand, another Canadian indie, combines rootsy twang with Hüsker Dü-esque wailing, is more on the rowdy, ragged rockers types of songs. This band is known for two things: rockin’ hard and partying hard.
Actually, there are still some bands who love to do indie numbers which is why they have these 3 bands join forces for a two-weekend at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. They feel that this “merging” would come as the cross-Canada conquest – serving a showcase of Sackville “shoegazer” Shotgun Jimmie, Ontario’s Attack In Black and Kelowna’s Ladyhawk in very different spaces even as they share stages.

When asked how this tour came about, all 3 replied that they’ve toured in the past, played with each other before, although not at the same time, and not on the same place. Asked to share some insights on the most powerful tool now, the internet, Shotgun Jimmie said, “I think the real question is does the Internet help anybody? I think that without the Internet, maybe the world would be a better place. “

Shotgun and Jaybird was formed around the later part of 2003, when Shotgun Jimmie and his friend Dick met up in Yukon and decided they wanted to perform together. The two have known each other for some time already and since they are both musicians who belonged to a band before, they thought it would be a really great idea to get back in the music scene again, together. It was not so easy at first, there was just the two of them and the shows they had were limited.

Luckily, they found the third person to join them, Dom Lloyd and the trio performed at the Pit for sometime and recorded their first album. Later on, they went to Sackville where they recorded their second album Sackville Classics for the Simple Ukulele. They invited a female vocalist to join them, Julie Doiron and drummer Paul Henderson. In 2006, their record “Trying to Get Somewhere” reached the top 2 spot in the charts and it was their best year ever. They toured all over Canada and even had the opportunity to perform with Canadian indie music legend Chad VanGaalen. Unfortunately, one of their members decided to leave the group and they eventually disbanded in 2007 after performing their last show in Moncton, NB.

Although Shotgun and Jaybird was short-lived, it gained a sizeable popularity to the indie rock music market. Shotgun Jimmie, who is now doing solo performance, has become even more famous to Canadian indie music enthusiasts than before. He has already recorded and produced two albums which made impressive sales record and some of the songs even got into the top 20. Even with just four years of playing some great music, Shotgun and Jaybird has really paved the way for Shotgun Jimmie to become a better, more impressive indie musician.