Shotgun Jimmie

Indie rock is the genre or type of music that Shotgun Jimmie has taken interest in. The tracks on his two albums are grounded on rock n’ roll and modern day rock, though there are some pieces that have a melodious and mellow accompaniment.

To gain a better understanding of Shotgun Jimmie’s musical inclination, knowing what indie rock is will help one appreciate the genre. Indie rock is a kind of alternative rock that is remarkably associated with independent music. In the music industry, indie rock artists work with independent recording companies instead of the major and popular record labels. These artists take full control of their music and careers, and don’t gain major exposures since they rely more on word-of-mouth, touring, and airplay on campus and independent radio stations.

Since indie rock is associated with other genres or subgenres, Shotgun Jimmie chose to compose lo-fi indie rock music. Low-fi means the use of low fidelity recording. More often than not, this approach is a conscious and intentional purpose of an artist not to follow main stream music. The use of low-fi by an artist could also mean the musician’s financial inadequacy or constraints to produce music with complete musical instruments.

Despite being a low-fi one-man band, Shotgun Jimmie aesthetically created music through the use of guitars and drums accompanied by lyrics that have catchy lines. He rocked indie music to life through melodic glows and hums and full out rock. When he detached himself from his former band Shotgun & Jaybird, Shotgun Jimmie ventured on his own in the music scene, composing songs with melodies that are built and born through guitars, rumbling drums and natural rhythms.

In the next set of tracks he made on his second album, a distinction of the hushed and loud tones can be observed. He created songs accompanied by bouncy and lively tones. This only goes to show that Shotgun Jimmie is a real and talented musician. His musical expertise still made him a notable artist in the field of indie music.

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, whose songs are truly fresh and original, has again made another one that has captured the hearts of many. Bedhead, which is part of his first solo album The Onlys released in 2007, is a very charming and interesting song. While the song Duet’s effortlessness has endeared it to Shotgun Jimmie fans, it seems that Bedhead is undoubtedly the most popular song in the album.

The lyrics in the song’s bit sweet and romantic, in a way. It talks about waking up to a sunny morning, and it seems like nothing could ruin the moment. Bedhead inspires and brightens people’s day, so to say the least. If you listen to the song, with its great melody and cool drum beats, you will be sure to wake up to a great day. What better way to start the morning than listening to Shotgun Jimmie’s Bedhead!

Shotgun Jimmie is all about radical lyrics and individualism in his music. But interestingly, Bedhead is different from the rest. It is delightful and rather cute. It gives a new face to Shotgun Jimmie- it shows his sentimental and loving side. So how and why did he make Bedhead? Was it because he was beginning to feel homesick, having been so far from home for a long time? Was it because he reminisced on his life in the past while writing the lyrics? Whatever the answers may be, perhaps we will never know. What we do know is that Bedhead stands out from the rest of the songs in the album, The Onlys. And that is reason enough for anyone to at least be curious and listen to it. If you do that, you will find just how nice the song actually is and you will get hooked too, just like the rest of us.

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.