Pipestone Flyer
Jeff Ramsay (on left) and Luke Ertman are the band known as Fools Tongue. Lifelong Millet area residents these talented young musicians have a bright future ahead of them.
If you weren't familiar with the wealth of musical experience behind Jeff Ramsay and Luke Ertman you would be extremely surprised to hear the complexity and depth of the music they have created in their band, Fools Tongue. Each are accomplished musicians, singers and performers in their own right, with Luke having written the musical score for the Alberta Badlands Passion Play and having done a lot of work with the renown Rosebud Theatre company.
With Jeff on guitar and Luke on the Chapman Stick (a kind of bass/hybrid instrument) these two young men who both hail from the Millet, AB area have been friends for many years. As a matter of fact, Fools Tongue has been around for about eight years when Jeff and Luke started out as a straight rock band. In the years since their sound has morphed and grown into something so innovative it almost defies description. Compared to the likes of Peter Gabriel, Sting, U2, Crosby, Still Nash and Young and Steely Dan to name a few, their music was summed up in Rockline Magazine as sounding "Like an etherial chamber orchestra guided by an alt-rock sensibility. A New World indeed".
High praise indeed for the band's first album titled "New World" which was recorded in Luke's home studio. "Jeff and I did all the writing on the album." said Luke. "Then we brought in some really talented local musicians that we knew and had vocalist Cassia Schramm come in to do a lot of the singing as a featured vocalist on it."
After getting the music recorded the boys wound up sending their album to France to be mastered. "The guy we picked to do it was very expensive but we feel he was the right choice for us. I feel like we got this album 80-90% the way we wanted it which is really good. We're happy with it." shared Luke. And after listening to the hauntingly lush production on the album I don't think anyone would disagree.
Now they are ready to showcase this work of art to the rest of the world with their CD release party taking place on February 22nd at the Capitol Theatre in Fort Edmonton Park. "We looked at a couple of different venues but when we saw the huge stage at the Capitol Theatre and all the classic touches in that beautiful space we knew that was the right place for us." stated Luke.
Coming from a theatre background, both Jeff and Luke see this album as not just a stand alone piece of music but rather as more of a full sensory production. "We will have the full band onstage with us." said Luke, which is comprised of a seven piece orchestra. "The music is the music. When you listen to the CD you will hear a big, complex, deep sound and we will be performing exactly that on stage. No pushing a button and having back tracks playing. We have really good people and we all really enjoy playing this music."
The dream that Luke and Jeff would one day like to see become reality is to perform the album with a full, theatrical set designed around the albums theme. "It was loosely written as a story type/concept album revolving around the bible story of Samuel being called three times by The Lord in the night. If you listen closely you will hear this story running lightly through the whole album. Unfortunately that kind of production would probably cost around $30,000.00 to put on and we just aren't at that point yet!" Luke admitted with a smile.
But who knows what the future holds for these talented young men. Their song "Faith" was already Song Of The Day back in November on CKUA Radio and they have been featured on CBC Radio several times, amongst others.
Their album, New World, and all of the singles, can be purchased on iTunes, while some tickets for the CD release party can still be found at www.yeglive.ca. Treat yourself and all your senses to an evening of excellent music on February 22nd and you will be able to tell people that you saw Fools Tongue up close and personal before they made it big.