When he came to British Columbia five years ago, Andrew Mercer brought a little bit of the east coast with him.
He left his native Newfoundland to work for the University of British Columbia, but after a year realized he “needed to be playing music,” and quit to start Cod Gone Wild.
It took a while to get the lineup right, but for more than three years the Vernon-based group has been blasting out Celtic-inspired tunes.
Like most people from the east coast, Mercer said living out west he often feels the call of Atlantic Canada, but he survives because whenever he gets on stage it transports him back home, where, since the age of five, he was surrounded by the best Celtic music Newfoundland had to offer.
“Celtic music was a very important part of where I came from, and to be able to do it out here, it’s a blessing,” he said.
“People ask me all the time, ‘you must get home sick,’ and I say ‘you know what? I get to get on stage with four of my best friends and play music from back home every night.’ And to me, that’s like being back home.
“Part of that is just the type of music. It’s hard not to jump around and stamp your feet and clap you hands when you’re listening to it, let alone playing it.”
It’s the group’s high-energy stage show that has gained it an enthusiastic fan base. Mercer said a big part of that is their “ball of energy” fiddle player, Anjuli Otter.
Otter was originally trained as a classical violinist, and Mercer said that background has given her a fiddle style unlike anyone he’s ever heard.
But as well as being a skilled musician, he explained that Otter brings an unpredictable element to the band’s show.
“You never know what she’s going to say. I never know what she’s going to say,” he said. “[She] keeps us on our toes, and people enjoy that part of the show because it’s unexpected—and we’re usually surprised and never know what we’re going to say back to her either.”
He recalled one incident when she had a runny nose during a show, so between songs she turned to the audience and complained about all the snot running down her face, and asked if anyone had a tissue, which lead to several audience members coming to the stage offering Kleenex.
But the band is bolstered by more than just goofy banter and a good rapport with the audience.
Add in the hard rock and jazz background of Chad “Rhino” Carter, the Saudi-raised drummer from Edmonton, and Roy Kawano, the “silently funny warhorse” of a bassist, and Cod Gone Wild manages to fuse a surprisingly diverse range of styles and backgrounds into its shows.
The group will roll into the Jasper Legion Jan. 11, as part of their 18-stop, 23-day tour of Alberta. Mercer said he can’t wait to get Jasperites dancing.
Trevor Nichols
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