Going to Indie Week Indie Week Indie Week !!!

Dulcimerhead is thrilled to be taking the stage on October 8, 2009, around 9:15pm at the Free Times Cafe to take part in Round One of the Indie Week 2009 Showcase!!!



Dulcimerhead is putting the call out to all their fans to spread the word far and wide -- Free Times Cafe is a great venue, it's a reasonable time slot and Dave, Fernando and Daniela are ready to show their stuff to the industry and the Toronto scene.

Street teams will be mobilized -- so if you want to pick up the coolest band swag you ever saw (these ARE professional artists, you recall) and be part of a triumphant evening of awesome music, be sure to email dulcimerhead@gmail.com -- and git on board. This is a tangible and concrete way to Assist The Breakthrough that we all know is going to happen...

Details about Indie Week can be found at indieweek.com and we'll be passing them on via Twitter twitter.com/dulcimerhead and Myspace www.myspace.com/dulcimerhead1 and heck, probably Facebook too, why not?

Can barely wait. All these fantastic bands playing Toronto the same week. This is THE festival for up-and-coming indie outfits to try to convince industry judges that they are The Next Big Thing. Bound to be high-energy, envelope-pushing music. For those lucky enough to witness Dulcimerhead's latest gig in Newmarket July 29, there is no doubt that this is a band ready to play large, loud, INTENSE gigs.

Video unfortunately failed to capture the surprise hits of the evening -- one after another, old favourites reworked into concentrated burst of energy and melody -- outrageous drum solo by Fernando -- ringing dulcimer riffs by Dave -- and the evocative lyrics and voice of Daniela -- one particular song called "Try So Hard" is a solid hit, and all the more astounding because it comes from a band that hardly has had time to play together yet! So no wonder their gigs are totally fresh; their approach to the music is somehow relaxed and intense at the same time, with total communication onstage.

Spontaneous and totally seamless, this is a band of three awesome musicians who are creating alchemy and new magic every time they play.

Check out this fan video for one of their slower, more reflective songs, Invocation of the Norns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqy_cbur7HE

On October 8, you have the chance to see it happen. And on October 9th, you'll be able to say "I was there, the night when Dulcimerhead broke through!"

PS: Thanks to SonicBids, too -- all submissions went through them and certainly be proved to be worth the membership. :)

View Dulcimerhead's EPK

Ushering in the Summer Solstice -- Music, Dance, Dulcimerhead!

Join Dulcimerhead and a group of dedicated Viking cultural re-enactors as they co-create music, dance and ritual to celebrate the coming of the Summer Solstice!

Festival coordinator Nesrin Meral is hosting the Vinland Viking Market and Summer Solstice Celebration event and decided Dulcimerhead music would add a new dimension to the ceremonies. In ancient European pagan cultures, this was the most important day of the calendar.

Dulcimerhead -- David Rankine, Fernando Villalobos and Daniela Godina -- were inspired to launch a musical project that would capture the spirit of Viking exploration, their strong connection to the spirit world, and the importance of HOME to these seafaring adventurers. You can hear more of this haunting and melodic music at www.myspace.com/dulcimerhead1

The June 2009 CD entitled "Eastern Voyage, Western Shore" is meant to evoke a sense memory of Viking emigration and settlement in North America. Click below to view the first live performance of their anthem "Cup of Plenty" -- a song about the triumph of creativity in adversity, and the celebration of homecoming. (Performed at Windfall Ecology Festival, Newmarket, 2009!)



You can take part in the festivities this weekend! June 20th, come visit the Vinland Viking Market, see artisans at work and their authentic handicrafts, battles, food, entertainment -- then stay the evening for the magic of the Solstice Celebration! Dulcimerhead brings exciting new music to accompany traditional Belarusian dance in celebrating the longest night of the year.



For more details about the event -- which takes place in Wainfleet, Ontario on private land -- please visit www.vinlandvikingmarketandsummersolsticecelebration.com/


See you at the Viking Village!

Super-Secret Semi-Century Gig

Musical Co-Conspirators David Rankine, Fernando Villalobos, Jason Pfeiffer and Daniela Godina; photo graciously provided by D. Draper; thanks!

Dulcimerhead's David Rankine was celebrated in word and music by his friends and co-conspirators in a secret location in Newmarket. Mayhem ensued: including a high-energy drum circle, new music composed in his honour by bandmate Fernando Villalobos, the haunting intuitive vocals of Daniela Godina, and being joined for an all-out jam with flutist extraordinaire Jason Pfeiffer. And then there was cake!



Dave's nearest and dearest were treated to an evening of new music, improvisation and song, plus his now-legendary rendition of "Frank Sinatra sings Dark Side of the Moon" -- a rare treat considering no alcohol was served at the event. Then they returned the favour by standing up to tell the whole crowd about what a low, objectionable character he is.

No, really, as usual for a Dulcimerhead gig, there was a lot of positive energy and love in the room, and this was a suitable occasion to express it toward a man who has made it his mission to use music to create community for the lost creatives among us, giving us all a feeling of "home" during turbulent times.

Thanks Dave, and we're all looking forward to the next adventures!!!


View Dulcimerhead's EPK

A utopian vision of intentional community!

Thanks to D. Draper for the photos!

Oh, we were dreaming in technicolour THAT day -- wow, what an amazing event. The energy was awesome. Dulcimerhead had the Old Town Hall rented anyway for their triumphant "Dark Mandala" CD Launch Party and Concert -- so, there was this big ol' space just asking to be filled with art, music, energy work, networking with great people, stories, food --

So it was an intentional community today, to encourage us all to stay creative and keep the focus on what's really important. These were all people who know how to make things: the skill to take materials and impose a vision on them, and to create something that didn't exist before. THAT is much more real than a fixation on the electronic ebb and flow of cycling financial data around the world. When people connect, it strikes a blow against the anomie of the modern age. Opportunity spaces pop up where none were before. And we are creative enough to SOLVE the problems we have generated ourselves.

That is why Dulcimerhead spent time during this event to raise awareness of and funds for the York Region Food Network. Those people are raising the alarm in this affluent area, and using creativity to increase the healthy food available to food banks. They do this via community gardens where people can be mentored in the lost art of vegetable growing, or if they are already good gardeners, they plant an extra row for the Food Pantry. YRFN also runs cooking classes in their new offices on Penrose Avenue. They fill backpacks with school supplies in September, knowing that it is almost impossible for some families to find the money to do it for their kids. In this day and age of instant food and separation from the land, it is wonderful to go to a community garden, to see a vacant lot turned into a place where people can create food with knowledge and their own efforts, connecting with the soil again, and with each other.

Then, after a day of meeting folks and talking ideas and looking at art and hearing stories and drumming and eating and just generally feeling that our neighbours, friends and kids were MUCH more interesting than we'd ever have believed -- it was time for the BIG CONCERT!



After an electrifying performance by opening artist Daniela Godina, Dulcimerhead rocked the stage with their new "Dark Mandala" tunes -- using full drum kit for many of them.

Fernando's solo piece "Why Not" was so perfect, a jazz fusion number that almost sounded like a drum machine in its precision, except no WAY could that sound be automated.




The beautiful, spiralling "Deep Blue Star" featured an awesome flute improvisation by guest artist Jason Pfeiffer. There were hard-hitting tracks that showed Dulcimerhead fully at home with their progressive rock sound, such as the brilliantly reworked "Persian Trance." In contrast to the driving energy of the drum kit tracks, was the slow and lovely "From a Hill" with Dave's solo dulcimer. Both Daniela and Jason joined Dulcimerhead later in the show for a joyful improvisational jam -- honestly, this is why you have to see this band live. :)

At the end of the evening, we knew this thing was not over.

"Dark Mandala" was properly launched and celebrated, and we had built our intentional community -- what adventure would be next?


View Dulcimerhead's EPK

Awesome Opera House gig -- see the video!

View Dulcimerhead's EPK

March 18, 2009 -- a showcase at the Opera House in Toronto -- an unprecedented opportunity to see Dulcimerhead and Skorched on the same stage. Dulcimerhead was sounding heavy that night! Quite a different venue for the band, but they filled the old vaudeville hall with a wall of big sound as pink and green smoke swirled around their heads. Fernando played a full drum kit for 3 of the 4 tunes -- including Dark Mandala, the title track from their new CD. He returned to the djembe for Circles, for a truly awesome solo that has been captured on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjGU3VNTFVk&feature=related

Although Dave's dulcimer remained melodic, it never sounded badder than it did this evening, powerchords pounding out of the huge stacks. Smashing through Persian Trance, Axis of Love -- gentle crowd favourites reworked into super-velocitized progressive rock tracks. Hard to believe this band got started in coffeehouses! Definitely ready for the concert stage, armed with a CD full of fresh new material, Dulcimerhead is launching their Dark Mandala CD with a huge party and concert at the Old Town Hall in Newmarket, April 11th. Tickets are $20 and include a copy of Dark Mandala! They are also featuring some exciting special guests: poet percussionist Daniela Godina and Jason Pfeiffer. This is going to be an extremely intense concert where certain portals are sure to be opened... Not To Be Missed.

What can I say about Skorched? They took the stage. No, I mean they TOOK it. Like when you say "The Huns took Asia." There is some video evidence, but their sheer power completely overloaded the camera mike and left the YouTube videos just a pale vestige, basically only raw white noise left. And that is why I bought the demo, folks. Because they can really play! You should check out their tunes at www.myspace.com/skorchedmetal

Today's message: OBTAIN TICKETS TO THE DULCIMERHEAD CD LAUNCH PARTY AND CONCERT APRIL 11TH, 2009 AT 7:30PM!
AND .... BE PREPARED TO EXPERIENCE SOMETHING AMAZING!!!

If you are in a groovy creative mood and want to see a rich pageant of artists, healers, activists and performers, be sure to take in the Spiritfest: Celebrating Creativity event earlier the same day, same place. This is Dulcimerhead's salute to Cultural Creatives, in support of the York Region Food Network. It's an all-day free festival. For details, please visit www.davidrankineart.com/Events.htm

Dulcimerhead Drummer Speaks! Or, How Inferno Got His Name

Hey Folks!

Today: a rare look at Fernando Villalobos, high-energy percussion engine of Dulcimerhead and man of many genres. You'll find him playing with Dulcimerhead at the Sharon Temple one day, and playing with Skorched at the Kathedral's “Glory Through Steel” Metalfest event the next.

“I don't know what made me want to play drums,” he says. “All of a sudden when I turned 14 I decided I must play the drums. I'm happy that I came to that conclusion. It's helped me get through a lot of times that I wouldn't have gotten through otherwise.” His parents gave him his first kit for his 15^th birthday on the condition that he take lessons. He's come a long way since then, adding a djembe a year later, and recently acquiring a digital kit which he says is making it a lot easier to record demo CDs with both his bands.

Skorched is bringing out their first demo this month!!! Go get one at their gigs. And Dulcimerhead is releasing Dark Mandala this month!!! Just don't try listening to them at the same time...

So, the obvious question is – Dulcimerhead and Skorched sound um, extremely different in their musical approaches. Are they? Fernando laughs. “Aside from the obvious – that with Skorched I am pounding the shit out of a drumkit and with Dulcimerhead I am playing a djembe in kind of a trance – with Dulcimerhead I tend to be very relaxed, while playing with Skorched is like an electrical charge and I'm really revved up. The crowds may look a little different, but they do mix back and forth a bit!”

A Skorched gig is like taking a blast from a firehose of sound – they can really play! But I have to ask, on behalf of all the moms out there, what the heck is up with “death metal” and “black metal” as a musical genre. It sounds morbid. Should I be worried? Fernando laughs some more. “The music is extremely abrasive and lyrical content does tend to be violent and obscene, but typically the people who listen to it are very nice people! It's like watching a very gory horror movie or reading a graphic horror book. It's almost like poetry; it's pretty cool but to the outsider it's scary.To those who understand it, it's another form of art.”

Fernando says the metal community is the best he's been in, because the bands all tend to support each other. “They like to come out and see each other play, enjoy good music and good company. If a band needs a replacement member in an emergency, people will pass the word in the community and make sure they find what they need. His philosophy is basically “Mutual respect among musicians and enjoyment of the music.” His preferred music includes Slayer, Pantera, Chimaira, Meshuggah, Arch Enemy, Strapping Young Lad, DevilDriver, Fear Factory and many others.

His first band was Toxic-Culture, which he started up at age 17. Then at 19 he started playing with Heavily Medicated, a band that played regularly and got an enthusiastic following locally, opening for Strapping Young Lad in 2006. He met the two guys he would soon be playing with in Skorched – Tim (guitar) and Darryl (bass) – in a band called Shangrila. Fernando spent some time going between the two bands, but eventually he and Tim and Darryl formed another band called Krakatoa, which then morphed into Skorched. Their singer Sid and Devin on guitar rounded out that lineup.

To find out more about the whole Skorched phenomenon, check out myspace.com/skorchedmetal.

“What's great about Skorched is that we get along great and enjoy playing loud, heavy, fast music together,” says Fernando. The band members all bring skills to the band that make it work, he added. Many of the band members have day jobs or families that make it tough to find practice time and recording time. However, they are getting some good shows and the demo is a real milestone for them because they did it all themselves.

See them in Toronto at Lee's Palace February 25^th!

Fernando's plan for world domination: “conquer the world through music, make my living through music! I promised myself that one day music would free me from my day jobs.” His day jobs have not just been tough, they've been dangerous. He is a certified welder with 4 years experience, and after 4 years he's had enough. “I've been set on fire about 13 times,” he laughed, and began reminiscing about a particular day when his not-so-fire-resistant overalls went up in flames. “I felt hotter than usual and smelling smoke, but I was running a bead and I couldn't stop – when I was finished, I took off my mask and found the front of my overalls had caught fire and the flames were creeping up my chest...maybe thats why I was given the name INFERNO.” He moved to working in home renovation which was going well until the recent economic downturn hit his employer hard. To bounce back financially, he is currently planning to explore even more new musical territory when he launches a kick-ass rock cover band with Skorched bandmate Tim – their working title is End of Silence.