The guys in the band have played together for over 20 years, and throughout have built a solid brotherhood both on-stage and off.
We spoke with Murray Pulver and Gilles Fournier about the group’s history, their expertise in musical improvisation and all the fun they have on stage.
Can you go into how you got into music and how the band eventually came to be?
MP: My parents had a band, and they would practice in the basement, and so music was always in the house. One day their guitar player couldn’t make a gig, and my parents didn’t know what to do. He said to them, ‘oh, get Murray to do it, he probably knows all the songs already anyways,’ from there it just morphed. By listening and getting interested in music, I started playing with my parents’ band. Then I went to college for music and then took a million different gigs and ended up getting to do some pretty decent and higher profile gigs; got to tour the world with the Crash Test Dummies, and then later on with Doc Walker. Through all of that I’d always play with the guys in Ego Spank. It’s a bit of a brotherhood. Through all my musical journeys, from the time I was 21 years old, I’ve played with some form of this band.
GF: I grew up in a relatively musical family. My mom played piano and the organ, and both my parents were very involved in choirs. We participated in a lot of choirs when we were very young. I started getting involved in playing bass when I was about 12 years old, playing electric bass and playing rock and roll.
Did you guys grow up together, and that’s how the band started jamming and stuff?
MP: No just in our twenties we started. We’re all older. For the last 20-something years we’ve played together.
Oh wow, that’s a long time. Most bands don’t make it past ten years.
MP: Yeah, it’s probably because we don’t take ourselves very seriously.
MP: Well yeah, [Ego Spank] always felt like a great musical escape. We all love playing with each other and hanging out together, and it’s just been purely of the joy of being together and making music. Whatever comes out, comes out. It’s different every night.
For me, Ego Spank is about that spontaneous creativity. It’s pretty exciting for me to play music with these guys because it’s about communicating in a different way which you don’t get to do when you’re in a little more of a strict musical environment.
You play a bit of a jazzy-funk hybrid. Did you all come from that sort of musical background?
MP: I think we all love that kind of music and didn’t get a whole lot of other opportunities to do it in other situations. When we get together, it just seems like, it’s never really a forced thing. Whenever we would start jamming an idea, it would just take that sort of direction. And improvisation is just apart of everybody’s vocabulary. It’s a great vehicle to have. It’s almost like organized chaos.
GF: We all dig playing this funky R&B stuff as individuals, and even as the group, that’s the direction we all kind of unconsciously and consciously wanted to go. We also like to add on a lot of twists and turns to all of the tunes whenever we do covers.
You’ve been a band for a while now, what are some of your favourite career highlights so far?
MP: Believe it or not, the highlights with this band, rather than milestones is when we’re playing a certain festival or something that we’ve wanted to do, it’s always been about living for a certain moment where there’s a musical high (laughs). As dreamy as that sounds, my favourite times have been playing the Bella Vista Pizzeria; it’s this little restaurant, and there were maybe 15 people there. We play for ourselves quite often, which sounds weird because we are out to be entertainers, but when you reach certain musical heights in a performance, it doesn’t matter, there could be two people there or 2000, it’s a pretty exciting moment and not something that happens for all of us all the time.
A lot of surprise collaborations and appearances happen at Harvest Sun, so who would be the most excited to have jump on your set that weekend?
MP: We played a show with Al Simmons, as one of our ‘Ego Spank presents’ shows and talk about never being the same twice. That guy lights up the stage and lights up the audience like no other. I look forward to any time I get to share the stage with Al because he’s just so unpredictable and exciting. I think he would be the ultimate collaborator.
For people who will be seeing you perform for the first time, what can they expect from your Harvest Sun set?
MP: They can pretty much expect a good time. They can expect to dance. We’re also known for comedic excellence (laughs), or so we like to think — hopefully, just a great musical night. I believe we are a band where people can dance to and lose their inhibitions for a little while.
You’ve played Harvest Sun before, and knowing what you know from that experience, why do you think Harvest Sun is essential to Manitoba, especially in rural areas?
MP: I’m from Portage La Prairie originally, and so that’s an area of Manitoba I know the least about. The people are fantastic. It seems like a big, vibrant music community and it’s unique. It seems somewhat isolated, but the people are just so fantastic, and they really know how to put on such a fantastic festival. They cultivate creativity and freedom. It just seems like such a heart-warming festival.
GF: I think any festival in a Provincial sense, is essential, and especially one that has depth to it and promotes good quality music and has a good humanistic message of just trying to have fun and enriching the soul. [Harvest Sun] is good because it’s not too big, it’s not too small. I’ve always had a great experience. I got to meet everybody and the staff who run it. They’re all good people. You’re just welcomed when you’re there.
Catch at Ego Spank at The Harvest Sun Music Festival in Kelwood, MB - August 16 -18th.
Follow Ego Spank through their website.
Be sure to check out @harvestsunmusicfest on Instagram on June 14th, as the band takes over our account for the day!
Janet Adamana is the Founder/Editor-In-Chief of Sound, Phrase & Fury Magazine - a Winnipeg-based digital publication dedicated to promoting independent artists and industry professionals from all over the world. More than just about inciting hype, she interviews/writes to capture an artists’ essence and their greatest passions to ignite meaningful connections between fans and really great bands.