It’s hard to keep up with Jarrod O’Dell.
The Ballantynes’ keyboardist-slash-frontman (formerly of The Tranzmitors and The Parallels) is humming in his seat at Nelson the Seagull like an electric guitar in a lightning storm, discussing his ambitious vision for the band’s upcoming album release in ideas more than full sentences.
“I speak very fast and have to make a concerted effort to slow my proverbial roll,” he warns with a smile not one minute into the interview. That unstoppable energy pervades not only his music, but his fellow bandmates – a loosely affiliated crew that came together in 2011 to form what is now Vancouver’s must-see garage-soul explosion.
The “Northern soul” sextet, which approaches every performance with the passion of a Southern tent revival, fills its sets with so much flailing and wailing and glassy-eyed passion that even the infirm and the introverted are driven to dance. Four years in, their shows drip as much whiskey as sweat, and they’ve finally bottled all that holy rolling into their first full-length album, which they plan to play in its entirety this weekend at the Fox Cabaret.
That means not only will O’Dell, vocalists Vanessa Dandurand and Jennifer Wilks, guitarist Corey Poluk, bassist Max Sample and now-lone drummer Michael McDiarmid (second drummer Trevor Racz left the band shortly after recording started to focus on other projects) be filling the stage with their “spastic” dance moves, but, courtesy of some financial assistance from a FACTOR grant, they’ll be bringing full horn and string sections with them. Eleven players on stage, including likes of Haig Morrison (The Valuables) on baritone sax and Michelle Faehrmann (Four on the Floor) on cello means that bystanders might want to steer clear of the windows Saturday night.
“I’d always written with horns in mind,” says O’Dell of The Ballantynes’ earlier work, “and sometimes I had it where I’d let the right hand of the keyboard hit that line. In our recording it does come across – a lot of the hook stuff is something I’d had in mind as a horn line, and then translated into keys – and this was just an opportunity to do it and try it.”
Hearing the extra players on the record was the realization of a dream for O’Dell, who says he would often just walk around his house making trumpet noises with his mouth.
“That first time we had them come in for a session, that first song they were working on, it was seeing something realized that I had been so excited about and romanticized so much,” says O’Dell. “I came in and put on the headphones in the studio and had a little panic attack.”
There are other words for the feeling of happiness that takes over a person when the notes land just right. Bandmate Poluk calls it “face-buzz”; O’Dell calls it a panic attack. One has to laugh at the contrast, and in fact, his manic tendencies are part of the band’s appeal – the reason why even the people lurking noncommittally near the back will be cashing a one-way ticket to Dance Town on Aug. 22.
“We’re the clowns that make you feel like less of a clown so you can be there with us. We’re not good at sitting still on stage, we’re not good at sitting still anywhere!” O’Dell says with a laugh. “Because we’re up there dancing and spazzing out, people don’t have that first step of nervousness. My role is clear: I’ll be your clown ... I’m totally comfortable with this.”
Translating a killer live act into the studio is never easy, though, especially with three lead vocalists with drastically different styles. It’s something they’ve been striving toward with each subsequent single, and have nailed like never before on Dark Drives, Life Signs. Recorded at Little Red Sounds with long-time producer Felix Fung and available on La-Ti-Da Records, it offers the best of The Ballantynes.
Opener “PMA” stitches up the organ with surgical precision, while Dandurand (who O’Dell wisely recruited one night at the East Van Soul Club), takes us Back to Black with the sultry longing of “My Place Your Town”.
By midway through the album, O’Dell is howling melodically at his demons on “Ghost,” followed by Wilks sweetly admonishing, “don’t think so hard baby; believe me you’re mine” one track later. The back-and-forth works, leaving breadcrumbs for every lost and lonely listener.
Dark Drives, Life Signsis a missive to the soul, and a reminder to Vancouver to check its vitals. There are signs of life in this sleepy city, and The Ballantynes have their fingertips on the pulse.
• The Ballantynes play the early show at the Fox Cabaret Aug. 22 with Kandle and the Krooks and The Uptights. Advance tickets $10 on Ticketfly.com. Doors open at 7pm.
