Sep. 17, 2008 - Issue #674: Edmonton International Print 2008

Loose Change Trio

Do or do not, there is no try

There sure are a lot of confusing things about Vancouver based band Loose Change Trio. For one thing, it’s not a trio. Well, actually, it is—kind of. When the band hits the road, there are just three musicians, but at home and in the studio there are actually six members of the group. Furthermore, the band is less a musical endeavour than it is a community one; through the medium of music, the group is seeking to influence the world around it in small but positive ways.

 

“It’s kind of complicated—the ‘trio’ in our name doesn’t actually refer to how many people are in the band, it refers to three ideals that we aspire to: one’s community, the other is music and the third one is change,” says drummer Greg Bevis, explaining some of the band’s most recent initiatives such as building and sending a medical cupboard to Ghana, and creating a DVD library for St Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. “Music is always the goal of our band, we just want to create great records and have an amazing live performance, but having a band and playing live shows is a venue to get money to support these initiatives. Since we have the power and we have the stage, we wanna use it.”

 

And so far the band has used it. The band sets up a jar at the front of the stage to collect any loose change that fans may want to donate to its cause—and that’s where the “loose change” part of the name comes from—then use the money to fund whatever endeavour the group members have decided on. On the eve of a particularly long tour, however, the band is unsure about what to do next to help build the community they seek.

 

“The next one, we haven’t really figured out what we’re going to do, but it has to be something that we can do on the road because we’re going to be on tour for the next six weeks,” Bevis says, mentioning that workshops in elementary schools has come up as an idea—one that would create a small community of songwriters within the larger community of a school. “Community can be people just hanging out and creating art together, or it can be people making music together. That’s the kind of community we want to create.”

 

The most important part in letting the three ideals guide the Loose Change Trio is the part where the members get off their asses and do something about the problems they see—none of this would have any effect if they just sat around talking about it. When asked if Bevis thought his band was unique for trying to strengthen the sense of community around the world, he said that they weren’t.

“I think it’s important to every band. Most of the bands I talk to or have played shows with, everyone aspires to do this, [the hard part is] just trying to realize it and put it into place. You just gotta take that extra step and do it.” V 

Wed, Sep 24 (8 pm)
Loose Change Trio
With Samantha Schultz
Blue Chair Café, $10

 

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