Sidon, now the bassist for the group, began jamming with high school friend Matt Bahen in 2005 after a work-related mishap, a house party, and a love of pre-war blues re-united them. Perhaps Buddha digs a little Blind Willie Johnson because out of Sidon’s basement bachelor (itself located, as mentioned, inside a former Temple) came a calamity of Blues-on-crack songs begging to be heard by an audience wider than themselves. They say only those who have known tragedy and misery can sing the Blues, so all of it might never have happened had Bahen not sampled a big of tragedy in his own life.
“[Matt]’s always kind of had a dark twist on everything,” muses Nate Sidon about bandmate Matt Bahen, guitarist/vocalist for their blues-on-crack group The Schomberg Fair. “When he was twenty-four, he cut off all his fingers [of his left hand] in a work accident. He got them reattached [but] that kind of kicked his dark lyrics into overdrive.
“And the guy’s so tough – check this out – he’s so hardcore that he cut off all his fingers, then wrapped up his hand (what was left of it) with a rag and went and sat down on a curb waiting for the ambulance, smoking a cigarette… holding his fingers in his other hand!”
While Bahen was learning to reuse his newly attached fingers, he exercised them by playing guitar. When he and Sidon discovered their mutual love of pre-war Blues records it wasn’t long before they were learning songs by Lightnin’ Hopkins, Skip James, and Charlie Patton. For Sidon, at least, the attraction to the style came from the attitude of the tough old men of the south.
“The lyrics were so hard,” he explains. “Guys talking about the devil, terrible things that they do when they hang out with the devil… seems like early punk rock to me, but it was happening in the 20s. These guys were doing this counter-culture thing that was so historically relevant.”
Sidon and drummer Pete Garthside both shared an appreciation for punk and hardcore while in their high school years (although Garthside, having grown up in the more distant town of Penetanguishene, ON had to rely on Much Music and MTV for his music fix), the former often venturing to Toronto to see his favourite acts perform. “Those shows really blew my mind as a kid,” he remembers.
“I saw The Dwarves at Call The Office in London. That was pretty intense! I saw The Dayglo Abortions a number of times, but probably the best live band I saw when I was a kid going to concerts was this hardcore band called Buried Alive… they were just incredible.”
“That’s kind of where I’m coming from,” Sidon concludes and brings the conversation full circle. “Our music [as The Schomberg Fair] is a real dichotomy, it’s kind of based in blues and gospel music, old-timey Appalachian music. But the delivery… it’s going lightning fast with this kind of energy closer to the beginnings of punk rock. So, it’s a strange mix, but we’re proud of it because it really is a unique product, and we want to be unique.”
It would seem that mixing rural and traditional influences with the urban aggression of modern rock is a bit of an aural interpretation of growing up in smalltown Ontario. Bahen grew up in the actual township of Schomberg, ON while Sidon resided on a farm just outside. When it came time for the young men, now living in Toronto, to come up with a name for their budding musical project, the suggestion of The Schomberg Fair arose.
While the official website of the original Schomberg Fair (whose very existence came with surprise to me and with amusement to Sidon) mentions activities such as Beef Cattle Show, A.T.V. Pull, Dairy Cattle Show, Commercial Farm Exhibits, Needlework, and the O.A.A.S. Chocolate Chip Cookie Competition, Sidon recalls more of the whirlwind excitement and atmosphere of anticipation that surrounded the gathering. “It always started with this demolition derby. The locals would get an old car and they put it in these rigs and smash into each other until there was a winner. And when I was a kid it really blew my mind. And as I got older it still blew my mind!”
He shrugs a bit and explains that everyone takes something different from the event and it all depends on how old you are and what you are interested in. “When we were in high school it was kind of the kick-start to a party that would go until the early morning… [our band] wanted to capture the energy of that kind of insanity.” Then he quickly adds, “but I’m sure the chocolate chip cookies are also very exciting!”
Nate Sidon and I decided to end our interview time with a few Inside The Actor’s Studio type of questions, one of which was If you could remove any body part a) of yourself, and b) of your bandmates, what would it be, and what would you replace it with? (“Oh, wow, this is a good question!”). Sidon drew his answers for me and provided very detailed examples of these corporal results:
NATE: “I’m going to give myself the brain of Stephen Hawking. Even though he can’t play bass, I think that guy is so smart he is edging on telekinesis and I know that I can take it to the next level [play bass via telekinesis]. That would be a great live show! … it will be so huge it will have to be encapsulated in a glass case, kind of like Mysterio.” (Note: This comic book reference made my day)
PETE: “Pete is good-looking – and he knows he’s good-looking – and he won’t admit it. [To the voice-recorder:] Pete! You know you’re good looking! We call him Precious Pete… Maybe we would take away his precious, beautiful face and maybe give him some more scars…So people would see his beautiful drumming abilities instead of the pretty face behind the drum kit.”
MATT: “He’s such a kind, caring person, [so] it would have to be something that would be better for other people, so he could give more [to them]… He wants to grow a beard really bad, but it’s kind of wispy and it doesn’t really quite work out… we’d skin graft the region where he grows facial hair. And he’d grow more hands so he could give more.”The Schomberg Fair are playing a CD Release Party at El Mocambo in Toronto on Saturday October 24th
To enter the contest to win tickets [Click Here]
