Calgarian Tristin Chanel is the lead singer of the new band Royal Syndicate, which debuted its sound Thursday at Calgary’s ReggaeFest.
You just recently started a new band?
Yeah, right after my old band Five Star Affair had a reunion show and some people from the band that still live in Calgary — the ones that stayed here — were like “We need to start playing music together again,” and I was like “OK!” and now the music is kind of rad.
How does the sound of your new band Royal Syndicate differ from Five Star Affair?
I was kind of worried that we would sound the exact same because I’m still the lead singer and people are always going to compare you to your old band. Andrew, our bass player, is actually the song-writer … so he writes the songs and the melodies and then I’ll do the lyrics sometimes.
You play lots of instruments as well as being a singer. How did you get involved in all of these different elements of music?
It’s because I’m stubborn; because I really wanted to learn how to play the didgeridoo and the guitar and the drums and the keys, and everything that I want to do I always make sure that I do it. I guess I set myself up with a certain goal and if I don’t get it right away, it’s kind of frustrating, but I keep on doing it until I can get it. I just decide that I want to play a certain instrument and then I, all the sudden, dedicate my life to that until I move on to the next one.
What made you want to pick up the didgeridoo?
I saw Xavier Rudd play … I saw him at Mount Royal College a long time ago and there was probably like five people at the bar … So my friend said “You should learn how to play that.”
I moved to Vancouver and I found a didgeridoo at the folk festival there and some guy was just selling bracelets off of it and he sold it to me for $25, and I bought my recent didgeridoo for $400 … I learned on my own, like on the Internet and stuff getting tips, I came up with my own style so I beatbox on it rather than Aboriginal drone.
