The Toronto band Jubilee Riots — formerly known as Enter the Haggis — takes its name from a wave of Protestant-Catholic violence that rocked Canada’s largest city in 1875.
However, its sound is anything but furious — influenced by folk and Celtic music, to say nothing of Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson of The Band.
“We bring a lot of folk from the Celtic sound, where we started off and where our roots are,” vocalist and guitarist Trevor Lewington told The Washington Times from his home in London, Ontario.
Mr. Lewington also cites American grunge music as well as indie acts such as the Decemberists and Hey Rosetta! among the band’s influences.
Now the Canadian band is bringing its unique sound to the DMV, with a stop at The Barns at Wolf Trap on Friday.
“It’s always a good venue to play,” Mr. Lewington said of the Vienna, Virginia, performance house. “You can imagine being in a barn, although it’s beautiful. It’s a great stage. For a show like that, everybody is listening, cellphones are turned off, and it’s an opportunity to play the mellower, more introspective stuff that you might not play other times.”
Indeed, the band will unearth some cuts from its latest album, “Penny Black,” that are quieter and more appropriate for a venue like The Barns.
As a relatively new band doing most of its own heavy lifting, Mr. Lewington said Jubilee Riots is fortunate to have devoted fans eager to fork over their beer money to see the band live.
“We’re a hard-working touring band,” Mr. Lewington said. “It’s a challenge, there’s no question about that. [But] we spend a lot of money and a lot of time producing the best records that we can make. But our bread and butter is going out and touring as far and wide as we can.”
The band also has resorted to crowdsourcing to fund its efforts, which Mr. Levington said has been a success.
But “I don’t know how sustainable it’s going to be,” he said, adding that social media are key to connecting with fans and giving their acolytes a taste of what’s to come via digital album sales.
“We’ve always been outside the industry,” Mr. Lewington said. “We were with a small label in New York for about six years, but it was an indie label. Besides that, we’ve really done everything, every aspect of the business, ourselves. But I don’t think what’s been happening in the music industry has negatively affected what we do. We sit down and we play for a few hundred people every night. We’ve never really been part of that star system of a band who gets $300,000 for an album. We save our money and make the best records we can.”
Making records may be a bit of a logistical puzzle for Jubilee Riots, as its members have scattered to the four winds. Bassist Mark Abraham moved to Portland, Maine, while vocalist/fiddler Brian Buchanan now calls Philadelphia home.
However, home base for the band remains Toronto.
“When we hit the road, I’ll drive the van to Toronto and pick up our drummer [Bruce McCarthy] and our trumpet player [Craig Downie],” Mr. Lewington said, “and then we’ll head down and meet [Mr. Abraham and Mr. Buchanan] generally at the first show we play — take it from there.”
Mr. Lewington notes a distinction between the band’s native Canadian fans and those south of the St. Lawrence River.
“When I’m doing shows, I just sort of stand there, listening to the music, tapping my toe, and that’s the way Canadian audiences tend to be,” he said. “U.S. audiences, at least in our experience, have always been much more obviously appreciative of the music — singing along and grooving to the music.”
American fans also tend to buy more merchandise and CDs, he said. “Canadians tend to be a little cheaper,” he said, laughing.
In an interesting exercise, Jubilee Riots wrote the songs on “Penny Black” using lines from fan letters.
“Our fans, they’re pretty interesting people, with unusual hobbies, and some of them had some really cool stuff to share with us,” Mr. Lewington said. “We got about 900 letters from all over the world — Germany and Japan, and all through the U.S. and Canada. We wrote an entire album around their stories.
“I’m sure at the Wolf Trap show, there will be people there who at least sent us letters and maybe inspired one or two songs on the album, which has been a really, really cool connection to have with people at live shows.”
If You Go
WHAT: Jubilee Riots
WHERE: The Barns at Wolf Trap, 1635 Trap Rd., Vienna, Va. 22182
WHEN: Friday, 8 p.m.
TICKETS: $28. Call 1-877-WOLFTRAP or visit WolfTrap.org
• Eric Althoff can be reached at twt@washingtontimes.com.
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