The Wild Turkeys

Aug. 16, 2009

swampin’ & stompin’ with
The Wild Turkeys
By Kristi Kates 8/17/09

With a sound that they self-proclaim as “Swamp Stomp Country,” the zany but talented musicians in The Wild Turkeys utilize their well-honed musical skills to bring a new verve to old-timey country music.Sheldon Jaaskelainen, Byron Jaaskelainen, Marshall Jaaskelainen, Devin Alexander, and Vaughn Alexander - yes, that’s two sets of brothers - make up the Canadian quintet.
The Wild Turkeys’ second full-length album, Suspendered, hit stores last year to critical and fan acclaim as well as nominations from the Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards for “Best Album” and “Best Songwriter.” They were dubbed “Best Sounding New Generation Roots Band” at Blissfest 2008. And they’ve already opened for the likes of Creaking Tree String Quartet, Washboard Hank, and The Cowboy Junkies. All this since their band formed in the cold winter months of 2006.
“I’d returned to Sault Ste. Marie after having lived in Toronto as a full-time musician and was looking for some players to start an acoustic-based group,” Sheldon Jaaskelainen explains, “I have always loved old time country and bluegrass music, and decided to call up a few friends (some being family members) and give bluegrass music a try. We had so much fun after our first rehearsal that we decided to form a band.
“After a few months of rehearsing, writing and having gone through a few different band names, we settled on The Wild Turkeys,” he adds. “Since the music that we have written and recorded isn’t pure bluegrass, we decided to settle on our own genre - hence the ‘Swamp Stomp Country’ description.”

HOME RECORDING
Bringing that genre to a full-length album was achieved at the house of Jaaskelainen’s other brother, Christopher, in Toronto where the fourth Jaaskelainen has a home-based studio, mixed and mastered the album for the band. The recording sessions obviously went well, given how the album has been gathering rave reviews; but Jaaskelainen also says that there were plenty of funny moments during the process.
“Our photo shoot for the album cover was something else,” he chuckles. “Most people think that the cover of Suspendered is Photoshopped - and it isn’t. We hung Devin by the limb of that tree using Dollar Store straps which he ran through the legs of his pants and attached to his bootstraps, making it look like he’s hanging by his suspenders. After the shoot, we walked away and left him there for a while because he couldn’t get down. I thought that was pretty funny,” he grins.
In addition to the onstage garb - and the more typical band instruments of guitar and bass - The Wild Turkeys also feature a pair of fiddles, a washboard, and their “Suitcase and Dresser Drawer Percussive Contraption,” which has to be seen to be heard. Literally.
“The percussion in the group, which Vaughn plays, consists of a suitcase as a bass drum, an upturned dresser drawer as a snare drum played with brushes, and tin cans and pots attached to the dresser drawer,” Jaaskelainen explains. “The idea really was to match the sound of a drum kit without the volume it creates; that is how the drawer was created.”
The Wild Turkeys songs are both very much, and very much not, what you’d expect, especially if the first thing you know of them is their publicity photo, of which their standard dress is, as Jaaskelainin puts it, “a cowboy hat, a western-style snap-up shirt, bandanas, cowboy boots, string ties, and a smile.”

A ROCK EDGE
While they definitely embrace that honky-tonk, wild-Western feel - and look - throughout all of their songs, the pop tones of Jaaskelainin’s vocal delivery and the fast-paced beats bring their tunes right into today’s age.
“As a writer, I can’t help but be influenced by other music in other genres that I listen to,” Jaaskelainin says, “so, for example, when I write a fast tempo foot-stomper, the performance, live and on record, is going to have more of an edge to it, simply because I’ve been exposed to modern rock and roll. In terms of keeping the sound “new,” I think it’s our youthful energy that really comes across in our live performance and on our albums, which makes our music accessible to a wide range of listeners.”
Those listeners will be keeping The Wild Turkeys busy for quite some time, as they’re in the midst of planning a tour that will take them all the way to British Columbia and back; Jaaskelainin is packing “earplugs, a good book, and lots of good music” for the road trek.
Before they depart on that jaunt, though, they’ll be playing several shows in Northern Michigan, including their first stop at the Manitou Music Festival in Glen Arbor, where Jaaskelainin says the audience can look forward to “lots of fun, high energy, foot-stomping tunes, and a guaranteed good time - yee-haw!”
The Wild Turkeys will be performing at the Manitou Music Festival in Glen Arbor on August 19, and at the Picnic in the
Park Music Festival in Lake Ann on
August 22. For more info on the band and additional tour dates, stop by either of
their online sites www.thewildturkeyoutfit.com or www.myspace.com/thewildturkeys.