The great unknown
By Fateema Sayani, Citizen Special January 15, 2009
Robert Farrell would be happy to lose the title of ‘greatest undiscovered guitarist in Canada.’
Photograph by: Wayne Cuddington, The Ottawa Citizen, Citizen Special
Robert Farrell has spent the past 25 years studying, teaching and playing the guitar. He knows the ins and outs of the thing and is often heralded for his inventive techniques such as the double slide.
Six years ago, Billboard described him as “arguably the greatest undiscovered guitarist in Canada.” It’s an accolade, but a trying one –“undiscovered” has cachet, but it’s only fun to be that way for so long. As such, frontman Farrell wears the frown of frustration.
We meet one afternoon at the Elmdale Tavern. A regular patron stuffs coins into the CD jukebox, trying to hear most of Exile on Main Street. Paperbacks line the wall and the titles bring to mind classic-rock songs: Behind Closed Doors, Bastard Son, and Dance With the Devil.”Give us the cool look,” the photographer prompts. Farrell and his bandmates flinch in response. Drummer Andrew Lamarche (Artificial Joy Club, David Gogo) and bass player Stephen Clarke (Lister) provide the comic relief — gesturing, joking and launching out random musical trivia to chew over. They, along with Farrell, have successful careers as session players.
Farrell is most often described as a blues guitarist, but his recent stuff plays up the rock and the live vibe of his show. Check out the track Slow Burn on his MySpace site. It’s the anchoring tune for his seventh album, planned for March. As with his previous releases, the wild-handed Farrell will record and produce the album.
“It’s called Slow Burn, because we’re always getting burned, slowly, but then we have to get up and go and live the next day anyway,” he harrumphs. “Anyway, we decided to record another CD because we’re too jaded not to.”
For all his crustiness and self-criticism, gems emerge. There is something to be said for casting a critical eye over your stuff. The mood in his songs is vivid and the progression from album to album is clearly heard. When he plays, you kind of wonder: how did he do that? In some ways, Farrell is really famous. (His Internet radio hits were in the hundreds of thousands, before Net radio had much of an impact. His following in the city is loyal.) In other ways, it seems he really should be more famous, in the leagues of the mass-attracting, stadium-filling bands.