The story of James and Blackburn is a story of family and friendship. The same story relies heavily on coincidence - a random sequence of events that would inevitably lead to the forming of a trio-alt rock group named after the streets they call home, James and Blackburn.
One could say that this story starts with two cousins, Owen and Landon, picking up their guitars one summer after another, recording primitive EPs on their grandfathers’ tape deck. The two piece acoustic outfit would go on ...
The story of James and Blackburn is a story of family and friendship. The same story relies heavily on coincidence - a random sequence of events that would inevitably lead to the forming of a trio-alt rock group named after the streets they call home, James and Blackburn.
One could say that this story starts with two cousins, Owen and Landon, picking up their guitars one summer after another, recording primitive EPs on their grandfathers’ tape deck. The two piece acoustic outfit would go on to make approximately four EPs ranging in styles and audible fuzz. The duo even made a stab at the punk-rock scene, recording an album tentatively titled, Punk Made Right, which featured a gnarled drum kit (comprised of a snare, crash, and high-hat) and an acoustic guitar which ran through a distortion pedal. The duo agreed upon a name, Seventy Times Seven, to pay admiration to the long island rock band Brand New (which was a track featured on their debut album, My Favourite Weapon).
It wasn’t long before the cousins’ summer project faded away with the growing responsibilities of High School and the world of academia. Both cousins departed on their own musical ventures, Landon with Brown Lovin’ (an oldies cover band) as well as a techno-scream project coined Jimmy and The Twins, and Owen with a number of High School bands: The Misunderstood, The Ellie Scotland Band, Fyx, and O nO! (a three-piece indie rock group that flourished during the last year of school but faded away with the summer before university.)
Meanwhile, a certain skinny drummer boy was plotting his way to fame through the field of psychology within the confines of Ottawa U. During this time, ‘Drummer Boy’, also lovably known as Sebastien, started jamming with a three-piece commercial rock group named, Land on Water who were recording and planning their conquest of the Ottawa radio waves
When it came time for the cousins to choose a post-secondary course, both of them realized they needed a good long break from school as well as a change of scenery and were drawn to the bright lights of downtown Ottawa, and more particularly, James St. Owen quickly found work at a coffee shop after a short, hellish stint at a call center. Landon, on the other hand, would go through a great number of jobs before settling down in the deli of Johnny Farina’s. And here in lies the great coincidence. For who knew that also within those great brick walls was the one and only lovable drummer boy, Seb, working his ass off in order to pursue his heart of music. It wasn’t long afterwards that Landon and Seb began to forge a friendship over slicing cold cuts and forming goat cheese pucks. Sebastien began to open up to Landon about his dreams and his desire to start another musical endeavour outside of Land on Water. Landon than experienced a brilliant light bulb moment and introduced the idea of them teaming up with Owen, who had a number of riffs on the hot stove ready to be chiselled, grizzled, and forged into song.
And so it was.
The three comrades met up, jammed, and decided that the chemistry was ‘simply undeniable’. It was only a few months afterwards that J&B had a short but solid repertoire of songs and decided to contact Chris Ferris, who previously worked with Land on Water. It was at this juncture that the band, with the great help of Chris and Tim Greencorn from Little Chicago Studios, recorded an EP which featured a diverse collection of songs that were all from the heart and held their ground against doubt.
CONTACT: jamesandblackburn@gmail.com
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