It’s a character brought to life by Kevin Blackmore – of Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers – that he has perfected over the last 35 years and is turned loose when presented to the right audience.
Blackmore spoke about the widely popular Newfoundland and Labrador comedy/music group’s ”Best of” tour, set for a full week of shows at the Arts and Culture Centre in Gander from Sept. 25-Oct.1. Other island stops include Grand Falls-Windsor, Corner Brook, Stephenville and St. John’s.
Blackmore surmises this will be the band’s last extensive tour.
“We’ve been winding down for some time and essentially we were sort of thinking this is maybe our last major tour, and that takes 18 months to elapse,” said Blackmore. “We won’t disband, but we don’t want to be doing any lengthily tours after this.”
The tour will be a compilation of the material gathered throughout their more than three decades of touring and recording, however, narrowing everything down to a two-hour shortlist was no easy feat.
They relied heavy on fan reaction, their most requested compositions, and discussing amongst themselves to arrange, “a pile of stuff from the past.”
Pieces such as Peggy Gordon, Patsy and Psycho have been rebuilt into the show.
“These were the things that were regarded as our strongest pieces. This whole show is in fact a great show, probably one of the stronger shows we’ve ever had because what you are doing is looking at the very best of what you created.”
And taking that stroll down memory lane has been great experience for him.
One particular song, I’se da B’y, in which Blackmore preforms a classical take on the popular Newfoundland and Labrador number, hasn’t been in the lineup for 25 years.
“That’s a great bit of fun and it’s a great deal of pleasure going back and doing that again…It’s a vocal workout too,” he said.
While some new material will be included in the show, it’s the sure to please fan favorites receiving the bulk of the band’s attention.
“We’ve got so many shows behind us you can start to do that. You can start pulling from the past and revisiting all that stuff again and everybody still loves it,” he said. “As a matter of fact a lot of people are seeing it for the first time.”
As a special side treat to the tour, Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers are also releasing a new DVD The Last “Laff”.
