Taken from THE SHEAF

Friday, January 23, 2004

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-- Kashmir as good as custard pie --

Nicole Lavergne Smith

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Led Zeppelin tribute Kasmir has been wearing and tearing the Saskatoon music scene for over five years. After a year and a half of practicing Darcy Clayton (as Robert Plant), John Lisi (as Jimmy page), Dave Cummine (as John Bonham) and Ray Goertzen (as John Paul Jones) got rolling with a debut at Bud’s on Broadway. It was so successful it left the bar with only two brands of beer at the end of the night. The band has continued to have great drawing power ever since.

It hasn’t always been a smooth road for the band. There was a communication breakdown for about nine months recently. They had a sit down and realized that they needed to settle their differences. Last November they had a reunion show that was held at Bud’s. “It’s really encouraging to know that there are still a lot of people in Saskatoon that want to see this band play, “ said Clayton. During their nine months apart they all did different projects. Clayton became the drummer for Butterfinger, “who were getting radio play and chasing a record deal. Even then, people would come up to me and say ‘Hey, you’re that guy from Kashmir.’ We didn’t know until the band was done how much people were really into it.”

Kashmir has traveled a fair bit in the past and have been as far as Yellowknife. The band plays mostly in Western Canada. Even outside of the city they have had good turnouts; “Zeppelin is a pretty good mask to wear when you are pulling into a strange town,” explains Clayton.

There are few Zeppelin songs left for them to learn. The mask of Zeppelin attracts people to the shows initially. “When we first started playing, the first two or three shows, everyone was coming to see the Zeppelin tribute. But after a year or two people were coming to see Kashmir,” said Clayton.

Tribute bands seem to be becoming a bigger phenomenon according to Clayton. “In the last three years tribute bands just freakin’ exploded. They are everywhere. There were always a few here and there. Just all of a sudden it’s like boom! They are just everywhere.”

Kashmir can be added to the list of successful tribute bands. They have the look, the sound and the attitude. “In all the years and times we played Bud’s I don’t really remember seeing one fight. There is such a good vibe. It’s so much fun for us to do. It’s awesome to know that people dig it and we just hope they still do.”

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