I Like This: Shotgun Jimmie’s Song About Edgefest

For many, Edgefest, the 102.1 the Edge/Toronto-staged summer festival, was a rite of passage. The event dates back to 1987 and existed for years at the long-gone Molson Park in Barrie. If you grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, you may remember those days fondly.

Shotgun Jimmie has a new Joel Plaskett-produced album entitled Field of Trampolines. The record contains a track called “Project 9,” which tries to capture “a life-changing” Edgefest experience.

“It was an early Edgefest, maybe in 1994. I was a broke teenager without a ticket, but all the bands I was interested in were playing at the free stage anyway. The line-up was stacked: The Wooden Stars, The Inbreds, The Gandarvas, Adam West, Grasshopper, Bender, Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Project 9 and more. All the bands killed it, but there was a moment of absolute rock and roll bliss during the Project 9 set. It was hotter than hell, and we had been cooking in the sun all afternoon. There was a moat-like water fountain that looped in front of the stage; part way through their set, one of the guys jumped from the stage into the fountain and proceeded to do the worm. The spectacle sent the crowd into a frenzy; everyone jumped in and danced in the water for the rest of their set. It felt like I was living in a beautiful movie.

When we went into the studio with Joel Plaskett (who I saw with Thrush Hermit at Edgfest in 95) the band was well rehearsed, but I’d been holding back one song to keep it as fresh as possible. Joel embraced the idea and rolled tape on our first play-through of Project 9. I told the group the chords, counted off a tempo and we cruised our way through. I assumed Joel would let me touch up the vocals afterwards, so I sang it pretty lazily and missed a few lyrics but Joel didn’t let us change a thing. I love it in all its ramshackle glory. It resonates perfectly with the hazy memories of the first time I was blown away by the spirit of rock and roll.”

I was there, dude, and yeah, it was a great day. Here’s the track.