COME OUT IN SUITS AND WALK OFF WHEN THE SUITS ARE DRENCHED
A CONVERSATION WITH JIM “DAN DEE” STEFANUK
Jim Dan Dee is a powerhouse of a blues band from Southern Ontario. Since releasing their debut EP, Five Stiff Shots, in 2015, the band has gone on to release two more studio albums, with a third one on the way. The band consists of Jim “Dan Dee” Stefanuk on vocals/guitars, Bobby Sewerynek on saxophone, Dwayne Lau on bass, and Shawn Royal on drums. Blues and rock is their stock and trade and a good time is their mission.
The band officially formed about 12 years ago. And during my recent conversation with Jim “Dan Dee” Stefanuk, he gave me a brief history of the band. “I had been playing with my drummer Shawn Royal for about 20 years in various bands. We decided to break away from the harder rock scene and make more of a blues infused band, which became Jim Dan Dee. Along the way we found our bass player and sax player, and we’ve been at it for well over a decade now.”
The band shifted from harder, grunge rock into more of a blues-based rock band. This was something that Stefanuk always wanted to do. “I’m a 90s kid, I really discovered myself and my music. I grew up right in the time when grunge was just starting out and peaking. I went to all the Lollapaloozas back in the day, and it was very inspiring. But one of the things that was inspiring about grunge music for me was that the guitars had a much more soulful sound. There were less leads, but when they did lead, it was much more blues oriented. I really enjoyed that, because as a young budding guitarist I grew up with the shredders of the time. Stuff that for me, with my arthritic hands is impossible to play. Or maybe I am just not disciplined enough,” laughed Stefanuk. “Either way, I like to sing and play and have a good time. I really got into that music. And some of my younger influences were people like Jeff Healey, Colin James, stuff like that. Blues-infused rock, so it has always been near and dear to my heart. But my first bunch of bands were mainly alternative rock, mainly because I wanted to sing and be the guitarist. I guess the big switch to something more bluesy was when I took full control of the guitar and we started a new band.”
SPILL NEW MUSIC: JIM DAN DEE – “MADMAN MONAGHAN”
The band wants to keep their music basic and straightforward. This means their sound is created live, not in a studio. “That has always been super important to us, even more so for Shawn. He has always been very strict about that kind of stuff. I hear a lot of stuff in my head. I write the vast majority of music. I hear songs complete, but sometimes there are a lot of layers, and he has to tell me, ‘we’re not doing that, unless you want to hire three more musicians to make it work live. We already don’t make a lot of money, so we won’t be doing that,” chuckled Stefanuk. “I enjoy the paring down, to be honest with you, because that is part of what being in a band is all about, is that the people with you see your vision and take and respect it. Then they change it a little bit and it comes out a little different, somewhere you never thought about.”
“Madman Monaghan”, their most recent single, means a great deal to the band. The song is a brilliant tribute to the legend. “That song is a dedication to a dear friend of ours, who has departed, Mr. Pat Monaghan. He was a really great blues DJ and a great man overall. We spent a lot of time with him, because we were always going to the same festivals and we went to Memphis at the same time. He was just such a lovely, lovely human being. There is a big festival in Haliburton, in the Haliburton Highlands (The Haliburton Highlands Blues Festival) that is dedicated to him, and we have been playing there every year.”
Stefanuk has learned a great deal about Monaghan since his passing. “Going to these festivals since he passed away has allowed me an opportunity to hear a lot of stories from friends and family and stuff like that. Those are the stories that came up, I wrote about in the song. He was one of the sweetest guys you could have ever, ever met, so it was fun writing about his darker side, the ‘Madman’, which was his boxing moniker. He was able to surprise people with his fury. Pretty cool. It was an honour to know him.”
The band is not currently on tour, but there are some summer festivals lined up. “We don’t have a lot of gigs currently. We have some festivals this summer, because we are working really hard on writing our next album. It is written, actually working hard on recording it. That is our main focus right now. But next year, when this album is released, there will be a whole bunch of shows.”
Playing festivals and performing is something that Jim Dan Dee enjoys and is really their aim in life.
“That’s our hallmark for sure. We leave it all on stage. Come out in suits and walk off when the suits are drenched. A lot of dry cleaning. We are live players at the heart of it, that is what we do and what we love to do.”
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