Are they gypsy jazz? Are they folk? Are they indie pop?
For the members of the eclectic Canadian band Red Haven, the answer is all of the above.
The gypsy-jazz indie-pop folk band from Vancouver is coming to Moab next week to play two upcoming shows at Eddie McStiff’s Restaurant and Bar, 57 S. Main St.
On Thursday, June 30, the band will kick off an evening of live music on the patio at 8 p.m. Red Haven then invites musicians and music-lovers to celebrate vaudevillian spirits and community through an open jam session, kicking off around 10 p.m.
They will return to the twinkle-light patio at Eddie McStiff’s on the following Monday, the Fourth of July.
“We’ve heard [Moab is] gorgeous, and that there is a tight-knit and artistic community,” lead vocalist Jen Charters said.
Red Haven features three-part vocal harmonies, with Charters on saxophone, accordion and lead vocals; Brendan Steele on guitar and vocals; Nathan Turner on upright bass and vocals; and Blake McAndless on drums.
The group rallied for its first gig in January 2014 and has been touring ever since. This past year, it toured British Columbia and the United Kingdom. Its upcoming tour, built around Moab, will be Red Haven’s first trip to the United States as a band.
Charters said that she and Steele began their musical endeavors by seeking to fuse her circus-like sound with Steele’s indie rock. They found catalyzing inspiration on a trip to New Orleans. The simplicity and spontaneity of the street swing bands spoke to them in particular, and the two left with a notebook full of songs, a starting point for a band and a sense of vitality that rang true to their own roots.
Charters and Steele returned to Vancouver with drive. Turner recalled one evening over a few drinks at their home when he picked up his roommate’s rental upright bass and joined in.
The group’s members have moved away from identifying themselves as a “New Orleans band” as they’ve developed their own particular folk sound. They remain influenced by modern projects such as The Devil Makes Three, as well as 1960s folk, 1920s jazz and “upbeat dancy stuff” in between, Turner said.
Charters and McAndless both attended jazz school in Vancouver. Turner was self-taught, and believes that the difference in musical backgrounds and styles helps Red Haven produce its diverse and interesting material.
Red Haven has a collection of more than 40 originals, with lyrical content touching on love, politics, relationships, alternative lifestyles, community issues and critical thinking – all set to a playful and vibrant delivery.
The group has recorded one six-song original EP, “The Road Above You,” and one full-length original record, “Vilified.” Red Haven recently toured with a band known as Dirty Grace from Victoria, B.C., and produced a live visual and audio recording series of their collaborations, “Live at Monarch Studios.”
Charters said that Red Haven is excited by the offer to host the open jam on June 30, having naturally facilitated jams throughout its development and travels as a band.
“It should be fun to play with people we meet that night,” Turner added.
Red Haven is traveling down from Vancouver through Idaho and venturing on to Colorado. The band members’ only Utah stops will be the two shows in Moab, where they hope to camp and connect with the landscape and community they have heard so much about.
To learn more about Red Haven, go to www.redhavenmusic.com.
Red Haven to perform two shows at Eddie McStiff’s
“It should be fun to play with people we meet that night.”
When: Thursday, June 30, from 8 to 10 p.m., followed by an open jam session after 10. The band will be returning to Moab on Monday, July 4; shows generally run from 7 to 10 p.m.
Where: Eddie McStiff’s, 57 S. Main St.
Cost: Performance is free
To learn more about Red Haven, go to www.redhavenmusic.com.
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