When Alan Doyle said he is looking forward to coming out to Richmond to perform as the musical headliner at the Ships to Shore King of the Sea — a free, family festival in Steveston — on Saturday evening, there’s an undeniably authentic air to his tone over the telephone.
“I love being by the water,” said Doyle, frontman for Newfoundland’s Great Big Sea who is bringing his own band (Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies) to the main stage at Garry Point Park. “It’s really my favourite thing because I get lost in land-locked places since I grew up on the ocean. I need a place to be anchored beside a lake or an ocean or river.”
And being on hand to help celebrate the visit of the Kaiwo Maru — the four-masted, 361-foot-long, tall ship from Japan that is the centrepiece to the three-day festival, which starts Friday (May 5) and runs until Sunday afternoon — is a lot like being back home on the east coast.
“Two summers ago I played for the re-launch of the famous Bluenose in Lunenberg (Nova Scotia),” Doyle said, referring to the iconic schooner that is pressed on the back of Canadian dime. “Between myself and the Great Big Sea fellas, we do a lot of boat calls. That’s our New Year’s Eve,” he laughed.
Even funnier is Doyle’s first experience at viewing how life on the West Coast contrasts with a place such as Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, where he calls home.
It was in the early 90s and Doyle was amazed as he watched people in and around the waterfront of Downtown Vancouver take to the water for the sole purpose of recreation.
“I’d never seen that in my life,” he said. “I watched a guy on a paddle board, or something, going out around English Bay. And I thought he was some crazy person.
“Then I saw someone else sailing, clearly wearing all whites. Back home, I saw thousands of boats a week come and go and didn’t see one recreational ride. Not one, ever.
“And the first time I went to the Pacific Ocean, I wondered to myself, what are these people doing?”
Despite that difference, Doyle said one trait he believes that people in all coastal communities share is a healthy respect for the water.
“Well, I think seafaring people have that from years of, perhaps, learning it the hard way. And I have a deep respect for that myself,” he said. “There’s a certain humility from living next to the ocean which is grounding in a real and human kind of way.”
It’s also a reason to celebrate through song, and Doyle and his band plan to do just that Saturday with a selection of tunes from his time with Great Big Sea, plus some traditional sea shanties that will be in keeping with the maritime-themed event.
“They’ll fit in well. Songs of the sea are dear to my heart because I grew up on the ocean in Newfoundland,” Doyle said. “In fact, the first songs I learned to sing were shanties and Celtic songs. And there’s not that many occasions where they seem to be completely appropriate. It’s an old-school cause for a celebration, the landing of, or the launching of a ship. It’s kinda classic.
“Sometimes, when you’re in the middle of land-locked North America it feels a bit odd to be singing something like Lukey’s boat. But over there (Richmond) it’s going to be perfect.”
Plus, shanties are entertaining, story-rich tales that often have a way of lending an irreverent playfulness to sometimes serious subjects.
“One that Great Big Sea used to sing a lot was called Excursion around the bay,” Doyle said. “I always loved that because it’s one of those songs that sounds really happy, yet it tells a tragic story. A lot of Newfoundland songs are like that, like Lukey’s boat.
Doyle said that particular song follows a guy, Lukey, who happens to own an odd-looking boat.
“And everyone is making fun of him, yet it’s a complete delight,” Doyle said. “And Lukey ends up being the hero of the song.
“I love those songs, because they turn convention on its ear.”
Doyle added that when he got the invitation to play in Richmond, he jumped at the chance because of the type of crowd he will be entertaining.
“Often, we’re playing either late at night in theatres or sometimes clubs and it’s tough to get the whole, all ages group out. So, it’s going to be a great, family day,” he said.
Alan Doyle and the Beautiful Gypsies play on the main stage Saturday at Garry Point Park from 7:45 – 9 p.m.
For a complete list of events and entertainment spanning the Ships to Shore King of the Sea festival, visit online at ShipsToShore.ca.
