It would be unfair to imply that a horrifying single-vehicle crash during a tour in late 2013 was a defining moment in the musical career of White Rock-based singer-songwriter Tom Vanderkam and his band – formerly Tommy Alto, now known as Hawking.
But it might be fair to say to say the accident re-defined it.
It’s hard not to see some influence of months of post-crash recovery and post-traumatic introspection on the music the band now produces. In a new self-titled EP – to be launched at a pre-release concert Friday, May 1 at Vancouver’s The Media Club, heralding a two-month tour across Canada and the U.S. – Hawking showcases the tightest, most focused music of Vanderkam’s career.
Songs like Safe and Sound, Cold Hands and Books On Tape are still true to hashtags like ‘progressive’, ’emo’ and ‘math-rock’ (the new band name referencing famed scientist Stephen Hawking, a play on the genre itself), but the effects are pared-down and, consequently, more effective.
The emotional lyricism is well-served by Vanderkam’s versatile, highly-charged voice as lead-vocalist, while the complex interplay of tempo-shifts, guitar licks and drum beats is – more than an empty exercise in virtuosity – driven by the structure of each song.
The result, as in most good pop music, is a series of evocative mini-movies for the mind and ear, with a degree of ambiguity that stimulates the listener’s imagination.
“Every song tells a story,” Vanderkam agreed, during an interview with Peace Arch News, noting that the song-writing process has become much more collaborative.
“We’ve very much reinvented ourselves as a band. And I’ve re-invented myself as a songwriter. I feel the new music is much more cohesive, much tighter.”
Flash back to Aug. 26, 2013 at around 7:30 a.m.: coming off a rewarding but exhausting Western Canadian tour, Tommy Alto’s band van – carrying all five members, their roadie and equipment – left the road and hit a boulder on the Crow’s Nest Highway just east of Hope.
Drummer Chartwell Kerr and bassist Paul Engels were sent to Royal Columbian Hospital in critical condition, both with head trauma, collapsed lungs, internal bleeding and broken ribs. Kerr’s legs was “shattered” when the engine of the Ford van came through the dashboard.
Guitarist Benji Klassen had head trauma, chest impact and cuts and bruises, while keyboardist Dan Besser had a broken collar-bone, broken ribs and some facial fracturing. Vanderkam sustained mainly soft-tissue damage and some puncture wounds, while roadie Graham Kohlen, cushioned by a pile of blankets, was relatively unscathed.
Less than two years later, Vanderkam, Kerr and Klassen are back and at the core of Hawking. (Engels, who sustained some brain damage, is not performing music publicly. Besser is also not in the band; Vanderkam declines to comment on his condition, noting it is the subject of a lawsuit.)
Though he bemoans the absence of the former bandmates, Vanderkam said the comeback of Kerr and Klassen can’t be overplayed.
“It’s nothing short of a miracle that Chart has been able to come back like this – the doctors said he wouldn’t be walking again for six months or drumming for eight, but after six weeks he was drumming again.
“It was an amazing comeback, particularly notable considering the complexity of the music. And the kid is so irreplaceable to the sound of the band.”
He is also quick to credit Klassen’s “sparkling, ambient work” on guitar as another key element in Hawking’s sound, contrasting his own straight-ahead rock rhythm guitar.
Though Engels has not been able to continue with the band due to his injuries, Vanderkam said he is doing “very well.”
“He’s very determined, and very strict with himself about his rehabilitation. With his brain injury it’s like getting to know a completely different person. Music is pretty much a rehabilitation exercise for him now. It’s profoundly unfortunate that he wasn’t able to go on, but we’re so proud of him.”
Although Vanderkam’s injuries were relatively minor, the crash still set him back, he said. Fatigue can creep in, and there’s a lingering feeling that, physically, he’s not in the same place he was before the accident.
“Even a year after, I wasn’t fully aware of the severity (of my injuries),” he said, noting the psychological impact may be even more telling.
“You look back at the experience and think about what you are able to learn from it. It allowed me weeks and months of reflection. You look at the wreck of that van and think (none of us) should still be alive.”
New member of the band is bassist Chris Young, who came in after it became clear that Engels would not return.
“Chris is an excellent bass player who did a great job filling the big shoes that Paul left,” Vanderkam said. “He does a lot of counter-melodic work that makes the music very, very colourful and complex.”
The band’s current music hasn’t evolved as the result of any overt direction, Vanderkam noted.
“It has been very organic,” he said. “When you play with the same group of guys for a while it really starts to click.”
By the same token, he said, the band was always in a very experimental, independent mindset in the past.
“We’ve never put out ‘pop’ music before. We were always aware of this awesome, very, very cool, weird, intricate music coming out of our instruments, but somehow the ‘hook’ was missing.
“We’ve taken what we were doing and made it more focused; still managed to keep that integrity and musical complexity that we were known for and put a pop spin on it.”
Vanderkam said he knows that using the term ‘pop’ can be dangerous these days, a natural response to decades of manipulated and manipulative music making.
“There’s been a lot of backlash in the industry – that as soon as something has a chorus and a catchy hook, it’s too commercial.
“The fact is that the industry is so saturated with music that if you don’t have something to smack people in the face and get a song stuck in their heads, it’s going to be overlooked.”
It’s been a personal adjustment for Vanderkam himself, he acknowledged, given that he first won notice locally in youth contests such as Diamond In The Rock as a performer ready to “give 150 per cent.”
“I’ve always been a maximalist – I’ve never been a fan of minimalism. It’s always had to be an assault on the senses. This is the first record where I’ve said ‘let’s step back’ – keep what we had going for us but package it up a lot neater; take everything you wanted to say and put it in one song, without having to compromise anything.”
The Media Club is located at 695 Cambie St. Tickets for the May 1 show are available at the door or online through www.tiny.cc/hawking
