Trevor Alguire straddles the worlds of music and skateboarding and sees some similarities.
“When you’re beaten and you’re down, you learn to get back up — which is perfect preparation for the music industry,” Alguire said, with a chuckle.
Although he continues to nurture his “passion” for skateboarding by running a retail boarding gear shop in his native Ottawa, the singer/songwriter isn’t a musical newbie.
Alguire, who performs on Thursday, Nov. 17, at Roosters in Red Deer, just released his sixth roots album, Perish In the Light.
Among those who’ve given the CD the thumbs up is Alguire’s mother, who saw a lot of her son in the song I’ll Be Who I Am. “She said that song pretty much is me. It’s like a selfie because I’m pretty dedicated to doing what I want to do… I’m stubborn,” said Alguire.
Being strong-minded doesn’t hurt in a business that exposes one to public judgment: “A lot of people say, ‘Why do you do what you do?’ But it actually takes a lot.” Making music “is a soul-baring thing,” added Alguire. “When you perform something you’ve written it’s like a piece of you is being left behind.”
Some critics have said Alguire deserves to be better known, but he does have a solid fan base in Alberta, where he’s performed about half a dozen times.
Perish in the Light is a collection of original songs recorded with the help of some musician friends, including Juno Award-winning singer Catherine MacLellan, who sings a duet with Alguire on My Sweet Rosetta. Blue Rodeo guitarist Bob Egan accompanies him on several new tracks, and Miranda Mulholland (Belle Star, Great Lake Swimmers) contributes fiddle melodies.
Alguire, who’s stared stages with Tom Cochrane and Martha Wainwright, hopes listeners will bring some of their own insights to what he writes. “It’s not fiction. It’s all real stuff,” culled from stories he’s heard or experiences he’s lived. He said his songwriting comes out of “sort of a mixing pot of a few different things.”
For more information, please contact the venue.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com