Ucluelet's Left At The Junction have been playing together on the coast for nearly a decade.
Rob Thoms, Bill Morrison and Dave Hurwitz make up the bluegrass and country inspired project. Beyond Left At The Junction, the members have been part of the Tofino and Ucluelet music scene for a long while. "Between the three of us we've been playing music for... well, Rob says 100 years," said Hurwitz.
The boys of Left at The Junction have seen a healthy music scene sprout up in the time they've been playing.
"It's kinda neat, when Bill and I started playing together in Tofino with The Bottomfeeders and Rob was playing in Ucluelet at the same time... there weren't many bands and now there's tons of bands in Tofino and Ucluelet," said Hurwitz, "It's cool to be inspired by local musicians and I think we are."
Together with the inspiration from the new bands, Left at The Junction are drawing from classic methods as they move forward with their music.
"We're starting to think about the one mic thing, we're gettin more into harmonies.... sort of going for more of that old world thing.... It's just more organic, that includes the harmony," said Hurwitz. "It's just the ability to stand right tight together, it's that vibe thing."
Many bluegrass bands and other acoustic acts prefer to gather around a single microphone in order to amplify their voices and instruments as opposed to individual mics and other equipment.
While Left at The Junction's arrangement is generally similar to a bluegrass trio with upright bass, guitar and mandolin, new instruments have started making their way into the band's tunes.
"Rob has been working on the banjo, he can almost pick up any [instrument]... we've started playing a little bit with the electric [guitar] a bit, too," said Hurwitz In late 2011, Left At The Junction released their debut album Dark Rainy Night. Since then, they've played a number of shows in Ucluelet and elsewhere but had yet to make their way 'right at the junction' to Tofino until Tuesday's gig, slated for Feb. 11 at Jamie's.
"The recording was done in Tofino, we never really got to play.. we were just joking we don't even play about half of those tunes any more. We keeping working on new music all the time, that keeps it kind of vital... keeps it going," Hurwitz said.
With a century's experience combined with a balance of authentic inspiration and creative forward thinking, Left at The Junction are a fine example of the diverse artistic talent the West Coast supports.