Great Big Sea September 28, 2010

Great Big Sea, which celebrated its 17th anniversary in March, has its roots in rowdy pubs where co-founders Sean McCann and Bob Hallett met while playing Newfoundland folk songs for boisterous crowds of hard-partying university students and off-duty fishermen.

In 1993, along with fellow socio-holic and pub stalwart Alan Doyle, they formed Great Big Sea and took a new approach to Newfoundland folk music. The band combines original music with the traditional sounds and instruments. In 2002 drummer Kris MacFarlane joined the band, and a year later bass player Murray Foster came aboard.

Their latest album, Safe Upon the Shore, reflects the newest twists in their original plan. The album is a feast of creative impulses, recorded in fits and starts over a six-month period. Some of it was recorded in New Orleans with producer Steve Berlin, while other songs were recorded at the band's studio in St. John's. The band used guerilla setups to record the rest of it on tour buses and in dressing rooms.