Dandelion and the Ditchweeds are getting the band back together.
The four-piece folk/bluegrass band was formerly a staple in Rossland, playing together from 2009 to 2013, and this weekend they’re back together for two shows at Madhu Collective on Washington Street.
The first is on Friday, with Brad Mackay, frontman of Giant Water Bug, opening and the second is Saturday with Sparky Steeves as the opener.
The second show was added after the first sold out in days, but it too quickly sold out.
Alissa Arnason and Jordan Barca arrived back in Rossland last Thursday and explained that the band started on Barca’s birthday in 2009.
“Buzz [Peter Reed] was living in an apartment above the … Goldrush Café and … there was a ladder leaning against the back window and we climbed up the ladder with our instruments onto the roof and we started playing outside Buzz’s window,” says Arnason.
“And he said, ‘We should start a band’ and we didn’t protest,” says Barca.
About six months later they met Andrew Bennett and he joined the band.
“Andrew rode into town hitchhiking with this girlfriend at the time, now the mother of his two children,” recalls Arnason.
“[Buzz] called us and said, ‘I saw a guy with a fiddle case.’ We’d been talking about adding that element to what we had going on, which was Buzz playing the mandolin, myself playing the banjo and Alissa singing and playing the guitar,” says Barca.
The rest is history — but eventually, Arnason and Barca both left Rossland.
“Alissa and I were dating at this time and I had lived in Rossland and Alissa came here to live together. So we did that. For five years we lived here together as partners and played in this band and I think that had something to do with it. That we just felt we wanted to explore other things in life and other places in life, so we went our separate ways,” explains Barca.
“We both had really exciting things come up in life and that pulled us around in different directions and the really amazing thing is that whenever we do see each other, … we kind of seem to pick up where we left off,” says Arnason.
Barca says Reed was the driving force behind getting the band back together for the two March shows.
Barca came from Tofino and Arnason from Vancouver, while Reed and Bennett have stayed in Rossland.
Reed plays with both Dirt Floor and Giant Water Bug, and he and Bennett recently played for Tune-in Restorative Yoga at Madhu Collective.
For those lucky enough to have bought tickets before they sold out, Arnason hopes you’ll experience the music without any distractions.
“We’re really excited to do this show because one of the big points I think in Buzz’s vision for doing this is he really wanted to honour the songs and honour the music. And I think we all agree that there’s nothing that can accomplish that honouring the music more than having people all sitting together in a room with no other distractions, just focusing on the energy of the song and the experience of sitting and listening to music,” she said.