Not the Autobahn: Florian Hoefner and Subtone take a Canadian road trip
Have a First Listen to Moose Blues by Subtone
Florian Hoefner, a German pianist now based in St. John's, put his jazz hands to a completely different use while touring Canada with his band, Subtone.
"We were invited to sow canola in Saskatchewan," said Hoefner.
The band had looked up some German friends who had been farming on the Canadian prairies for decades, and wound up visiting on sowing day.
"We were pouring the seeds into the seeding machine," said Hoefner.
"That was a very special and very Canadian experience."
Longtime friends
The members of Subtone — Hoefner, Magnus Schriefl, Malte Durrschnabel, Matthias Pichler, and Peter Gall — met during their undergraduate years at the University of the Arts in Berlin.
"We started this whole path of becoming jazz musicians together," said Hoefner.
"It's not just great musicians, it's also really good friends."
Even though Subtone has been together for 13 years and played more than 300 concerts, the group had never visited Canada.
With Hoefner making his home in St. John's, the band thought this year would be ideal for a Canadian tour.
Things in Canada are far apart
They started out in Vancouver, and performed eastward all the way to St. John's, stopping in Montreal to record the album Moose Blues.
"The Canada tour was the stage that built this album. All of the pieces were premiered in Canada on this tour," said Hoefner.
That was a very special and very Canadian experience.- Florian Hoefner
Hoefner added that long hours of Canadian highway driving gave the band members more time than they expected to think about the music for Moose Blues.
"The guys were driving and they're used to German traffic — jam-packed — guys zooming 200 kilometres an hour in your left lane," said Hoefner.
"They just found it so pleasant to just ride and not have to worry about all that. They were really floored by this country and how far everything is apart."
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