Leonard Gold - If This Name Comes To You In A Dream

As the story goes, Robbie Holmes began his musical career alongside The Sweet Homewreckers' lead singer Cam Malcolm in the nascent local band Langston Heights, but it was a chance encounter away from the local stages that would influence him and this project.

"I think the mysterious nature just grew out of the circumstances the music lies under," explains Robbie Holmes on the origins of one of the new artists on Drinking Cap by the name of Leonard Gold. "I mean, I found a man in the woods playing music, a total recluse, poised to make music for the sheer joy of it and not the recognition. I took that music with his permission, fell in love with it and decided, hey, someone else should hear this."

While fishing in Algonquin Park, Holmes reportedly came upon this man born into a family of park rangers and, like a modern day indie rock Henry David Thoreau, creating his own artwork influenced on the nature that surrounded him. Somehow Holmes is Gold's only means of communication and channels the words and art, this weekend with a live band performance from some Drinking Cap regulars helping out.

"He told me the music was inspired by The Muppets' Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem," explains Holmes on the subtle instrumental textures that make up the body of Gold's very atmospheric work. "He told me of his travelling, he had spent a year in China travelling and performing small acts with his guitar and other homemade instruments. He suffered a tragic tiger encounter while he was there, however, which resulted in the loss of his left arm and a damaged vocal box. Tragic for an aspiring musician, but I guess he stuck with it to an extent. At first I mostly just felt bad for the guy. He could write music but he couldn't perform it, but as I listened more and more I really got into it. Then I decided The Zero To Infinity Band should tackle some Gold.

"His music lives in Hamilton, it grows and marinates in Hamilton. Leonard, however, remains in The Gonq (Algonquin Park)," adds Holmes. "But it's not about whether or not he'll be there really. We like his music and we think you will, too. It's going to be The Zero To Infinity Band literally going from zero to infinity in every song and hopefully getting some people dancing like idiots until they reach infinity. That's really the whole mantra for this show.

"I think you just need to have faith in the music, even if it is coming from a park ranger who has one arm, no vocal chords and who you might never meet in your lifetime. The music has been written and now it will be performed."

- Ric Taylor, View Mag

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