Puzzleroot

Bio:

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"Ghosts in a West Virginia coalmine kidnap the acoustic love children of The Pixies. Haunting, spirited and fun, Puzzleroot's "Farewell to Gerald Fitzella," is a weird and wonderful melding of crunchy metallic sounds, string and song: dark and metaphysical in one moment, burning the barn in the next."
-- Annabelle Chvostek

"It’s not puzzling to understand the appeal of Puzzleroot. Instrumentally perfect, fabulous vocals and an eclectic sound for any format. Another example of the rich, culturally diverse and artistic sounds from the deep talent pool of Victoria, BC."
-- Brad Edwards, Music Director CKMO Radio, Village 900

"Puzzleroot will transport you to their surreal country kitchen with quite a collection of quirky, strange, and beautiful songs. This is well played Alt Country with all the front porch pickin’ you’d expect, but with twists and turns around each corner."
-- Bill Johnson, Bill Johnson Blues Band

"Punk rock moved to the country and bought a farm. And life is good on the farm. Puzzleroot live up to their name, blending a broad range of musical genres like folk, alt-country and indie rock with strong social commentary and witty storytelling. And it all melds together nicely on ‘Farewell to Gerald Fitzella’, their debut album. It will leave you stomping your foot and singing along to their tales of love, politics, and protest. But don’t let the anarchy of it all fool you, this album is fun, and Puzzleroot want you to have a good time. A strong debut from a charming West Coast band."
-- Nicole Green, Producer, MuchMusic

Puzzleroot has a new CD, 'Farewell to Gerald Fitzella.' Very catchy right off the start. The recording is sublime with great playing, excellent sound quality, vocal mastery and the quirkiest of lyrics. My fave song is Metal and Bone...love the feel! Slippery slidey banjo, quirky lyrics, Puzzlerootsy!
-- Linda McRae


Puzzleroot is an eclectic, genre-bending and blending band from Vancouver Island. They have been labeled roots, altfolk, altcountry, bluegrass, and punkgrass.

Drawing on primarily original material, this band encompasses adept vocal harmonies, with poetic and yet, often humourous and insightful lyrics. Additionally, the use of slide banjo gives the band a highly original sound.

Puzzleroot has performed at music festivals, house concerts, open air farmer and craft markets, bars, pubs, coffeehouses, fundraisers, and even illegally - on pirate radio. A versatile band, Puzzleroot is right at home on a small, intimate stage, at a large urban venue, or in your living room. Dancing is inevitable. They play as a duo, trio, or full band.

The primary songwriter, Gary Eugene, has been a songwriter for over 20 years and easily moves across musical genres, having been part of punk (Mickey Christ, Remanes), rock (96 Tears), altcountry (The Hardluck Angels), and folk bands throughout his life. He is a versatile musician and a powerful player. He writes with a dry wit and powerful social commentary. Clever and poetic lyrics are matched with melodic compositions that range from foot-stomping fun to hauntingly beautiful tunes that don’t easily escape the mind. He has a wide vocal range to complement his playing, able to belt out a raucous line or reach that sweet harmony note.

Marian van der Zon is a mostly self-taught musician who has developed her own style on the 5-string banjo. This innovator is experimental in her playing (perhaps due in part to a background in sound art) and incorporates extensive slide banjo into her playing. Her picking and slide have been inspired by the early slide banjo work of 1920’s and 1930’s blues players, and yet mixed with a contemporary feel that allows her to provide sparse melody lines or slide into a punk tune. She has a wide vocal range to complement her playing, a voice that is distinctive and memorable.

Puzzleroot have released their first CD, Farewell to Gerald Fitzella.
It can be purchased through CD Baby

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Some initial CD reviews:

"Aptly named Puzzleroot, this CD is a delightfully engaging collection of home-grown Vancouver Island (mostly) accoustic music. As its title suggests, there's a complex, eclectic underlying mixture of styles and influences: hints of folk, C&W, blues and bluegrass can be found lurking in its catchy rhythms.
Puzzleroot offers up lots of surprises, both musically and in its lyrics: Gary's songwriting is often darkly mysterious, philosophical with occasional overtly political themes (e.g. Wall Mart). Marian's voice blends smoothly with Gary's and her banjo playing contributes a refreshing sound especially when she uses the slide to really good effect. Accomplished bass, drum and violin complete the group, which I certainly recommend to anyone looking for a powerful new musical experience, and one which – surprise! - ends with a deliciously silly celebratory Birthday song!"
-- Toni Bacon

"Puzzleroot's tunes included on the CD range from what I would laughingly refer to as metaphysical ditties of existential angst and plaintive death ballads (“Book of Ghosts,” “The Possibilities,” “Blink of Death,” Metal and Bone”) to tender songs of love found (“From The Sweetness,” “Back To The Very Start”) and lost (“One Eye”) to idiosyncratic outsider laments (“They,” “Gliding”). And the band demonstrates its ability to move fluidly from mindless mirth (“Birthday”) to a rousing dancefloor barnburner (“Country Spiders”), and then, in a more pointed and satirical vein, to thought-provoking commentary (“Hail To The Creep,” “Wall Mart”)."
-- Ron Sakolsky, co-editor of: Islands of Resistance: Pirate Radio in Canada

“Hauntingly soulful, with a maturity and calmness that is spiritual and very impressive. By contrast, some of the songs and lyrics are upbeat and humourous. Bluegrass with an edge, punk-n' roll where even cowgirls get the blues-this stuff is a good listen. This is an excellent band with a lot of talent.”
-- A local fan, Roxanne

Member Since:

May 24, 2007

Members:

Gary Eugene on guitar, vocals, bass.
Marian van der Zon on banjo, slide banjo, vocals, slide guitar.
Shelley Brown or Dan Fehr on upright bass

Sounds Like:

Puzzleroot, mostly originals.
Covers range from... The Pixies, Johnny Cash, David Bowie, Oh Susanna, Old Crow Medicine Show, Neil Young, Rheostatics, Ten Years After, Michelle Shocked, Tom Waits, etc.

Record Label:

Unknown Indie