IN CONCERT
What: Alan Doyle with Ocie Elliott
When: Tuesday, May 7, 7:30 p.m. (doors at 7)
Where: The Royal Theatre
Tickets: $39.50-69.50 at the Royal McPherson box office, by phone at 250-386-6121, or online at
Note: Doyle and Ocie Elliott also perform May 8 at the Tidemark Theatre in Campbell River, May 9 at the Port Theatre in Nanaimo, and May 10 at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre in Duncan
Alan Doyle has been able to turn his music career into a variety of artistic pursuits, including acting and writing. By his own admission, he has three or four projects on his plate at all times, which requires a go-go-go intensity.
Doyle, who turns 50 on May 17, has no issues with such a schedule. In fact, scattered has been his preferred way of working since the first album from his former band, Great Big Sea, in 1993.
The product of Petty Harbour, N.L., is touring to support his third solo album, A Week at the Warehouse, which arrived in late 2017. True to his hard-working form, he has already written half of a new record, which should come out in early 2020, and is in the early stages of writing his third book. He鈥檚 also writing songs for a musical for the Charlottetown Festival, the largest musical theatre festival in Atlantic Canada.
The musical developments are causing little concern, Doyle said. But writing the follow-up to 2017鈥檚 A Newfoundlander in Canada: Always Going Somewhere, Always Coming Home 鈥� the second of two national best-selling biographical books 鈥� hangs over his head on a daily basis. 鈥淚t doesn't suit my personality,鈥� Doyle said this week from his home in St. John鈥檚, N.L., where he has lived since university.
鈥淚鈥檓 a scatterbrain, and I like working on 14 things at a time. Everything else I work on in my life takes a day. And then you get up the next day and work on a new song, or you鈥檙e in a new city. When you write a book, you鈥檙e into it for 13 months. You鈥檝e been at it for a year-and-a-half, and unlike a concert, if you put it out and people don鈥檛 like it, there鈥檚 nothing you can do about it. I can adjust [on the fly] in music. But you can鈥檛 with books.鈥�
As for why he continues to put himself through the stress of writing, he had one matter-of-fact motivator. 鈥淚t suits my lifestyle really well,鈥� Doyle said, followed by a laugh that punctuates most of his sentences.
鈥淭omorrow, I fly from St. John鈥檚 to 91原创, which is about nine and-a-half hours with nothing to do unless you make something to do. Writing books is a perfect thing to be doing on those trips 鈥� and I have a lot of them. The two books I have published, I鈥檓 not sure I wrote a paragraph of them in my own house. I did it all in airplanes and dressing rooms and coffeeshops on the road.鈥�
The tour that brings Doyle and his band, the Beautiful Gypsies 鈥� bassist Shehab Illyas, fiddler Kendel Carson, drummer Kris MacFarlane, guitarist Cory Tetford, and keyboardist Todd Lumley 鈥� to Victoria on Tuesday puts them back on the road after a two-week break 鈥� a much-needed stretch of rest and relaxation after what has felt like one long, neverending tour.
鈥淚鈥檝e managed somehow to keep the train a-rollin鈥�, and I鈥檓 so grateful. It鈥檚 still fun. Playing concerts is still my favourite thing in the world to do.鈥�
He is surrounded by the perfect cast of characters in that regard. Each member of the Beautiful Gypsies has a career of their own on the go, which is something Doyle says he encourages. Their time is not his exclusively when they are on the road together, and he finds their ability to multi-task inspiring. Of course, it鈥檚 something he recognizes in himself.
鈥淚 encourage people to do stuff while they鈥檙e on the road with me. I love walking down past the bunks on the tour bus and seeing Corey recording songs for a television show, and Kendel organizing a record she鈥檚 going to be doing with someone else, and Todd doing a software job for someone else and Shehab directing a video. They are the most creative bunch, an incredible gang that has the real ability to play the music from a various sources in my life.鈥�
Doyle and Great Big Sea put the rich history of St. John鈥檚 on the musical map, from a mainstream perspective, during the 1990s, and many of the fans that made Great Big Sea one of the most popular acts in Canada at the time are still with him today. He continues to sing a half-dozen of the band鈥檚 big hits 鈥� Ordinary Day, When I鈥檓 Up and Sea of No Cares among them 鈥� during his concerts. He鈥檚 still in contact with his old bandmates, which makes singing songs they wrote together in their mid-鈥�20s a memorable experience all these years later.
鈥淚t鈥檚 cool to have the catalogue of Great Big Sea at your disposal, and all the Newfoundland traditional music, and all the songs from my records. It makes for a varied, fun night for people.鈥�
Doyle鈥檚 creative spark since leaving Great Big Sea has produced almost as much material, from books and movies to music, as it did when he was with the group for its 20-year run. That will be the case going forward. With the number of projects he has running concurrently, and the number that will undoubtedly arise in the coming months and years, Doyle can see his future being full of activity.
鈥淚鈥檝e said I want to be the guy who lives the most. I don鈥檛 care if I make the most money, I just want to be the guy who spent the most days doing the stuff he loved to do. And so far so good.鈥�
