Bobbyisms: Keep options open: Out Of Options reunites

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: ASHLEY SLOGGETT
Out Of Options reunited after 10 years apart and will be performing at the Burly Calling in Burlington on December 4.

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. Good news if you’re feeling nostalgic for the music festival season – this week marks the return of Burly Calling, the annual winter music festival that brings the spirit of larger downtown festivals like NXNE or SCENE to the relatively smaller scope of Burlington, Ontario.

Now in its eighth year, Burly Calling – or BCVIII, as it is affectionately known this year – has become a tradition, kicking off the holidays in town since 2006. Originally conceived by local post-punk group Saint Alvia as a means to raise money for tour, the idea of a music festival touring from one end of the city to the other has caught on over the years and evolved into a large-scale annual undertaking that wholly belies the grassroots nature of its small, dedicated staff and roster of volunteers.

Year after year, Burly Calling offers unforgettable concert experiences. There are over 60 performers and dozens of reasons to attend; this year the festival carries on its tradition of high profile reunions with headline shows featuring The Fullblast from Oakville and Burlington’s Out Of Options.

Out Of Options formed in 1999 amid a thriving musical scene and found some commercial success before disbanding in 2005. Its reunion at Burly Calling kicks off the first night of the festival December 4 and brings the original lineup – guitarists John Fielding and Kurtis Brown, bassist Mike Hanley and drummer Jesse King – to a stage together for the first time in 10 years.

The gig also led to the decision to produce an EP of new music together.

“It’s a snapshot of this time and place, where we’re back together and we’re having fun playing,” front man Fielding said. The new songs are fast, dynamic and powerful, as evidenced by the band’s new single “Hello Heartbreak,” released on YouTube November 28.

“I’m really pumped about playing these new tunes,” Hanley said. “Though it’s fun playing the old stuff, too – at our first rehearsal, we plugged everything in and I said, ‘all right, let’s play “Forgive and Forget,”’ and we started playing a song we hadn’t played together in 10 years.”

“Everything came together really quickly,” Fielding said, though he professes no surprise. “We all learned how to play our instruments together, I thought that we’d mesh musically [again] right off the bat – and that kind of happened, other than us being out of shape and some of the songs being really fast.”

In the studio the pair took turns recording vocals, while engineer Tyler Gardiner navigated through Pro Tools just as quickly as Fielding could conduct the group – one minute he was laying down guitar phrases, the next he was leading everyone in group backing vocals, huddled together near a microphone. In no time, the session wrapped and the recording was complete.

Back in the heyday, Out Of Options worked hard and toured back and forth across the country to earn a recording contract and a following. Even still, committing to the life and schedule of a full–time touring proved difficult to some members, and rifts began to form as members began to step back from the group.

“We were a good band,” Fielding said. “We grew up with our heads up in the clouds, like ‘we’re going to make it in this band,’ and almost did, then it fell apart when we got there ... it’s an interesting stage of life, being 20.”

With time and perspective, the band quickly put away the issues that separated them. So much so that at the band’s first rehearsal when King broached the topic of recording something new, he was only saying what the other three had been thinking for some time – they had studio time booked not two weeks later.

For more on Out Of Options and its new EP, visit them on Facebook at facebook.com/outosoptionspunk. The band’s reunion caps off a night that also features Them Thieves, The Video Dead, Black Cat Attack and Adelleda – admission is $10 without a BCVIII Weekend Pass, or free by donation of a new, unwrapped toy for the Kent Abbott Memorial Toy Drive. Full Burly Calling schedule and ticket information is available online at burlycalling.com.

And for more of the latest in music news, album streams and concert previews, follow this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. To put it another way, Burly Calling is like a version of Doors Open, embracing fans into the Burlington music community and its historic landmarks. There’s no festival like this one outside of Daylight Savings Time, it’s worth the drive. I’m out of words.