Page 4 - SASKATOONEXPRESS - January 14-20, 2013

Joelle TomlinsonSaskatoon Express

Picture a lawyer. Now picture a rock star. Now picture a man who embodies both.

What you are picturing is Kurt Dahl, the drummer in the band One Bad Son. With his long blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and ripped jeans, it’s easy to imagine Dahl on stage. When he speaks, it’s just as easy to imagine him navigating the world of enter-tainment law. He laughs at the description “lawyer-rock star.”

“That works; I’ll take that,” said Dahl. “I think people are surprised. I think we all like to put a category on everyone. You’re a lawyer, or you’re a doctor, or whatever. The lawyer-rocker thing, it’s not easy for people to imagine. They’re kind of conflicting, right? I think, in the same way, everyone is more than whatever their job is.”

One year, Dahl articled for a big law firm in downtown Saskatoon. The requirement: He had to cut his trademark long hair.

“That was tough,” said Dahl with another laugh. “So basically I was pretending to be a clean-cut lawyer for a year while I articled. Then, I actually became a lawyer and grew it all back.”

While at law school, Dahl was working on his No. 1 passion in life: Music. He formed One Bad Son in 2004 with vocalist Shane Volk and guitar player Adam Hicks. Later, in 2007, they found their permanent bass player in the young and talented Adam Grant. Their goal is the same now as it was back then: To create music like the legends of rock did.

“We try to take the baton from our idols, which are the Zeppelins and the Pearl Jams and the Soundgarden, and Guns N’ Roses. People often look back to

the past, and hold up these bands as if they are untouchable and modern bands will never be that good,” said Dahl. “We’re striving to be as good as or better than our idols. A lot of bands make the mistake and think they should try to idolize them, and not strive to be just as great.”

No journey is easy, and Dahl acknowledges this in the chang-ing music scene and the amount of time it takes to make an impact nationally. One Bad Son developed a dedicated fan base in Saskatoon after years of playing in the city. The biggest challenge came with a move to Vancouver in 2011.

“We would have stayed here but both fields — law and music — were drawing us to either Toronto or Vancouver. For me, I couldn’t practise entertainment law here; there’s not enough industry,” said Dahl. “As far as the band, we got a record deal offered from a label in Vancouver, but it was predicated on the fact that we either move there or Toronto or they wouldn’t sign us.

“We definitely started over. We started from the bottom. A lot of musicians, I don’t know if they can handle it in terms of their egos. I mean here, we were selling out every night, and there we literally couldn’t bring out 10 people to the first show. Every city has got its own scene, so when you’re the new guy, it’s a constant uphill battle. It was a reality check in a way and it made us work even harder.”

Dahl is one of a dozen or so lawyers in Canada who spe-cializes in entertainment law, according to his estimates. Based out of Vancouver, he kills two birds with one stone — his job means he works with like-minded people and musicians who need

the legal advice required for music contracts and negotiations. And with this job, he can keep his hair.

After a few months in Vancouver, a third album emerged from One Bad Son. Tracks are written by all four band members; everybody is integral to the writ-ing process, according to Dahl. He says this album covers the range of the band’s talent, and points to the recent radio success of the bal-lad Scarecrows.

“Scarecrows is getting us roll-ing. You always need that one song that connects with people. No matter how good you are live, you have to have that one song,”

said Dahl. “It’s No. 15, I think, now across Canada, and now with the video and opening for Buckcherry, we’re reaching for top 10, five.

“The cool thing about Scarecrows is that it came out of nowhere. There’s so many times over the years I’ve thought, ‘This is the song. This is what makes us.’ And you turn out to be wrong. It’s like you’re a medium and the music comes through you, and you hope to connect to the people.”

One Bad Son is on tour open-ing for American rock band Buckcherry until Jan. 19, when they will wrap up in Toronto. Stops include Regina, Winnipeg,

Thunder Bay and London. Information on tour stops and venue locations can be found at www.onebadson.com.

“I think we’ll be back soon. There’s another opening tour maybe in the works that would be pretty huge, but that’s not for sure and we’re hoping for that,” said Dahl. “That’s the weird thing about being a musi-cian. It’s just one big question mark. I can’t say where we’re going to be a year from now, or a month from now. For us, it’s about focusing on being real to ourselves. The only thing we can control is writing good music and playing a good show.”

One Bad Son, One Good Lawyer

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Kurt Dahl in Saskatoon before taking off on a Canadian tour with One Bad Son and Buck Cherry (Photo by Joelle Tomlinson)