CAMBRIDGE, Ont. — Time has gone by about as quickly as it takes for the pluck of a string or burst of air across accordion reeds for the Mainland Kitchen Band, which has been broadcasting live from the “Covid Cave” every Saturday night for the past year.
“No, jeez, no,” Jimmy Tarrant said over the phone from his home in Cambridge, Ont., when asked if he thought the band would be able to maintain a weekly schedule.
“(I) figured we’d do it once a month maybe, (to) see if anybody was into it.”
It turns out a lot of people are into it.
The foursome – whose members all are originally from the Burin Peninsula and play a variety of Newfoundland, Celtic, country and folk standards – has amassed over 43,000 loyal followers on Facebook, many of those coming on board since the group started online streaming of its hours-long performances this time last year.
The group’s show on Feb. 27 was shared 720 times and had nearly 9,000 comments from enthusiastic fans grateful to see and hear some live, home-inspired entertainment during the pandemic.
“Thank you all for another great night of music and laughs. So nice to feel a little piece of home each weekend listening to you all,” wrote Sheila Tourout-Dickman from Kentucky, a comment reflecting the popular sentiment.
A couple of couples
The Mainland Kitchen Band’s history goes back about 25 years, around the time Tarrant, a native of Lawn, and his partner, Rowena Turner, who is from Little St. Lawrence, moved to Ontario.
Tarrant, who said he was more into heavy metal at the time, indicated the pair still found some common ground musically, and their repertoire of songs grew and grew.
When Turner’s sister, Myra Bennett, and her husband, Paul, moved to Cambridge from Grand Bank a few years back, they began joining Tarrant and Turner onstage. They eventually became part of the band, with Tarrant and Paul Bennett handling the strings and the siblings both playing the accordion. Tarrant and Paul Bennett do most of the singing, with Turner adding her voice as well.
Tarrant said the Mainland Kitchen Band was getting ready for its annual St. Paddy’s Day show last March and decided to broadcast a rehearsal from Tarrant and Turner’s basement the week before the gig. Then, the pandemic shut everything down.
“So, we just kept on doing it, and the viewers started growing and growing and growing as we were going,” Tarrant said.
“We just kept ‘er going.”
Before long, the basement rehearsal and studio space were dubbed the COVID Cave and the name stuck.
Worldwide audience
Most new viewers can quickly figure out the band’s Newfoundland connection by the paraphernalia adorning the room, all of which was sent to the group by mail, except for the Mainland Kitchen Band flag.
People watch from all over the world – Australia, the U.S., Ireland, Norway, the Netherland, the U.K. — but most are from Canada.
The Burin Peninsula is particularly well represented each week.
“I think all of Parker’s Cove tunes in, all of ‘em,” Tarrant said with a laugh.
Before the pandemic, the Mainland Kitchen Band gigged most weekends and Tarrant said adjusting to live streaming was a challenge, especially to the absence of an audience they could see.
“It was hard in the beginning because we usually had someone around saying something, bawling out something, you know what I mean? Somebody laughing or people up dancing around or coming up to the stage and asking for a song or something,” he said.
“But you kind of look past it and say, ’hey, you know, they’re still here.’ You can’t see them, but they’re there.”
The group was able to play a few live gigs outside the COVID Cave when things opened up for a while last summer, but they streamed those shows, as well. If and when life returns to normal again, Tarrant says the band hopes to keep playing for fans, wherever they may be.
“As long as the people who hire us to play are OK with it, we’ll broadcast it,” he said.
Paul Herridge covers reports on the Burin Peninsula. [email protected]
