Loan Shark Emergency Room

Amer Diab’s third solo album, Loan Shark Emergency Room, sees him and his band, The Loan Sharks, channel their live rockabilly sound onto disc. “I’d be just as happy playing ballads all day long” says Diab, “but the reality of playing in live music venues is that you often have to drown out people’s conversations to get your point across. I take a kind of guilty pleasure in doing that.”

Most of the songs on Loan Shark Emergency Room, were written while Diab was touring as a sideman over the last two years. The blistering rock tune, The Devil is a Trucker, takes on the urge to push forward without really knowing why. “I wrote that driving through the Rockies at night in a snowstorm after having a few close calls with some trucks and wondering what pushed these guys to keep going that extra mile... other than amphetamines.” The lullaby love song, Sunday Drivers is a snapshot of a couple on the road together. The dark album closer, River Bed, uncovers a tale of death and incest in a story that was told to Diab by a bar patron in Cape Breton after a show.

Recorded and Engineered by John Critchley (13 Engines), the album makes the most of the intimate delivery that Diab’s last two albums have highlighted while also cranking up the amps for some rockabilly-infused numbers like Magdalena (about having sex while CNN’s Iraq War coverage plays in the background) and a cover of Frank Sinatra’s classic, Angel Eyes. “I wanted this album to be more like the live shows” says Diab “Having straight-ahead rockers like Nolan Gantry...” (about a friend of Diab’s whose manual-labour work is slowly killing him) “is something that I haven’t really done a lot on the first two albums because I always thought of the studio as my quiet place and the bars as my loud place.”

Diab also gave his live band some extra credit with recognition on the album title. The band, consisting of Brad Holy on drums, Patrick Tarr on bass, and Jud Ruhl (Gandharvas, The Beauties) on guitar have more impact on this album than the previous two. As Diab says, “This album sounds pretty much like a show we might have played with some friends coming on stage to help out.”

Along with Diab’s live band, the album is rounded out with a host of guest musicians lending their talent to the recording. They include: Christine Bougie (Amy Millan) on lap steel; Jack Breakfast on piano and organ; Jennifer Gillmor (Roach Motel) on cello; Darin Yorston (Wayside Ramblers) on banjo and mandolin; Daniel Easty (who toured with Amer on a stint with Kelly & The Kellygirls) on saxophone and horn arrangements. Juno-nominated Lori Yates (Hey Stella) appears with a heart wrenching duet vocal on the Orphan Keys.

There / After

Amer Diab stresses that There / After is not just another album for the lovelorn. “I tried to be a little more hopeful. I also wrote a fair amount of character-based songs.” Case in point is the album’s first song, Champ, based on a short story about a boxer. “I’ve trained as a boxer since I was a kid and even had one amateur fight ...which I won, by the way. But it’s not a great sport for a guitar player to get heavily involved in.”

Diab takes another stab at subverting the singer-songwriter genre in his country-flavoured tune, Victoria Day. “I thought I’d turn the tables and write a song where the singer turns out to be the bad guy... instead of another ‘you done me wrong’ type of song. Plus I’ve always wanted to have a holiday song. Calling a song Victoria Day is almost like getting on your knees and begging the CBC to play it.”

Other than doffing his cap to Bruce Springsteen with a cover of Nebraska, Diab also pays tribute to Joe Strummer with Joe’s Blues – a song that starts off with a melancholy look at the death of a hero and ends with a rollicking horn-fueled celebration of the man’s life.

Along with Diab’s live band, (Brad Holy on drums and Patrick Tarr on bass), the album is rounded out with a host of guest musicians lending their talent to the recording. They include: Pete Kesper (NQ Arbuckle, Hawksley Workman) on lap and pedal steel; Jennifer Gillmor (Brazen Crush, Kelly & The Kellygirls) on cello; Heather Morgan on violin; Mike Kendel on keyboards; High school friend, Steve Singh, on background vocals; a horn section featuring Shane Mackinnon on saxophone, Sara McElcheran on trumpet, and Doug Friesen on trombone. Lysa Fina appears with a duet vocal on the standout Found Us Again.

There / After was recorded and co-produced by Carl Petzelt at Twang Recordings.

The Year of the Apology

The Year of the Apology is a bit of a contradiction. On one hand, this was my first effort as a solo artist so I could conceivably do everything the way I wanted - without compromise. On the other hand, the album was an exercise in allowing other people to take control. The album is stronger than it would have been because, in certain situations, I decided to take a step back and allow others to do what they did well. This was true from much of the production right down to the album cover. I became a solo artist - and only then learned how to allow other people to make a meaningful contribution to a project.

The amazing band that plays on The Year of the Apology includes Juno Award winners from Broken Social Scene - Brendan Canning (bass) and Andrew Whiteman (guitar). On drums is Emm Gryner’s "favourite drummer", Dean Stone.

The album was lovingly produced by Michael Johnson and engineered by Lurch at Broadcast Lane. Joao Carvalho at Umbrella Sound mastered it.

Buy the CD!

Listen to tracks from "The Year of the Apology".