By Julie Gauthier
For Canadian music icons like Alanis Morissette and Celine Dion, success means thousands of fans, tour dates in major venues around the globe and million-dollar record contracts. For 23-year-old Centretown musician Jeremy Gara, success is measured on a much smaller scale.
“In Europe they promise you a meal and a place to stay. Here, if you get a show and nobody shows up, they make you pay for the sound guy and kick you out.”
Gara, who plays guitar and piano in local band Kepler, is the epitome of a local musician trying to survive in a city not known as a musical hotbed.
Although Kepler is making waves internationally, few people in Ottawa recognize the quartet.
Gara joined in 1999, two years after the band was formed, and is accompanied by Mike Sheridan on drums, Samir Khan on bass and vocals, and Jon Georgekish-Watt who sings and plays guitar.
Although he is new to Kepler, Gara isn’t new to playing in bands. He grew up in Orleans, a suburb of Ottawa, and began his musical career in high school with bands like Hitchhiked, started by his friends. Since then, his love for the scene grew and he graduated to many different types of musical ventures.
Gara also plays with another Ottawa band, Weights & Measures, and has played with Julie Doiron from the East Coast band Eric’s Trip and Snailhouse, among others.
Kepler is heading to Europe this week to tour with Godspeed You Black Emperor! a band from Montreal. The U.K. tour includes stops in Scotland and Ireland, but Kepler will break off into a separate tour to mainland Europe until May without a set itinerary, according to Gara.
Since this is the first big tour for the band, Gara says he is excited.
“Godspeed is enormously successful. It’s good for us to be able to play with them.”
Still, Gara knows that there is a level of uncertainty when that part of the tour ends.
“Once we start playing on our own, I think we’re just hoping to get a show every night.”
Early on, the band released a number of recordings, like This Heart is Painted On (1999), hundreds of which are still unsold.
It was with the second recording, called Fuck, Fight, Fail, that a moderate level of success was reached.
It was released in 2000 in the U.S. on CD and in the U.K. on vinyl in 2001. It sold over a thousand copies.
The newest release from the band, Missionless Days, is set for release this month.
Kepler is signed to two different labels, Troubleman Unlimited in New Jersey and Resonant in London, England.
Gara says that the labels provide support for Kepler’s ventures.
“Troubleman really loves the new album and is really helping out with the tour,” says Gara and adds that Resonant is also pleased with the new work.
“The feedback from England so far has been good and we’ve been getting e-mails from dj’s in weird venues.”
Gara admits that self-promotion is important, but it isn’t Kepler’s main goal. The band just wants to play.
“You can ignore the business side and just play because you want to. At the same time, it’s good to get out and show people who you are.”
Gara is quick to say that one of the challenges is finding work in a city like Ottawa.
“Ottawa is still a gamble. I don’t know any ‘professional’ bands in the area. It doesn’t pay to be a band here,” he says.
Kepler has performed at Babylon and Barrymore’s in Ottawa, but mainly plays in Montreal and Toronto. Gara doesn’t make enough money from the shows to live on, so he also works security in a government building to make ends meet.
The band’s radio success has also been limited to college radio stations, but there have been a couple of “big” moments, Gara says.
“John Peel from the BBC played us once,” he says referring to a U.K. radio personality.
Even with the hype beginning to surround the band, Gara is still hesitant to describe Kepler’s musical style.
“I can’t answer that. It’s impossible.”
After a brief pause he adds, “I would describe it as stylish.”
Contradicting Gara’s view that Ottawa isn’t a profitable place to play, Adam Kronick, owner of Babylon nightclub on Bank Street says the live music scene is starting to pick up.
“There are some good live venues in Ottawa. There are higher quality shows coming in more abundance,” says Kronick.
Kepler held its CD release party for the last recording at Babylon, and has also played there a number of times.
“The talent in the band blows me away,” says Kronick.
“Every time they play here there is a positive reaction.” Gara is hesitant to talk about Kepler’s level of success, and seems to take the ideas of fame and fortune in stride.
“I don’t think about the future. I can’t predict where it will turn out.”
Gara is also very humble about his own talents, but people who work with him see them quite clearly.
Kevin Jagernauth, fellow Weights & Measures bandmate says Gara is a great musical influence.
“It’s amazing. He really approaches the music as a songwriter, even though drummers don’t often do this.
But it’s often helpful. Sometimes he’ll change up an entire song and it’s much better than something Samir and I could have come up with.”
Jagernauth also says he sees a successful musical future for Gara.
“Jeremy has said it straight out: He wants to do this for a living and probably will. He’s very committed to it and there’s no question in my mind that he will make a future out of it.”
But it seems that right now, success to Gara means getting a free meal and not having to pay the sound guy.