It’s been a little while since Sin & Swoon played The Cove Inn, but they are back. I dug them up and found them again! Michelle Tompkins and Mike O’Brien have a connection beyond music that takes them to new places whenever they pick up their instruments. As a duo, their sound is full and imaginative, yet respectfully traditional. Catch Michelle and Mike's live performance at The Cove Inn on Friday, October 4, 2024 from 5 to 8 pm, hopefully on the patio stage amidst a fall backdrop. Details here: web link

Seamus Cowan: As a couple, what is it like performing together with Michelle, along with all the rest of it? You definitely end up attaining an undeniable closeness that keeps your sound air tight. What’s the origin story there?

Mike O'Brien: One of our first dates was to get together and play some Everly Brothers tunes in a park. We always gravitated towards that close harmony singing style. I was really into the Louvin Brothers and she introduced me to the music of the Delmore Brothers, that music was on steady rotation for both of us at that point. We would sit around and play after dinner, learning as many of those songs as we could.

Once we started to get a number of tunes together, we began playing songs here and there at get-togethers or parties, and then the idea of a happy hour gig at Divan Orange was floated our way. At one point we both began bringing some original material into the fold, everything progressed kind of naturally from there.

These days, we juggle parenthood and our 9-5 hustle, then whenever possible we play some music. We end up meeting up in there somewhere with guitars after dishes and packing lunches.

Q: Since the early 2000’s we have known each other on the Montreal scene through guys like Joe Grass (who just played The Cove last Friday actually). What is so special about the Montreal music scene of which you belong? Is it an anomaly? Kind of seems like it to me...

Mike: It used to be pretty cheap to live in Montreal, so you could get by on a part-time job and spend the rest of your time working on music or whatever craft you were honing. You could have a rehearsal space going with friends in some garment district for an affordable price. It was an exciting time!

These days I feel a little at arms length from a lot of what is happening in the city, I am fully immersed in the “parenting and 9 to 5” chapter. I get the occasional glimpse of what’s current whenever I do sideman gigs for other local acts. People are definitely still going out to check out music, I’m just a little on the outskirts of the up and coming stuff now. The silver lining is that I am rekindling that sense of wonder and excitement I used to get whenever I hear someone I never heard before.

Playing gigs has been the real window into the scene for me all this time. Any given night would have at least two acts, so with that, sometimes you get to hear the new up- and-comers, or sometimes you are in the opening slot for one of the bigger local touring acts. It was pretty dreamy to be around all that music.

Each style of music in the city had it’s “scene”—-the clubs you could play, the people that would regularly play, the people that would regularly come out... It would all eventually evolve into a community. Some real friendships have come out of all that.

Q: You play some other string instruments but you are particularly great on your prized acoustic guitar. Your fascination with classic folk, romantic songwriting, bluegrass, swing jazz, francophone and east coast tunes sings out of it! I remember hearing your first record burning a hole in the players in the clubs in Casa del Popolo and Divan Orange in Montreal. Your sound is so diverse. What is the driving force behind all this?

Mike: For most of my acoustic gigs I gravitate towards an Indian Hill Guitars OM model made by Montreal Luthier Mike Kennedy, it’s an amazing guitar. It’s a real jack of all trades guitar, sounds great on most everything I jump into. For some gigs I will also use a model from Greenfield Guitars, really beautiful guitar, but I keep it for special occasions, soft seaters are usually best for that one. And there is my trusty Larrivée L-09, I love flat picking on that one, and great for recording.

Q: Gotta love your 2018 record called “Classic Folk Sing-Along Songs” by Sin & Swoon from 2018. I’m happy to hear you just went with it and did your own versions. Clearly there was inspiration by being young parents, no? What did you learn from that experiment? Those songs just last.

Mike: That was a project that initially came from a local children’s book publisher La Montagne Secrète. They had been putting out really cool book and cd packages, and they wanted to have one that would feature us doing classic nursery rhyme or folk sing-along standards. They had hired local producer Ben Morier (who is also the bass player and life partner of Lisa Leblanc). We had a hand in some of the arrangements, but I would say that the vision of that one lies with Ben Morier, he was so great to work with, very laid back and so creative.

Q: And how about that El Coyote folk supergroup too! Immersing your soulfulness into these works is a joy to listen to. Do you continue to or plan to write or record more beautiful creations of this ilk? Maybe get the band back together?

Mike: El Coyote is a super fun band to be a part of, mainly because we are all such close friends. The nucleus is Katie Moore, Angela Desveaux and Michelle Tompkins, then there’s us lads hanging out backing them up, Joe Grass, Andrew Horton and I.

We were getting together regularly to jam and sing songs on nights where we weren’t gigging, and eventually the ladies began bringing in originals, and then things started to sound so good, we all thought that it would be nice to archive all that work. So we did a record! It took a long time to get it finished as Angela and Michelle were pregnant while all this was going on.

I know that the lads are all rooting for another record to happen! We just don’t want to be pushy haha. We’ve been getting together to play regularly this past year, and there are definitely some originals that have been brought to the table... I know I’m crossing my fingers. Posted: Sep 30, 2024 Originally Published: Sep 26, 2024