Half way through to soon to be historic first gig...just when the three performers beleived it coudn't get any more outrageous, enter Frites Mashed. Giging across the street at another club, Frites wanted to check out what the "buzz" was all about. Frites stopped in, heard one song, and went straight back for his fiddle.
About Us
Strange Potatoes, a band that literally grew from the roots more than it was formed.
Julienne meets Idaho
When, at a local Collingwood pub, Idaho Baked met Julienne au Grautin for the very first time, neither had any idea that it was only a matter of minutes before the two would be thrust on stage together and getting rave reviews. Taking over the last set of the night, Baked was on Acoustic Bass and au Grautin on Acoustic Guitar with both trading off on lead and background vocals. Totally improvised and off the cuff, yet some how everyone in the room could feel the potential
Yukon to the rescue!
From the single first set came the first gig! The duo was immdediately booked to headline their own show. With no time to rehearse, Baked called on his old mate Yukon Goldie to help fill in the gaps for what was sure to be a "seat of the pants performance."
In fact it was Goldie, who after just meeting au Grautin was quoted as saying. "We're on in five minutes? Well boys we need a name for the band and a first song". Goldie with his guitar and mandolin immediately fell into the boys groove of combining music, energy and humour. Now three lead singers, with each lad pulling up a wide array of musical formats the outstanding concept of "a rock'n'roll kitchen party" began to emerge. With acoustic instruments and three part harmony they were all over the map with crowd pleasing musical styles. Celtic, 90's Modern Rock, 80's Retro, 70's Power Metal, 50&60's Rock'n'Roll, Country, Rythmn and Blues and Blue Grass
After a few quick introductions, Mashed fell right in with the hodgepodge of material adding that fourth part harmony as well grabbing some lead vocal to take the band to even greater musical destinations.
Before the night was out, from an ad lib introduction by Goldie, the boys were dubbed 'Strange Potatoes" . A whirlwind of pubs, clubs , events and festivals followed. Yukon Goldie as since left the band but Julienne, Idaho and Frites continue to wave the banner of outrageous musical insanity. These days Strange Potatoes often employs the solid back beat of drummer Skins Russet whenever they want to crank it up to a ridiculous intensity.
