With the release of Hoodoo Mafia’s new album “From the Village,” the five-piece band from Regina is paying homage to the neighbourhood the musicians grew up in.
“You know, Regina, it’s a pretty small town and visitors might think there’s not that much going on,” said Ethan Reoch, a guitarist and bass player for Hoodoo Mafia. “But if you kind of look in the right spot, there’s like just such great art scene and great artists of all sorts.
“So, you know, we wanted to say from (Cathedral) Village just to just pay respects to all the people we grew up looking up to, like all the role models in the community that we kind of learned from and started music because we got inspired by the older artists in the community.”
Hoodoo debuted the album to a lively crowd of fans at The Exchange Friday evening. The bandmates Daniel Horvey (vocals/songwriting), Adam Horvey (drums), Tijash IB (guitarist) and Ringo Jedlic (keys) formed the group shortly after graduating high school in 2014. Growing up in the same neighborhood, their shared love of music formed from covers in their parent’s basement to learning and recording original music.
Hoodoo does not confine itself to one genre; but is well-known for an ability to encompass multiple sounds. They have a previous album and EP from 2019 entitled “The LizardMang.” From the Village is the band’s third body of work and second studio album; it carries influences from the sounds of Black Sabbath, Rage Against the Machine and nineties hip hop.
Video: Dan, Adam, Tijash, Ringo and Ethan performing live at The Exchange. Video courtesy of Marley Whitman.
“It feels like a first album because just from all the collaboration and like the reflecting, we got to do on it, whereas the first album and a little bit of the second album, we were just like trying to see what we could do and just like put on together and record them,” said Reoch.
The record features local artists Pimpton and Info Red, who are major influences for Hoodoo Mafia.
Pictured: Tijash, Dan and Pimpton. Photo taken by Sarah Onyango.
Hoodoo Mafia was the recipient of the 2022 Recording Artist Development Program. From the Village was largely recorded during the residency. As a self-described “COVID album” the band was able to do most of the writing and recording in studio through RAD.
“Some of the national grants are harder to get,” said Roxie Riffel, the music / SMMART (Social Media Marketing for Artists) coordinator at Creative City Centre.
“So this program essentially was designed where we could help artists learn about the recording process in general, but also about, things that they might need to know to be able to move forward and apply for grants or festivals and other things.”
Artists get access to studio time, professional engineering, supporting musicians, videographers and a one-year SaskMusic membership.
“We’re currently just in kind of the beginnings of our second time doing it,” said Riffel.
“It has been really great. Like from the get go, the very first group that we had here, Blu Beach Band, they keep telling us how it’s opened so many doors for them. And we’ve also seen, they’ve started to play more shows and just do more things. I think they’ve done other recordings since as well.”
Hoodoo is excited for this new album to be out and are performing this summer at various shows yet to be announced. Their new album From the Village is available on all streaming platforms.
Featured Image: Dan, Tijash and Ringo. Photo taken by Sarah Onyango.
