Derek Olive Bike shot new1

 

Folk musician Derek Olive has been cycling across much of Canada as part of his music tour coming to Swift Current on August 20th.

The current tour is allowing Olive to get back to his music roots as he obtained a master's degree in music composition from UBC but then went back to school to become a nurse and has been working in this field for the past three years.

Olive says the tour allows him to combine two of his passions.

" The idea of mixing music and cycling for me has always been fun. I did a music cycling tour probably about 7 or 8 years ago as well. Just because for me I like mixing the idea of something healthy and then I get to play shows at the end of the day often. Also, just to find a strange way to promote doing something more enviromentally friendly in terms of being a musician. Instead of sitting in a car all day im sitting on a bicycle all day."

During his music and cycling tour Olive is also promoting the David Suzuki Foundation's Blue Dot camapign which encourages everyone to try to pass legislation within their municipalities to say we want our water, air and soil protected.

Olive says the campaign is great because it is simple to get people involved in politics and allows them to have a voice.

The tour began in Vancouver and apart from taking the train from Winnipeg to Toronto, Olive is cycling on a cargo bike loaded with all of his instruments and essentials.

In terms of the type of music he plays, Olive says it combines a variety of styles.

"I sort of put it some where along the lines of folk pop. Sometimes there's a bunch of other things that slip in there since I studied classical music for a long time. I play guitar reasonably well. And then I guess some of my big influences are Bruce Cockburn, Ani Difranco and then I have been listening to a whole lot of Taj Mahal and other blues guys. So kind of a smorgasbord of stuff."

Olive says the the theme of the tour is similar to one of his songs on his album called Paper Wings.

"The goal you have with music is kind of a butterfly effect where you want good waves to go outward. So this tour is about spreading good waves about music and the environment."

Olive's performance will take place at the Urban Ground Coffee House beginning at 8pm.

More information regarding the Blue Dot campaign can be found at www.bluedot.ca and Olive's tour information can be found at www.derekolive.com or on his facebook page.