A FAMILE AFFAIR  
Ottawa Xpress, June 5, 2003

They call themselves Golden Famile and when speaking with man of the house Darrell 
Angus about his rootsy band, the family metaphor keeps sneaking in there. For one, the 
trio grew to a six-piece outfit in a span of a few years (fruitful!), like most families they're a 
mixed bag, with punk rockers, classically trained musicians and indie rockers in the fold 
and, if he had it his way, Angus' band would be, like, a 28-piece, continually adding instruments 
and people to the stage set-up for that big down-home feeling. 

"That's why the door is always open in this band," he said by phone from his Ottawa day 
job. "The whole point of this band is to create a community and be part of a community."

Somewhere between Little House on the Prairie and a commune is where this family 
lies - they sing "porch songs," classic, homey roots tunes.

"That's just how I grew up," Angus explains of his Kingston, Ontario upbringing. "We'd just 
pick up a guitar, look out on what's passing by and play songs - we didn't get involved in 
gangs at the South Keys plaza or anything." 

And they certainly keep the carousing to a minimum. Last year Golden Famile played only 
a handful of shows. "There are a lot of great bands that come through town, electronic, punk, 
garage. I'd go see them all, but sometimes we can't hook up a show. Promoters seem to want 
to promote bands that are similar in style."

Seems Bluesfest scouts didn't have that problem. They play the fest the same day as Elvis 
Costello, but when Toronto's Where Art Thou's The Creaking Tree String Quartet came to town 
recently, someone missed a good pairing. That's not the case for this weekend, Angus says.

"The Asteroid #4 come from the same place. We try to channel a Canadiana sound and they try to 
channel an Americana sound.

"People talk about us and they bring up Neil Young a lot, which is great, I love his records."

Golden Famile are on record No. 2 themselves, this year's Eastern, Cloudy, the follow-up to 
2001's self-titled release. A campaign to college radio and small presses upped their radar and 
the band just hooked up a distribution deal with Scratch Records.


Golden Famile open for The Asteroid #4 at Bumper's Roadhouse, Saturday, June 7 at 9 p.m. 
Cover is $8. 

FATEEMA SAYANI