Seeing the Prairies through sound

Nick Faye & The Deputies latest album The Last Best West, which was released in May 2011, brings an honest and rock flavoured sound to the ears of its listeners through each of the eight tracks on the album.

Faye’s music is that of long car rides and small towns. Inspired by the prairies of Saskatchewan, Faye shared in an e-mail interview that the album “was kind of a reflection of how [he] never really appreciated [his] home until a few years back.”

With a farmer for a father it is no surprise that Faye grew up helping out on the farm and eventually became a little antsy in his small town. But the comprehension of what the Prairies meant to Faye really sunk in one day when he was “driving into the most beautiful sunset to play a show in Moose Jaw, [and realized] that ‘this’ was home, and [he would] always be connected to the province.”

Faye’s music portrays the Prairies in a beautiful light using an assortment of instruments. The album includes songs accompanied by guitar, bass and drums but also the sounds of a trumpet, violin and accordion throughout the tracks. “I always strive to have at least one accordion part in my albums,” Faye acknowledged, “As for the other instruments, I usually just try to envision the different parts, and then I look at the talents of my friends around me.”

But the added instruments do not take away from the natural sound of the music. “You won’t hear a mind blowing solo or crazy experimental sound,” Faye said about the album. It is the catchy lyrics that get stuck in the listener’s head for days that makes the music stand out.

The band itself grew once Faye started writing music at the age of sixteen. After seeing various local shows in Regina he “really wanted to be a part of the energy and the musical community” and began his music career by writing acoustic songs and playing in bands with friends.

As Faye wrote he “envisioned [his music] being played with a full rock/pop sound” and started his own band with friends Adam Ennis, drums, and Bryon Chambers, bass, piano and vocals, and worked on recording a first album.
Faye approaches his music randomly letting “life happen” and then “writing snippets of songs as they come [to him].”

Currently Faye is working and only playing the occasional show in Regina. He has some material on the go and wants to hit the road with the full band in the future, possibly sometime next year.

“I’m really proud of the songs and how it turned out,” Faye stated. The album The Last Best West is free to download and Faye encourages music listeners to check it out and let the music grow on them.

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