Ken Wallis Chats With Tyler Fry Of Mojo Minefield

Mojo Minefield is a super-charged trio that lays it on the line with their newly released debut album. From the Kitchener/Elmira area of Southern Ontario, the band formed in 2018 to play a concert in memory of local blues man Mel Brown and they haven’t looked back since.

Led by guitarist and vocalist Tyler Fry, this band proves that blues music is alive and thriving.

Ken Wallis interviewed Tyler Fry for the radio show BluesSource Canada. The following are excerpts from that interview, edited and amended for length and clarity.

Ken Wallis

There's a new album out by Mojo Minefield. It's entitled 'Watch Your Step' and joining us to tell us all about it is Tyler Fry. Tyler, thanks for coming on the show.

Tyler Fry

Thanks for having me, Ken.

Ken Wallis

Well, first of all, let's find out where did you guys got your band name from.

Tyler Fry

Mojo Minefield was the name I had come up with years ago. I just wanted something that could kind of tie into the Blues, the roots of the Blues. It goes way back to the Delta Blues and the word mojo does that for me. It certainly ties back to those Blues roots. And I view our band as a minefield of mojo. You got to watch your step. Careful where you go. There's mojo all over the place.

Ken Wallis

And that certainly ties in properly with the title of Watch Your Step. How did you come up with that title?

Tyler Fry

I wanted to create an album based around that whole concept and the idea came for the title track to kind of tie into the minefield theme and it all came together pretty well.

Ken Wallis

So tell us who's in the band?

Tyler Fry

The band is a three-piece. It's myself on lead vocals and guitar, and then it's drummer Ethan Myers and bassist Scott Carere. And those guys all sing harmonies with me as well.  We get some three-part harmonies going, and we get into some good stuff that way.

Ken Wallis

So how did you guys get together in the first place?

Tyler Fry

That's a funny story as well. The bassist and the drummer, they met each other going to university, at the University of Waterloo, and then my bass player started his own band and I actually played bass for them. That's where I kind of got to know those guys. And then he kind of drifted off from there and I hijacked the whole band. And I said how about you play bass for me and play my stuff? And then we went from there.

Ken Wallis

That's a great story. How would you describe your music for someone that hasn't heard it yet.

Tyler Fry

I like to describe it as in your face Blues and Roots music. It ties into the traditional Blues in a sense. But then I feel like we take it in a much more modern, aggressive spin at the same time. I don't think we got too far away off the Blues and what the Blues is, but we have our own spin on it for sure.

Ken Wallis

And who writes your song?

Tyler Fry

I wrote all the songs myself, and then we put them together and do the finishing touches as a band.

Ken Wallis

And where can folks get a hold of your album.

Tyler Fry

You can listen to the album now online. I t's streaming everywhere on their major streaming services, and we're also selling physical copies of CD's and vinyl records as well at our shows.

Ken Wallis

So do you have a lot of shows booked in the near future?

Tyler Fry

We have a few booked throughout the winter here.  We've been playing a lot, actually in Elmira, where I'm from. There's a brewery close to home, so that's just outside of Kitchener. And we're playing once a month there over the course of the winter. And we’ll see where we go from there.

Ken Wallis

Well, I hope I get to see you guys live because your album is fantastic. I imagine live performance must be quite electric.

Tyler Fry

Yes, thank you very much. I'm hoping we can get out to some more shows and some bigger shows next summer. So we'll see what comes.

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