Mighty Joe
July 9, 1999
By Lisa Wilton
Calgary Sun
Move over Country Joe -- there's a new Joe hoping to make a mark on the Woodstock legend.
The four members of Serial Joe may not know a lot about the original event that happened about 15 years before they were born, but that's not going to stop them from enjoying its 30th anniversary celebration.
"My dad told me about it and I've seen part of the movie," says Ryan Dennis, the 15-year-old singer and guitarist of the Toronto-based band, which was recently added to the Woodstock '99 bill in Rome, N.Y this summer.
"I never really paid much attention because I never thought I'd go to it, but now that we're playing it, I'm beginning to learn a little more about it."
The hard-hitting rock 'n' rap group is one of only two Canadian bands playing the three-day festival's smaller Emerging Acts stage.
The second is blues-cum-reggae guitar gods Big Sugar.
"We know it's a big deal because there's going to be a lot of people there, so we're really excited," says Dennis, whose face was plastered all over MuchMusic in the Our Lady Peace video, Superman's Dead.
And if rockin' out at Woodstock wasn't a cool enough way to spend part of summer vacation, Serial Joe -- Dennis, bassist John Davidson,14, guitarist Ryan Stever, 15 and drummer Dan Stadnicki, 14 -- should be beside themselves playing the second stage on this year's Edgefest tour, which stops at Race City Speedway today.
"It's going to be our first time on a tour bus," he says excitedly.
"We get the whole deal. It's awesome. We were stunned because we didn't expect to get Edgefest this year. But it's awesome that we did ... We play a lot better the more people there are, because on stage we really get hyped up from the energy of the crowd."
Dennis says he is particularly excited about performing alongside such bands as Silverchair, Hole and Edwin, who Serial Joe will be supporting after Edgefest finishes in Vancouver next week.
"We won't come across as a bunch of snotty kids if we meet (the other bands)," he says. "We're all normal kids. Hopefully they won't think we're jerks or idiots. And if they do, hopefully they'll change their minds after seeing us live."
Serial Joe is touring in support of their first full-length record, Face Down.