Stratford band Upside of Maybe is getting recognized all over the world, recently winning four awards at the 2024 European Red Carpet Awards show.
The band, which consists of Andy Horrocks, Troy Lockyer, John Munroe, and brothers Scott and Michael Bannerman, found this to be pleasantly surprising.
“When we were contacted and asked to submit music we were not expecting to win any awards,” said lead singer Michael Bannerman. “To come away with four awards is pretty neat. The one that surprised us the most was for Video of the Year in the band category for our video, Rainmaker.”
The band also took home the awards for the Folk Song of the Year for a band for their song The Shade, Best of Blues for the song All Who Wander, and the Native American Style award for their collaboration with Okama for the song Rainmaker. The European Red Carpet Awards is a juried award show from the Netherlands that had over 3334 nominations from over 38 countries with awards in 255 categories.
The core of Upside of Maybe has been together a long time, with the Bannerman brothers playing together for nearly 40 years. Troy Lockyer who is the bands drummer has been performing with the brothers for the past 15 years as well. The five members formed Upside of Maybe 11 years ago when they played Stratford’s Garlic Festival. They have a unique sound that has garnered them comparisons of the Barenaked Ladies, Blue Rodeo, and Great Big Sea.
“We’ve a bit eclectic,” admitted Bannerman. “We get compared to those bands because we kind of sound like them. We even do some East Coast-inspired stuff, think fiddles, so we are kind of in that sphere of music.”
Bannerman is one of the songwriters that helps the band with their sound, adding he loves taking stories and turning them into music.
“For Rainmaker, for example, the story is one of residential schools,” he said. “I had taken a course, and it just seemed like a story that needed to be told. I got together with some Indigenous friends from the group Okama, who is on the song with us, and I asked how do I write this from a white male perspective but still make it culturally sensitive. I wrote the song from the point of view of one of the priests involved in residential schools who is asking for forgiveness and it currently has close to 50,000 views.”
Upside of Maybe enjoys playing in front of a live audience no matter how large or small the venue they are playing at may be.
“Our largest audience was 15,000 down in Michigan,” said Bannerman, but he added it's all about the connection. “It’s not really about the size of the audience, but more so about the emotional connection. If there are only 25 people at an intimate show or thousands of people screaming and jumping, each concert offers its own challenges and beauty.”
2025 will be an interesting year for the band, as they have a new album coming out, with an expected release date in January. This album, which has a working title of Storyteller, does just that, tells amazing, and unique stories.
“We picked either individuals or make up people and tell their stories,” said Bannerman. One story is about a washboard player the band met in New Orleans, while another is about an infamous serial killer also from New Orleans.
“The story is so interesting,” said Bannerman. “It’s about a guy who is a serial killer who said basically the only way to stay safe is if you are listening to live music,or out dancing and partying on a Tuesday night. So there is this big mystery, and people are wondering if it's a musician trying to get gigs, a mafia hitman, or even a whole voodoo theme, but when I heard the story I knew we had to write about it.”
The new year will also bring new opportunities for the group, who must make a difficult decision between heading to the United Kingdom or Japan.
“We have a song called Smallmouth Disneyland that got picked up by a Japanese fisherman who is on the pro bass fishing circuit,” said Bannerman. “He uses the song for his walk-up and weigh-ins but we didn’t realize how big the song was but it has taken off and we have an invite for a nine day tour, which we are looking into. We have also been invited to play a festival in Britain as well, so we are flipping a coin right now between the two.”
The band also will be active on the summer festival scene, and have plans to head out on the road with a goal of hitting both coasts this year. You can check out the band's music and the video for Rainmaker on their website.
