That's Where It's At

Propeller | The Archives | 1

David Ward + Golden Future performing with special guest Blonde Diamond for international soul music series, Propeller. Sound recording by Alex Penney. Filmed by Tom Belding at Guilt & Co. Feb 23, 2020.

This video encapsulates how I always envisioned Propeller—the connective powers of music drawing together a mighty pool of talent whose express aim was to get butts out of chairs. Here it is, working! You can see the joy written all over Alexis’ (Blonde Diamond) face for crying out loud…all of our faces!

In 2019, my creative producing partner, Jeanette Wilkinson, and I ported the energy and resources from touring into the creation of our international soul music series, Propeller. It came out of a desire to create a weekly gig similar to the ones that drew me into a line-up every Thursday night in downtown Vancouver through my twenties—a hot spot in the city where people came out to dance, discover new music, and discover our music. And I wanted a regular thing that would bring my band closer together; make us sharper, both in keeping our own work fresh, and in challenging us into new spaces, by working with people we admired. My bassist Darren Parris was a part of one of those aforementioned legendary Vancouver nights and an afternoon coffee with him helped to seed what was to come.

We collaborated and performed with a dream list of local and international heavyweights over the first 3 seasons of Propeller, including Daru Jones (Jack White); Warren Dean Flandez; Patrice Quinn (Kamasi Washington); Dawn Pemberton; Brandon Coleman (Childish Gambino); Salami Rose Joe Louis…the list goes on.

Just before the pandemic hit, our show broke even for the first time.

We’ll be back. When the conditions are right, we’ll be back and we can’t wait to see you all again.

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P.S.

Blonde Diamond have a new album coming out soon. I’ve heard nothing but good things. Keep your eyes on them.