ERIC FRESIA LOUNGES in the high-ceilinged living room of the Beckwith, NS, farmhouse he shares with his partner, Catherine Bussière, and their three children. His wild, curly hair is particularly hand-ruffled this afternoon, the day after a concert at his sister’s country home where he and his band, Fresia and the Offsprings, previewed songs from their upcoming second album.
Behind him is an upright piano, a keyboard, a set of hand drums and his guitars. This is not only where he lives but also where he writes, and records music. It’s possible to do it all from here, at the end of a long dirt road in rural Nova Scotia, because of the Internet—and the fact that the other two members of his band live under the same roof.
“They’re my best band,” Eric says of the two youngest kids, Charlotte, 12, and Sam, 14. “They know my music and they’re in tune with where it’s going.”
While the Maritime kitchen-party influence can be found in a few of Eric’s songs, it’s just one of many styles he absorbs and transforms into this unique world music. After two decades of travelling through Canada, the US, Mexico and Central America, Eric incorporates traditional folk, blues, jazz and reggae influences in his music, as well as French and Spanish lyrics.
“I call it world music because I like to grab from all over the place,” Eric says. “If there is a new style or a song I like, I’ll be influenced by it.”
Although Eric’s mother taught him to play the drums at the age of four, it wasn’t until he received a guitar for Christmas in Grade 12 that he discovered his calling. “I started writing right away,” he says. “Within the first year, I probably had 100 songs.”
After graduating from high school, he participated in a youth exchange program in Jamaica. That’s where he met 18-year-old Catherine, who had lived in places as wide-ranging as Ottawa and Tunisia.
“He got me with his singing,” says Catherine, laughing. From Jamaica, the pair continued to travel together, working when they needed to. They picked apples in British Columbia or Nova Scotia, and Eric found jobs in carpentry or construction. Nomads, Catherine calls them, even after she gave birth to their first child, Isaac. But within a couple of years, they decided they needed a permanent home.
“I was pregnant with our second child and had a strong nesting feeling,” Catherine says. That feeling led them back to Cumberland County, not far from where Eric grew up along the shores of the Northumberland Strait. In 1994, he and Catherine bought the old Harry Ledbetter place, a rambling farmhouse on 12 to 15 acres with a large pond and a few outbuildings.
They kept chickens and goats and planted a garden. They sold their garlic in braids at markets in Amherst and Halifax. “When we started travelling again we realized we couldn’t have the animals,” says Catherine.
Eric rolls his eyes when asked if they are modern hippies. “Harry fixed cars and took care of the land,” he says, “and we just do the same.” He recently wrote a song dedicated to Harry and his wife, Julia, which appears on the new album. “After 15 years of living here, I thought it was about time to write a song about the house.”
Where their property creates a natural bowl, he built a stage for the launch party for Fresia and the Offsprings’ debut CD, in 2007, but the event was rained out, so there is yet to be a concert at the Harry and Julia Auditorium.
AS COOL AND eclectic as the music is—and as romantic and exotic as their lives seem—the reality is that there’s more practice and persistence than glamour or wealth. In fact, Eric still does odd carpentry jobs to supplement their income.
“We’re like most artists in Canada with little income,” says Catherine, a freelance photographer, videographer and teacher. “Plenty of our friends who are musicians and painters are in the same situation. No insurance, no retirement fund. We drive old Volvos because we can’t afford a new car. Yet that old Volvo took us all over North America.”
Eric says the need to travel to new places and explore different cultures is a craving. “It’s something we need to do. What makes that possible is having great family and neighbours that we have always been able to depend on to look after our place…. We can go away and not worry about it.”
Since Charlotte, the youngest, was born in 1997, the family has lived and worked in Montreal, Halifax and Mexico. The children have been home-schooled but have also attended public school. It was during a three-year stint in Halifax, beginning in 2002, that Eric got his first clue to the new direction his musical journey would take.
“I was practicing a song called ‘Rock Patio Monkey,’” he says. “Charlotte was singing along, and Sam had a steady beat on the drums. A friend came in and said, ‘Wow, you’ve got your band.’ That’s when it dawned on me: Brilliant!”
In 2005, the family returned to the farmhouse and spent what Catherine describes as a “transitional year,” home-schooling and travelling. As part of their curriculum, the family drove south in their 1989 Volvo station wagon to spend three months in Mexico. It was there that Fresia and the Offsprings made its debut.
“We rented an apartment in San Cristóbal de las Casas,” Eric says. “That town has a lot of artisans and culture and music. A lot of foreign tourists. I decided I should try to find a gig. We met this wonderful family who we bought drums from and I ended up with a nightly gig in a little café on the main square. We made 70 pesos a night, 7 dollars for an hour. We started playing every night, Charlotte singing and on the marimba, Sam on the drums and me playing the guitar.”
The new trio released its first album in 2007, and a year later, the family of five again packed up the Volvo, along with a 16-foot trailer, for a four-month tour. Since Isaac, the artist of the family, was 15, Catherine felt this might be their last opportunity to travel en famille.
It was a major tour: 26 states, eight provinces and 24,000 kilometres; 25 gigs and three festivals, including a week at the Festivale Internationale de Louisiane and a performance at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Isaac kept his pencil busy and filled a sketchbook with drawings.
The secret to their success? “The way we travelled and a positive attitude,” says Catherine, who took care of photos, video, the website and… meals. In that tiny trailer.
“I made sure there was always food on the go,” she says. “Not eating out saves so much and we ate healthier.” Camping in state parks meant they could have ocean views for $15 a night, and that’s how they celebrated Eric’s 40th birthday: on the coast of California, eating birthday crêpes that Catherine whipped up.
TO SOME PEOPLE, they have a perfect, bohemian lifestyle: living in the country, pursuing their art, working when they need to, playing and exploring as a family.
The Internet helps. “I can do all my booking online,” Eric says. “Now that the kids are my band, I don’t have to find musicians; I just have to find gigs. Ever since I’ve been playing with the kids, we’re getting more festivals. There’s a lot of venues I can’t play in now, but I don’t mind.”
He leans back in his chair. “I feel very fortunate. It’s a lot of work and compromise along with love and understanding. Mix in travel, good friends, great food and lots of comedy and you have a lifestyle... not a wealthy one but one rich and rewarding in
other ways.”
From outside comes the rumble of a school bus, then the three kids are in the kitchen. They grab snacks, fill glasses with the spring water their father fetches from the tap on a nearby road, and gather around the table.
“Do you think we’re hippies?” Catherine asks.
Isaac laughs and Charlotte exclaims, “No! We’re not hippies.”
“What does bohemian mean, anyway?” Catherine continues. No one can define it so Isaac gets a dictionary for his mother, and she reads out loud: a socially unconventional person, especially an artist or writer.
There is a moment of silence.
“Oh,” she says. “I guess we are.”
At the house concert, the crowd of 30 settles into chairs while Fresia and the Offsprings warm up with an instrumental tune. After a couple of songs, Eric welcomes everyone. His delight in working with two of his children is apparent.
“Recently we were asked to perform at a wedding. One of the bridesmaids had seen us perform at the Stan Rogers Festival in 2007. She said to me, ‘Oh, you’re the Offsprings and that guy.’ So I guess I’m That Guy.”
He also admits that Charlotte is emerging as the band’s hottest songwriter. “Three of the top four songs on the new album are written by Charlotte.” Eric grins. “I’m number four.”
That song is a tribute to Catherine. “We both turned 40 this year,” he tells the crowd. “And we have these beautiful children. That is one of the reasons we wanted to do the tour last year, while we were still able to drag them along in a Volvo and a 16-foot trailer.”
His eyes find Catherine’s at the edge of the crowd. “We’re not old yet. Right? We’re not old.”
After the concert, Eric reveals that none of his songs exist on paper. “They are just composed in my head. Bu t I guess I’d better start writing them down,” he says, then smiles and runs a hand through his wild hair.
Fresia and the Offsprings will release their as-yet untitled second CD Saturday, August 22, at their home in Beckwith, NS. It starts in the afternoon with a variety of musicians jamming into the night, using the stage Eric Fresia built near the pond. There’s a potluck supper and camping available; on Sunday there’s a corn boil. For more information go to fresiaandtheoffsprings.com.