Two Sault-brothers came back to headline the main stage at Rotaryfest this year, this time in different bands.
Kyle McKey, guitarist for Pembroke’s The Ghost Town Cryers, and Dean McKey of the London-area based The McCartney Years, were asked to come up and headline the festival’s Saturday night main stage.
Rotaryfest’s Stage 1 Director Shaun Antler said she usually likes to try and book at least one tribute band.
She also likes to get bands with local ties, so she thought of Dean and The McCartney Years.
“Then I had the brainchild why not get his brother Kyle back as well because they were both really well known local musicians who left to become pretty successful professional musicians,” she said.
Kyle, 30, and Dean, 27, got into music at young age when their dad Fred McKey started teaching older brother Kyle guitar and then Dean soon followed on the drums.
“It was sort out of necessity, to play as a band we needed a drummer and that sort of fell on me,” said Dean.
With their father, they started The McKey Family Band and their memorable first show was at the Prince Town Hall Variety Show where, because of the novelty factor of pre-teens playing Rolling Stones and Beatles songs, they were a big hit and even got a write-up in the paper.
“My dad taught us these songs that we had no business knowing. To see these kids up there playing songs by bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd sort of added to the cute-aspect of it,” said Dean.
One of the brother’s early groups was one they started with their good friend Jeff Brown called Pix n’ Stix.
“Our mom’s went and got t-shirts for us,” said Kyle.
“It was… adorable,” piped in Dean.
Throughout elementary and high school, the brothers played in several bands often with Brown in the lineup.
Pix n’ Stix morphed into Edge City which eventually turned into the all-original music group Sailor’s Tongue.
One or the other also played in local bands Mustang Sally, Hat Trik, Mocombo, and Asylum Country.
The brothers’ days of playing together were cut short when, in 2007, Dean went eventually entering the Music Industry Arts program at Fanshawe College in London.
Kyle said he considered leaving with his brother but, after spending his high school years playing in bands, he was at a point in life where he wasn’t so success driven but more focused on having the fun he felt he missed out on in high school.
Kyle finished his Bachelor of Arts in music at Algoma University and made a living playing in the local band Hat Trik while supplementing his income delivering 50 lb jugs of water.
He found it too hard to balance a demanding physical labor job while at the same time playing late night gigs.
When his girlfriend KT Antler got a good job opportunity in Petawawa he decided to shake things up and make the move.
“I couldn’t play in the bar at night and then get up in the morning. When KT got that offer, I said I’ll quit this water job and we’ll move to this strange Petawawa town and I’m just going to see if I can’t get into a really good band and make a living,” said Kyle.
So in 2014 he moved to Pembroke (beside Petawawa), eventually found the Ghost Town Cryers, and now plays guitar in a band full time touring the Ottawa Valley and other parts of Southern Ontario.
They are big with the Canadian Forces and will often rock the mess halls at many CFBs.
“Its nice to come back and show the band off to the Sault. This is what I’ve been doing for the last year and a half. I haven’t been wasting my time away from the Sault. I actually came back with a product I’m proud to be a part of,” said Kyle.
Throughout this time Dean was busy himself.
In 2011 his then band the Neverending White Lights won a Much Music video award for the song This Time, a collaboration between them and Jdiggz.
Then, through a college-connection, he found The McCartney Years.
“If our band leader Yuri Pool didn’t sound exactly like McCartney I wouldn’t be in the band. When I first auditioned and I heard him start singing he freaked me out. This guy sounds more like Paul than Paul does,” said Dean.
Dean and the band have been travelling around all of North America and perhaps some of the local snowbirds might see his group as they play quite a few shows in Florida during the winter.
Even though they’re off doing their own things, this whole time the brothers have kept their original-music band Sailor’s Tongue and continue to collaborate writing and recording songs via the Internet.
“Sailor’s Tongue is still my very favourite project. We send music files back and forth and we do really high quality recordings just with our computers. Dean will send me some music, I’ll write some words and sing lyrics on top, send it back, and he might ask I change something and so we revise it until we have something we’re happy with,” said Kyle.
Coming home has been a great reunion for the Kyle and Dean.
“A friend of mine from high school just texted me saying he was really excited to see the McCartney years and that he didn’t realize I was even in the band,” said Dean.
On Friday Kyle played the Water Tower Inn in front of his old mentor Tim Hatfield.
On Saturday, the brothers spent the day hanging out in front of the Rotaryfest stage with their dad and friends before their bands played in front of packed Clergue Park crowds Saturday Night.
During The Ghost Town Cryers set, Dean came on stage and played drums for covers of Billy Jean by Michael Jackson, Chain of Fools by Aretha Franklin, and Up on Cripple Creek by The Band.
“It’s cool being back. We’ve both played the first and second stages at Rotaryfest before and now we’re both headlining, it’s kind of neat,” said Dean.