Jim Mathewson remembers The Sidetrack
Image: Screenshot captured during a video interview between Louis Rastelli and Jim Mathewson, March 3, 2021
Credit: ARCMTL collection. Interview was conducted in Montreal on March 3, 2021 with Jim Mathewson by Louis Rastelli, Director of ARCMTL.
Duration: 1:01 min
Video clip of an interview with Jim Mathewson, former member of the band Owed To The Blues and then-friend of The Sidetrack. He recounts the people’s infatuation with The Sidetrack when they played at The New Penelope on Stanley, and his own admiration for the originality of the band’s music and their impact on his own band.
Transcription:
Jim Mathewson: […] [Looks at a picture of the band while he speaks.] So I just went down [The first New Penelope] and saw these people. And I was just, I mean, it was so exciting because in those days this place here was not that far south of De Maisonneuve. And the lineup to get in to see like The Sidetrack’s next set, literally went up to the corner and around the corner. I mean, it was just like, people said, oh, these guys are AMAZING, you know? And we had to wait the longest time. I guess we had to sort of stand out, waiting through an entire set to get in for the next set. And it was a really small place and it was loud as hell, and John Lewis was just an over the top, I mean, he’s a great blues harp player and exciting performer, and he used to blow the top off that place.