CreekStreet

Hopes and dreams come and go.

High school bands break-up, as often as the relationships those musicians are in.

Some musicians listen to the ‘naysayers’ and never take it seriously. Others talk about their musical careers as ‘the good ol’ days’, while having some beers with their old high school pals years later.

Other musicians leave town with the shirt on their back, the instruments in the hands, and the passion in their heart, and give it a go.

That’s exactly what four young musicians from Wallaceburg, Ontario are doing.

“As a Canadian musician, we all know how hard it is, but it happens,” said Craig James Laur, front man for CreekStreet, about “making it” in the music industry.

Craig, 22, (vocals/lead guitar) along with his brother Travis, 19 (bass guitar), Kurt Dickson, 24 (drums) and Adam Routley, 19 (piano) have moved from their parents basements in the town of 10,500 in Chatham-Kent, to the metropolis of Toronto, Ontario, where the music scene is buzzing with talent.

Craig said the band is hoping to stand out in that crowd and leave their own “footprint” in the music industry.

“If you bring something to the table that someone hears and starves for, it can happen.”

Playing gigs and recording tracks

After being in Toronto for a few months, CreekStreet is busy playing as many shows as possible and writing music like a fourth meal.

They still come home, and have been spending time at Starlight Studio on Walpole Island First Nation, just outside of Wallaceburg. While in the studio, they have their eyes set on one of their first goals.

“Play music for as many people as possible, and to have that full album in our hands and say this is us, this is what we’ve worked hard on, you are going to get to know us hearing this music,” Craig said. “You are going to get to know who we are not only as a band, but as people.”

Craig added the guys in the band and himself are willing to do what it takes.

“I have no problem eating Kraft Dinner and white rice 5, 6 days a week… as long as I’m making music and I got a roof over my head,” he said. “I wake up and I do what I love to do. People can say that, but not many of them. That’s the goal is to be successful enough to have the album, to play music regularly for as many people as we can, and to make a living off of it.”

It’s a family affair

Not only are Craig and Travis, actual blood brothers, the band feels like they are all family.

“We live together,” Craig said. “We eat, breathe, sleep… like that’s what we do. When we wake up and there is time in between we play music, we write. It has to be this way, it’s not that we’re forcing… this is just the way it has to be.”

Craig added “As a band I don’t even look at us as best friends any more. We’re family. Even if we didn’t want to be family. Everyone brings their own assets to the table and it’s catastrophic. We click so well.. the charisma is just as important as the skill level. The charisma as a musician, you have to know what you want, where you’re going. And we’re finally grasping that concept, and it’s bringing us tighter together to the point where… we’re inoperable without one another.”

Craig says the band maintains a vision, and are all striving towards the same goals.

“We’re joined at the hip whether we like it or not,” he said. “There is no other way… I don’t see it, I don’t think these guys see it. We have our ups and downs… somedays we hate each, somedays we love each other. Some days we make music, some days we don’t and we just hang out. That’s what’s going to make us successful, that underlying love, hate relationship. As long as everyone stays happy, and everyone realizes we’re in it for the same reasons, for better or worse.”

Blues, rock and sappy love songs

Craig says he bases his music off his words

“I don’t write until I have that first line that captivates me,” he says.

He said from there different songs take on different directions, different meaning - The Chatham-Kent Daily Post

Listen in all this week at 3:40 as Jay features Wallaceburg’s own, CreekStreet on the XS Local Spotlight!

CHECK OUT CREEK STREET THIS FRIDAY NIGHT AT 6:30 PM DURING THIS YEAR’S FIRST 4TH FRIDAY CULTURE CRAWL IN WALLACEBURG! STAGE SET UP ON JAMES STREET, IN DOWNTOWN WALLACEBURG!

Formerly known as CreekStreet Sessions and ForClosure, Wallaceburg’s Craig James Laur, Adam Routley, Kurtis Dickson, and Travis Laur have come together to form a new sound by the name of CreekStreet. Craig James Laur has recently done some solo work that his really solidified himself as one of the top young up and coming artists – locally and possibly across Ontario. Craig has come together with some former band mates and local musicians to form a new, complete sound, known as CreekStreet.

Creativity, touching lyrics and the ability to reach any audience; young and old alike – it’s a task CreekStreet takes very seriously.

This group has learned and matured musically over the years and may have really found their niche. Craig Laur, alongside his brother Travis have graced the 99.1 studios on several occasions – impressing each and every time, definitely seem to influence and push one another to grow as musicians. Add local mastermind Kurtis Dickson to the mix, the talents of Adam Routley on keys and piano, and it seems like CreekStreet may have stepped upon something special.

“We end up singing along to every tune they play in studio,” said Jay Smith, Music Director at 99.1 CKXS. “C-P records the boys, lays down a simple track. Just acoustic guitar and vocals. And every time, we’re singing along the first or second time it hits the air. It’s REAL music. Impressive isn’t even the word.”

CreekStreet has garnered great accolades from anyone willing to listen, whether here at home in the confines of Chatham-Kent, or now in the big smoke of T.O. where they quickly snagged a weekly gig inside one of the country’s musical hotspots. No easy task. Yet it’s no surprise.

“These dudes seems to have been born to play music,” according to Chris Prince at 99.1. “I look forward to every track. I expect HUGE things from them.”

“Canada may eventually find their own Jack Johnson with Laur’s vocals. He’s our Rob Thomas. They’re our Matchbox 20. I can’t see anyone NOT appreciating this music” added Smith. - ckxs fm