When musicians are pandemic-stuck in western Labrador, you get Ptarmageddon
Have a First Listen to Holding Pattern by Ptarmageddon
Ptarmageddon, the Labrador City alt pop/rock band, started as a bunch of friends riffing on imaginary band names.
"It started as a joke," said Ptarmageddon guitarist and vocalist Scott Neary.
"We talked about all things that were Labrador and all things that were pandemic-related and end-of-the-world related."
Eventually, said Neary, someone came up with the mashup of ptarmigan, the ubiquitous bird of Labrador, and, well — the end times.
"We all looked at each other and laughed," said Neary.
"And then we said, 'Wait, are we actually going to do this?' And it stuck."
Pandemic music
Ptarmageddon consists of Neary, Matt Soper on drums, guitar and vocals, and Jenn Edwards on keyboards and vocals.
Neary had returned home to wait out the pandemic after a decade in Toronto.
Edwards, who is originally from Vancouver, had decided during the pandemic to extend her stay in Labrador City by another year.
They found themselves snowboarding and hanging out with Matt Soper, Neary's old school buddy, who has been living and working full time in Labrador City for years.
The three started jamming together, first doing some acoustic-based covers, then branching out into original music.
Ptarmageddon's EP, Holding Pattern, is the result.
Cold town, warm scene
The trio admit that the western Labrador music scene is small, especially compared with the options that Edwards had enjoyed in Vancouver and Neary had become used to in Toronto.
Still, they say, Ptarmageddon couldn't have formed anywhere else.
"The real silver lining of the pandemic is that we connected through it all and wound up writing some music together," said Soper.
"It's really tight-knit, it's really lovely," added Edwards.
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