Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Inuvik (July 12/02) - Inuvik rock fans were treated to a blast from their past last week with the return of hometown rockers Mother Devine.

Inuvik rockers Mother Devine returned home last week for a week of shows in their hometown. The band is on a month-long tour that will end in Fort Smith before the band takes the show on the road down south. - NNSL file photo

The band is composed of the three Kikoak brothers, Brandon and Aaron on lead guitars and vocals, with Jamie on drums and Winnipeg's Craig Allard on bass.

Brandon was the first brother to take music on as a profession.

"I moved to Calgary and joined a band there, while Aaron and Jamie just kept plugging away here," Kikoak said.

The brothers got back together in 1998 in Edmonton and moved to Winnipeg in 2000, where they hooked-up with Allard.

They toured all over the south before turning the bus back north.

The group has played at the past three Friendship Festivals in Fort Smith and moved there last year.

They will play the festival again this year, but it may be their last, as they plan to head out on tour down south this summer or fall.

Kikoak said Mother Devine came home to Inuvik as part of a 25-date tour.

Starting in Fort Smith, the guys loaded up the bus and hit Watson Lake, Whitehorse and Dawson before coming home.

Here, they played Canada Day in Chief Jim Koe Park, three nights in Frosty's Pub and three nights at the Mad Trapper. Kikoak said they loved seeing their old friends here again and were thankful for the support.

"At first it was kind of strange, playing at Frosty's, because that's a bar that was never here when I was here," he said. "It felt like we weren't even in Inuvik, but it kinda of took the edge off -- I was pretty nervous about coming back."

"I always pictured us playing the Trapper when we came back."

He said the gigs at the Trapper felt a lot more like home.

Their set consists mostly of cover tunes, but they do sneak in some originals as well. They are also working on a CD of all original songs.

They are producing and mastering the recording themselves and plan seven songs for their first collection.

On the trip back South, they will play the Capital in Whitehorse for five nights before heading to Fort Simpson and then to Yellowknife for Folk on the Rocks and then back to Fort Smith for the Friendship Festival.