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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Musician Vince Gauthier returned to Yellowknife in January after five years touring in the South. He is back on stage every week with his homegrown trio Big Ethyl.

Gauthier formed Big Ethyl about a dozen years ago, performing at Folk on the Rocks, playing corporate gigs and serving as the house band at Sam's Monkey Tree Pub from 2000 to 2003. The band also appeared on stage in Toronto during Canada Music Week celebrations earlier this decade.

The members of Big Ethyl are, from left, guitarist Vince Gauthier, drummer Dermot O'Neill and bassist Shawn MacLellan. They play Sam's Monkey Tree Pub at 9 p.m. every Thursday night. - Daron Letts/NNSL photo

In the South, Gauthier teamed up with musicians from Toronto and Vancouver to keep Big Ethyl going between gigs backing up touring acts like Texas blues artist Sonny Rhodes.

This spring Gauthier recruited longtime collaborators Dermot O'Neill on drums and bassist Shawn MacLellan to reform the trio back home.

O'Neill, an experienced jazz and blues musician, teaches drumming to a dozen students in town and fills in for other bands now and then. His return to Big Ethyl marks his re-entry into live music after a few years on hiatus. He toured Western Europe in the 1970s with a 20-piece college show band and paid for his education playing in Alberta and B.C. with the country-rock combo Showdown. O'Neill played with Big Ethyl in Yellowknife the late 1990s and early this millennium.

"It feels great to be back on stage," he said.

MacLellan used to play with Gauthier in the Yellowknife band Kanon, which opened Northern concerts for Canadian recording artist Colin James, Blue Rodeo, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, the Downchild Blues Band and Lou Diamond Phillips, among other acts, in its heyday.

Big Ethyl's sound blends vintage rock and blues peppered with funk. They cover 1970s classics by the Doobie Brothers, Santana and the Rolling Stones and soulful stuff by Johnny Lang, Rare Earth, the Commodores and Coco Montoya.

The band is not hosting jam nights anymore, but Gauthier said they will be hosting special guest musicians from time to time.

"We're looking forward to getting some of the younger musicians up with us to play once in awhile," he said.

"We've met quite a few musicians who don't get enough opportunities to play and maybe we can help with that."

Big Ethyl takes the stage at Sam's Monkey Tree every Thursday at 9 p.m.