Daron Letts
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 15/05) - A few months away from releasing a debut CD, members of the two-year-old funk rock group Rough Touch have introduced a new metaphor to the recording industry.

Jam mining, like data mining, is a process of identifying musical patterns from a bank of recorded jam sessions.

Guitarist Greg Nasogaluak, bassist Al Udell and vocalist and drummer Norm Glowach recorded almost two years of Saturday night jams in the studio of Glowach's Spiritwalker Productions.

Glowach says studying the recordings allows the band to refine their drum beats, base lines and chord progressions.

Eventually the "magic" of a spontaneous jam emerges into a song.

"It's that attention in the production stage that makes this material so exciting," says Glowach.

Rough Touch has more than two dozen original songs in its repertoire and counting.

The three band-mates edit their recordings using iPods, portable digital audio players. This allows them to arrange hours of material at home individually, then mix their musical collages collaboratively in the studio.

"We're constantly evolving," says Udell. "Since we started laying out the songs in the studio our music has matured. We're pushing each other creatively."

Still halfway through their studio work, the musicians say they are eager to play their new material on stage.

This summer, Rough Touch will perform during Folk on the Rocks, the Solstice Festival and Aboriginal Day. The group also hopes to play club gigs this fall. Look for the CD this winter.