Jay Malinowski and Eon Sinclair are not ones to rest on their laurels. For more than 20 years, they have blended different instruments, genres and styles together in an eclectic mosaic that defies traditional definitions. Their band, Bedouin Soundclash, has earned Juno nods, pumped out many a Top 10 radio hit, and continues today to be a genuine example of musical diversity.
On July 14, Bedouin Soundclash brings its award-winning act to Whistler Olympic Plaza in the next leg of the municipality’s Summer Concert Series.
A serendipitous beginning
Bedouin Soundclash’s range stems in large part from the differing backgrounds of its frontmen. Malinowski met Sinclair at Queen’s University: they were both 18 years old and happened to be living in the same dormitory.
Their meeting was pure luck, their tastes in music divergent. Malinowski grew up listening to punk rock and reggae, but Sinclair had never heard of bands like The Specials or The Clash—nor was Malinowski familiar with his new acquaintance’s vast dancehall collection. Nonetheless, they began playing together, realized they were striking the same chords, and decided to keep it up.
Bedouin Soundclash was born from the partnership of Malinowski’s vocals and guitar play with Sinclair’s bass skills. Other band members have come and gone, but the men remain lifelong friends who keep each other sharp.
“We’re very different people, so that helps,” Malinowski says. “It’s really hard to work with someone who’s exactly like you.”
Although music was his first love, Malinowski was admittedly “not good at listening to instruction” in high school. He pivoted, studying painting in post-secondary, and had a gallery deal in place upon completing his art degree. Yet there was something about interior decorating for rich lawyers and businessmen in Toronto that left him wanting more in life—something that only a musical career could provide.
“My gallery dealer told me: if you start [playing music], your art career is over,” Malinowski recalls. He did it anyway.
The inaugural Bedouin Soundclash album, Root Fire, dropped in 2001, and paved the way for Sounding a Mosaic, Malinowski and Sinclair’s critically acclaimed second effort. Their first Juno Award for Canada’s Best New Group followed in 2006, and two more Juno nominations came in 2008.
Then, in 2011, Bedouin Soundclash stepped away from the music industry. Their next album would not materialize until eight years later.
“We went around the world in 2010, and I think we were just exhausted,” says Malinowski. “There’s only so much a band can do until it has to take a break for everyone’s health.”
The second act
For a time, the band members went their own ways. Malinowski established his own solo act, Jay Malinowski & The Deadcoast, and wrote an e-book titled Skulls & Bones: 14 Letters from a Sailor at the End of the World. Sinclair, meanwhile, re-entered the DJing scene in Toronto.
Both artists kept in touch. Their paths crossed again in 2016 when Malinowski wrote the song “Clockwork,” which struck him as Bedouin-worthy material. After many hours of recording in New Orleans and Vancouver, “Clockwork” became part of their comeback album: MASS.
While Bedouin Soundclash is still very much the same band that formed more than two decades ago, it has evolved, as have its leading men. Malinowski, in particular, feels his songwriting abilities have grown leaps and bounds, and he credits working with classical musicians in the mid-2010s for broadening his scope.
“I love writing songs, and I think every time you write one, you get better,” he says. “You know, the songs I wrote for [We Will Meet in a Hurricane] I think are the best Bedouin songs. Obviously I’m biased, I like the last things that we do more, but I do think the latest record is the strongest record we’ve put out.”
Malinowski and Sinclair are well-acquainted with Whistler, having performed as Bedouin Soundclash during the 2018 Summer Concert Series. Roughly a decade prior to that, they played what they would describe as a “wild show” up at Olympic Station with American hip-hop group The Roots.
Plus, as a Vancouver native, Malinowski spent numerous weekends during his adolescence snowboarding and partying in Whistler. He looks back fondly on his childhood memories in the Sea to Sky, and looks forward to helping fans make memories of their own.
“Over the course of 20 years, I’ve realized how valuable community is in music, or with whatever you do creatively,” says Malinowski. “It’s more or less free, it doesn’t take up any space, it’s not an object … there’s something very different about it than a lot of different arts, and I find that that’s what’s always attracted me.
“Anyone is able to tell you if they like [a song] or not and there’s no context needed. You don’t need a degree, you don’t need anything—you can just be like, ‘I like this, it resonates with me,’ and [music] resonates with people around the world.”
DJ J to the U will perform an opening act on July 14 at 6:30 p.m. before Bedouin Soundclash takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.
