Jul 11, 2014
Derek Hintz is a star. I’m not sure if he knows it, maybe he does. Some in Medicine Hat know, but it’s time this whole city does.
Derek Hintz is a homegrown musician and a good ol’ Alberta boy. A couple of months ago I attended Flowers and Other Freaks of Nature, a joint art show put on by Derek and another talented local artist Rhandi Sandford. Derek played a short set to entertain the art goers. It was the first time I’d heard Derek play and it was a revelation.
Derek performs with only his guitar, the occasional harmonica and an old fashioned microphone. A singer and a guitar – it’s a familiar scene. But in Derek’s care this simple set up is sublime. His songs are catchy, earnest, sincere and above all fun. The charisma he’s got on stage is unmatched, his enthusiasm contagious.
Derek was born and raised in Medicine Hat. His mom sings, but the rest of his family does not. (One of the great songs from that night at the art show was an impromptu song with his mother singing alongside Derek and Dean Smale.) Derek took guitar lessons as a child. His dad introduced him to those influences that now pervade his music – like the Ozarck Mountain Daredevils and the Marshall Tucker Band – roots rock. His current favorite songs to cover are the Weight by the Band and I Don’t Want to Grow Up by Tom Waits.
Oddly, for such a natural musician and performer Derek didn’t begin playing in earnest until college. In 2004 while working towards his Visual Communications degree at Medicine Hat College he began his first musical project, D & D Foodmart, a co-venture with Dean Smale, an instructor at the college. D & D Foodmart no longer plays, but has achieved something like cult status locally. After studying at MHC Derek went on to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge. This local musician is also an artist. His art is a visual corollary to his music – exuberant, sincere and undeniably talented.
I pulled this photograph from Derek's Facebook page and sent it into the MH News, but turns out it's a painting of some guy who just looks like Derek.
Sincerity. It’s the quality I place above all others and perhaps it’s why Derek Hintz’s shows are so great. Its music the way it’s meant to be played and sung. He wrote the song Valentine for his girlfriend because they’d rather make their own gifts for each other rather than buy them. My favorite, Old Man Picking on a Train, weaves a Choo-Choo into the chorus. It’s clever and brilliant.
Roots rock is what he plays – a mix of folk, blues and country. And there’s something in his stage presence that harks back to yesteryear. You get this feeling if Merle, Hank and Johnny somehow had a kid this would be the result. Not that Derek is a kid. I actually don’t know how old he is. He’s one of those people who could be 25 or 45. The guy, like his music, is timeless.
Come down and listen to this crazy cat. Derek will be playing Saturday, July 12 at Schooner’s Pub with Old Towns, a folk punk outfit out of Edmonton. Music at 9 PM, $5 cover. The show, in Derek’s words, might be “rowdy”. If you’re a bit more staid Derek will also be playing at the Inspire Café on Friday, August 8 from 8-10 PM and at Twist on Friday, August 15 from 7.30-10 PM.
Medicine Hat News. July 11, 2014.