Photo/DAN PELTON GRANDE FIR, a five-man Orangeville band that is always searching for the distinctive sound, consists of, left to right, Jay Marr, Chris Mullen, Cory McCallum and Stewart Gunn. Missing from the photo is drummer Mitch Hall. Welcome to Orangeville, a new epicentre of the rock universe.

Hey, don't laugh, it could happen. Especially if more local bands are of the same mindset as Grande Fir, an ensemble of five veteran local musicians bent on producing its own unique sound.

Grande Fir (French for Big Tree) consists of Jay Marr (guitar and lead vocals), Cory McCallum (mandolin, guitar and vocals), Stewart Gunn (keyboards), Chris Mullen (bass and vocals) and Mitch Hall (drums and percussion).

Why the name? "It has a rustic sound," says Marr. "It makes us sound like rednecks with a bit of class," adds Gunn.

The name is actually appropriate for a band that takes pride in its folk rock roots, but is willing and eager to explore the rest of the musical spectrum.

They have put out two albums, the self-named Grande Fir and Love and the Weather, and they are building an enthusiastic local following.

This reporter only had a chance to listen to Love and the Weather. While it lacks the slick studio sound, due to obvious financial constraints, the album is a compilation of cleverly orchestrated works.

To best describe the album's first song, Like Lovers, imagine that a group of soccer hooligans has adopted a Lovin' Spoonful tune as its fight song and is belting it out on the way to the match.

Then there's Love and the Weather, the title track. If you're bent on making comparisons, you could say it's a hybrid of the Band and early Tom Petty. The truth is that this is a tune composed and performed by Grande Fir, a musical entity unto itself.

With another tune on the album, San Francisco, Grande Fir introduces the listener to what is almost a whole new genre — folk grunge.

The band is true to its Orangeville roots. They would rather play at a local house party than a more lucrative gig in Toronto.

"If you really love what you're doing, money is just gravy," explains McCallum. "We would rather play a house party in Orangeville, where the people are going ape, than play some uninteresting bar in Toronto."

What is interesting up here is the willingness of local music businesses to occasionally transform the stores into 30- to 40-seat venues where local musicians can play their own stuff, hone their craft and foster loyal followings.

Gunn, a classically trained pianist, first hooked up with Marr and McCallum in an eightpiece psychedelic rock band called the Haymakers.

Prior to that, McCallum played with Five Knuckle Chuckle, a punk band, and Marr was with a funk band.

Mullen, who moved to Orangeville three years ago, and began his local tenure with Torn Down Units, a rock 'n roll group.

How, pray tell, can five guys from such diverse musical backgrounds coexist without getting the occasional urge to beat the living crap out of each other?

In Grande Fir's case, the five musicians are individuals who have both their own tastes and a commitment to the project that is Grande Fir.

"All the guys have their own songs," notes Marr, the band's main songwriter, "and they have songs that they instinctively know are Grande Fir."

Gunn provides a typical example of how each works within the framework. "I don't want to be the songwriter," he says. "What I'm good at is doing the tinkering after the fact."

As well, the band is constantly keeping a fresh outlook through experimentation. "I was playing bass in a rock band when I got my hands on an upright (bass)," recalls Mullen.

"When I went to (play with Grande Fir), they told me to bring it along."

McCallum, meanwhile, is thinking of ways to add an accordion to Grande Fir's mix. Variety, it seems, is Grande Fir's spice of life.

McCallum sums it up in one sentence: "You can still slip a bit of punk into folk without ruining it."