Arkells deliver new album to road tripping fans on cross-country trip

It was 15 hours into a 4,900-kilometre road trip.

The Trans-Canada Highway was quiet. The U-Haul was stocked to the brim. The music blared from a creaky sound system. And roommates Korri MacDonald and Dexter Barry, bored on a cross-country drive from Calgary to their native Nova Scotia, had an idea come to them.

The pair in their late 20s were listening to the Arkells, a road trip staple by any measure, with Barry behind the wheel and MacDonald in the passenger's seat.

We were driving from Kenora into Sault Ste. Marie, and right around Thunder Bay he had the suggestion I should tweet out to the band to see about getting their album early," MacDonald said.

The Arkells' eighth studio album, Campfire Chords," was scheduled for release at midnight Thursday, or about 72 hours from when MacDonald sent a half-baked tweet to the band asking for a pre-released copy.

MacDonald didn't think anything of it - maybe it'll get a laugh or a retweet or something" - until an hour later, cell service restored, he got a message from the band's manager.

They asked us, What's your itinerary's like, where are you headed, can we make this happen?' I told them I was going to be in Sault Ste. Marie (Monday) night, but I thought it might be a link they would send me."

Not a link - that would be too easy - but rather an old-fashioned CD.

Turns out, Ashley Poitevin, the Arkells' manager, had burned a CD for her parents who were driving from Toronto to Sault Ste. Marie that same day.

I told them the hotel I was staying at and they said they would get the CD dropped off for me."

Done deal, right?

Wrong.

See, the U-Haul MacDonald and Barry rented was without a key - albeit outdated - tool: a CD player.

MacDonald sent another tweet to the band explaining his predicament. They put out a public plea in return asking if anyone in the area had a boombox or CD player.

What ensued was a whirlwind."

Dozens of people reached out to MacDonald with recommendations of pawnshops that could sell CD players. Others offered up their own. A radio station in Sault Ste. Marie even made a call-out on their morning show.

Eventually, the roommates settled on a local couple who were big fans of the band and, luckily, had a boombox to spare.

MacDonald can't remember the last time he used a boombox - but this one, big and boxy, got its fair run. And he's sure of that. MacDonald and Barry listened to the album top-to-bottom, again and again, as they marvelled on the Trans-Canada Highway how one tweet, however arbitrary, turned into a lifetime memory.

The album is absolutely fantastic," MacDonald said over the phone Wednesday, fresh off a pitstop in New Brunswick. Anyone that is a fan of the band is going to love it. Anyone that has never listened before ... it's a great place to jump in."

Sebastian Bron is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbron@thespec.com