Fraser Teeple – OEV Villager Spotlight by Farrell Rafferty Spend some time in London’s Old East Village and you’ll quickly meet some interesting people. Spend a little more time and you may start to notice the ways those people are connected. I visited local musician and arborist Fraser Teeple on the porch of his Lorne Avenue home to talk about the neighbourhood, and how living in OEV both inspires and supports his creativity. Fraser released his fourth album, We Built A Fire, this January with a memorable concert at the Aeolian Hall. Though it’s not his first time playing the landmark venue. He released his debut album there nearly 20 years ago, but this release marked a full-circle moment, shaped by the thousands of kilometres travelled across the country as an arborist and the years of building relationships with fellow artists. Fraser trained as an arborist in British Columbia, a region whose timeless scenic beauty, he says, almost dissuaded creativity. Now in Old East, he finds inspiration in the personality of the houses with their layers of DIY renovations, each one reflecting the generations that have lived there. As he lists the artists who contributed their craft to We Built A Fire —producer Matthew Johnston, cellist Evan Wiebe, illustrator Robin Henry, and t-shirt printer Adam Sturgeon of Rezonance Printing, to name a few, the old adage comes to mind: It takes a village. In this case, an Old East Village. Collaboration has been at the heart of Fraser’s musical journey. He recalls playing a workshop at the 2016 Home County Music and Art Festival alongside Elliott Brood and Danny Michel: “I was like, man, this is so cool! It feels like, for that day, you’re a part of that community,” he says. “It’s a pretty special thing. Then you go back and trim trees on Monday.” He chuckles at the contrast but it’s exactly this aspect of Fraser that makes his music so relatable. Folk music is an elastic genre. It can sound like many things, but its roots in telling the stories of working-class people are what allow it to resonate across cultures and communities. Those stories—the early mornings of a tradesperson’s career, the spark of connection at a neighbourhood bar, doing your best to raise a family—are vividly captured on We Built A Fire . And the diverse crowd of friends, family, and neighbours who gathered to hear Fraser tell those stories from the stage of the Aeolian in January would surely agree. You can listen to Fraser Teeple on Spotify, or catch him live at the Home County Music and Art Festival this summer at
Victoria Park on Saturday, July 26. Or just call him to prune your trees. He’s in the neighbourhood, after all.
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Page 10 Old East Villager July-August 2025
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