A lucky (and we do mean lucky) Arkells fan from Victoria had some memorable moments with the band this past weekend. For the last couple months Arkells ran a contest encouraging people to post video of themselves covering their single ‘Leather Jacket’ online for a chance to win a ‘Golden Ticket’ to every show of their tour in 2015.
Victoria’s Paul Shenton, vocalist/guitar for Helloseptember and Pookati entered the contest by posting this video:
The band wanted to award Shenton the grand prize, but as Arkells frontman Max Kerman explained in a Facebook post made Monday February 23, 2015, Paul was hard to find…
https://www.facebook.com/Arkells/posts/10152748446166325
Max here. The following is not “based on a true story”, it’s 100% a true story. We received many incredible submissions to the ?#?LJGoldenticket? contest, and it was very humbling and inspiring to see other re-interpret the song and it make it their own. One version stuck out to us especially – it was kind of dreamy, Beach House-y vibes, performed by a fella named Paul Shenton. The band decided that he would be the final winner of the Golden Ticket. These days it’s pretty easy to get in touch with just about anyone over social media, but when I went to reach out to Paul I was totally stumped. He didn’t seem to exist on Facebook or Twitter. Google gave me nothing. Even the Youtube channel hosting his song listed no relevant contact info.
It was getting to the point where we were going to choose another winner.
Fast forward to Saturday in Victoria, British Columbia. I’m in The Patch, a vintage clothing store a block away from the venue perusing the aisles. Out of the corner of my eye, I see this guy who looks JUST like Paul Shenton. I’ve watched Paul’s video 10 times now, and I know what he looks like. But this can’t be him. My mind must be playing tricks. What are the chances he lives in Victoria, and is in the same place at the same moment as me? I approach, trying my hardest not to seem like a crazy person:
“Hey excuse me, hope you don’t mind me asking – what’s your name?”
“Paul…are you in the Arkells?”
We both sort of look at each other stunned.
“I’ve been trying to find you!”
“Oh?”
“Well, um…Do you have a ticket to the show tonight?”
“No…it’s sold out”
“Well now you do. You’re the final Golden Ticket winner”
Life, man!
On Tuesday February 24, 2015, Arkells posted a follow up video of the band performing ‘Leather Jacket with Paul Shenton in their tour bus.
