SAULT STE. MARIE -- Korri MacDonald and his buddy were travelling from Calgary to his hometown in Nova Scotia this week while listening to the Arkells when they got an idea.
"We were just listening to a playlist, and (the Arkells) came on and we knew the album was coming out this week," said MacDonald.
He decided to tweet at the Canadian rock band in a long-shot attempt to get an advanced copy of the Arkell's new album, Campfire Chords.
Max Kerman, the lead singer for the band saw the tweet and liked the idea.
"The idea of somebody having a road trip across the country and wanting to listen to Arkells was something that kind of appealed to me," said Kerman.
So, the band reached out to the fan asking for his location to see if it was even possible to get him a copy of the new album, two days before it was released to the public. Emailing a link of the new music was not an option for the band, so they looked for ways to get him a physical copy.
MacDonald just happened to be on his way to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. the same city that the band’s manager is from. Her parents were about to head home to northern Ontario from Toronto, so the band gave them a copy of the new CD and arranged to drop it off at MacDonald’s hotel.
But this isn’t the end of the story.
When MacDonald sent his original tweet, he had no clue that the moving truck he was driving didn’t come with a CD player. So, he once again went to Twitter, this time, asking for recommendations from people in the Sault on where to buy one.
While he did that, the band, with nearly 75,000 followers also put a call out for help on the social media platform.
"It kind of got me excited because there’s probably a pretty good chance that some Arkells’ fan in Sault Sainte Marie has an old CD player in the basement that they haven’t touched for a decade," said Kerman.
The next morning, Brianne Veale saw the tweet and asked her partner, Daniel Shunock, if he still had his old boom box. After searching around his parent's basement, he found his old stereo that they hadn’t been used in 12 years.
"Obviously, we're fans of the band and how often do they ask for help from anyone in Sault Ste. Marie? So we thought 'why not?' If we have this CD player, we can help them out," said Shunock.
The couple was able to meet up with MacDonald and help him with a great, early birthday present. They talked for a bit and then went on their ways.
After seeing this story play out on Twitter, Kerman wanted to say 'thank you' to the two fans in the Sault that helped with the boom box. So, an Instagram Live session was set up and the two got to speak to one of their favourite singers.
"We were shaking for most of the day yesterday, was pretty surreal," said Veale. "Having a one-on-one conversation with him, that was pretty cool."
MacDonald never expected any of this to happen.
He was overwhelmed by all of the support from fellow Arkells fans.
He finally got to listen to the new album and gives it a glowing review.
"It’s absolutely fantastic. If anyone is a fan of the band, you have to check it out. If you’re not, have a listen and you will be," said MacDonald.
The new album is now available to everyone and you don’t even need a boom box to listen to it.
