Winnipeg's Crash Test Dummies have severed ties with BMG Music Canada, but multi-instrumentalist Ben Darvill doesn't mind at all.

 "I'm as free as a bird, now," he sings down the phone line from Ottawa, doing Lynyrd Skynyrd.

 And this bird has a few eggs of its own to promote -- two new solo albums titled Son of Dave and Benjamin Darvill's Wild West Show.

 Now touring with Son of Dave, Darvill says he's thrilled, excited, anxious and scared -- all at the same time -- to be playing his own brand of refried, modernized R&B.

 "We had our first gig last night in Toronto," he says. "We played eight tunes (and) it felt like it was over in five minutes and I was covered in nervous B.O. at the end of it. It's still very strange to be standing in the middle of the stage, captaining the ship."

 Son of Dave was a project Darvill put together in London last year. Working with ex-Chapterhouse member Stephen Patman, he concocted a brew of roots/pop/Stax-Volt hybrid tunes which show off his many musical abilities. He released the album early this year on his own Husky Records label.

 His touring band features fellow Dummy Dan Roberts on bass, Patman on guitar, former Dummy sideman (and ex-Honeymoon Suite member) Ray Coburn on keyboards and Toronto session drummer Mark McLean.

 After a couple of weeks rehearsal, Darvill is happy with the sound -- even if he still requires "a couple of belts of Irish whiskey" to perform.

 "It seems to me to be a perfect group of guys playing some dusty old R&B and mixing it with modern samples and beats. We do the old Stax sound really well, and when Ray gets his computers whirring everything takes off," he says.

 As for playing with his new band here, Darvill says he'll be comforted by the presence of friends and family.

 "My only fear is that everybody will be standing at the back of the Pyramid, talking and drinking ... which is what I do when I'm there," he laughs.