The Electric Revival get their freak on

Calgary rockers The Electric Revival get their freak on for their 4th album 

By Christine Leonard
20 February 2015

1930s film director Tod Browning probably never listened to much heavy music in his day, but he most certainly understood what it meant to stand apart from the crowd. Such was the cinematic bite of his black and white thriller Freaks.

While the three members of The Electric Revival may not have had that cult classic in mind when they named their new album, guitarist-vocalist Ian Dillon, drummer Dallas Lobb and bassist Dan Toews are no strangers to playing the role of disenfranchised misfits who thrive on performing before an awestruck crowd.

“We grew up in Innisfail, about an hour north of Calgary. You could only skateboard four months a year, so there was nothing to do but drink beer and play guitars. It also meant that the garage bands you had to choose from were into either country or metal,” says Dillon. “I met Dallas and Dan in junior high, at age 14, and like most small-town kids we left for the city as soon as we were out of school. We had always been in revolving metal bands over the years, so when we started the group, in 2009, we really wanted to get back to the basics, drums, guitars, amps. We tried to be as primitive as possible and focus on being a solid band.”

It would be three years before the nocturnal trio formally introduced themselves to their audience, raising the curtain on their debut album, Presenting: The Electric Revival, in 2012. The blues-soaked trio decided to keep the ball rolling by releasing a new single every week for 13 weeks that summer. Tightening their grip, The Electric Revival launched their glorious Pirate Radio LP in July of 2013 and followed it up with yet another album, 5 Songs by Electric Revival, four months later. No wonder the band was recently picked up by Cruzer Media. And, achieving international distribution was all the more incentive for Dillon, Dallas, and Dan to dive back into the studio and get their eponymous Freak on.

“The new album was recorded over the course of three weeks, during April of 2014, at Electric Park Studio in Calgary. I produced and engineered the record myself with assistant engineer Jonny Vincent and our pre-production engineer, Steven Lilly. Freaks was recorded live off the floor, together as a band, all in one room using very basic recording techniques… and the best modern digital recording equipment available. We were able to get our hands on a couple of cool synthesizers and used them and the organ a lot on this record, we really like the way it helped fill out the sound.”

Full is an understatement. Freaks kicks off with the explosive howler “My Molly My” a blow-your-hair-back and bury-the-needle joyride that slams into the cerebral cortex like a grasshopper hitting the windshield. Swerving out of the fast lane, the CB heartbreaker “Rolling Stone” postures up for a space truckin’ riff-off that would have Johnny Winter tipping his hat in respect. Southern swelter and soul are grist for the mill on “Wild Child” and “Baby Please (Come Home)”, while the two-edged sword of “Feed My Love” cuts to the drone, scratchin’ for an ‘80s punk fix. Did I just say punk? Yes, it’s in there too!

“The songs are about love, death, freedom, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, they explore a lot of territory while maintaining The Electric Revival sound. We never want to limit ourselves creatively. We wanted to the extra mile for the new album, so we threw a big party at the studio for about 30 friends. Just like the good old days!”

Available now, Freaks is fated to send epic ripples across The Electric Revival’s smoke-hazed horizons. 

See the Electric Revival on February 21st at the Nite Owl with Mammoth Grove, The Rumble and 7’s Wild.

Jon Dore’s all about the laughs - Just For Laughs

Capital One Just For Laughs Comedy Tour Preview

Jon Dore’s all about the laughs

November 2014By Christine Leonard

Known to many Canadians as the host of HBO’s popular Funny As Hell program and from his starring role in the ABC series How to Live with Your Parents, comedian Jon Dore is no stranger to high-pressure situations. Tapped by Variety Magazine as one of the “10 comics to watch,” the Ottawa-born Dore has grown accustomed to sweating out his frustrations in front of cameras and microphones across the country.

An unconventional and endearing character, Just For Laughs Festival veteran Dore’s simultaneously bold yet indifferent approach makes him the perfect foil for the chuckle-provoking constructs of his current pan-provincial tour mates.

BeatRoute recently caught up with Dore, who will certainly have his work cut out for him when it comes to keeping pace with The Daily Show and Late Night with Conan O’Brien contributor Demetri Martin, Loose Moose Theatre Company’s alt-comedy dynamo Levi MacDougall, and noted Comedy Central alum Todd Glass out of Philadelphia at the upcoming Capital One Just for Laughs Comedy Tour.

BeatRoute: I recall that during an appearance on Elvira Kurt’s television show, you recounted a travel tale that involved chugging a wok-full of deep-fried bat oil in Thailand. What other culinary marvels have you experienced since then?

Jon Dore: There’s zero truth to that story other than, my friend Matt told me his friend legitimately witnessed a man drinking wok-oil laced bat in Thailand. I never believed it, but he insisted. I try and bring it up in conversation whenever I can. Other than that, I ate a meat pie at a Footy match in Australia and when I asked the clerk what kind of meat is in the pie she replied, “It’s just meat.”

BR: You are coming up on your 40th year of on the planet. Can you share your thoughts on turning 39 and what you’ve accomplished thus far in your life and career?

JD: Good Lord! What a question. Turning 39 is terrible. I’m slowly being marginalized by the media’s narrow view of the world. Life is fleeting and I’ve never been more aware of this fact. I didn’t exist before and soon I won’t exist again. That’s how I feel about turning 39.

BR: How do you decide which material will be used on The Jon Dore Television Show and which jokes or anecdotes are better suited to your live stand-up routine?

JD: I don’t really start by looking at what’s funny like I’m looking at a piece of meat. “OK, time to start chopping up material for stand-up and television.” The Jon Dore TV Show required a room of people pitching ideas for different themes. We were able to construct jokes using other characters. A much more dynamic process. Stand-up jokes usually sneak up on me over the course of the day. Something strikes me as funny and I store it in my head until I can write it down.

BR: What’s your approach to writing jokes that are going to be presented during a massive comedy tour, as opposed to material that you might perform in a smaller more intimate venue?

JD: No differently, really. Theatre shows usually mean I’m towering above the audience below. Sometimes I’ll tell the audience, “I don’t know what you people are doing down there, but up here… we have a hole to dig.” That’s Bruce Willis from Armageddon.

BR: Nice. How do you ensure that you aren’t stepping on any toes, or repeating ideas that your fellow comedians may be using on a joint tour such as this one?

JD: As far as stepping on other comedians’ toes, I just try to look where I’m walking and keep a safe but comfortable distance from others. Repeating ideas… we’ll find out after night one.

BR: The Internet has given today’s audiences access to a plethora of so-called comedic niches and undiscovered pockets of talent. What podcasts, websites and Internet-based comedians are you enjoying or finding inspiration in these days?

JD: I’ve found my favourites and I like to check in on them once in a while. My favourite podcast is called The Big 3 Podcast. However, unless you’ve seen the film Windy City Heat, it’s impossible to describe. I also enjoy listening to and being a part of Stop Podcasting Yourself with Graham Clark and Dave Shumka. I’ll be stopping in to see the lads in Vancouver because I owe them a poetry reading.

BR: What classic motifs, techniques and comedians from the past do you find yourself returning to even as your methods evolve?

JD: Just about everyone. There are some Steve Martin gems online. He visited the Letterman show to show Dave his art collection only to have a herd of goats stampede through the studio. Mr. Show was the most influential comedy show. It changed the way I approached everything. Jim Carrey’s unnatural act is a good one. I will also watch anything Alan Partridge related about every four months.

BR: Can you tell us about your recent role in Blaine Thurier’s movie Teen Lust [released September 2014]?

JD: Teen Lust was a fun film to be a part of. Shot in Winnipeg, I play the father of a boy who is going to be sacrificed as an offering to Satan. My son realizes that he needs to lose his virginity before the morning. It becomes a race against time for him to do that before the church tracks him down.

BR: So, what does the future hold for JD? Will we witness the return of Amy Schumer’s boyfriend, Ted?

JD: I would hate to be the future. It’s always holding stuff. I would be Amy’s boyfriend whenever she needs me to. I’m currently writing a book of poetry called I Wish I Was A Meadow. Should be out early next year.

Jon Dore will be touring on the Western leg of the Capital One Just for Laughs Comedy Tour, which begins November 5. Catch him at the Red Deer Memorial Centre (Red Deer) November 7, Jack Singer Concert Hall (Calgary) November 8 the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (Edmonton) November 9, the Kelowna Community Theatre (Kelowna) November 12, the Orpheum (Vancouver) November 14, the McPherson Playhouse (Victoria) November 15, and the Bell Performing Arts Centre (Surrey) November 16. Also read our chat with fellow touring comedian Demetri Martin here.

High Ends: Yukon Blonde frontman Jeffrey Innes

High Ends: Yukon Blonde frontman Jeffrey Innes heads off on a quirky solo adventure

September 2014By Christine Leonard

CALGARY — FOMO (fear of missing out) has never been a concern for B.C. musician, Jeffrey Innes. The singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and his band, Yukon Blonde, are known for bringing the thunder and making the scene wherever they may roam. Footsore from a stint of tours and live performances, the Blondes took some much needed R’n’R late last year, leaving Innes to ponder the possibilities.

“The band decided to take a break over the winter,” confirms Innes. “During that period, I went a bit stir-crazy and wrote a bunch of music. We still had time booked and I had the idea of going into the studio to do a solo project. For some reason, I knew I could do it.”

Boldly stepping out of his role as ringleader of Kelowna’s indie-rock mainstay and into the velvet underground of a Vancouver Island recording facility, Innes fantasized about crafting a playful album that would put a friendly collaboration front and centre. While he did manage to wrangle the New Pornographers’ Kathryn Calder, Ladyhawk’s Darcy Hancock, Louise Burns and Gold & Youth drummer Jeff Mitchelmore into contributing to the lush yet eminently danceable tracks that comprise the resultant LP, Super Class, Innes was somewhat disillusioned to discover that many of his High Ends dream team was unavailable to come out and play.

“I wanted to get a bunch of friends in on the recording, but everybody was busy. So, I wound up just doing it myself,” says Innes. “It was really cool being so involved in the recording of an album, having conversations with producer Colin Stewart (Dan Mangan, New Pornographers) about the LP’s overall construction, committing to what sounded cool and cutting out what didn’t. It was a really fun quirky adventure at that time inside my brain.”

Faced with the task of generating his own feel-good vibes, Innes has pulled out a bevy of synth-soaked cocktails that are as intoxicating as they are artful. In the (High) end, his lonely Friday nights generated a suave and modern soundtrack to the death of isolation. A dazzling yet phlegmatic debut, Super Class is a glowing neon beacon holding back the grungy, grey-scale haze of anti-social networks.

“It’s funny because I don’t enjoy writing music with a crowd in mind,” he explains. “I didn’t want to Yukon Blonde’s audience to get the impression that this some fake project we’re using to get our minds out of a rut. This is a new thing with songs that started from scratch and came together in a short period of time from September to December. It’s an absolutely personal experience, as well as a fun outlet, inspired by solo/collaborative fusions, like Gorillaz.”

Catch High Ends this month at the Starlite (Edmonton) on September 24th and at Republik (Calgary) on October 1st.

Wet Secrets: Marching On To Glory

WET SECRETS

December 9, 2013 · by Christine Leonard

EVERYONE LOVES A PARADE!

Edmonton’s favourite imaginary friend the Wet Secrets is a band that wants to stick their tongue in your ear. And by tongue, they mean their sweeter-than-sin new album, Free Candy. Conceived as a cunning stunt in 2005 by bassist/vocalist Lyle Bell and drummer/vocalist Trevor Anderson, the Wet Secrets made their first appearance on stage at a reputable establishment called Seedy’s. Invigorated by the thrill they received from that initial act of exposure, the Wet Secrets swiftly assembled and issued their debut album, A Whale of a Cow, later that year.

By 2007, the Wet Secrets had found a rhythm to match their trumped-up, pop-rock methodology with their sophomoric release, the appropriately titled Rock Fantasy. Received with open arms, the catchy cache of Rock Fantasy was a magic bullet that shot the Wet Secrets to the top of the Canadian charts, where they lingered on well into 2008.

“Trevor and I were at a show and kind of made a pact/dare to start a band and write and record an album before the first show,” Bell recalls. “We took a show and promptly forgot about all of this until a week before our first gig. We did a crazy, no-sleep week of practice/recording and got it done literally five minutes before the show started. At the time, both Trevor and I were in bands and fairly accomplished and we mutually knew some people we thought would be fun to play with. We wanted to avoid guitar, for whatever reason, so it was horns and keys with everyone singing. It was thrown together pretty quickly without too much thought about anything further into the future than that one gig. Also, that first night we made our pact-dare, our friend Fish took a photo of us that looked like I was telling Trevor a wet secret. Can’t remember if Fish said that or Trevor, but it was the genesis of the name.”

Obviously accustomed to making a serious racket when performing as a part of his erstwhile bands, Shout Out Out Out Out and Whitey Houston, bassist and lead vocalist Lyle Bell has never shied away from making a scene in public. Pursuing his affection for the campiness and controversy, Bell and his long-time friend and collaborator drummer/vocalist Trevor Anderson have discovered like-minded musicians in trumpet player/vocalist Kim Rackel, trombonist/vocalist Emma Frazier and keyboardist/conga player like Paul Arnusch. Settling into their role within the dynamic group, Paul and the two majorettes are primed to deliver Bell and Anderson’s madcap musical mash-up.

“We sometimes spontaneously write jams during practices, make wonky demos and then refine them in the studio,” says Bell of the group’s evolving songwriting process. “Sometimes, I’ll get bombarded with an idea and work out most of the song in my head. I can generally hear how everything is going to go and then I’ll show it to Trevor, who often sends it spiraling into a different dimension. Everyone in this band is actually pretty fucking talented musically. Zero slouch. Kim and Emma are superstars!”

Now, you might be tempted to think that blasting out starry-eyed tunes like “Hot Hot Hotter than the Sun,” “The Chinball Wizard” and “The Ballad of El Doucho,” while being backed by a fulsome brass section, would be enough for any band on the march. But if you need to know one thing about the Wet Secrets, it’s that they love being the centre of your attention and will stop at nothing to get there. Plying their eminently danceable hooks whilst decked-out in tasseled red-and-white marching-band uniforms, Bell and company demonstrate that no loud outfit is complete without an equally loud outfit.

“The outfits were the old uniforms of the Red Deer Royals. Unlike Lorde, Trevor was once a Royal and we were able to buy about twenty complete marching band outfits in a sweet deal brokered by his mom.”

After five years of anticipation and planning, the Wet Secrets’ next great orchestral manoeuvre is finally ready to be unveiled. The musical counterpart of the cat hair-covered sweater in your closet (also Bell’s wardrobe of choice when he’s not in uniform), Free Candy comes across as fun, friendly and a little bit freaky. A return to the halcyon days of one’s cavity-filled youth, the gratuitously tasteful album came together during this past summer, guided by the hand of producer Nik Kozub (White Horse, Cadence Weapon, Shout Out Out Out Out).

“I learned a lot about the business in general from being in Shout Out Out Out Out: take the work involved seriously and have a plan,” Bell says. “In the four years (five?) since our last album, we went through some personnel changes and had general life bullshit drop down on us. We got older, wiser and slightly sadder. Rock Fantasy was kind of about sex and hedonism with a bit of whimsical bullshit. Free Candy is a more adult album, loosely about sex, death and humanity, supernatural claptrap, the untimely death of a friend, evangelicals banging on your doorway too early, people who sit in the green room and eat your deli tray while you play, dyin’ — the usual.”

Bell confesses that their predilection for stirring crowds into frenzies has led them down the yellow brick road to chaos on more than one occasion. He recalls a pie giveaway that resulted in an Animal House-calibre food fight. How does one get pie out of a trumpet? Marx Brothers-inspired tomfoolery aside, these festival veterans have a history of engaging audiences with a constant parade of well-composed and skillfully-executed aural pleasures. Indeed, the Wet Secrets strive to infuse their musical presentations with an intelligent and slightly warped sense of humour. In doing so, they seldom fail to elicit an appreciative response from their listeners.

“I am my own harshest critic and I am super-pumped that we had the stick-to-it-iveness to get Free Candy done,” Bell reports. “We are all totally proud of this one, our little breach baby. I’m already working hard on the next album. We have big plans. I want to take this as far as we can possibly can. We also want to reunite the Smugglers so we can do a split 7″.”

Tongue firmly planted in cheek, the Wet Secrets plan to exercise their right to party as they champion Free Candy across the land.

“It’s amazing how fast the years can slip by, but our mandate of having fun together hasn’t changed. Once we got rolling again everyone started to get excited about pushing this album through to completion. Lately, we’ve been playing some of our best shows ever. It does sound like the same band, but I think we’re also a band in transition. Maybe in the future, we won’t be quite as jokey… Of course, when you wear marching band outfits there’s a pretty fine line between being seen as a glib gimmick and being taken seriously. There are tons of weird art-rock bands out there that we love, like Devo and Ween. I think it’s possible to play completely ridiculous material really well. That’s when it’s the most entertaining.”

Catch Wet Secrets at the Palomino on December 13. Free Candy will be released on February 4, 2014.

By Christine Leonard

And So I Watch You From Afar interviewed by Christine Leonard

AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR

UNREQUITED OBSESSION

Northern Ireland’s upstart gift to the post-rock era, And So I Watch You From Afar, has been making waves and garnering restraining orders since 2005. Formed in Belfast, the intrepid four-piece surprises and delights by interspersing their angular rock hooks with dissonant bursts of electronic fury. 

With two albums and two EPs to their credit, ASIWYFA has earned a reputation for creating powerful, multi-dimensional, instrumental pieces augmented by the occasional glockenspiel or human voice. Burning the candle at both ends, dual guitarists Rory Friers and Niall Kennedy juxtapose melody and cacophony with incendiary results. Each pulse of noise, every break in the action, provides an abrupt but mutually-adopted jumping-off point for the band’s next musical (mis)adventure. With bassist Johnny Adger and drummer Chris Wee laying down a solid foundation, ASIWYFA’s towering sonic spires threaten to scrape the very heavens. It’s a good thing that these math-rock druids have their feet firmly planted on good old terra firma.

BeatRoute: How would you describe the current musical scene in Ireland at this time and where does ASIWYFA fall into the scheme of things?

Chris Wee: The Irish scene is still really healthy in terms of the quality of music coming out. Unfortunately, gigs are definitely feeling the effects of the recession with less numbers. We were fortunate to be coming up the ranks in Belfast at a time when there was a lot of collectivism and passion in the scene. ASIWYFA curated a mini-festival back in 2008 in Belfast, called “A Little Solidarity,” which showcased a huge variety of local talent and was a real high point for us career-wise, as well as a marker for how good our local scene was. There was a great sense of bands helping each other out and that is still very much alive in the present day. Back then, we were only beginning to do small bits of touring and were very active in Belfast. But, nowadays with our touring schedule we don’t get to spend much time in Belfast as we would like to. It’s nice to come back and get down to local shows when we’re home.

BR: How do you intertwine disparate elements like melody and brute force to make a cohesive whole? You often use explosive bursts of electronic distortion to punctuate and underscore your more straight-forward rock and roll creations. Are your juxtapositions intended as to come across complimentary rather than clashing, or both?



CW: From the outset, we have always strived to make interesting music, not just to entertain an audience but to challenge and entertain ourselves as well. We have also been keen never to cover old ground in terms of our writing and that has continually pushed us into new territory. Our writing process has evolved quite a lot since our first jamming way back in 2005/6. Rory [Friers, guitar] has always been the brains in regards to bringing the initial ideas of melodies, riffs and rough structures. Then, we get into the rehearsal room and thrash around until we start to get an idea of the song. That’s where the dynamics come in and ideas for ridiculous changes in pace or mood come from. We can be quite ruthless with material in that if we’re getting bogged down with an idea it’s better to cut it loose and move on to make sure the momentum and the creativity is maintained.

BR: In what ways is All Hail Bright Futures a reflection of the depth and complexity you’ve continued to build into your songwriting style since the release of your award-winning album, Gangs?

CW: All Hail Bright Futures was written with a lot less of the boundaries and restrictions we had with earlier work. With this album we decided that we would try and make the guitars sound as little like guitars as possible to keep the sound fresh and guitar lines were transposed onto other instruments to create a rich variety of sounds. We went into the studio with a very small percentage of the album written and it allowed us to be more open to different instruments and sounds, less precious over the older conventions of just guitars and drums. We approached it with really open minds and a willingness to try all sorts of different instrumentation. There was also a much more collective contribution from the three of us during the recording, the three of us were in all day every day constantly discussing and contributing ideas of how the song was progressing, which was an immensely satisfying experience.

By Christine Leonard

Originally published October 7, 2013 in BEATROUTE MAGAZINE 

And So I Watch You From Afar - Big Things Do Remarkable Live 07.04.2013 | Strom München

Axis of Conversation Interviewed by Christine Leonard

AXIS OF CONVERSATION

·

SMALL TALK, BIG SOUND

They say that life is something that happens while you’re busy making other plans and, when it comes to Calgary’s cello-embellished pop-purveyors, Axis of Conversation, the old adage definitely holds true. The past three years have been demanding ones for lead vocalist/guitarist Chris dela Torre who, along with bandmates bassist/vocalist Eric Estor, keyboardist/glockenspieler Gerald Dacanay, violinist/keyboardist Shelly Groves, percussionist Matthew Doherty and cellist Cheryl Bergen, has been burning the candle at both ends.

“The actual recording took two-and-a-half years to complete from first day in studio, if you count songwriting it’s even longer than that,” dela Torre relates. “Since before the band started, I’ve wanted to do an album where we had gift of time, to be able to enter into the process with no real deadline and no real parameters. It ended up being too much of that. By time the third anniversary of start the project rolled around, I thought, ‘This is ridiculous!’ but it was also a case where we just had to make it that kind of record. As a group, we have six children between us now, so working at that pace was less of a luxury and more of necessity.”

Pulling together the many-stringed, Axis of Conversation made the decision to move forward with the production of their latest offering, The House of Stay Together, despite the challenge of balancing creative endeavours with meddlesome day-jobs and domestic distractions. What began as an exercise in exploring the themes of teenage love and tempestuous relationships became a 10-track tribute to the band’s own internal struggle to overcome the mundane and craft something of lasting portent.

“We had been working with our engineer, Cody Coates, for quite a while and loved working him with him – he’s like family, but due to everyone’s schedule the task of putting an album together with him was difficult. We had been stuck for a while when we called up local engineer/producer/musician Arran Fisher (Ship Shape, The Summerlad) in the spring of 2012. We thought he’d be a good choice, because he’s done so much work with Woodpigeon, which requires a lot of recording of strings. Even though he and Cody have a totally different style, I think it was a really great working relationship. I spent a long time finalizing the mixes with our friend Reuben Ghose, who produced our first full-length, Delusions of Safety, six years ago. Reuben and I both knew that success of this new album, in terms of it being a step forward for the band, was in the mix.”

From the deft backmasking on the opening track, “We Make Dew,” to the symphonic spree of “Prince’s Island,” The House of Stay Together is a brilliant coming-of-age album for the subtly sophisticated Axis of Conversation. Lyrically mature yet consummately dance-able, the album that took so long to make allows each situation to build and flourish in its own fashion. Fear and acknowledgement dominate the emotive storyline as dela Torre and company come full-circle and hold a mirror up to their collective mortality.

“I think we were subconsciously approaching this album like it was our last,” confesses dela Torre. “Essentially, it’s a document of the six of us working things out in the basement. I’d describe our current sound as one of confidence, especially compared to our first full-length album. We’re no longer that experimental band that was in the midst of the feeling-out process. We’ve gained a lot personal maturity as people and it’s inevitable that those age-related changes will factor into our music. If this was our last album I’d be okay with that because I think we did a really good job.”

Axis of Conversation will release The House of Stay Together at the Palomino on September 13 and at an afternoon, all ages show at the Cliff Bungalow Community Association on September 14.

Originally published in BeatRoute Magazine September 9, 2013 
By Christine Leonard
Photos: Damian Espinosa

Alabama Shakes

~ Boys and Girl ~Alabama Shakes combine myriad genres in their gritty, soulful rock

Originating in Athens, Alabama in 2009, Alabama Shakes was initially conceived by high school classmates singer-guitarist Brittany Howard and bassist Zac Cockrell. Soon the two joined forces with drummer Steve Johnson, guitarist Heath Fogg and keyboardist Ben Tanner, and earnestly began crafting their unique brand of gospel and blues-tinged garage rock.

“I don’t pay attention to what is popular at the moment, but I do think there is a yearning for something real after years of more processed music,” says Howard. “Our sound is influenced by so many different artists as we all listen to such a wide array of music it would probably shock you. I think that is what I like best about our band. But there is a common ground of bands with real energy and soul that have helped us sculpt our sound. You know, bands [and] artists like AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Otis Redding, Drive-By Truckers, Charles Bradley, Tina Turner, and many, many others.”

Hurtling from relative obscurity to being nominated for three Grammy Awards for their 2013 debut full-length release Boys & Girls has been both rewarding and disruptive for the tight-knit quintet. Not surprisingly the comfort and support they receive from their hometown crowd still grounds Alabama Shakes and keeps them connected to their roots.

“My favourite venue is a place called Egans in Tuscaloosa, Alabama,” says Howard. “It’s a hole in the wall bar, but it’s the best because everyone there just wants to have a good time. It’s tiny, sweaty, and dark, and one of the first places we ever played. Unfortunately, we don’t get to play places like that anymore, but last November we did a secret show at Egans under a different name! It was so fun... we may have to do that again.”

For Howard and company, wistful memories of days gone by are counter-balanced by the anticipation of adventures yet to come. Acutely aware of the dangers inherent in acquiring fame and fortune in rapid succession, Alabama Shakes is in no rush when it comes to pushing out their next album. Instead, the band that merges Janis Joplin’s crashing urgency with Otis Redding’s easy wisdom is prepared to shake up this summer’s festival circuit and give folk music fans a reason to hang loose.

“We just try and have fun, we give it our all, and when the audience gives it back to us then things really get going and can create this whole circular energy vibe. “We are a rock ’n’ roll band, but are honoured to be embraced in any scene that appreciates what we are doing. We tend to bring a lot emotion and electricity to the live show. If you give us some love we will return it and we promise a good time where you can forget about your worries for a short while.”

by Christine Leonard


Originally published July 25, 2013 in Fast Forward Magazine

Video: Alabama Shakes - Always Alright (Live on SNL)