How has the tour been going?
The tour has been good, it has been busy. We’ve been on the road for a long time. It almost been like 3 months right now. It’s kind of all blurring in together and, where am I? We take one day at a time. Phoenix was really good for us. We started there and it was our first show with Holy Grail. Brooklyn, that was also a super awesome show. We were just on tour with Steel Panther too. All these shows were highlights of our career.
Were you friends with Holy Grail before?
We’ve known each other for a long time. We played a festival called Arm Strong Open Air in like 2014, and it was one of the last time we’ve seen each other. We were all a little younger and wilder back then. I’ve also seen them when they came to town.
You released three albums in three years! How do you make sure that each album stands on its own? It’s an accomplishment and I think each one got better so that’s a great sign. We are already kind of talking about the next one. I don’t think 2019 will see one but definitely possible in 2020. We always got to do something. If we are not on the road, it’s like why not. Dan does a lot of the writing and Tim does a lot as well. There’s a lot of creative energy and we love making new music. We also take try to take different approach to write music. Maybe we’ll find the name of the song first or start with the vocal. You know, not trying to do the same thing every time.
You now have a new bassist in Pete Klassen. How did the search for a new bassist go and what is he bringing to the band?
Pete is amazing. He was living in Japan for seven years as professional vocalist. He is also a great musician and he used to play bass in a band in Calgary. It’s kind of where we met, not far from our hometown of Edmonton. When he came back from Japan, we were transitioning right at the time and he was just “I want to be on the road”. So, we have four vocalists now and every soundman is like: “Wow. You are not using any backing track? That’s amazing”.
You are a self-produced band. Is it fun to have all that freedom or can it sometime be scary?
Well I wouldn’t say scary but the nice thing about a producer is that they’ll let you know if you are doing something stupid. “Don’t do this or do something like that”. They’re experienced and that’s what you are paying them for. You do have a lot more freedom to explore new direction and you also got more time to do it. Studio time can be very expensive. We are mostly set up at the jam space and we can pretty much achieve a very high-quality recording on our own. The records are still mixed overseas so it’s not like we are doing everything by ourselves completely but 80% is.
Any words for our readers at Diary of a Music Addict and Montreal Rampage?
Come see the shows! We love to see the fans and just interact. We are always happy to have a beer and chat. Don’t be shy or anything! I really love Montreal and I know we all do. Hopefully we’ll see each other at Heavy Montreal. Cheers!
He currently works in the video game industry while continuing to write music with his own band.
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