Edmonton based folk/ punk band Audio Rocketry make a long awaited return to Lethbridge with an even more long awaited CD this week.
The folk punk band play the Slice, Saturday, Feb. 25 with fellow Edmontonians Worst Days Down.
Their new, self titled fourth CD, which was released late last year, features a more rock edge. They took two years to complete it. The Cd before that was released in 2011.
“I’m in Portland for half the year because my wife is going to school there and when I ’m back in Alberta, I work on the family farm and that’s three hours away from Edmonton,” said Joe Vickers from Portland, where he has also been working on another solo CD.
Living in Portland, hasn’t affected Audio/Rocketry songwriting, though it has affected solo songs.
“Audio/Rocketry has it’s roots in Alberta. And lyrically, then prairies have always been important to the group,” he said.
“When we do get together, we’ve been concentrating on songwriting,” he continued, adding they also don’t get together to rehearse very often.
“We released the new CD in the fall, then toured out to Quebec City and back. And now we’re going to B.C and Alberta. We‘re actually meeting in Vancouver,” he said.
“We released three albums in three years and toured for a year and a half on the last one,” he said, noting they needed to step back and re-evaluate.
“We’ve always been a punk rock band. Our drummer (Jerome Tovillo)’s first instrument is guitar. So it allowed him to go back to his home base. It was nice to explore musical possibilities with him. Taking so much time allowed us to work more as a collective,” he said, adding just the fact they have a drummer allowed them to explore their rock and roll side.
“Response has been overwhelmingly positive. It got a lot of great feedback. Long time fans of ours expected something like this,” he said.
“It also allowed us to rearrange the songs. Some songs that were formerly banjo lead, sounded better with electric guitar. So it turned into a blessing in disguise,” Vickers continued.
While it has been a while since they played Lethbridge, they always look forward to returning to Southern Alberta and B.C.
“Rum Runner used to takes us along when they did a Crowsnest Pass and introduced us their friends and audiences. So we’re grateful to them for that,” he said.
They are looking forward to returning to Lethbridge to play the Slice.
“There will be a lot of energy and a lot of good times and new songs and songs from the new album,” he said.
They have a strong connection with Worst Days Down.
“Drummer Jerome Tovillo and Matt Murphy are part of the band t and their singer is a long time friend of ours. So we though it would be fun to share a stage and some band members and hang out with our friends,” He said.
“They just got signed to Gunner Records in Germany, so there are opportunities ahead for them,” he said.
Blair Drover, Riley Maggs and Ryan Jeneroux complete Audio/Rocketry.
Audio/Rocketry, Worst Days Down and Biloxi Parish play the Slice, Feb. 25 at 10 p.m. There is a $10 cover.
