There’s a new voice at the forefront of Saskatoon-based band Friends of Foes, set to perform at Bo’s on July 16th.

Friends of Foes is very excited to announce that prairie songstress Danielle Huot has joined the band as their new Vocalist (following the departure of longtime band member Celeste Nicholson).

To mark this line-up change, FOF will be embarking on a cross-Canada tour taking place from July 8th-29th, playing material from their most recent release Faults which was released this past February. They’ll also be playing brand new tunes yet to be officially recorded.

The band made a swing through Red Deer earlier this year, and is extra excited to introducing Huot to local audiences this time around, said guitarist Matt Stinn, who also works as a guitar teacher when he isn’t recording or on the road with Friends of Foes.

“We went through western Canada on that tour,” he said during a recent chat. “Overall, the reaction to Faults has been really positive. Everybody was into the new music, and the music videos for the record did really well, too.”

Faults indeed offers listeners a pretty special sonic journey, from the dream-like, simply structured tones of Nowhere to the comparatively snappy and progressive Dance in the Dark. Originality shines through at virtually every turn. Other highlights include the title track and the project’s final number Diving In.

After that winter tour, it became somewhat apparent that Nicholson and the band in general were going in different directions, so the guys started looking for a replacement.

“After a couple of discussions, we came to a full band decision that Celeste was not really on the same path as us anymore,” he said. “After a little bit of discussion, we decided that our best bet would be to start to looking for a different singer. After talking and jamming with a few people, we actually started writing and playing music with Danielle. And from there it’s morphed into this,” he explained.

Huot is thrilled to be onboard with the band, and is looking forward to hitting the road with the guys and interpreting their catalogue in fresh new ways.

Looking back, a love for music came relatively early.

“I wrote a lot of lyrics – I didn’t know they were lyrics at the time – it was poetry,” she said, adding a knack for writing was surfacing back then, too. She’s also loved singing and harmonizing for years as well, so joining forces with Friends of Foes has proven a wonderful new step. She said that pretty much everything about the band suits her.

“Our writing styles are very similar, too,” she said. She and Stinn had known of each other for awhile prior to her joining the band – and so far, it’s proven to be a smooth transition for both sides as the new formation continues to gel.

“I had been aware of Friends of Foes – I had liked them on facebook and had listened to their music, so I was aware of them. Matt heard me at an open mic, and liked my voice.

“I want to travel Canada with them – they are great guys just to be with,” she said, adding it’s fantastic being able to just do what she loves to do as well.

Having already shared the stage with Canadian heavy-weights We Are The City, Royal Canoe, Rah Rah, Zerbin and Saskatoon bands such as Slow Down Molasses, The Young Benjamins, Acronyms, Gunner and Smith, Castle River, The Classy Chassys, and many more, Friends of Foes has the stage presence to back up their boisterous sound.

Rounding out the group are Keegan Stretch on drums and back-up vocals and Anthony Nickel on bass and back-up vocals.

Collaboratively, the four members of the band write all the original material that the band performs.

Before work on Faults began, Friends of Foes released Winter in October of 2014. The release of Winter saw Friends of Foes gaining ground on local and national community/college radio, as well as on the top of the indie charts for Canada at ReverbNation.

Having already shared the stage with some of Canada’s best bands, topping numerous ‘Best Of’ lists with their debut Chronophobic, Friends of Foes is also described as a relentlessly hard working band set on carving a name for themselves in Canadian music through endless touring and a powerful press presence.

Chronophobic was largely born from collaboration amongst the group on virtually every level. Songs tend to grow from sessions of just exploring various sounds, melodies and lyrical ideas.

Meanwhile, they’re keeping very busy taking their music to the masses.

“We’ll be doing Vancouver and back, then we have four days off and it’s out to Montreal and back,” said Stinn.

“Typically we do between 60 and 70 shows a year right now.”

editor@reddeerexpress.com