The Trews are gearing up for their Red Deer show at Bo’s Bar & Grill Feb. 4th as part of their national tour. The group will be heading out with Edmonton rock n’ rollers Altameda.
Both groups have some new music they will be sharing with fans.
The Trews recently released their sixth studio album Civilianaires back in the Fall.
“The journey to get to the album was a bit of a long one. Our last full length release was in 2014 so it took a little while to get this album together,” said John-Angus MacDonald of The Trews.
He added that a lot of change was in the air when it came to the group’s personal and professional lives. This included a member of the band leaving in 2014, the group leaving their long-time management of 15 years and a change of labels.
“I’m sure that informed the kind of things we were coming up with and the kind of album it turned out to be, but in the end I’m glad we took our time because we really dug deep as far as the songwriting went and we really turned over every stone as far as how to produce it and how we wanted it to sound,” he said, adding that the album feels like an updated version of what they do, sounding fresh for what today’s music is like.
Erik Grice of Altameda, said it’s been a while since their group has been on the road and can’t wait to show off their newest record Time Hasn’t Changed You, which they made in Toronto with their friend Erin Goldstein. This is the group’s sophomore record.
“It’s been a while since we made it but we’re really excited to finally have it out and ready for people to hear,” said Grice.
“We write alot about hopefully things people can relate to and there’s a good aspect of human condition in a lot of it.”
MacDonald said they had some cool collaborations on their recent album, including working with Bob Rock, a famous record producer on four tracks, along with young up and coming producer Derek Hoffman (The Elwins and Seaway). Co-writes throughout the album include Canadian heavy weights Max Kerman of the Arkells and Serena Ryder.
“The happiest you can ever be with a record is when it’s done and nobody’s heard it yet because then it’s your little secret and you can be satisfied with the work and then there’s a whole other existential crisis that comes along with releasing it and seeing how it goes over,” he said.
MacDonald said one of the other highlights besides the album was the birth of his second child.
Meanwhile, for Edmonton-based group Altameda, the crew will continue on touring after taking part in the western leg of the dates with The Trews. They will be doing eastern Canada dates, along with the United States and Eurpoe.
“We toured the States for the first time as this band and that was really amazing. You want to go a lot of places. We’ve been to the UK and across Canada a number of times, so to see some new cities as a group was really nice,” said Grice of the group’s past year.
As for members of The Trews, who are all based in Ontario, the group hopes to get into the studio again to work on another album by the end of this year or the start of next year.
