A Vancouver-based band made up of former Central Alberta musicians will perform an eagerly awaited homecoming concert this week in Red Deer.
The country-rock group Those Boys Cassidy will join local bands Ol’ Boots & The Hoots and The Frank on Saturday, June 7, at The Vat.
“I love coming back,” said Rye Lundy, drummer for Those Boys Cassidy, who’s looking forward to performing new material for old friends in Central Alberta.
It will definitely be a deja-vu experience for Bentley-raised Lundy, who figures he must have played at least 60 shows at The Vat since he was a teenager. Local music fans might remember him from such punk/ metal bands as K.I.L.L., and Trainwreck Diaries.
Lundy left Red Deer for big-city gigs in Edmonton about a decade ago. But when his former dance/electronica band Gloom Room dissolved there, he decided to move to Vancouver.
Since setting up on the West Coast seven years ago, Lundy began meeting — and playing with — other former Central Albertan musicians, including some of the six members who helped form Those Boys Cassidy.
Other group members are guitarist/harmonica player Winston Clarkson from Blackfalds, guitarist/banjo player Steve Baumann from Lacombe, keyboardist Jesse Smith from Blackfalds, and singer/percussionist Tarah Hogue from Red Deer. Bass player Ryder Unrau is from Williams Lake, B.C.
The band’s music highlights various lead vocalists and a mixture of influences from country, rock and roll to folk and blues.
The group that is touring through Alberta, was started in 2011 and released a debut album, Chester last May.
Songs are described as ranging from driving rock riffs, as in Hurricane, to country ballads exploring regret and addiction as in the tune Contracted.
The album features rich harmonies and “an overall big sound where each song has its own story to tell.”
It’s available as a download from iTunes or Bandcamp, and was also issued in collectors’ vinyl, available at The Soundhouse in Red Deer.
The Boys Cassidy are also about to release a new three-song digital disc called Livin’ For a Change.
There’s a $10 cover charge for the 9 p.m. show. For more information, please call 403-346-5636.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com