Monster Truck is ready to roar back into Alberta when they play Average Joes, Jan. 28.
“We’re just four friends who like to play rock and roll together. It’s the old school rock vibe meets the new school, that’s what we are going for,” said Monster Truck guitarist/ vocalist Jeremy Widerman enjoying some much needed time at home in Hamilton after a busy year which has included a lot of shows, the release of their new album Furiosity and even an opening slot for Alice in Chains.
vocalist/ bassist Jon Harvey, organist/ vocalist Brandon Bliss and drummer/ vocalist Steve Kiely complete the band’s line-up.
It has been almost exactly two years ago when Monster Truck played Lethbridge with FUBAR star the Deaner’s band Night Seeker.
“I don’t remember much about that tour,” Widerman said.
“We had 11 shows in Alberta and combined with the amount we were drinking, it’s really hard to separate the shows. We were still trying to get our show together. It was a lot of fun though,” he said.
They had a busy year last year, but they are looking forward to be back on the road again — sort of.
“We’re really enjoying our time off at home. Last year was a busy year. But we got to travel to Europe and this year already looks busy. But it’s going to be fun,” he said.
The band grew up in the middle of Hamilton’s punk scene, which has all but disappeared.
“The TV Freaks are great. But there really isn’t anything going on here, it’s mostly indie-rock,” he described.
Among last year’s highlights was opening fro Alice In Chains. Two years ago they opened for Deep Purple. They hadn't expected that level of success.
“Not at all. When we started the band we were just doing it for fun. We never thought it would get us to the level it has got us,” he said.
The release of Furiosity was the culmination of a frustrating year-long process which took them to Los Angeles where they recorded an entire album and then scrapped the whole thing after not seeing eye to eye with the producer.
“It’s a pretty crazy story,” Widerman summarized.
“We ended up coming back to Canada and recording it with Eric Ratz,” he said.
“ We were figuring out all of the pieces. It’s unfortunate we wasted all of that time and money on the other CD though. But we think we achieved what we were going for,” he said.
They wanted to show the many sides of the band’s rock and roll on the CD and achieved it.
“We wanted to build a huge sound from the beginning, but we have a slower blues song right in the middle.”
Widerman didn’t want to choose favourite tracks on the album.
“ It’s still the same four guys playing the same instruments playing the same songs on this CD. We wanted to make the songs as close as possible,” he said adding response has been very good for the album.“People are a saying good things about it. People are enjoying it,” he continued.
He noted favourite songs to play live change depending on the night.
“It depends on our moods. It changes on a nightly basis,” he said.
“Furiosity’ was released in May, so the band is already looking ahead to their next album, which they hope to record and release next year.
“We don't want to be the band who tour non-stop and all of the sudden people expect a new album from us so we have to scramble to do it,” he said.
“So we’re looking ahead and bouncing ideas off of each other,“ he added.
Their first two EPS, ‘the Brown EP and the Monster Truck EP are available for free through their website http://ilovemonstertruck.com/releases/
Monster Truck rocks Average Joes. Jan, 28 at 9 p.m.. Tickets cost $20
