Vulcan/ Nanton based country/ roots band Tin and the Toad are excited to follow in the footsteps of fellow southern Albertan songwriters by writing about what they know — southern Alberta.
They release their debut CD ‘Roots to Ramble On,’ at the Slice, Jan. 31 with Rancho Deluxe.
“ Justin ( Smith — Tin) and I were playing in rock bands before but as we got older, our interests changed. We’ve been writing songs for a long time, but we didn’t really identify with country music because it was so southern based in Nashville in the United States.
But about that time Corb Lund came out with ‘Five Dollar Bill, and that opened the doors,” related Tin and the Toad guitarist/ vocalist Cody ‘the Toad’ Shearer, who makes up the band with ‘Tin’ Justin Smith on guitar and mandolin, bassist Pete Loughlin and Steve Loree on guitar and vocals plus Shearer’s big brother Ryan ( who was in popular touring indie rock band Jack Union about a dozen years ago) on drums.
“Corb Lund was the first guy we heard who was writing about his own experiences in Southern Alberta,” he continued.
They recorded the CD at producer Steve Loree’s Nanton studio ‘Crabapple Downs’ back in November 2012.
“We worked really hard on these songs and decided to push it up a notch,” Shearer continued adding it is released digitally as well as on vinyl.
“We like to listen to vinyl. Steve worked really hard on the sound quality so we thought vinyl was the best way to show it,” he said.
“And the band harkens back to the sound of ’70s country rock like Poco, and you have to listen to it on vinyl,” he said.
They enjoyed working with Steve Loree.
“It was amazing. The pedigree of projects he’s worked on. If you aren’t passionate about it he probably won’t be involved with it,” he said.
Dave McCann, another Lethbridge based songwriter was another inspiration.
“We went to go see Dave McCann a lot, which is how we got involved with Pete (Loughlin, who plays bass with Dave McCann as well) He sings really great harmony vocals,” he said.
He noted, while the band’s sound is reminiscent of ’70s bands like Poco, their songs are all very personal.
“If the song isn’t about us, it’s about a person we know,” he said. One of Steve Loree’s songs ‘Crossing Place, is one of Shearer’s favourites.
They are really pleased with this CD and are looking forward to the next one.
In the meantime they will be playing a couple other CD release parties.
They already sold out a show in Calgary and will return soon.
They are also looking forward to playing music festivals during the summer.
“By 2020, we want to be the first country rock band to play on Mars,” he laughed.
in the meantime, they are excited about playing Lethbridge roots country band Rancho Deluxe, with frontman George Arsene, in whose garage Tin and the Toad hang out in a lot when they are in Lethbridge.
“It’s George’s birthday. So we’re really stoked about playing it,” he said.
The show begins at 8 p.m. Jan. 31 at the Slice.
