Break out the board for surfing night at the Slice, June 9 when Calgary’ based surf rock band the 427s make a long awaited return to Lethbridge with local surf rock band the Atomicos.
“A lot has happened since we were last in Lethbridge it’s hard to condense two years into two minutes,” noted guitarist Chris Van Keir, noting the band just returned from a successful trip to Seattle.
“The other band members had been there, but I’d only ever driven through it or seen the airport,” said guitarist Chris Van Keir, who is joined by guitarist Rob Day, drummer Wrayne Ramone and bassist Eve Hell, who officially joined the band shortly after their last visit to Lethbridge.
Since then they have played a lot of shows, released a well regarded full length debut CD “ Mavericks” and have started working on a new album. And of course, played Seattle.
“It was amazing. everywhere we went we were treated like rock stars. We played the radio station KEXP and after we were done our shows people showed us the town. So we drank coffee and went to see a lot of shows. We found a couple of great jazz clubs and the Sadies were playing,” he said.
“When they saw us, their jaws hit the floor because what are the odds of The Sadies from Toronto and us from Calgary being in Seattle at the same time. So we had a nice long talk with (Sadies frontman) Dallas Good, ” he enthused.
We even found a beach, though we didn’t surf. Because it was a rest day and we needed it,” he said, noting the band is familiar with surfing, though the band is from landlocked Calgary.
“Rob has surfed, Eve has tried it, and I surfed years ago when I was in Southern California. Actually I do river surfing,” he said.
They are pleased with how “Maverick” did.
“It did really well. It spent weeks in the Top 50 for six or eight weeks and in the top 20 for a couple of weeks,” he said, adding they are working on new music with Eve Hell, who plays upright bass on the couple of tracks on “Maverick.”
“ Our old bass player plays electric bass on the rest of it,” he said.
“ This new Cd will showcase Eve,” he said.
She was filling in for a few shows the last time the band was in Lethbridge.
“She’s on ‘Yellowbelly” and “Blue Cactus” on Maverick. We asked her to join a few months later. We were so impressed by her attitude and professionalism on and off stage. And it‘s really neat to see her play upright bass. So sometimes we’ll switch to Gretsch guitars and she‘ll play upright bass for a set and electric bass on another,” he said adding it is unlikely they’ll do that in Lethbridge.
“It’s so difficult to fit everyone and everything including an upright bass into one vehicle, however if someone is willing to lend us an upright bass we might do that,” he said.
They are excited to share a stage with the Atomicos.
“ They played with us last time, so when I was putting this show together, I reached out to them. So we’re hoping for sunshine so we can have some surfing summer fun,” he said.
The Atomicos and 427s play the Slice, Friday, June 9 at 9 p.m.
