Calgary based power trio The Static Shift are bringing their classic rock revival sound to the Slice, Saturday, Jan. 20.

A different line up of the Static Shift played Freshest in 2018.  But the current line up including founding member Mitchell Brady (guitar/lead vocals), Kyle Tenove (bass) and Taylor Miles (drums), played Freshfest 2018, but made up for lost time, playing Lethbridge three times last year.

 They proudly wear their classic rock roots on their collective sleeves.

 

“The first song that my dad played when I was born was Led Zeppelin’s “ Whole Lotta Love,” said bassist Kyle Tenove, who has been part of the Static Shift for two years.

“When we were driving to a show in Regina , we were taking turns choosing albums to play. Supertramp’s  “Crime of the Century,” Pink Floyd}s the Wall were a big part of that trip,” he said.

 

“ We love Led Zeppelin  and the Rolling Stones and we’re working on some songs by Free,” he said.

 They are working on a new album they hope to release in mid or late 2024, but released a video for Jimi Hendrix’s ‘ Voodoo Child (Slight Return).

 

“We’ve been playing it live for years. We recorded it at OCL Studios It’s a ’60s classic. But we wanted to put a modern twist on it. As soon as you hear that wah wah pedal at the beginning, you immediately know what it is and that panning they used to do in the ’60s to make it sound more psychedelic. But we didn’t do that. We also wanted to show off our drummer,” Tenove said.

 They have had an incredible couple of years which included opening for luminaries like the Cult, April Wine, and ZZ Top at the Grey Eagle Casino in Calgary just before celebrating Halloween at the Slice with Vancouver’s Brass Camel.

 

“Opening for ZZ Top was crazy. It was our second time at the Casino. And we were hanging out  hoping to meet ZZ Top. Billy Gibbons actually opened for Hendrix before ZZ Top. He talked with us for like 45 minutes.  We gave him  some demos of  our new songs and he even gave us notes on them. He was very cool giving us so much of his time,” Tenove enthused.

 Another highlight was meeting the Cult after opening for them.

“Before that we opened for April Wine right before Myles Goodwin died, which was crazy. Then we opened for the Cult in Edmonton and Saskatoon. Ian Astbury listened to our set and asked us if we were going to play the next show with them, but we weren’t,” he said adding the coolest moment was meeting the Cult’s bassist Charlie Jones.

 

“He has played with  Robert Plant, which is one of the first shows I saw. He was talking about opening for Robert, and I was like Robert Plant? As a bassist, that was definitely a high point,” he enthused.

“ Meeting these people with all these years of experience giving us so much of their time makes us want to play better and work harder, because that’s where we want to be,” he said.

 They have been hard at work with producer Russell Broom, who has worked with Jann Arden and many other Canadian luminaries like Art Bergmann, Gordie Johnson, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, Brett Kissel and many more.

“ We’ve recorded 14 songs so far. We’re trying to decide how to release the music,  releasing singles one at a time or a full length album,” he said.

“We’re pretty excited about it,” he said, noting   they are staying close to home in January.

 

“ I’m on my honeymoon in February. Then we’ll be touring a lot more. Hopefully coming back to Lethbridge,” he said, adding they have been playing a lot of the new songs live to gauge audience response and are finding new audiences like Lethbridge.

 

“That’s why we’ve played Lethbridge so much. We can go there and back in the same night. Derek at the Slice has been so good to  us. So we’re grateful to him and Lethbridge audiences. We’re getting a little over saturated in Calgary,” he said adding they are looking forward to playing with the Decadent Phase  next week.

 

“ We were talking to Derek about when we can come a back and got talking with the Decadent Phase. They asked us to headline their show. They’re really into the Grateful Dead like we are, so it will be a really great show,” he said, adding with a headlining set, they will be  able to play a lot of new music.

 

“We really  believe in playing all our songs before an audience before recording them. They’ll let us know which are their favourites and we can see what we need to change,” he said.

 The Decadent Phase and the Static Shift will be back at the Slice, Saturday, Jan. 20.

 Tickets are $17.87 in advance from Showpass  .

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor