Joel Plaskett is back on the road and coming back to Lethbridge, Sept. 27, to play the Southminster United Church.
It has been two years since he played Lethbridge, so he is looking forward to returning to play the show as part of the Geomatic Attic’s Fall season.
“I have history in Lethbridge. I remember gigs at the Tongue N’ Groove and the Geomatic Attic. A remember the little diner next to the bus station, though I don’t think it’s o
pen anymore, and that record store Blueprint. But mostly I remember the streets. Lethbridge has some pretty cool streets,” enthused the Dartmouth, Nova Scotia based singer songwriter, who first came to prominence in the early ’90s with indie-rock darlings Thrush Hermit.
“But I’m looking forward to coming back and walking on those streets,” he enthused.
He is just beginning a 12 date tour of Western Canada with longtime guitarist Peter Elkas.
The duo is not only playing a lot of theatres, and in Lethbridge’s case, a church, but many of the shows are already sold out.
“It’s really promising. It’s most exciting because we’re playing a lot of what agents call secondary markets. We’re catching a lot of new places we haven’t been to before, so it feels like I’ve made it. I’m very happy,” he said. He is looking forward to playing Southminster United Church.
“We’ve done some churches for sure, but not in Lethbridge. They’re always beautiful. I just like to bring some rock and roll into a church,” he said.
Since last playing Lethbridge, he has released two new CDs with his band The Emergency including his most recent “ Scrappy Happiness,” which he recorded in his own studio in Dartmouth, where he recorded the last one as well. He also released a compilation of covers and out takes called “EMERGENCYs, false alarms, shipwrecks, castaways, fragile creatures, special features, demons and demonstrations.”
“ For the latest CD, we recorded one song a week for 120 weeks,” he said. He said having his band the Emergency including drummer Dave Marsh and bassist Christ Pennell on the CD, gave it a more band dynamic.
“ On Three ( his triple CD from 2009) I played all of the instruments myself. So I played bass and drums where each song needed them. This one is more rock and roll, the drums and bass are a big part of it and there’s a lot more guitar and guitar solos,” he described.
In addition to recording the new CD, Plaskett is also in the process to moving his studio. It’s bigger, it’s about 1,000 square feet in an old furriers,” he said.
It is still in Dartmouth, right across the harbour from Halifax, where the music scene is pretty strong.
“There are a lot of talented musicians. We’re a little short of venues though, but there are some really good venues,” he said.
“I don’t get to see it much because I’m always on tour, but when I do poke my head out of the house, there are a lot of really talented musicians playing,” he described.
Joel Plaskett plays the Southminster United Church with Mo Kenny, Sept. 27. Tickets are $32.50.
