Every day is a good day to be Big Sugar frontman Gordie Johnson.
They just released a new electric CD “ Calling All TheYouth,” hot on the heels of their hit reggae acoustic CD “Yard Style.” They will be returning to Lethbridge to play Average Joes, Nov. 15 with Triggerfinger.
And they welcomed a new drummer Chris Gormley in September to open for AC DC in Moncton.
“We were playing in front of 50,000 people. So that was a good day to me me,” he rumbled Johnson wandering around Nelson before the band’s tour date there.
The long standing Canadian blues rock/ reggae icons return to Lethbridge with a full electric show at Average Joes, Nov. 15 with Triggerfinger.
“They‘re one of the biggest bands in Europe right now. They saw Big Sugar in the 1990s and decided to form a band. We didn’t know that until they told us they were honoured to meet us. And we said ‘ What are you talking about, you’re one of the biggest bands in Europe,” he said.
“They really rise to the occasion and they definitely put the heat on us,” he said.
They are excited to tour on a new electric album with the five man core of the band including Johnson, multi-instrumentalist Mr. Chill, bassist Garry Lowe, Friendliness and new drummer Chris Gormley.
“ We released the acoustic album last year. It was fun to be on stage with a dozen guys each night, but at the same time it was a long banjo picking kind of year so, I’m excited to play electric shows again and jump around with the double neck, though it requires a lot of fitness,” he said, adding there is some song overlaps on both albums.
“They’re my songs, so I can do whatever I please with them. We recorded both albums at the same times,” he said adding if they felt like recording the same song electric, they would.
Johnson does a lot of work with Govt. Mule’s Warren Haynes, but Haynes wasn’t involved on this album.
“I’m actually mixing some Govt. Mule archival stuff now. But we both grew up listening to the same stuff. We’ve both spent a lot of time on tour busses listening to the same albums,” he said.
He is excited about the show.
“It’s different new material. We’re also playing lots of older stuff, some of which we’ve never played,” he said.
“We spend a lot of time on the tour bus talking about new songs and different arrangements of older songs and about adding parts of other songs into other songs. We just want to make each show different,” he said, adding audience response has been excellent.
“At a Big Sugar show, everyone is up on their feet , grooving to the songs, so it is hard to say which ones they like the best,” he said.
He is already considering the next Big Sugar CD.
“ In the United States, where we don’t have a lot of big radio hits, we’ll probably release an all reggae album, because in Texas and California, that’s what they really like,” he said, adding there is still a lot of reggae on the new CD.
“Reggae will always be part of our thing,” he said.
Advance tickets for the show cost $25 or $30 on the day of the show. The show begins at 8 p.m., Nov. 15.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
