PREVIEW
What: Jon and Roy with Ashleigh Ball of Hey Ocean! and Terence Jack
When: Saturday, 9 p.m. (doors at 8)
Where: Sugar
Tickets: $25 at Lyle’s Place and Ticketfly.com
Jon and Roy always seem to be at their concert-playing best in their hometown, and have delivered at venues big and small for more than a decade.
The Victoria group can now add parts of Europe to the growing list of markets in which it does well. Singer-guitarist Jon Middleton, drummer Roy Vizer and bassist Louis Sadava returned in March from a successful two-week tour of Europe, their second trip to the area in the past four months. According to Middleton, some of the best shows of their career took place during their most recent European run.
“There were a lot of new faces. It definitely felt like we had fans in these places, where we’ve never really been. And they are really fans — love the music, know the words. It feels really good, even though three-quarters of the places in Germany we played I had never even heard of.”
The popularity of Spotify has been a big help. The single Every Night, a highlight from 2014’s By My Side, has amassed 3.3 million spins on the streaming service, which played a significant role in bringing the group to audiences outside Canada.
Jon and Roy have developed business connections overseas as well. The group will release its seventh album, The Road Ahead is Golden, in Europe through the Filter Music Group, a Berlin-based distribution company and record label that works with Stolen Dance hitmakers Milky Chance.
Filter wanted to release the record in the fall, so it could pair a promotional push with yet more touring. Jon and Roy wanted a summer release in Canada, so the two parties “kind of met somewhere in the middle,” Middleton said. The Road Ahead is Golden will arrive May 5 in Canada, and the following month in Europe.
Middleton said a few copies of The Road Ahead is Golden will be for sale at the band’s show at Sugar on Saturday, which is serving as its album-release party.
Jon and Roy’s sold-out 2016 performance at Sugar was full of unexpected cover-song lefts and rights, from rootsy versions of punk (the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy in the U.K.) to classical (Krieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King) favourites, accented with a horn section. No such turnabouts occur on The Road Ahead is Golden, though singer-songwriter Sierra Lundy and members of Current Swell contribute vocals and Stephen Franke offers keyboard help.
The group saw no point in changing the ingredients of a proven formula. They did, however, alter their studio approach, as The Road Ahead is Golden was put into motion months ahead of schedule. The process was very last-minute, Middleton said.
“We had been working on some songs, with the intention of recording much later. But because we were going to Europe, we had to put something out. It was initially going to be three or four songs, but we went in the studio and crammed for three weeks. In those types of situations, you might feel like you might be doing a disservice to the music in rushing it. It didn’t feel like we rushed it, but it was very spontaneous.”
Middleton doesn’t listen to Jon and Roy’s recorded work once it is completed, but he has enjoyed revisiting The Road Ahead is Golden. “I’m still into it,” he said. “It’s nice to feel that way. Sometimes when you do something quickly, down the line it feels like it wasn’t the best manoeuvre.”
The band is going back to Europe in August, new record in hand, for three weeks of dates in England, Germany, Netherlands and Hungary. It’s clear that their relationship with Europe has given Jon and Roy new juice.
“I’m feeling more confident,” Middleton said. “Knowing we have these fans that we’ve somehow developed over the years, despite having not toured in some of these places, makes me feel like we can continue doing what we’re doing. You get in little ruts where you might not be feeling anything creatively, but this is good. I’m excited about writing.”
Jon and Roy have secured provincial grant funding for another album, so there’s an urgency to get back in the studio. But Middleton doesn’t want to rush anything, after moving at a quick pace for The Road Ahead is Golden. “I want this album to take its course for at least a year,” he said, before pausing. “But it’s hard to say with us. We record so quickly. If we have time and we’re feeling creative, we’ll do it.”