There’s going to be an old-fashioned All Ages Show this Saturday at the Spice Trail.
Saskatoon’s Driveway Legends, who are promoting their recently released album along with opening act Tadoma, will bring a punk rock show to Prince Albert.
Driveway Legends released Get It Together, the seven song follow- up to their 2021 debut last month.
The three-piece band made up of guitarist Nic Swaok, bassist Jace Matlock and drummer Ryan Pegg are promoting the album on the three-stop Saskatchewan tour with Prince Albert being the first stop.
“We just came out with the album in February so this is our first string of shows for sure since the album,” Swaok said. “This is our first time playing Prince Albert for sure. I know for me it’s my first time ever in any band playing out in Prince Albert.”
The band came together in 2019 when Swaok was trying to decide what to do creatively. All three musicians had played with previous bands, but were unsure about their next project.
“I hadn’t played in quite some time over several years and I was either going to give it one more shot or get rid of all of my giant stage gear and PA system that we didn’t need kicking around the house,” Swaok remembered. “It was a Kijiji ad that I put out and Jace our bass player reached out to me. We jammed a couple of times and then we just hit the ground running.”
Although the band started to come together nicely, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Soon after they started playing together, the COVID-19 pandemic started.
“We wrote some songs (and) we had just enough to start playing shows,” Swaok said. “We played one show and then we were full pandemic. We finally got to be able to play some shows and we have got nowhere to play. That is when we recorded that first album because we had to do something.”
Driveway Legends used the COVID downtime to get everything right on their album. Now that like music is back, Swaok said they’re excited to play different venues like Spice Trail in Prince Albert. He said playing the All Ages Show reminds him of his youth in Moose Jaw.
“I love stuff like that,” Swaok said. “I grew up in Moose Jaw (and) there are no music venues. It was all rent a hall, put up posters, get the sound gear together, get fans out, spread the word and just try to make shows happen in whatever venue, space, skatepark, whatever you could find, whatever you could get enough money to rent. That is what I grew doing, putting on shows like that.
“That’s small town Saskatchewan. Kids need something to do, so let’s put something together.”
Swaok said Saturday’s show came together through the musical grapevine of Prince Albert. The band reached out to Threadbare Productions’ Clay Cottingham about doing a show after getting his name and contact info from Will Yannacoulias of North Sask. Music Zine.
“We are trying to hit small town Saskatchewan … because I always loved it when bands came to Moose Jaw,” Swaok said. “I was so pumped about it. We are trying to get out there and do the same. We just need somebody to put on the shows and some place to have them. Now that we have it we are really excited for this weekend.”
Opening act Tadoma has been together since 2015 and released an album in 2018. The band is based in Humboldt but has played numerous shows in Saskatoon recently. This is the first time they have played in Prince Albert.
Swaok explained that the show came together through the musical grapevine of Prince Albert.
“We are excited to come to Prince Albert, I mean I reached out before this Red Bear Productions (Clay Cottingham) started doing shows there,” he said.
Opening act Tadoma has been together since 2015 and released an album in 2018. The band is based in Humboldt but has played numerous shows in Saskatoon recently but this is the first time they have played in Prince Albert.
The band is made up of singer Caleb Frey, drummer Corri Barnes and lead guitarist Jason McCord and bassist Jeff McCord.
Their first release ‘Wendemo’ came out spring of 2018, and was self recorded at Barnes’ Earthquake Records studio in Humboldt. It contains seven original pieces.
“Typically, a Tadoma show would be me behind the mic being really loud, and the band behind me being even louder,” Frey said.
“You can expect some toe tappin’. You can expect some innuendo. You can expect to pleasantly surprised. Our sound has been called a mix between Motorhead and Danzig. Take that how you like. It’s basically just spooky, hard-core, rock ‘n’ roll,” Frey explained.
This is also Tadoma’s first stop in Prince Albert and the band is excited to come.
“I don’t think anyone in the band has ever been to the Spice Trail either,” Frey said. “I’m really interested to see what kind of crowd the city has to offer, what kind of scene is still out kicking, post-covid, (and) interested to see if they enjoy what we have to offer, as well.”
The show is at Spice Trail beginning at 8 p.m. for a cost of $15. On Thursday, April 6, Driveway Legends are in Moose Jaw at Chillers Brew Pub for a free show with supporting acts Me the Guts and Ripper and the Jesses. On Good Friday (April 7) they are doing a free show in Regina at The Cure at 9:30 p.m. with Me the Guts and The Disconnect and on April 8 they are in Saskatoon at Black Cat Tavern with at 9 p.m. with Me the Guts and Swayze.
“We get a little break. We are not going to pull in a lot of people on weekdays, especially small towns, so we kept it all on the weekends,” Swaok said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
