Winnipeg bluegrass/ rock band the Magnificent 7s ’ tour schedule is about as intense as one of their live performances. They will be returning to Lethbridge to play the Slice, April 7.
“I’ve never been the best at describing what we do.
People call us all sorts of things. But we love this music and we have a good time making it,” said guitarist/ vocalist Matt Magura, who is looking forward to bringing the band to their fourth Lethbridge venue in about a year.
“ We played Henotic in April just before they closed and a smaller art gallery (the NAAG gallery) with B.A. Johnston and the Moby Dicks and the Owl,” he related.
“We put a lot of time into crafting the music. We like putting on a great show of our own rocking version of bluegrass music,” he continued adding he is looking forward to having fiddle player Andy Bart on board for the show as he tours with the band about 60 per cent of the time.
We‘ve never played the Slice before, but we played a couple games of pool there before the Owl show and it seems like a pretty cool place. Other musicians say it is,” he said adding the Lethbridge show is included in a 12 shows in 11 day tour of Western Canada which takes the band as far west as Revelstoke, Penticton and Nelson.
“We’ve got as lot of mouths to feed. We’ve got a bus and six people, five in the band and a technician. And it’s a big bus,” he continued, explaining the intensive/ concentrated tour schedule.
“This one isn’t as busy as some. In October we played 29 shows in 30 days. And this time it is 12 shows in 11 days because we’ve got to play the afternoon in Edmonton and then Tracks Pub in Olds at night. It’s not the first time we’ve had to play in the afternoon then book it to another show,” he said.
“We’re definitely starting to see some of the same faces. We have new friends all over. And these are the folks who help promote the shows
“We’ll be going back there for the first time since 2009 after this tour. Then we’ll come home and record the new CD,” he said adding the band are looking forward to playing some of the new songs in Lethbridge.
“We have a strong fan base in Winnipeg now. We’ve played some of them so we know who likes them and who doesn’t,” he said adding they also have a connection with a recording school in Winnipeg.
“We’re the meat for their students to work on. So we’ve recorded a few of them — eight straight in a session. So we have an idea about what works and what doesn’t. It’s all part of the process,” he continued, noting they will record a proper CD in June, once they return from a tour out to Halifax and back.
“The show will be a lot of old songs, some new songs. You will get a sense of what it is we do. We’re passionate about this music. We believe in it,” he said.
