A good wedding band needs to really know how to play to a crowd and keep the event upbeat and fun for everyone.
“ We’ve been doing weddings for a long time,” said Breanne Urban, who fronts country/ rock band Southern Flyer.
“All of the guys in th
e band have friends who are getting married. I just like being part of their special day,” she continued adding they play about 10 weddings a year, mostly for those friends as well as people who have seen the band play at other gigs
“It is quite the feeling to play the first dance for the father - daughter dance.
They have a vast repertoire of country and Top 40 rock that they can play at the drop of a hat, which they usually play, though they will learn songs by request.
Most wedding parties are happy to let them do their thing.
“ One time they told us not to play any really old country and keep things upbeat, but we do that anyway, so I’m okay with that,” Urban continued adding one request they almost always get is one of her own “ You Take the Lead,” from the band’s CD.
For Medicine Hat based duo Mahoney, who play approximately 40 weddings a year all over Southern Alberta and into B.C. and Saskatchewan, it helps they can play everything from popular hits to punk rock. The duo, guitarist vocalist Trent Roset and multi-instrumentalist Ryan “Ry Guy” Massini always make the songs their own, turning them into high energy acoustic and folk music played on numerous different instruments.
They play about a third of their wedding gigs in Lethbridge, another third in Medicine Hat and the other third all over the place from Calgary to Moose Jaw.
“We play the reception and the dance which is what we like to do— playing after all the stress is done and people are ready to party,” said Roset.
They duo played a lot of pubs and bars since forming approximately 13 years ago, and soon started getting hired for higher paying private parties and then weddings. They played in different bands before that.
Roset said reading the crowd is an important part of being a good wedding bend.
“We played a punk rock wedding once where played nothing but punk rock, but most weddings want to hear country and classic rock,” he observed.
“Every wedding is different,” Roset observed.
However several songs are invariably always requested like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Fishing in the Dark,” Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” Lynard Skynard’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Toto’s “Africa,” and surprisingly the Arrogant Worms “Last Saskatchewan Pirate.
“ That’s a fun song to play. People always request it,” he said.
They also get do not play requests.
“A lot of brides will request we don’t play really cheesy songs like ‘ the Chicken Dance’ or ‘the Macarena.’ But we don’t really play them anyway. Maybe we should. We’re pretty cheesy,” he laughed.
Another thing they like to do is invite
the bride or groom up on stage to sing with them.
“That’s the one time all eyes will be on us is when some of the wedding party is on stage with us,” he said.
“We’ll try to get them involved on songs like ‘Ice Ice Baby’ and ‘Baby Got Back.’ One time we had a bride who did ‘Baby Got Back’ with us and she knew all of the words and all of the speech. She was a cool bride. So we did the full song,” he recalled.
Music is not only for the reception — some bridal parties want music at the ceremony as well. In which case Lethbridge country/ pop singer Alyssa McQuaid is happy to oblige.
“Most people have heard my version of ‘Hallelujah,’ and want me to play that,” McQuaid said adding she has played about 10 wedding ceremonies so far in her career, mostly for friends of hers and her family.
“ Usually I’ll play a half dozen songs at the ceremony. But most people are really specific about the songs they want played,” she said adding if given about a month, she’ll learn requests to play during the ceremony. She’ll play an array of covers from Jason Mraz’ “I’m Yours” or various Blake Shelton and Paul Brandt songs for weddings.
She also plays a lot of Catholic weddings, so she learns a lot of traditional and spiritual songs as well for them.
She even wrote a song for a wedding.
“‘I Do’ is on my first album. The bride was a really good friend of mine. I was her bridesmaid and she’s going to be my bridesmaid too. So I wrote it for them for a wedding present. Their relationship really inspires me,” she enthused.
