Tourist Company are aptly named as the Vancouver based indie rock and folk band's members come from all over North America from Canada to Guatemala.
Frontman Taylor Swindells is from Canada, Jillian Levey is from South Africa, while drummer Brenon Parry is from Tucson, Arizona. Bassist / multi-instrumentalist Josué Quezada is from Guatemala originally though he was raised in Mexico and Oregon.
Swindells and Levey will be playing the Mix Lounge at Ric’s Grill on Aug. 20.
“The name comes from the fact that we tour a lot and because we’re from all over the world,” said Swindells driving through the mountains in B.C. to begin their tour.
The group started jamming together after meeting each other in Vancouver and throwing a few musical ideas at each other.
“ When we decided to take it a little more seriously when we recorded our CD (Brother Wake Up) last year, we decided to make it a band and we needed a name, so we had a long list of names and The Tourist Company just fit,” he said.
He said they blended many musical influences on the EP which they recorded with producer Jordan Klassen.
“He helped us a lot with different ideas. He has a great mind. He helped us expand our sound is it sound more full,” he said.
Swindells plays a variety of instruments on both CD, Brother Wake Up and their new EP “Space Race,” which they released this year, but is only playing guitar on this tour while Jillian Levey will be playing keyboards.
“It will be our first time there. It’s a lot more acoustic because it is just Jillian and me. So it will be a little bit more intimate and stripped down. We’re really excited about it,” he said.
He said the new EP has been well received.
“We’re getting good feedback from people about it,” he said.
It also got them a slot in the PEAK Performance Project.
“We’re really excited about that. We’ve already started it. As soon as we get done this tour, we’ll be gong to what they call a boot camp for a week where all of the participants spend a week together in RockRidge Canyon going to seminars and writing. We’re going there to learn and get better,” he said.
There is a $10 cover for the Lethbridge show, which begins at 8 p.m.
