Calgary based indie rock band 36? have come a long way since Taylor Cochrane started writing music in his bedroom when he was 17.
They won a Western Canadian Music Award for their 2014 CD “Where Do We Go From Here?”
They also placed third in the Peak Performance Competition (sponsored by Calgary radio station the PEAK), which allowed them to record a split record with fellow Calgarians the Ashley Hundred with producer and mixer Warne Livesey and the means to tour the United Kingdom.
“We’d been planning this for a long time. It was an elaborate process,” said frontman Taylor Cochrane, who brings the band to the Owl Acoustic Lounge, March 26 with fellow Calgarians Windigo. Ryan Kusz, Mike Malkin and Scott White complete 36?
“They’re one of our favourite Calgary bands,” Cochrane said, noting 36? hasn’t been back to Lethbridge since playing CKXU’s Love and Records Festival last year.
They released the split record in August. It marked a slight change in musical direction for the band.
“It’s definitely a lot darker than our other records. I was going through some pretty dark personal things,” he said.
“It’s definitely more heartfelt and a lot more personal, about the feelings I was having while the others were more allegorical,” he continued adding the next record, which they are working on, will be a lot different.
“I record demos of the songs and bring it to the guys and we work on how they should sound together, especially the electronica parts. But we’ve often used the original vocal takes,” he said.
They don’t usually road test songs before they record them.
“On the first record we had five songs on it that we‘d never played live before we record them,” he said.
“We’ve written 20 songs for it. So now we just need to choose which songs to record. It will definitely be more chill and psychedelic,” he said, adding he didn’t have a release date yet.
“ We’re looking at label interest. We have to decide how were going to do the release like the thing like videos and the press release,” he said, adding the process takes time.
He noted most of their set in Lethbridge will be new material, though crowd response doesn’t usually determine whether they will be on the record.
“It’s all about how they work together and our vision of the album. It’s about the best songs,” he said.
“But at least half of the set, maybe three quarters of it will be new material,” he said.
He never expected a musical project he began in his bedroom back in 2006 as teenager, would turn out to be so popular.
“It’s not like I sat in my bedroom saying this will win. It was the dream, but not the goal. But ( placing third) in the Peak was how we funded the split record with the Ashley Hundred and it allowed us to go to the United Kingdom last year. A lot of the things we did last year has been completed because of the PEAK. And we learned a lot from being part of it,” he said, adding they can’t enter again because they placed third, but the knowledge will serve them well in the future.
“We don’t even know what will happen, because the PEAK changed their genre to country music,” he said.
“We’re excited to come back to Lethbridge. it will be a lively show with a variety of songs off the last three records. We’ll be doing our regular 36? thing,” he said.
Windigo and 36? play the Owl Acoustic Lounge, March 26 at 9 p.m. Admission is by donation.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
