Birds of Chicago are excited to “fly” back to Lethbridge to play the Geomatic Attic, Oct. 16 in support of their brand new CD “Real Midnight.”
The Birds of Chicago feature the talents of JT Nero and Allison Russell, plus rhythm section bassist Chris Merrill and Joe Schwartz, a Toronto musician who has played with Amelia Curran and the Great Lake Swimmers Oct. 16. They are beginning a Canadian tour with Ryan Boldt of the Deep Dark Woods opening the show.
“ We also have a drummer, but we’re playing as a quartet for listening room audience,” said JT Nero from Courtney, B.C. en route to a show in Victoria, which officially kicks off their Canadian tour.
“Half of the band is from Canada and the other half are from the U.S. So our Canadian/ American experiment will be coming to the Attic,” he chuckled, adding Chris Merrill was in Nero’s band JT Nero and the Cloud, back in 2008 while Schwartz has been playing with Nero for about two years.
“It seems Clouds become Birds at one time or another. They play on Birds of Chicago albums. And when we have the Cadillac version of the band, I’ll bring my brother out to play keyboards when we play festivals or bring him out for a long weekend and it works great because he’s a teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago,” he said.
Nero is pleased with the new Joe Henry produced CD, which was just released in February.
“He was a real joy to work with. We recorded it in February 2015 and released it in February 2016. We’ll be playing a lot of that CD and road testing some new songs. We’re always looking ahead. By the time we release a new album, the songs aren’t new to us because we’ve spent so much time playing them or working on them in the studio,” he said.
“Response to it has been great in the States. We’re getting media coverage we haven’t had before which is great,” he continued.
“So that’s been nice. It has taken us to a level of awareness we’ve never had and it encourages us to keep on doing what we‘re doing,” he added.
They are excited to have Ryan Boldt joining them in this tour.
“I remember playing the the Vancouver Folk Fest in 2010 and remember hearing hearing some music on a side stage and remember hearing it captivate me and it was the Deep Dark Woods. When I met him, I realized it was the same guy,” he said, adding they haven’t decided whether Boldt will join them on stage.
“It’s something we’d love to do but we just met him,” he said.
They are in the beginning stages of making a new record.
“We’re doing some things with Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All Stars. It’s surprised us, and it feels really good. We’d like to release it in the last quarter of 2017, but the reality is it won’t be out until the final quarter of 2018,” he said.
Nero and Russell have been working on new music as well as raising their daughter, who they bring on tour with them
“I think she was new the last time we were there. Now she’s a toddler. When she has an opinion, she’ll let you know,” he said.
They are looking forward to returning to the Geomatic Attic for the first time since 2014.
“We‘re excited to come back. Mike (Spencer) and his folks have really done a good job of helping create a very savvy music crowd.”
Tickets for Birds of Chicago’s Sunday, Oct. 16 show cost $32.50 plus GST. The show begins at 8 p.m. sharp.
