Halifax based songwriter Ben Caplan is excited to bring his latest CD and a full band back to Lethbridge, Tuesday, March 21 for a sold out show at the Geomatic Attic.
Caplan, who plays piano and guitar, will be joined by multi-instrumentalist Taryn Kawaja playing melodica, keyboards, flute and vocals, upright bassist Anna Ruddick and new drummer Jamie Kronick, who joined the band six months ago.
“Jamie started out playing fill in gigs. he must o have played 200 or 300 shows. Then he joined the band officially six months ago,” he said.
“And Taryn started touring with us selling our merch until we discovered her latent musical skills kept popping up. She plays like seven or eight instruments. And Anna, out bassist came highly recommended through really good friends” he continued.
“This line up has been together for about six months. It’s exciting,” said Caplan from a tour stop in Grande Prairie, which is a part of a quick Alberta and B.C. tour which will eventually end up in the northern United States. they are still touring in support of their CD “Birds With Broken Wings.”
“Things are going great. The tour has been beautiful. We’ve had sold out shows 10 out of 10 so far,” Caplan continued, adding he is pleased with how well his band are playing.
“We should we’ve been playing a lot and we’re feeding off the energy of the crowd,” he said.
The last time Caplan played Lethbridge was in 2013 which was quickly followed by a hit appearance at the South Country Fair.
In addition to touring a lot and rearranging the songs on the record for the band, he has been turning his attention to the stage. For lack of a better description, he is two thirds done composing a rock opera.
“I spent 10 years actively aspiring to a career in the theatre but decided to follow music,” he said, adding he expects to release the album/ soundtrack to his musical in 2018
“It’s two thirds complete and I’m going to premiere it in Halifax in May 2018,” he said.
He is also planning on a European tour.
But first , he brings the band to the Geomatic Attic.
“We’re definitely going to play the songs fro the album, but it won’t sound exactly like the album.We don’t want to recreate the album,” he said adding he wants to let the band show what they can do.
“It’s going to be beautiful. it will be refreshing and will have a really deep sound. And we like to tell stories and talk to people about their backgrounds and engage with the crowd,” he continued, adding He is also planning on including a few songs from the upcoming project.
The show begins at 8 p.m. with local jazz/ folk band the Junkman’s Quire.
Tickets are $30 Advance, $32.50 Online and $35 at the door. They are available at Blueprint and The Geomatic Attic.
