Winnipeg alt country band Proud Sons are, well, proud to have been asked to spend a couple months touring with ’90s alt rockers the Tea Party including playing a sold out show, May 1 at the Yates Theatre.
“Actually in another interview, someone asked us what our favourite show we played was and that opening for the Tea Party in Winnipeg at the Burton Cummings Theatre. So we put it on Instagram and one of the band members wrote and said hey, why don’t you tour with us and the rest is history,” said guitarist/ vocalist Ryan McConnell, noting they are also both on the same record label, Coalition Music.
They began the tour on March 17 and wind down the first half of the tour in Lethbridge.
“Then we go back to Winnipeg for five days to get some sleep and go out again for the second half out to Vancouver and down to Los Angeles,” he said, adding the tour ends on May 17, after which the Proud Sons have a few music festivals planned.
“We’ve been playing a lot of sold out or close to sold out shows. And even though our music is a lot different than the Tea Party’s music, people really seem to like it,” he said.
The band formed in 2012 after two different bands blended, after discovering mutual affinity for vocal harmonies.
“It’s something we sort of stumbled upon,” he said.
“We were all doing our own things. I was a singer/songwriter. Me and Jason (Stanley, guitarist vocalist were in one band and the brothers, (bassist/vocalist Jesse Meyer and Lead guitarist/vocalist Kyle Meyer) were in another. (Drummer Jay Mymryk rounds out the line up). So when we formed, we all decided to sing. We‘ve always liked the Eagles,” he said.
One of the early highlights of their career was getting to record in the renown Sun Studios in Memphis in 2013, Where Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and numerous blues musicians recorded in the ’40s and ’50s.
“It’s a lot different now,” he said, adding the sound of the band has also changed over the years.
“We have a more consistent sound now, which we didn’t have before,” he said.
He said the band was a little nervous to open for the Tea Party.
“There’s always nerves whenever you get on stage. But especially when we’re playing for sold out crowds of 2,000,” he said, noting they were a little nervous at first, but soon got used to it.
They have enjoyed getting to hang out with the Tea Party.
“ They’re great guys and they’ve been super gracious to us,” he said.
“ They have their own tour bus that often leaves right after the show. And we’ve got our old tour van. But we’ve been able to have a few beers with them before the shows,” he said.
“ Which is cool because we’ve been listening to them since we were eight years old,” he said adding they are playing a half hour set.
“So we‘re playing the EP and some brand new songs and a few covers. We love the Beatles’ ‘Don’t Let Me Down,’” he said, adding they have never played Lethbridge before.
“That’s about perfect for us. We‘re just getting warmed up by then,” he said.