Winnipeg based instrumental jazz rock band Apollo Sons never stop.
The band, Ed Durocher - guitars ; Bryn Herperger - bass ; Anatol Rennie - piano, keyboards and synths ; Aaron Bartel - bari sax, alto sax ; Benjamin James Hill - trombone ; Garrett Malenko - trumpet ; Niall Cade - tenor sax ; Erika Einarson - percussion ; drummer Glenn Radley, finished a tour that began in Lethbridge in May, released their first full length album “ Departures,” Friday, Sept. 22 and are getting ready to depart on another tour that begins in Lethbridge on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at the Slice with blues rock band The Static Shift.
“We’ll go to Calgary and Edmonton and Lethbridge with them,” said guitarist Ed Durocher, who is already planning Apollo Suns’ next album for a tentative release in 2025.
“We’ve been back for five weeks, but we’re beginning the next tour in Lethbridge. Lethbridge has always been good to us. We’ll play a nice mid-week show that will get you through to the weekend,” Durocher continued, adding the next tour will include 35 or 36 tour dates that will take them into December.
They enjoyed their foray into the United States.
“It was good. We we’re playing the Pacific Northwest. Sacramento was sold out and we finished the tour with some festivals,” he said.
“The volunteers were great and the crew were great and we had a couple thousand people,” he said.
Durocher is pleased with how ‘Departures’ turned out, especially because they didn’t have a chance to road test the new songs like they usually do and because they wrote it over the pandemic over Zoom.
“We wrote it over Zoom. We had to use instrumental patches. We were sending each other ideas. Then we recorded 12 songs over 10 days straight in 2022 with Ben Kaplan ( who has produced Mother Mother, Five Alarm Funk, Brass Camel and Snoop Dogg) The process was so much fun,” he said adding they got feedback from trusted friends and people in the music business before recording.
He noted their live show is always a unique experience.
“We’ll refer to parts of our songs in our other songs. Frank Zappa used to do that. He’d refer to a song he wrote in 1968 in a song he released in 1981,” he said.
While they have the new album to support they are going to be road testing new songs for the next album.
“I write all the time,” he said , adding the band is constantly refining their music.
He is excited to begin another tour at the Slice.
“They have a great stage and they have great pizza and we always get people pout. So it‘s a great place to start the tour,” he continued, adding he is excited to tour with Static Shift.
“ They’re a great blues rock trio. We‘re going with them to Edmonton and Calgary. We‘re excited to see them play every night,” he said.
The Static Shift will be back at the Slice on Oct. 28 to play a Halloween howler with brass Camel and the Decadent Phase.
“We like doing things like that. We’ll tour with a band in the United States and play for their audience, then we’ll bring them on tour in Canada.
Apollo Suns are planning on a European tour in 2024 and plan on releasing their next album in 2025.
“We’re thankful for everyone who comes to the shows and supports us and buys our music. No band does it alone. It takes a community,” he said.
Apollo Suns and Static Shift play the Slice, Wednesday, Sept. 25. Tickets are $12 in advance, $20 at the door. The music begins at 8:30 p.m.
— by Richard Amery, L.A. beat Editor
