The Boogie Patrol are aptly named.

 The Edmonton based quintet taps into the essence of the blues and gets the audience moving to the groove, as their last sold out show several months ago will attest.

 If you missed them then, catch them Thursday, May 12 when they return to the Slice with new drummer Jeff Lisk.

 He has been with the band for two months.

“He’s from Chicago, we got to know him playing around Edmonton at jams. He hasn’t even been with us for not even two months.,” said frontman/ harp player “Rotten” Dan Shinnan adding  the band is working on new songs with him.

 Even more exciting, after they play Lethbridge, they will be going back to Edmonton the next day to open for the one and only Buddy Guy, and back to Calgary to open for him again.

“We just found out about it. We’ve been pushing for something like that for a while. It’s about getting to know the right folks,” he said adding they opened for the Fabulous Thunderbirds last year and the same group hooked them up with the Buddy Guy gig.

“So we’re pretty excited about that.”

The band  consists of Japanese born guitar whiz Yuji Ihara bassist Nigel Gale and Courtney, B.C. keyboardist Sean Grieve who has added a lot more keyboard textures to the new material.

“We’ve been playing for six years. We’re influenced by Joe Cocker and the Stones and the old blues guys. So there is a lot out there to steal from and be influenced by,” he continued adding he is looking forward to playing some of the band’s new music, which keyboardist Sean Grieve has been playing an important role.

“He’s only been with us since June. There is a lot of piano  in the new music and some gospel. It’s an interesting array. There’s even some country music,” he said.

 The band will be touring B.C for a couple weeks after this spate of Alberta shows including a stop in Grieve’s home town of Courtney on Vancouver

“But we’re looking forward to being back in Lethbridge. We love the Slice. We hope a lot of people come out. We always get treated well there,” he continued.

the Darryl Düus band will be opening the show.