Bend Sinister play more ’70s style pop on new CD “Foolish Games”

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Kelowna born, Vancouver based  progressive rock band Bend Sinister have simplified into more of a pop sound, though far removed from modern day Top 40 with their eleventh CD “Foolish Games.”Bend sinister return to Lethbridge, Sept. 19. Photo by Lindsey Blane
“It’s not something we meant to do. But it‘s wonderful and amazing old style stuff.  It‘s not modern pop it’s more with ’70s and ’80s pop hooks,” observed frontman/keyboardist Dan Moxon.
“ It’ s more similar to Elton John and early Billy Joel,” added Moxon, who is excited to bring the band back to Lethbridge to play a special ticketed event at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Sept. 19.


“ It’s a new venue for us,” so we’re excited to play it,” said frontman/keyboardist Dan Moxon.


 “We’ll be playing a lot of the new album and  some favourites for ‘Animals and ‘Small Fame,” he said.
Guitarist Joseph Blood is excited to be on tour  again.
“We’re enjoying the summer. We’ve played a few festivals and have taken  some time off” Blood continued, adding that will change when they start  really touring on the new album.


He said writing the music for the new CD was a more collaborative process.
“We wanted to write 35 songs for it and ended up with 25,” he said, crediting their new drummer Nick Petrowitz for the more straight ahead  rock and pop sound of “Foolish Games.”
“ A lot of it is due to our new drummer, who has been with us for two years. We all voted  on which ones to  includes and it had  to be unanimous. There’s one I really liked that didn’t make it,” he said.


“ But now, it’s shorter, more polished and cohesive,” he said.
“It has a more pop vibe. We used to have all of these seven and eight minute songs, but cut the songs down to five and six minutes long,” he continued.
“It‘s our eleventh album, so we have a lot of music to choose from,” he said.

They always look forward  to their Lethbridge shows.
“It’s always nice to play Alberta and Edmonton and Calgary and Lethbridge. A few years ago we did South Country Fair and a lot of people remember us from that and a lot of that crew come to the shows,” he observed.
They have released three singles and videos for the CD  for “Heard it All before”  “Shannon,” “ Show Me How to Love” and  will soon release another for “ Got Your Back.”

 


There are a lot of love songs on the CD, because Moxon not the band enjoys  exploring universal themes.

“They’re not really about anyone specifically, though Shannon is the name of (guitarist) Joseph Blood’ s girlfriend. When we were on tour, he’d always be in the phone calling her, and I had this riff and this line. It’s more about being on the road, away from home and missing your loved ones,” Moxon said.
 They welcomed a special guest  on the CD, which was released in June — Dan Vacon from Calgary bands the Dudes and the High Kicks.”


“He was in Vancouver and I’ve know him for a long time, so we hung out with him in the studio for the day. He sings on ‘Show Me How To love’ and  throughout the CD,” Moxon said.
 He did really great. He was a great addition to the music,” he added.


Moxon filmed a variety  of street performers for the video  for ‘Show Me How To Love.’
“My girlfriend works in L.A. So I had some time and wandered down to Venice Beach. There were all of these street performers. So I paid them five bucks and asked if I could film them and made it seem like they were singing our song. They ranged from great to really bad,” he said. As a bonus, he used a few clips at the end of the video of some of the better performances.


The next video, for “Got Your Back,” will be more straight forward.
“Johnny Jansen from Fake Shark is doing it,” he said.
 Moxon continued his exploration of  vintage keyboard sounds for the CD.
“I used a lot of Wurlitzer, Rhodes and Hammond and occasionally some old ARP synthesizers,” he said,” adding he found a computer patch, so he doesn’t have to haul big keyboards on tour.
“We’re expecting a busy year in 2019,” he said.
Tickets for Bend Sinister at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Wednesday, Aug. 19 are $10. The show will begin at 9 p.m.

— By  Richard Amery , L.a. Beat Editor
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Last Updated ( Friday, 14 September 2018 09:46 )