Vancouver based indie pop band Hey Ocean are excited about their brand new, painstakingly just completed new CD and taking their career to the next level.
While they are busy examining their options as far as record companies, it won't actually be released until 2012, but that isn’t stopping them from playing the new music on tour.
They return to Lethbridge, Aug. 3 to play the Slice on their way to play the Regina Folk Festival.
“It’s all finished,” said guitarist/ vocalist David Beckingham. He is pleased with the hard work the band has put into it over the better part of the year.
“It is definitely a studio CD. The last one was pretty much recorded live off the floor. This one is a lot more refined. There is a little more production because we definitely wanted to make a no-holds-barred studio recording,” he said.
“The last Cd had a more garage rock feel, this time we wanted to do a great classic pop sounding album,” he continued.
They ended up producing the CD themselves after having a falling out with a producer and recording at several different studios.
They have also tweaked the band’s touring line up a little.
The core of the band, bassist David Vertesi, Beckingham and vocalist/ keyboardist Ashleigh Ball have added original drummer Don Klenner for this tour as well as a keyboardist to free up Ball to sing lead.
“She plays some keyboards but flute is her strong instrument,” he continued adding she also plays some glockenspiel.
“This gives her the chance to really be the front person.”
And while the new music has a lot more production, they aren’t having any trouble translating it to a live situation.
“I think it is sounding great. It is translating well live and so far we‘ve been really happy with the response,” he said.
This tour is a really quick one, before they get back to the business of finding a record label.
“We’re just coming out for the Regina Folk Festival and hitting some of our favourite spots along the way like Saskatoon and Lethbridge.
In the meantime they have been creating an array of acoustic videos to advance the new music.
They are looking forward to returning to the Slice.
“I think the Slice is the venue that we’ve played the most out of all the venues we play. People just really appreciate music there,” he said.
“In Lethbridge we’ll be playing a lot of new songs and playing a show with a lot of energy. We specifically made a new shirt for this tour too. Lethbridge is a great town for merch. So we’re looking forward to it,” he continued.
The show starts at 9:30 p.m.. Tickets cost $25.
