Melbourne, Australian roots rock trio Jungal always enjoy touring Canada.
They will be visiting the Slice with Faye Blais, June 28.
“She’s in the car with us now. We’re really good friends. She comes to Australia in the summer and we come to Canada in the summer,” said Jungal drummer Jessie Jungalwalla, in Edmonton picking up supplies for the North Country Fair.
She and her sister Leisha on guitar and slide guitar and bassist/ vocalist Victoria Beard are in the middle of their fourth tour of Canada in support of their fifth CD “Leave Your Head.”
“We’re one big happy family,” she enthused.
They sound like the Pretenders playing slide powered roots rock.
“Nobody’s ever compared us to the Pretenders before,” she said adding they always enjoy playing Canada.
“We just can’t keep away. Canadian audiences are just so enthusiastic,” she enthused.
She noted roots rock music is popular in Australia.
“It’s always hard to describe your own music. But basically we play rock and roots music, which is a blend of roots with rock and a fair bit of blues,” she described.
“My sister Leisha plays a lot of slide guitar and lap steel guitar which is very popular in Australia, which is where the blues that you hear comes from.”
Their new CD “Leave Your Head” has been in the works for two years and examines some darker themes.
“ It is released in the northern hemisphere today (June 21) but won’t be released in Australia until January,” she said.
“ A lot of the songs are about being a little bit crazy. A lot has happened with the band. There have been relationship breakdowns and close calls with depression, health issues. Just being on the road as a touring musician can send you a little crazy,” she continued.
“ We even had an incident with our van. We borrowed it from a guy and he reported us to the police. There was a whole big kerfuffle. It turned out he had a serious mental illness,” she said.
“ We’ve been working on the album for two years but everything came together with it in the past five months,” she said.
They have never been to Lethbridge.
“It will be a pretty energetic show. We always rock and roll.
We have a good time on stage so usually the audiences see that and have a good time as well. Our aim is always to have a good time together,” she said.
There is a $10 cover for the show which begins at 9 p.m., June 28.
