Toronto area based folk/ rock/ roots duo The Sunparlour Players have always had a fondness for Lethbridge, so they are excited about returning to the Slice, Tuesday, April 22.
“We love Lethbridge. The first time we played there was with Elliott Brood and this great band, the Acorn,” related Andrew 
Penner, one half of the multi-instrumental duo with Michael “ Rosie” Rosenthal.
“ And six years later, we have a pizza named after ourselves at the Slice. Some of our most bizarre memories have happened in Lethbridge,” he said.
“ I think there ended up being fist fights at the first show,” he said.
“ So this time I’m hoping for a big dance party,” he said.
They have literally just released their brand new CD “The Living Proof” which was released, April 8. They recorded it over three months last fall with their producer Chris Stinger
They added their Sunparlour Preserve Ginger Butter recipe from their previous EP “Sunparlour Preserves.”
“I really liked it,” he said adding they recorded it in an old 1860 mansion which had an ancient piano. It features 83-year-old poet Hugh Oliver reading the recipe.
The duo always set out to record something different.
“It’s very playful and very random. It just feels different,” he said.
“ The first song, ‘Soapbox’ is little bit of folk, but it feels like it is being played by Sabbath. Whole the last songs, ‘Bless this City,” is about two things— Rob Ford and his personal issues and my hometown,” he said.
“ There is a Heinz plant in my hometown Leamington, which shut down. I grew up on a tomato farm helping grow tomatoes for the Heinz plant. Now it is closed, it is really going to hurt the people of this town. It is something a lot of people in a lot of small towns will be able to identify with,” he continued.
“ This CD is sharper and stronger,” he said.
They each play a plethora of different instruments and on their CD.
“If you see something on stage, we’re going to be playing it. It always bugs the shit out of me when a band has an unusual instrument on stage and they don’t play it,” he said.
“ Rosie might pick up a violin bow and use it to play a glockenspiel
“It’s pretty crazy. We get together and this is the sound that happens,” he continued.
“ Rosie will be playing a drum with one foot and an organ with one hand and bass with the other and I’ll be playing a rum and a bass player and a guitar or banjo,” he said adding the two of them play very specific parts to recreate the sound of their CDs on stage and vice versa.
“ When we start to feel too comfortable on stage, that’s when we need to change the sound,” he said.
“ But we want to keep this to two people for practical reasons,” he said adding other than the poet reading the “How to make Ginger Bourbon Ale”, and the piano player plus a horn player, it is just the two of them playing everything else on the CD.
Recreating the sounds can be a challenge.
“ We have to figure out how to play horn parts and accordion parts on stage,” he continued.
“ But we didn’t want it to just be a gimmick. We make practical musical choices on stage,” he said.
“So we play what is absolutely necessary,” he said.
They will be bringing their own home made preserves to sell at the show, though he wouldn’t reveal if Sunparlour Preserve Ginger Butter would be among them.
There is a $10 cover for the April 22 show at the Slice, which begins at 9 p.m.
