L.A. Beat

Calgary punk band  Puttin’ On The Foil are unabashedly about having a good time.

“ That’s what life’s about isn’t it,” observed bassist/ vocalist  “Trayne Rekk’ Kevin Rowland, getting ready to open for punk icons the Dwarves. They have opened for other bigger punk acts like D.O.A, The Supersuckers and plenty of others.

Puttin On the Foil, named after the Hanson Brothers wrapping their hands in oil in the movie Slapshot.  come to Inferno, May 21 to have a good time with the Scallywags and guests.

“ My mom’s from Lethbridge. I’ve always wanted to play there. I remember  driving through there and seeing that big Pilsner building,” Rowland reminisced.

They just released their second CD Fired Up, Ready to Roll on Tuesday, May 12— 10 songs about drinking, fishing and generally having a good time.

“ There’s also a love song ‘Sweet Prairie Vixen’ and ‘Comin’ In Hard is  kind of a love song. So we’re branching out,” Rowland chuckled.

 The band members listen to a lot of different kinds of music.
“ Our guitar player Tim Tim listens to a lot of rock and roll, so that’s why there are  those Ted Nugentish guitar solos. Our drummer is younger so he listens to a lot of the newer stuff. And I listen to Hank Williams and Hank Williams Jr. and the Supersuckers and Nashville Pussy,” he said, adding that is where the band’s sense of fun comes from.

 They are pleased to have the CD completed.
“We originally recorded 18 songs and decided it was too long, so we decided to release two CDs,” he said adding fans immediately took to the band.

“ Response has been really good. It’s pretty simple. It’s a pretty simple message— life is short, so have fun. When we released the first album, people came to the shows knowing all of the words and that feels so good,” he said. “ Our shows are really professional. But I’d forget the lyrics and they’d either give us shit or they’d sing it for us. I’d ask  someone in the first row what lyric was and they’d tell me. At one show everyone knew the lyrics, so we just stood back and let them sing it,” he said.

The CD is interspersed with hilarious spoken word  and sound effects.
“There was actually more of that on the first album. It makes it more personal and a little more special,” he said adding he is pumped about playing Lethbridge for the first time.

“ We’re going to have a lot of the fun. We’ll play 45 minutes or an hour , however long they want us to play. There’s a lot of energy. We try to get the crowd involved. You can sing or don’t. It’s like a Disney singalong,” he laughed.

“ I just hope people come out. It’s a Thursday night so why not come out and have a little bit of fun.
 There is a $10 cover for the show, which begins at 8 p.m.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor