Thanks to line up changes, recording a new album and Covid, it has been a few years since Calgary alternative rock/ post punk band Free the Cynics have played Lethbridge, or at all.
“We’ve been sticking close to home,” said frontman Rich Paxton. Paxton and bandmates, bassist Owen Wells, drummer Kevin Kornelsen and new guitarist Levi Gilmer, who just joined at the beginning of January, are excited to return to Lethbridge to share the Slice stage with local band Rainbow Patrol, Friday, April 21.
They welcomed Gilmer to the band after their previous guitarist decided to move to Victoria in December.
“I’ve really missed it. Being on stage is our bread and butter,” said frontman Rich Paxton, who is excited to release their seventh album “Bloodlines” on June 16.
Since last summer Free the Cynics released singles “Neon Ballroom,” “ Same Old Dance” and the latest “Dollarama Prima Donna.”
Two more singles “ Start a War” and “Matriarch will be released before the rest of “Bloodlines,” drops in June. They recorded it with producer Nixon Boyd from the band Hollerado.
“ It’s a lot more streamlined and focussed,” said Paxton of “Bloodlines.”
“ It’s about relationships and family issues and life and death,” Paxton summarized, noting while he comes up with the lyrics and melodies, the music is a collaborative effort.
“We brought Nixon in to produce and we told him that was what we wanted to do. We had to cut a couple of really great songs, because they just didn’t fit in. I’ve never done that before,” Paxton continued.
“ The last album was all over the place. It was designed as a tribute to (Cynic philosopher) Diogenes. This one is more focussed,” he said.
The Scotland born Paxton has been in Canada for a decade, but still draws a lot of inspiration from up and coming United Kingdom bands like Dublin based Fontaines DC, The Murder Capital, Idles and Sports Team, with whom they just played Dickens Pub in Calgary.
“I always loved really great lyrics with really great music. I grew up idolizing Morrissey, though I try to hide that,” he chuckled.
“And Bob Dylan and the Libertines,” he continued.
“This album really has been a labour of love. We finished recording it in June, wanted to release it that summer, then fall, then winter and now in June. So now we’re ready to go,” he said.
They have a few Alberta and Canadian shows planned this year with bands including Green Wing and the Rural Alberta Advantage and plan to tour the United Kingdom in the late Fall.
“We toured the United Kingdom and Europe in 2018. You don“t have to worry about the weather there because it rains all the time,” he chuckled.
Paxton is excited to return to lethbridge.
“The show will be focused, tightWe leave everything on the stage. It will be exciting,” Paxton promised
Free the Cynics and Rainbow Patrol play the Slice, Friday, April 21. There is a $10 cover for the show.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
