Indie giants Current Swell coming to town

Australia’s Cat Empire and Victoria’s Current Swell are from opposite ends of the planet. But in looking at their grooves, both have no easily definable style.

Cat Empire started out in 1999 as a ska jazz trio. Today the six-piece mixes a series of genres from jazz, reggae and funk to Latin, Gypsy and hip-hop.

Current Swell, founded by former St. Albert musicians Scott Stanton and Dave Lang nearly a decade ago, was initially labeled with an acoustic surf sound that gradually evolved into one of Canada’s premiere indie folk rock bands.

The foursome’s last offering, Ulysses, even embraces classic rock, reggae and blues revealing their natural tendency to avoid a carbon copy of previous albums.

Both bands also like to party on stage, and they hit the road yesterday for a 15-stop North American tour that started in Vancouver and will wrap up in Honolulu.

Cat Empire is the feature band with Current Swell providing support and they’ll be stopping in Edmonton on Easter Sunday at the Winspear Centre.

“We’re really excited to open for such a great band and play in venues we’ve never played before such as San Francisco’s Fillmore,” says Stanton who had previously met one of Cat Empire’s trumpet players at a West Coast festival.

“They’ve toured around the world. They’re known as a great dance band and they always put on a super fun show. Crowds can expect a really good time.”

The same can be said for Current Swell. Stanton and Lang as well as Chris Petersen (drums) and Ghosty Boy (bass) create dynamic sets punctuated with superbly crafted songs and fantastic showmanship.

The band is a foursome eager to showcase Stanton and Lang’s great songwriting skills that deliver an eclectic mix of styles often surpassing expectations.

Their electric energy has proven addictive to Canadian fans and successfully propelled them to No. 1 on the Rock iTunes and No. 10 on the Alternative Albums Chart.

While Ulysses received mixed reviews from critics and listeners alike, despite two highlights – the hymn-like funky Keys to the Kingdom and the southern flavoured Rollin’ – it doesn’t trouble Stanton.

“It’s gotten the most airplay for us. It’s gone really far and we’ve gotten a lot of legs out of it. And honestly I would never want to make the same music. I like to experiment.”

Current Swell has already written a few tunes for a future album. Their main focus is the tour, however.

“It’s going to be awesome to play on home turf. We’re going to put our best foot forward and have fun.”