Typically when bands have a new record to promote, they will flat out say they are planning on playing every venue that will be willing to have them, all in an effort to share their newest music with the world.
British Columbian band Acres Of Lions are deciding to take the opposite approach with their newest record, Home(s). This line in the sand isn’t an act of arrogance, however.
The rock group, playing at Plan b in Moncton next Thursday night, is already well acquainted with the Trans-Canada Highway. In fact, Acres of Lion’s Tyson Yerex looks back on 2012 as one giant tour. In addition to touring across Canada and hopping over the pond to tour Europe, the group played throughout their home province as a part of a government initiative to get students excited about potential careers they could pursue after graduation.
“This year, we are definitely trying to pace ourselves better,” Yerex says during a day off in Edmonton earlier this week. “We had a great chance to travel throughout our beautiful province last year, playing in a lot of small communities.
“What we learned through all of the touring and live shows that we played in 2012 is that people appreciate a good live show. Ultimately though, we want to ensure that our live show is the best representation of the band there is. To achieve that, we came to the realization that we have to be a little more selective and careful with the amount of shows that we are taking on.”
Yerex says the band had an epiphany of a different kind when it came to the making of their new record Home(s). While the group remains proud of its first two records, 2009’s Working and 2011’s Collections, the band wanted Home(s) to be more of a reflection of their live show than anything too polished or perfect.
“People were seeing us live and digging the live show but then saying that our records didn’t really reflect that energy we had in concert. We went into the making of Home(s) wanting the band’s sound to be raw and live and I think we accomplished that with this record.”
Article published in the April 19, 2013 edition of the Times & Transcript