It has been a long road for Halifax group The Regal Beagle Band and their new record In Days Past. The band, known for their unique blend of rock, folk, country and Celtic influences, spent more than two years working on their full-length debut but are finally set to release the album to the world.
Performing at Moncton’s Plan b Lounge on Thursday night, The Regal Beagle Band guitarist Luke Levy says the album was definitely a labour of love.
“We spent more than two years working on the album but we were not constantly at work on the record,” Luke says. “We spent a lot of time tracking the album between not only our jobs but also the work of the studio engineer that we had hired to make the album.”
Although it might not certainly be a desirable situation by all musicians, Regal Beagle bassist Kyle Findlay says that stretching out the making of the record afforded the group the opportunity to revisit and revamp what they had already committed to tape.
“We spent a good amount of time recording but it turned out to be a blessing in some ways. Some of the songs we had previously recorded had simply evolved when we were performing them live,” Kyle says. “We were in turn able to go back and re-capture those songs.”
The members of the Regal Beagle Band came together approximately four years ago when they were each attending Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax. For each of the quintet’s members, it was the first group that each of them had been a part of.
The group performed their first show in a garage and, over the course of the following few years would undertake more than 150 live performances, including a performance at Moncton’s Codiac Music Festival this past July.
“In the beginning, all we had was our live show. We have worked painstakingly hard to make sure we made it something that was comfortable for us and that would in turn help serve as our calling card,” Luke says.
“But playing live has also served as a kind of litmus test that has allowed to road-test many of our songs in front of a live audience. Sometimes it works really well while other times, you immediately identify if a song might need something more.”
Now that their album is finally set to drop, both Luke and Kyle are quick to assure that the group has been steadily amassing material for their next studio record. But in the meantime, they intend to enjoy bringing In Days Past to audiences right across Canada.
“We have never stopped writing songs so we have a rather extensive back catalogue of songs just waiting,” Kyle says. “But we also recognize that we put a lot of work into In Days Past and want to be sure we celebrate that for the next little while.”
What: The Regal Beagle Band
When: Thursday Sept. 4, 9:00 p.m.
Where: Plan b Lounge, 212 St. George St., Moncton