East Pointers

Canadian band the East Pointers took crowds by storm last year when they toured Australia with their modern spin on traditional folk dancehall music, and they are set to make their way down under yet again in 2016 with more dates and more cities on their slate.

“We’re super excited to get back, we had a blast there last year,” said Jake Charron.

This time around the band has even more to offer fans of their modern take on the traditional sound, having released their debut full length album at the end of 2015. Last time the group was in Australia they only had their EP to showcase to fans, so they took the opportunity while travelling around our country to write much of the album.

Upon returning home the group blocked off “a little over a week” on their calendar in order to head into the studio and record the album. “It was reasonably quick I guess. We recorded most of the record live off the floor to capture that live sound we’re going for. Obviously certain tracks took different turns as we went along but for the most part it was pretty painless and a good experience and we’re pretty pumped to get it out,” explained Jake.

For East Pointers the idea of recording all of the tracks live was something they wanted to seriously focus. Jake explained: “[we] wanted to be able to play the whole record live as a trio, and also because that’s part of our music, it’s live dance music that’s meant to played in a dancehall or a kitchen party so we wanted to keep that sound.”

As a Canadian band the opportunity to tour Australia at this time of year is something Jake, Koady and Tim relish. “It’s pretty nice to get away at that time of year because it’s starting to get cold already, plus the festival season down there is phenomenal so we’re pumped to get back,” said Jake.

This year the group will be performing in more cities than before and in a much wider range of venues, which brings with it certain challenges and advantages. “You get really different crowds at both of those types of shows (festivals versus clubs) but I think it’s a nice balance,” explained Jake. “It’s new territory for us and the goal is just to play our music in front of as many people as possible. Hopefully they like it and wont be shy to get up and dance away!”

Jan 14. Gaelic Club, 1/64 Devonshire St, Surry Hills. $15-$20. Tickets & info: eastpointers.ca