When Colin Irvine told his parents at age 17 that he wanted to tour with his record-label-signed band, his parents thought it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and gave him full support.

Little did they know it was twice in a lifetime opportunity for him.

The 22-year-old bass player for the Jasper band Sam Hate and the Jackals recently accepted an offer to join the internationally-known band The Brains. The only catch – he had to move to Montreal.

“They called me up out of the blue, and said, ‘we need you, do you want to do it?’” explained Irvine. “I said yeah, I’d love to. How long do I have to think about it?”

“‘Two hours, because you need to drive to Montreal right now. We need you for a couple shows right away, and we need to start doing photos for press kits and promotional stuff like that,’ they said. So a few hours later, I was on the road driving to Montreal with nothing but a suitcase, my bass and my amp.”

After a short stint of shows and photo shoots in Montreal, Irvine returned to Jasper, where he joined Sam Hate and the Jackals for their final show together last Friday night at the Jasper Legion.

“It felt amazing. We’re just glad that a huge portion of the town came out to see us, mostly locals. It’s good to see everyone in one place, to have that kind of turn out for our last show felt really good, it was really heartwarming and nice to see that kind of support,” Irvine said.

The Legion was at capacity before midnight.

Since then, Irvine has been frantically tying up lose ends in Jasper, where his girlfriend and band mate Robin Westhaver and her family live, and where he had a job, friends, family, and of course, Sam Hate and the Jackals.

Once it became realistic Irvine was going to join The Brains – a band that is set to hit the studio at the end of the month and then tour Canada and Europe – he told the rest of the band what was going on. “I hope I have your blessing with this,” he told them. “They were really, really supportive, but at the same time really sad that this was going to be the end, because we had accomplished a lot with our music and done a lot of out-of-town shows and built up a fan-base over the years.

“It’s tough to let go, but I couldn’t let this opportunity go, it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do, to be able to tour through Europe and Southern America and the States. It’s too big of an opportunity, and they understood that, which was really good. ‘If I were you, I’d probably do the same thing’ they said.”

Irvine has had huge support from his band, friends and family. The 22-year-old said his parents were flabbergasted when he told them he was thinking of moving to Montreal, where playing bass for The Brains will be his full-time job. But, like when he was 17, they were supportive and realized that it was his dream.

People in the community have been congratulating him all week, he said, as he is going to hit the road to Montreal on Friday. “I’ve had a lot of people coming up and saying congratulations, and it’s so nice, I really appreciate everyone’s support and everyone’s kindness. Just being such great friends, this town is full of amazing people, and that is what I’m going to miss most.”

Irvine also gave credit to the Legion, The Grave Mistakes and The Benders for such a good show on Friday, and Mitch Morris and the staff at Tekarra Color who have helped get the word out about the Sam Hate and the Jackals shows through promotions and poster and ticket printing.

“It’s really, really helped for us to get our name out there and to be able to put on the shows,” he said.

Even though Irvine will be heading across the country, Europe and the U.S., Jasper fans will still get to see Irvine with his new band in Jasper at some point, as they have come to Jasper in the past, where he said he’ll get to hang out with all his Jasper friends and family.