After taking the stage before Blue Rodeo last month at Sun Peaks Resort, the Devon Coyote Trio is riding high.
It wasn’t the band’s first time opening for a big name—they’ve shared the stage with the likes of Dan Mangan, Said The Whale, The Sheepdogs, Awolnation, Current Swell, The Steadies, Willhorse and George Thorogood—but there is something extra special about the Canadian icons.
“Blue Rodeo is one of my favourite bands of my whole entire life,” said Devon Bjarnason, the band’s frontman. “I’ve been listening to Blue Rodeo since I was a kid and next thing you know I’m backstage chatting with them. Those are the kind of things that make you really want to push on and keep playing music.”
Bjarnason quit his day job four years ago, trading in his tool belt for a guitar and a tour van, and he hasn’t looked back since.
Starting out solo, the multi-instrumentalist from Kelowna, B.C. released his first EP, Tri Coloured, in 2010 and a year later, after adding bassist D’Arcy Booth and drummer Dylan Ranney to the band, the trio released its first full-length album, Blue, Black and Grey.
More recently, the band released its EP, Broken Down as a teaser to keep fans wanting, as the group puts together its next full-length album due out this winter.
The trio began the recording process in June, and Bjarnason said he’s really happy with the outcome.
“We recorded it with the mentality that we’re just going to do the best take we can and once you get that take that’s going to be your performance. We didn’t go in and chop it all up and stuff.
“It’s kind of a really raw, but produced album, if that makes any sense. It just seems like real music to me. It’s the kind of music that I’d definitely listen to.”
And it’s also the kind of music he loves to share with concert-goers across the country, whether they’ve gathered in an arena, at a festival or in a bar. Whatever the setting, whatever the town, the band is quick to captivate crowds with its infectious mix of rock, blues, folk, funk and jazz.
In 2013 alone, the trio played more than 180 shows from coast to coast to coast.
“Our life is like one big tour,” said Bjarnason. “We’re always doing something on the road. We’ve been as far east as Montreal, as far north as Whitehorse and as far west as Tofino, just zigzagging across the country.”
The latest tour, a 10-stop blitz through Alberta and B.C., will bring the trio to the Jasper Legion Wednesday, Aug. 13. This will be the band’s first time playing the venue, after performing numerous times at the Whistle Stop Pub.
Bjarnason said he’s pumped for a good turn out and a great show.
Nicole Veerman
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