Regina alt-country group to play alongside Snake River at Amigos on Friday, August 15
Not too sure why, but Regina seems to be currently going through an indie rock-psychedelia-country music renaissance. Lately there have been a ton of like-minded bands coming from a similar scene, but each with their own distinct sound.
Ian Cameron, pedal steel guitar player of The Slim City Pickers, has his own theories on this resurgence.
“I remember being shown the Lazy MKs five years ago, and I think a lot of that scene came from them,” says Cameron.
“From there they helped spawn The Lonesome Weekends and from there that’s where you are seeing all the alt-country and folk country and psychedelic country come from. You see guys like Chris Sleightholm from Snake River do his thing, which is way more fuzzy but it still has roots in that.”
And with the upcoming release of their debut, self-titled album, The Slim City Pickers are getting ready to join the party and spill a few drinks while they’re there.
Lively like the high kick of heels meeting in a midair whoop-up, The Slim City Pickers buzz through 10 songs on their album, which sees the band mixing instrumental songs mixed in with vocal numbers. Scrappy with a sense of urgency, the five-piece nevertheless manages to hold down a sound that simmers with dusty country melodies and a faint whiff of boogie. Along with the noticeable rock fretwork there’s similarly plenty of stomp to boot – the latter of which is likely the result of the group bringing Tristan Helgason of Molten Lava/Ghosts of Modern Man in on drums.
Recorded in the band’s jam space by the members and mastered by Orion Paradis – who seems to be working with a whole lot of Regina’s indie community these days – Cameron says the album has been a long time coming.
“We started the band two summers ago and honestly I don’t know how the hell we did it because there’s not a lot of time, but when the five of us first got together for the first time in that month we fired off 17 songs or something like that. We were all bringing songs to the table and over time we began weeding some of them out. And what we wanted to go for right off the bat was where everyone has their own songs on the album.
“When you want to start a country band and you get a punk drummer and a rock guitarist then this is what you come up with.”
While the album officially drops on August 26, you can pick up an advanced copy at the CD release show at The Regina German Club on August 21.
You can similarly catch The Slim City Pickers, alongside Snake River, on August 11 at Amigos in Saskatoon.
