Oct. 17, 2012 - Issue #887: Dedfest
Soulicitors
Amidst Edmonton's often rock-laden music scene comes a new force with a new twist.
Soulicitors, a six-piece that formed back in 2008, is a reggae-fueled outfit on the precipice of its second album, What You Need.
"It's quite different, for Alberta anyways," says guitarist and vocalist Kelly Callin on the band's sound. "It seems to be kind of a rock-oriented crowd around here, so right away we're something different ... there is more to music than rock-based music and I think people are starting to realize that. There's been a lot of support for us and for other bands like Souljah Fyre and we just want to push that."
Each member of the band has their own experience in the city's music landscape. Callin says his background is in rock and punk, while the other members' roots are in genres such as pop rock.
"I think everyone else brought something to the band," he notes. "It's a melting pot, and the sound we play now, being a pop-reggae sound, it's a mash-up of a whole lot of different things."
The catchy melodies and hooks are influenced by the likes of Sublime and stem from the band's interest in snowboard and surf culture, as well as the ups and downs of relationships. To make the second album a reality, the band teamed up with Stew Kirkwood from Sound Extractor studios, mixing live off the floor recordings with pieced together ones for a final product with a polished vibe.
"It was a big learning experience to go through the whole recording process with him. We've got six guys in the band now and there's a lot of parts to be laid down there," Callin notes, adding the writing process is a predominantly collaborative one for the group. "You get fresh perspectives. If one person's tendencies tend to fall in a certain area, you repeat your own patterns, but when you get other people's patterns in there, it breaks the mould."
Fri, Oct 19 (8 pm)
With The Whytes, Random Falter
Pawnshop, $12
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