Apr. 08, 2009 - Issue #703: Spring Style 2009
The Modelos
“I came out just because I was kind of getting sick of living in Toronto,” Rotundo admits. “I lived there for 10 years and did the whole bar scene and played in various bands, so my buddy Mike said, ‘Why don’t you come to Vancouver and check it out,’ and I did it and never left.”
The reunited friends began writing songs together in 2003 and by 2004 the band had been fleshed out by drummer Geoff Hicks and bassist Brad Ferguson and the Modelos were gigging around the city, with a self-titled album following in 2006.
Rotundo admits that the Modelos lucked into a pretty sweet gig along the way that gave the band regular work and allowed it to develop naturally.
“We have a steady Monday at the Railway Club—we call it Modelos Mondays,” Rotundo explains, adding with a laugh, “It’s great. It’s basically our rehearsal space. You’ve got your hecklers and your bartenders right there for you.
“We’ve been doing that for three years now, and it really helped the band develop and it’s sort of been our home base,” he continues. “We often have guests and we’ll back them, and the Railway Club has been great to us.
It’s those Modelos Mondays that have led to the band’s upcoming tour through western Canada with Rodney DeCroo. The Modelos will be doing double duty for the run, backing up DeCroo as well as playing its own full set in support of its second album, Saddle Justice. The affair promises to be a fairly loose one, very much like the Monday night jam sessions that sparked it.
“We don’t get together too much to rehearse with other folks,” Rotundo reveals with a chuckle. “That’s what we do on the Mondays—we just kind of do it on the fly.” V
Wed, Apr 15 (9:30 pm)
The Modelos
With Rodney DeCroo
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