Yukon Blonde are indeed scene survivors, and the secret to their successful marriage is right at the core of their seventh studio LP. In fact, it’s right in the title: Friendship & Rock n' Roll. It’s a befitting thesis statement for a band that has spanned decades as indie-rock darlings, charted singles on rock radio, and built a dedicated audience as mainstays of the club touring circuit. If friendship comes naturally to Jeffrey Innes, Brandon Scott, Graham Jones & James Younger, so too does rock n’ roll. Yukon Blonde has always sounded classic, but they live in the present day. You won’t see them placating the myth of rock n’ roll. Never have they slipped into a “throwback” caricature of some supposed glory day. No posturing, or pretending - it’s guitar music that doesn’t wink at the camera. On Friendship & Rock n’ Roll, the riffs are bold and the vibes are bright. Even when the lyrical tone is defeated or heart-broken, we get the sense that everything is going to be alright. There’s whimsy in the subtext of Keep On Breaking My Heart, where Innes welcomes the punishment from his distant lover. The mid-tempo burner harkens to Tom Petty’s golden era in tone and playfulness - a cheeky grin behind the melancholy. This is a seasoned quartet making music for the joy of it with songs that were cultivated the old-fashioned way: in a jam space. The band spent the summer of 2024 pooling song ideas and crafting air-tight arrangements before getting to work at Innes’ Vancouver area studio, Midvale Sound.
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Altameda are a JUNO-nominated folk-rock duo consisting of singer/songwriter Troy Snaterse, and visual artist and multi-instrumentalist Erik Grice. Hailing from Edmonton and now based in Toronto, the band has toured extensively across North America and Europe, supporting such acts as The Zombies, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, Delta Spirit, Kacy & Clayton, The Sheepdogs, Susto, and others. They have received critical praise from such notable publications including NPR, Rolling Stone, CBC, BBC, Shindig!, Flood, and Exclaim!. Glide magazine included the band in their 2019 list of 30 must-see acts of SXSW. Their third album, Born Losers, debuted at #1 on the Canadian folk music charts, and has received considerable radio play from CBC, BBC, Sirius XM, and mainstream AAA radio. The album received a nomination for Adult Alternative Album of The Year at the 2023 JUNO Awards.
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