Strangeboys release bluegrass album at party

More than 150 people packed Bearly’s House of Blues and Ribs on Saturday night to listen and dance to the bluegrass rhythms of The Strangeboys.

The band played all eight songs from their new album at Saturday's show. Photo: Steve Davis

It was nearly two years to the date that the Strangeboys played their first show at Bearly’s, and a year since the last time the group packed the bar to capacity. Since then they have played around the Maritimes at music festivals like Evolve 9 in Antigonish and Sunseekers 3 in Chance Harbour, NB.

But this Bearly’s show had special meaning for the band and their fans: it marked the Halifax release of their debut album Shoot First.

The album was officially released at a show at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on Dec. 29 while band members Adam Shier, Daniel Latner, Neil Wiancko, Jeff Rothwell and Vince Pettipas were home for the holidays.  But the Halifax release was just as important because the band has played more than 20 shows at Bearly’s since forming the band in late 2006.

Energetic crowd

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The Strangeboys have played more than twenty shows at Bearly's in the last two years. Photo: Steve Davis

Audio Slideshow

Pictures from the Strangeboys CD release party at Bearly's on Saturday night to the tune of "Silver Hair," the first song on the band's debut album "Shoot First".

Fans packed Bearly’s to its official capacity of 147. Latecomers were turned away at the door as the show went past midnight.

The Strangeboys usually draw the young, university crowd. University of King’s College graduate Harrison Bennett has been to more than 30 Strangeboys concerts and was impressed with the turnout.

“There was a lot of energy and a lot of people I didn’t recognize from (other shows),” said Bennett, who cited the band’s cover of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” as his favourite song of the night. “I love all their covers.”

The band’s debut album doesn’t exactly reflect their live shows.

“In bluegrass it’s pretty common to just play covers in general,” said lead vocalist and guitarist Adam Shier. “We like to play other material to make a longer show.”

The Strangeboys are not strictly a bluegrass band. Their website lists them as “grassfusion.”

“Grassfusion is what we call it when we combine the styles of bluegrass with another style of music,” said Shier. He used the band’s bluegrass covers of reggae and electronic songs as examples.

Shoot First sticks to the fundamentals of traditional bluegrass.

“The album is our best attempt at playing bluegrass with our own original swing,” said Shier. “We decided to save our stuff that sounds less like bluegrass for another CD.”

Shoot First clocks in at just longer than 20 minutes and features eight original songs. This is a significant difference from their concerts, which consist of multiple sets with several bluegrass covers of groups such as the Grateful Dead and Phish.

The recording process was a first for the band.

“We recorded the album in the early summer in a homemade recording studio,” said Shier, who also edited the album over the next six months.

Help from a pro

Just because the album wasn’t recorded in a professional studio doesn’t mean they didn’t have help. Shier got useful advice from Juno-award-winning producer Bob Hamilton, who has received critical acclaim for work with his own bluegrass band, Hungry Hill.

“It was a learning process. I didn’t want to do a bad job,” said Shier. “It took a while because we had a lot of material to go through. We started with a lot and ended with a little.”

Shoot First is not being sold in stores but will be available on iTunes in February.

The Strangeboys will play several more shows at Bearly’s throughout the winter. Saturday matinees have become a staple of the band and the bar.

Beyond that, the boys are planning a tour from Halifax to Ontario with fellow bluegrass band The Grass Mountains Hobos.

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