By Phil McLachlan
Free Press Staff
Local Fernie band, Shred Kelly, returned from a Canada-wide tour to perform at the Northern Saturday night, attracting an extremely excited crowd which resulted in a sold out show.
It’s been months since the band played in their hometown, and the reception by locals was anything but underwhelming. A sold out show left some unfortunate fans out of luck, but the music could be heard from the streets as over a hundred dancers shook the building in unison with Shred Kelly.
Shred Kelly was formed when Tim Newton, Sage McBride, Jordan Vlasschaert, Ian Page-Shiner, and Ty West met through a jam night at The Brickhouse, and have since taken off as a revolutionary folk-stoke musical group.
Keyboard player, Sage McBride takes the position of lead vocalist, and loves what she does. With roots in musical theatre, she transitioned into acoustic guitar when she arrived in Fernie years ago. With experience on piano and keyboard, the band saw a hole that needed filling, and mutually agreed that McBride added a special element when behind the keyboard and microphone.
“When we first started, Fernie was really supportive, even when we were still growing and growing into ourselves as musicians,” said McBride, keyboard player for Shred Kelly. “So we’ve always appreciated the support of small communities.”
“We’re happy to play all the small communities, because sometimes the small communities are the ones with the most heart,” added McBride.
In past years, Shred Kelly has defined themselves as “Stoke Folk”, as in folk music that gets you stoked. Now this identity has evolved into upbeat music that has a goal to make you dance.
Over the years of playing together with her band, McBride has come to learn that each member’s taste in music is different. This gives her the satisfaction that when they create a musical piece together, and everyone likes it, then it must be good.
“If we all like it, then it’s a go,” said McBride. “So that gives us a green light to keep doing what we’re doing; if it’s not sitting well with someone then it won’t make it to the next step in recording, let alone a live show.”
Shred Kelly has toured extensively in Canada, and just recently returned from a tour in Germany and the United States.
Settling down from this recent international journey, Shred Kelly has entered the recording studios once again, and will continue to do so until their next album release in the early months of 2017. Their third album, ‘Sing To The Night’, was named by CBC as being one of “The Top 15 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015,” and this next album is looking to share a similar response.
McBride is happy with the band’s current state, and hopes the future brings more of the same continued growth and expansion which they have experienced in the past seven years together.
“I think we’ve already achieved more than we ever thought we would,” she said. “So anything now that we achieve is definitely a bonus. I guess the goal is just to keep creating music, and still have time to do the other things we love in life.”
“We just feed off the energy of the audience and our live shows are our favourite things.”
Shred Kelly lives off the energy of the audience, and this is one of the reasons they enjoy playing in Fernie so much.
“The goal is to get a room full of people all connected with what you’re doing, but even if you only connect with one person, it’s still a success.”