"It's wonderful to have a firmed-up lineup in the band again, because life gets busy!" says Cranbrook's blues-harmonica champion Ethan Askey. "Keith and I have been busy writing new material together, but I've been looking so forward to having the rest of the fellers available for songwriting and for gigging. It's all falling into place!"
Ethan Askey and the Elevators (featuring Askey on vocals / harmonica, Keith Larsen on lead and rhythm guitars, Mike Honeyman on bass, and Ben Dunn on drums) perform at Encore Brewing Co on Saturday May 10, and the band has been busy behind the scenes.
"We released our newest song 'Clarksdale' last November, and we have about an album's worth of new material that's starting to take shape," says Askey. "I believe we'll do another single release or two. There's no scheduled date to release the new album, but it'll happen either in late 2025 or early 2026."
Askey has grown a nationwide reputation as a dynamic harmonica player and a singer of soulful baritone, and spent many years in Calgary's blues scene performing in various acts in that city. His 2022 debut album "Walk When You Wanna Run" spent over 138 weeks on the Canada Roots & Blues Top 50 charts, and shows the wide variety of rootsy influence that he embraces within an electric-blues framework.
"There's certainly no shortage of things going on in the world today to write about," says Askey. "We have a new song titled 'Freakshow,' which has a veiled tongue-in-cheek existential-dread vibe, which one might read some political overtones into. Other songs I've written are about people within my community - one of them we'll be playing at Encore, which was inspired by a friend of mine.
"My past songwriting often has a personal bent, and future songwriting will probably be similar. Since none of us in the band are Spring Chickens, so to speak — we've all lived a little. We like to write about the world in which we live, and the times we're living in. But the songs are generally uplifting. There are some dance tunes on the album which might not fit firmly in the 'blues' category by any stretch...one of the songs influence by ska and gypsy-jazz. Another is a real deep R&B tune. A few of the songs are more straight-ahead blues, others are more Rock and Roll. I'm really enjoying this lineup of the band, playing to the styles and backgrounds that each band member brings to the Elevators as a whole."
Askey's touring ambitions are far-reaching, and operating from a small town-Rockies home base requires strategic planning.
"I really thought I'd be building out our regional touring circuit by playing American dates in the Pacific Northwest States, once we secured the proper artistic work-visas through the Musician's Union and such," says Askey. "But unfortunately I've abandoned that thinking for the time being. With the current sociopolitical climate south of the border, the American market is really uncertain.
"We're focusing on expanding our live-performance reach across Western Canada, which is more immediately feasible. We're looking into performing farther afield in Eastern Canada for next year, and possibly even into Europe - I've played there before, recently, and I really enjoyed it over there. For the time being, we're resisting any invites to go to America."
Ethan Askey and the Elevators perform Saturday May 10 at Encore Brewing
