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Band battles to top
SAIT student Graeme Simari, doubles as keyboardist with Constant Season
By Josh Brown, Scene Editor
On the last Sunday of this year’s Stampede, Calgary band Constant Season played their first show in a battle of the bands at Coyote’s.
Straight out of a basement rehearsal space the group had no expectations – just a serious dose of terror that goes into performing in front of a live audience for the first time.
The band went head-to-head with another local group. They were nervous but well prepared, played their hearts out and won.
“We were pretty petrified and I don’t remember any of it, but apparently we won,” says Constant Season’s keyboardist and backup vocalist Graeme Simari.
Simari, a second-year business administration student at SAIT, credits the winning performance to the overflowing talent in the band’s line up and the diversity created by each of the musicians’ influence on the music.
All five members of the indie-rock group - Simari, Kit Shepetys (guitar) Mike Ferraro (vocals, bass) and the Klapper brothers, Cory (guitar) and Lucas (drums) – started playing music at a young age and each member is multi-talented.
All can play more than one musical instrument. It’s not uncommon for the bass guitar to be shared among them.
“The bass is kind of like the town bicycle, everybody gets a ride,” commented Simari on the promiscuity of the instrument. Along with the bass, the band’s creative process is also openly shared.
Ideas are brought to the table by any individual who has an inspiration and then collectively they bring it together to form the unique blend that has become their sound.
“Our best songs have been written in an hour,” says the youngest Klapper brother, Cory.
“I’ve played in a couple of bands before and it’s not often you have a chemistry with five guys to (compose) this quickly.”
The band has drawn from influences like The Killers, Bloc Party, Modest Mouse and Coldplay, but don’t let that fool you. The band says each song takes on a life of its own.
“We basically have two different sounds, you’ll hear one song then hear another and think it’s a completely different band,” says the 22-year-old keyboardist.
The prize for the fateful show back in July was $2,500, and the boys have put the money to good use.
They just finished cutting a three-track demo at one of Calgary’s most prominent recording studios, Night Deposit Studios.
Producer Endre Lukacsy owns ND and has recorded with the likes of Jimmy Page, Bon Jovi, AC/DC and Aerosmith. He worked with Constant Season for much of the three tracks, and the boys are excited about the money well spent.
Check out their work at http://www.myspace.com/constantseason or hear the boys live at Coyote’s on Nov. 11. - The Weal
Discography
-Midnight Lines E.P. (April 4, 2009)
1. The Star and The Lover
2. Life In Real Time
3. Midnight Lines
4. Knights of Nova (Floodlight)
-Frame of Mind (Demo) (October 2007)
-We receive regular airplay on Fuel 90.3 FM.
-The Star and the Lover was listed #3 on Fuel 90.3's "Top 100 Songs from Calgary Bands in 2008"
5 songs streaming at:
www.myspace.com/constantseason
Photos
Bio
Constant Season hails from Calgary, Alberta, a beautiful western Canadian city known for it's world famous Calgary Stampede and folk rock scene. Unfortunately, we are the farthest thing from a folk rock band. Panic and fear can be seen in the eyes of the sound technicians in our city as we set up for our show and inform them that we in fact, have a little known instrument called a "keyboard." Essentially, we are the worst enemy of sound technician in Calgary, but we'll take that as a compliment.
Forming in late 2006, we made our live show debut at a "Battle of the Bands," at Cowboys Night Club in June 2007, in which we ended up winning and walking away with a handsome cash prize. Our most memorable moment so far was when we were kicked off stage two songs into a show (that we were headlining) because we weren't "folk-rock" enough for the crowd.
We recently released our debut E.P., "Midnight Lines," on April 4th 2009 at The Gateway here in Calgary. We filled the bar with 350+ people, nearly reaching capacity. We were told that the bar had not been that full since The Arcade Fire played there a few years back. It was probably one of the most amazing, fulfilling and memorable experiences of our lives.
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