Halifax indie rocker Rich Aucoin has more on his mind than just pumping up an audience when he hits Victoria Wednesday. Currently on a cross-Canada tour opening for K-OS, Aucoin is using the rare opportunity of being on the west coast to indulge in one of his favourite past-times: surfing.
“When I can’t surf I try to swim a lot, and most of the hotels I stay at have access to a pool,” says the very active Aucoin, who once toured Canada by pedal bike, “but surfing is one of the greatest activities I’ve yet to do. I do a lot of surfing back home in Nova Scotia, so I’m actually going to try and do some surfing Wednesday morning.”
Living a nomadic lifestyle touring for the past few years, especially since the popularity of his 2011 album, We’re All Dying to Live, Aucoin doesn’t get a lot of time back home. He says during the summer months he’ll be away pretty much every weekend, although it’s a lifestyle that seems to agree with him.
“It’s fun. Everything is constantly in flux, so you have to be comfortable with all kinds of juggling of plans, and I’ve gotten really good at traveling,” he explains.
It’s clear Aucoin is a bit of a social butterfly, with over 500 guest musicians on Aucoin’s latest album, including members of Victoria’s Immaculate Machine and Run Chico Run, and it’s something that doesn’t slow down when he’s on the road. Whether it’s hanging out with locals, or bringing the party along with him, Aucoin definitely isn’t confusing the role of the nomad with that of the loner.
“I try to bring friends on the road whenever I can,” he says. “There’s this festival I’ve played twice now in Alabama and they put me up in this condo on the beach, so I throw it out to my friends, ‘If you can make it down to this beach, the whole weekend will be covered.’ So I had 16 friends come down for that last year and it was rad.”
The current Canadian tour with K-OS has been great for Aucoin as well. Despite having people to meet and hang out with along the way, the slower days in smaller towns (such as Nelson, BC, where we reach him during the day “just looking for something to do”) has let him connect with the Toronto rapper and singer, as well as K-OS’ backup band.
“It’s been fun,” says Aucoin of the tour. “K-OS puts on a really good show and I really get along well with all the members of his band. It’s interesting when you’re on tour and you have friends in each city; it can be distracting for getting to hang out with who you are touring with. But we’ll probably do that tonight.”
Currently finishing up his third album, Aucoin says it’s going to be almost the exact opposite to his last album: stripped down, faster, and we’re assuming it’s not going to include hundreds of guest musicians.
“Since the last one was such a long, sprawling record, I wanted to make a short, concise one,” he says, “and I also wanted to make a record that documented my high-energy live show, so it’s going to be a 30-minute record with fast BPMs and a lot of gang vocals.”
Wait… gang vocals? “Yeah, I knew I wanted to have a big soccer anthem-type sound for one of the songs, but I wasn’t sure how to achieve that,” he chuckles, “but then I realized I was playing to so many people last summer that I could just record all of the audiences a cappella during sing-alongs and I could lay them over one another and have this huge gang vocal. So there’s this choir of, like, 20,000 people in the song.”
Aucoin has gained a reputation of being musically eclectic, with live shows that are a completely different animal, to date, than his recorded material. Constantly challenging himself to come up with new sounds and ideas, Aucoin says he’s always looking ahead and pushing himself.
“You should always be striving for the next thing. I’m happy with how things are going so far, but I’ve got other ideas and things I want to do,” he says. “I’m usually thinking two records ahead.”
Rich Aucoin (with K-OS)
Wednesday, April 17, 8 pm
Sugar Nightclub
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