Vancouver experimental alternative band Brasstronaut are playing Victoria before they head off overseas for a UK tour with indie folk band Stornoway; for Brasstronaut member Sam Davidson, who plays the clarinet and EWI (electronic wind instrument), it’s just the latest stop in a life-long musical journey.
“I grew up in a very musical family—musical instruments and guitars and jam sessions and whatnot were constantly around me,” he says. “I definitely never thought I would be touring in a rock band; I was always geared more towards standard classic jazz, and, actually, a lot of orchestral music. If you asked me when I was a teenager I probably would have said that I would be playing in an orchestra by now, but I’m kind of doing everything that a clarinet does, except play in an orchestra.”
Brasstronaut began taking shape in 2007, and the last member of its current lineup joined the cadre in 2009. With a wide range of experience in an array of musical genres, the band members utilize guitars, a trumpet, a piano, bass, drums, clarinet and the EWI. Brasstronaut is largely influenced by jazz, says Davidson.
“A good two-thirds of the band have formal jazz training, so we definitely have a lot of jazz in our backgrounds,” says Davidson. “[Pianist] Edo [Van Breemen] comes more from an electronic kind of background and indie rock, and then we’ve got Tariq [Hussain, guitarist] with the Canadian folk music. In terms of inspiration, I would say we draw a lot from Miles Davis, Quincy Jones, sort of a lot of the more crossover jazz artists from the ’60s and ’70s.”
Brasstronaut’s third, self-titled, album came out in 2016; according to Davidson, the tone of the album is much different than the band’s previous offerings.
“The songs from this album are more up-tempo, and easier to dance to,” says Davidson. “I think in previous years, in terms of recording, we were going for more of a down-tempo, chill kind of vibe. I think that’s what we were known for—these sort of moody, more cinematic kinds of songs. It was kind of just this natural need to make music that was a little more celebratory and high energy, just for our own satisfaction, and for the fun of the audience as well. You’ve always got to grow and change and try new things.”
As for the UK tour with Stornoway, this isn’t the first time that Brasstronaut have performed alongside the band.
“We met them on a tour in 2015; we opened for them in Belgium, and we all mutually bonded over a game of hacky-sack, so at the end of the gig we had this huge circle of both bands playing hacky-sack in the venue,” says Davidson. “So they invited us to do this tour with them, and we were super flattered.”
Brasstronaut
Friday, January 27
$15, Upstairs Cabaret
upstairscabaret.ca