The members of Prince Edward Island’s scorching trad band Ten Strings And a Goat Skin were busy packing up for their final tour of 2016 on Wednesday, a tour that will bring them from their native PEI to B.C., promoting their third album.
The trio of East Coast musicians will be playing Lake Country’s Creekside Theatre on Wednesday, Nov. 9, with a fiery style with roots deep in their native PEI.
“We take a lot of inspiration from the music here in PEI,” said guitarist Jesse Périard as the band gets set for a week of shows in B.C. and Alberta.
“There is an enormous amount of diverse quality bands of many genres here and it’s amazing to see PEI music being put on the map. Our band composes a lot of original compositions but in some tunes you can really hear the Irish/Scottish/Acadian influences that PEI is known for.”
The band is just home from a tour in France behind its third album, called Auprès du Poêle.
The trio released their debut album, Tri, less than five years ago and earned a 2012 ECMA nod for Roots and Traditional Group Recording of the Year. They also took home a 2012 Music PEI Award for Roots Traditional Recording of the year.
Their sophomore album Corbeau went to No. 6 on Billboard’s world catalogues album chart and earned the band a second ECMA nod and a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination for New/Emerging Artist of the Year.
It also earned praise from Radio-Canada, who said the band plays traditional music with all the fire and energy youth can muster.
Since that release they’ve signed agency deals in Canada, the US, the UK, France and Switzerland and have toured the world.
Next week’s appearance will be the first time the group has played the Okanagan.
“We’ve played B.C. a few times and always enjoy our stay,” said Périard, noting their appearance at 2015’s Vancouver Island Music Festival was “a crazy time and one of the highlights of our summer.
We’re really excited that our last tour of 2016 gets to be spent in Canada.”
Their new album is described as “a beautiful collection of songs and tunes marked by the magical joie de vivre of traditional Quebecois music; the heart rending balladry of English, Irish, and Scottish folk; the flawless, rip-roaring, kick-up-your-heals musicianship of the grand Celtic ensembles; and the breathtaking harmonies of great trad groups the world over.”
Their world tour is said to have them playing hotter and sounding tighter than ever and continuing to refine their new generation approach to traditional music.
So what can fans expect from this trio? “Three dudes making some bad jokes along with high energy, fun and progressive traditional music,” said Périard, a Fredericton-born musician of Scottish and Québois ancestry.
“You can definitely expect to clap, shout and if there’s room, even dance!”