Photo Credit: James Fox

By BD Marie Hughes

Cobourg’s very own Gentlemen Husbands, an indie rock band with an Americana/country edge, debuted some new songs and played some great favourites at the NXNE pre-Festival Kick-off at The Horseshoe Tavern Wednesday night (June 17). It was an electrifying performance! The band – Derrick Ballard (guitar, vocals), Ryan Hutcheson (guitar), Dean Farrell (drums), and Jed Atkinson (bass) – performed:

“Family Economics”
“Tapanga”
“Compaction Girl”
“Burnin’ Gold”
“Cruise Control”
“Plans B & E”
“Danny Regan”.

The floor was packed. Their fans were lined 5 or 6 rows deep, where the black and white checkerboard floor meets the stage’s edge. I brought my colleague, Olivia D’Orazio, as she had become hooked on, “Tapanga” off the bands EP, “Something Along The Lines Of… A Lesson In Unprofessionalism”. She was definitely impressed! The band can count on her as their newest fan.

BD: How did Gentlemen Husbands prepare for this show? Are you rolling out the new tunes through shows to get audience reaction?

GH Ryan: Well, we kinda just practiced as usual. We’ve been really busy lately playing all over so the set has just kinda worked itself out. So, yeah, we’ve been adding in new songs what seems like every couple of weeks and the crowd is remembering them after only hearing them one time… So that’s a really good sign!

BD: What can you tell us about some of the new songs?

GH Derrick: Well, to put it bluntly, they are much better than anything we’ve written or released in the past! Since we became a 4 piece, the direction of the band has changed quite a bit. We’ve become a lot more focused and concise. If we had to categorize it, it’s definitely a lot more rock ‘n’ roll and less folky than before.

BD: What has most surprised you creating your new songs?

GH Jed: Probably how well they all flow together. They all kinda sound, well, not the same, but in the same vein. We’ve finally kinda grown into or found our own sound… Instead of playing like a country song, then a rock song, then a more folk-ish one, they all work really well together. They kinda blend those elements or influences into one cohesive sound.

BD: Do you have summer plans away from music this year?

GH Ryan: (laughs) Not really! I think this whole summer we’re only having one weekend off to go camping. We have had to turn down 3 different shows! But yeah, between playing like 8 shows a month, recording new songs all the time, and just general practicing and meetings every week, there’s really not much time for anything else… But that’s exactly the way we like it!

Gentlemen Husbands recently marked a huge myspace milestone, surpassing 100,000 profile views. The band is booked rock-solid throughout the summer including a show at The Cutting Edge Music Festival in Kitchener, ON, the civic holiday weekend of August 1st.

http://www.myspace.com/GentlemenHusbands