L.A. Beat

Hamilton based roots rock trio Elliott Brood ( Casey Laforet - Guitar / vocals / bass pedals; Stephen Pitkin - suitcases / percussion / vocals; Mark Sasso - guitar / banjo / ukulele / lead vocals) are excited to give Lethbridge a taste of their upcoming album Ghost Gardens, May 4 at Average Joes with local duo Burning Bridge.

“We just finished recording the album in January and are mixing it,  and we hope to release it in August or September,” said Elliott Brood banjo player/ vocalist Mark Sasso on the road  near Regina en route to a gig in Canmore.

“ We wrote the songs in 2005, but we lost the drive they were on,” said Sasso, adding they were so impressed with the songs when they did find the drive that they decided to re-record them for the new album.

They recorded the CD on their own and are doing some of the mixing while on the road.
“It’s very sparse, but we liked the performances,” he said.

The new album will have 11 songs on it.
““It’s been about three years since our last one. We usually do three year album cycles with writing it, recording it and touring on it,” he said.

 Sasso said  Ghost Gardens is a term used to describe gardens, which continue to grow even after the homeowners have ceased to care for the gardens.“ Sometimes perennials will continue to grow even 50 years after a homeowner has moved on,” Sasso said.

 

 They have also been enjoying some important time with their families in their new home of Hamilton, where the band moved from Toronto one at a time.
“We love it here,” he said.

“ But we love to to tour. We love coming to Lethbridge. Over the past 15 years, we’ve mad a lot of friends there, so it’s always nice to go back there and hang out with them again,” he said.

“ This is a quick tour of three weeks or 21 days. We‘re not going across Canada, we’re playing Fernie, Kamloops, Nelson and Kelowna— a lot of interior  B.C. dates. We’ll do a cross-Canadian tour in the Fall when the album is released,” he said.

 In the meantime, you can hear Elliott Brood on the CBC mystery/thriller Bellevue, starring Anna Paquin about the police’s search for a missing transgendered teen.

“They actually pitched the show with our music in it,” he enthused.

Elliott Brood and local dark roots duo Burning Bridge play Average Joes, May 4.
Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. The show will begins at 8:30 p.m.