It has been a lot of work, but Lethbridge born, Vancouver based theatrical rock band Incura are just about to release their first, major label record.
Vocalist Kyle Gruninger, bassist Jono Olson, keyboardist Jim McLaren, guitarist Royce Whittaker and drummer Phil Gardner will be releasing their self-titled debut CD, Feb. 26. on the Coalition/ Warner Brothers label, which is home
to Our Lady Peace, Finger 11 and Simple Plan among others.
“ It’s six brand new songs that have been released in Canada but not in the U.S. and Europe and four songs from our old catalogue,” said Gruninger, who brings the band to Pulse, Jan, 18.
They recorded the CD with celebrated Canadian producer Arnold Lanni who produced the first five Our Lady Peace albums.
“When Coalition picked us up they recommended Arnold. He heard our music and liked us so we flew out to Toronto and then Los Angeles to meet him and we started the songwriting process,” Gruninger continued adding the process has taken them two years to complete.
“ I used to do everything myself, but we wanted everything to be brand new. A brand new website, a brand new video, brand new photos, a brand new Cd and a brand new tour,” he continued.
“So we decided to go all out.”
Longtime Lethbridge friend Ezan Morgan also helped produce the CD and is now working for Lanni full -time.
“He’s been with us for 10 years, was working for free and he finally caught a break, now he’s working full time with Lanni, so that’s been kind of cool,” he continued.
He is pleased with how their CD sounds.
“It consists of six brand new songs that haven’t been released in the United States or Europe, and four other songs from our older CD that our older fans will recognize,” he continued. We just decided to pick our favourites and put them on the release,” he continued.
“ I’m pretty satisfied with it artistically and creatively. Though it’s been hard to tell. When you’r sitting in a room for two years with six dudes working on something, you don’t know whether it’s good or bad or right or wrong. We’re all pretty close to it,” he continued.
“After that long you just want to have the CD done. You’re already listening to and writing the new CD in your head,” he said.
One of their highlights last year was touring Germany.
“Germany was unreal. Europe is a great market for us and our music. And we toured with Apocalyptica for all of their Canadian dates. That was a really big step for us,” he said adding while Apocalyptica went on to tour South America, they couldn’t follow them.
They’ll get all their ducks in a row as far as getting the proper paperwork and passports so they’ll not only be able to tour South America, but the United States as well.
Gruninger is excited about beginning their tour from Vancouver to Toronto and back in his hometown of Lethbridge.
““Lethbridge is where I come from. These people have been listening to me on stage since I was 13,” Gruninger said, who performed with New West Theatre for several years.
“It’s always great to see old friends and family. They don’t really hate us here. And with our type of music, you either really hate it or you really love it. But I would rather be extraordinary remembered than mediocre forgotten,” he observed.
“ We’re a theatrical rock band, but it‘s really hard to categorize Incura,” he said adding their music has a lot of energy and is a lot of fun.
“It’s going to be like a gigantic house party, it’s something you can’t find anywhere else.
They usually play the Slice when they make their annual pilgrimage home to Lethbridge, but couldn’t this time because it was booked.
“People have been asking us to play a bigger venue,” he said.
He is excited about sharing the stage with Jon Martin’s band the New Weather Machine and one other.
He always looks forward to coming home, but loves being part of the Vancouver scene.
“ I live there now. Like any scene, it’s like one really big family. There’s competition between the bands of course — happy versus sad, popular versus unpopular, signed and unsigned,” he said.
“ I love Lethbridge. It’s made me who I am, but living in Vancouver has made me who I’m going to be,” he said.
The show is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. at Pulse.There will be a $10 cover.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
