The spirit of 1970s progressive rock is strong in Vancouver’s Bend Sinister who come to the Slice, Jan. 29.
“ If you like Supertramp or Queen, then you will appreciate us. It’s going to be a good time,” said Bend Sinister’s hirsute frontman/ keyboard player Dan Moxon.
They had a very successful year in 2013 with their latest CD ‘Small Fame’ taking them all over the United States and Canada with successful shows at the renown South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas and built a successful tour around it.
They also set aside two weeks in the fall to record the follow up ‘Animals’ in San Diego with producer Joe Martlett. It will be released March 20.
“I’ve always been the principal songwriter of the band. But we co-wrote the entire CD together as a band. It was very quick. It was a challenge to get 12 songs together for it,” he said.
“ But we just wanted to try something a little bit different,” he said adding they wanted to pressure themselves to do everything in two weeks rather than trying to work around everybody’s schedule and record on the weekend, like they usually do.
“ I have to give them credit (at the studio). They worked 24 hours a day with different engineers to make sure the tracks were ready for us. We couldn’t have done it without them,” he continued.
“ It was a challenge for my vocals and to keep my voice in shape after doing the same song 10 times. Usually you can take a couple days to let the voice recover.”
They didn’t have most of the songs completed before the recording.
“We had been playing a couple of them. But most of them are brand new.”
He enjoyed co-writing with the band.
“ I’ve done co-writing before with producers and other people, so this was the same process except with the people in my band,” he said adding everyone contributed their own ideas and he brought a lot of his own to the table.
“The subject matter is pretty much the same — love, men and women and attraction with broader songs about the world; about the good and bad and if we have the power to improve things,” he described.
Keyboards are a prominent part of the sound as usual.
“I‘ve been in this band for about 10 years and I started out on guitar, but switched to keyboards because I thought it was more interesting to write on them,” he said.
“I use a lot of Wurlitzer, Rhodes and Hammond B3 because those are the sounds I like and I’m starting to incorporate more synth sounds. Joseph (Blood) guitarist) plays Midi pedals as well,” he said. Jason Dana and Matt Rhode supply the rhythm on drums and bass respectively.
Moxon tries not to over-think his very distinctive voice which incorporates elements of Hollerado, Billy Joel and a lot of
“It’s pretty much all natural. I try not to over think it. That’s just how I sound. I think the best singers are those who just use what God gave them,” he said.
He noted the tour, which includes stops all over B.C. as well as Lethbridge, before heading Stateside in February, will be a mix of old and new music.
“We will play a few of the new songs, but not all of it because ‘Animal’ hasn’t been released yet.”
Bend Sinister plays the Slice, Jan. 29 at approximately 9 p.m.
