Calgary pop punk band Chixdiggit is looking forward to sharing a stage with The Hanson Brothers, April 19 at Sidelines.
“ We just got back from tour in Europe and we took the last year off so we’re kind of going from zero to 60 right now. It was great and a get way to get back into things,” said guitarist KJ Jansen.
The rotating lineup includes guitarist Jimmy Gamble from fellow Calgary punk band Knucklehead, drummer Tyler Pickering and Brent Cooper on bass.
“ He’s from Huevos Rancheros and he‘s one of the best guitarists in Canada, so we thought it would be a good idea to get him to pay bass,” Jansen joked.
The band formed in 1990 as high school students who didn’t play any instruments, but decided to design t-shirts for a band that didn’t exist, then decided to form said band. They have since toured the world and recorded several albums, spreading the gospel of perky, happy, catchy pop punk music.
They’re happy to playone off gigs like the local gig with the Hanson Brothers.
“ The last time we played with them was in about 1994. They’re Canadian legends. They put on a hell of a show,” Jansen enthused.
They enjoyed their year off.
“ We’ve been working in new songs and have been learning to play our instruments. So we’ve been working on that too,” he said adding their friendship is what has been keeping together for so long.
“I think is it’s because we’ve always been friends first. That was the whole point of doing this, Jansen said.
There was a point in time when we were doing this as a job and we all hated that. So now we do it because we want to do it, not because we have to do it,” he continued.
“It’s not a bad job though. You get to go out and have a few drinks and play a few songs and go home,” he said.
They have been working on new songs.
“We have about 40 of them. Some of them aren’t that good, but we‘ll choose the best 12 and put it on a new album,” he continued.
