L.A. Beat

Calgary based rockabilly band the Hi-Strung  Downers are about more than just about playing rockabilly music.
“My days of  writing songs about  ’50s cars are behind me,” said co-frontman/ guitarist Earl Garnet, who beings the band to Casino Lethbridge, Aug. 7 and 8.

“Songs have to have a personal connection. I can’t write stories as well as I used to,” he continued.

 Almost exactly a year ago, they released their debut album “Here She Lies,” and have been working away promoting it and  playing show all over B.C, Alberta and Saskatchewan ever since.

“It was our first album as the Hi Strung Downers.  We were half way through recording it when we realized it was a break-up album,” Garnet  said.

“But it’s not your usual break-up album where we’re responsible for it and it’s our fault, it was the other way, just because that’s how we were feeling about it,” he said, adding the music was inspired by all of the members’ break ups.

 The band members, upright bassist Joe Love, drummer Terry ‘T-Bone’ Starchuk and relative newcomer co-frontman Greasy Greg have known each other for years and have been in a variety of bands including Buzz Elroy and his Hayseed Rockets and Hurricane Felix and the Southern Twisters.

“Greasy Greg has been with us for about a year. Buzz Elroy was filling in for us since our original guitarist moved to Vancouver.  But once I found Greg, I just knew he’d fit in perfectly,” he said.

They spent a solid six month preparing for the recording, but actually recorded the nine songs in a few days before sending it to Vancouver for mixing.

“We wanted to make a rock and roll album,  though some of it is a little bit heavier because we all used to play in punk bands,” he said.
 
 While the band plays all over the Western provinces, they don’t play a lot of Casino gigs.
“We booked it a long time ago.  We’re looking forward to it. We usually play live music clubs. We have a lot of material to draw from,” he said, adding it has been a few years since they last played Lethbridge.
“ I don't remember where it was,” he said.

 They played Jimmy’s Pub and Brasserie, Feb. 11, 2012 after they had just started the band.

They are working on new music for their next album.
“We sneak one or two into the set, but we don’t tell anybody about them because we want to see how people react to them,” he said.
 “We want to go in a different direction on the next one and make something a little more upbeat,” he said.
 There is no cover for either show, Aug. 7 and 8. They begin at 8 p.m.