I was going to give a Tuesday night show at the Slice a miss, Oct. 10, but was glad I caught Edmonton based pop band The Royal Foundry’s exuberant set of heavily ’80s influenced pop music from husband and wife duo Jared and Bethany Salte and band mates drummer Robbie Szabo and bassist Jeremy Dehek.
They were an energetic blur jumping between an assortment of different musical instruments, often within the same song and without missing a beat.
Jared Salte beamed as he brandished a sparkling silver keytar which was laying on a keyboard stand, before he picked it up and swung the instrument around his head.
He put it down and rushed to take up Bethany’s guitar while she dashed across the stage to beat away at a KAOSS pad. Drummer Robbie Szabo leaped from his drum kit and grabbed his cello for a couple verse of songs before rushing back to his kit.
Bassist Jeremy Dehek also sang harmonies and added extra percussion throughout the band’s frenetic show of perky, up tempo pop music.
They also slowed down for a couple folk numbers with Bethany strumming acoustic guitar, but quickly picked up the tempo again as her husband played a tasteful solo for the song.
Their catchy hit single “Running Away,” which has been used by the CFL, came midway through their set.
They were called back for an encore after some delay and returned to put their own pop fuelled twist on Neil Young’s ‘Rockin’ In the Free World,’ with Jared Salte playing the main riff on keyboard.
