As Rifflandia kicks off the biggest weekend in music in Victoria, so too are a trio from Alberta preparing to hit the festival’s stage for the first time in their new hometown.
“It’s pretty special to be included, having just moved to Victoria a year and a half ago from Calgary,” says Logan Gabert, lead guitarist for Fever Feel.
The band decided they needed to position themselves in a more central locale to break into both the U.S. and Western Canadian markets, and were drawn to the “vibe” of the Island having previously visited on tour.
“It’s a good spot to create,” Gabert says.
This Saturday we're releasing our debut LP. The show will be part of this years @Rifflandia festival at The Rubber Boot Club. We play at 11:30pm and will have cassette tapes, CD's and Vinyl readily available for your listening leisure ✨https://t.co/hpu2dz8Z9w pic.twitter.com/CSGmq1UZvh
— Fever Feel (@feverfeel) September 11, 2018
When they hit the Riff stage Saturday (Sept. 15, 11:30 p.m. at the Rubber Boot Club) in support of their first full-length, self-titled album, expect a psych-infused sound full of drums, guitar and organ.
But, Gabert says: “It’s rock and roll at the heart of it.”
He describes the new album, recorded between a series of tours over the course of 2016-17, as the band’s “first real offering that feels like us.”
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Laying down bed tracks and then watching the songs morph and grow having performed them for a new audience every night, meant the band came back to recording sessions with “a shifted perspective” each time, he says.
The trio has decided their Rifflandia slot – with Peach Pyramid, Common Deer and Art D’Ecco – will be the official album release.
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They’ll follow that up with an appearance at Let’s Hear It! a provincewide concert series from Music B.C at The Fox Cabaret in Vancouver, Sept. 20. The showcase builds on the success of the 2018 Juno edition, offering unsigned artists the chance to shred in front of a bigger audience while connecting with fans and others in the industry.
“We’re so appreciative of the support from the B.C. music community,” Gabert says.
A run of U.S. dates will follow throughout the late fall and then Fever Feel will head back to Alberta to keep the momentum going.
“We’ve got a spring in our step now,” Gabert says. “We just want to keep making records that we like, keep releasing music more frequently.”
