The Victoria Jazz Society has a lot planned this summer.
Of course, there’s the annual Victoria Jazz Fest, set to kick off June 20. But for those who prefer something a bit more electric, there’s the Harbour Blues ’n’ Roots Festival, which has now announced its lineup.
The festival will feature The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer, Shemekia Copeland and Bywater Call as headlining acts on each night of the festival, which runs from Aug. 22 to 24.
“One of Canada’s most incendiary live propositions, The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer are relentless touring artists known for their high-energy performances,” the VJS wrote in its announcement.
The band’s members, Shawn “Harpoonist” Hall and Matthew “Axe Murderer” Rogers, are known for their albums Apocalipstick and A Real Fine Mess, released in 2017 and 2014, respectively. In 2015, the pair took home the Western Canadian Music Award for Blues Album of the Year and Alternative Album of the Year for A Real Fine Mess.
They’ve been nominated for several Juno Awards and have shared the stage with artists such as Mother Mother, Taj Mahal, Booker T. Jones and Serena Ryder. This year, the group will be joined by “high-octane alt-blues/rock group” Wet Future, opening the show.
Shemekia Copeland will take the stage on Saturday, with Nanaimo's James Vickers Band opening. “Shemekia Copeland possesses one of the most instantly recognizable and deeply soulful roots music voices of our time,” said the VJS.
“Daughter of the late blues legend Johnny Copeland, the multi-Grammy nominee is honoured worldwide for the fearlessness, honesty and humour of her revelatory songs.”
Her latest record, Blame It On Eve, was released in 2024. She’s performed with greats like Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, Carlos Santana and even shared a bill with the Rolling Stones and B.B. King.
Finally, Toronto-based seven-piece soul, blues and roots group Bywater Call will round out the lineup and is set to close out the weekend. “[Their] shows have been praised by European media for years, with lead singer Meghan Parnell lauded as one of the best female voices in blues and roots today," said the VJS.
The band has received multiple Independent Blues and Canadian Maple Blues Award nominations. Their latest album, Shepherd, has garnered rave reviews and was selected as Blues Album of the Year by the U.K.’s Classic Rock Magazine.
Opening for them will be Slim Sandy’s Atomic Cocktails, a Victoria-based swing band.
Ticketed performances are $42 each, but intrepid fans can save by bundling tickets to all three performances for $99. The Harbour Blues ’n’ Roots Festival will be held from Aug. 22 to 24 at Ship Point in Victoria’s Inner Harbour. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 30, and can be purchased online at jazzvictoria.ca/home/tickets, at the VJS office with no service charge, or at the Royal & McPherson Box Office with service charges.
For those who can’t make it — or who just can’t get enough — blues icon Walter Trout will take the stage at Wicket Hall on Friday, Sept. 12, as part of the VJS’s year-round presentation series.
“Walter Trout started as a sideman for John Lee Hooker, Percy Mayfield and Big Mama Thornton. He went on to become the lead guitarist for Canned Heat and then for John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, before forming the Walter Trout Band, Walter Trout and the Radicals, and then simply Walter Trout,” wrote the VJS.
Trout’s extensive career has earned him the title of “ultimate supreme bluesman of the 20th and 21st centuries,” along with numerous awards and charting albums.
“Walter Trout is the beating heart of the modern blues rock scene. After last playing McPherson Playhouse in 2023, now you can witness this blues master and his band make their rockin’ return to Victoria!”
Trout will take the stage at Wicket Hall on Sept. 12. Tickets are $35 in advance or $40 at the door and can be purchased anywhere Harbour Blues ’n’ Roots Festival tickets are sold.
