Over the past three years, Rocky Mountain Rebel Music has grown a lot — and not just in terms of members.
True, the Victoria band is now a 10-piece ensemble, with musicians manning everything from saxophone to guitars to didgeridoos, but vocalist and didge player Andrew Murgatroyd says the ska/funk/reggae/rock fusion band has expanded more than its membership since forming in 2008.
“When we were first getting started, people could step on each other’s toes,” he says. “But we’ve all found our own sonic real estate and where we fit and where we need to be quiet so that we’re playing with each other rather than competing with each other.”
And while one might think a band with so many players would function more as a loose collective than a cohesive unit, guitarist-singer Greg Szabo says that is not the case with RMRM.
“It’s not so much a collective like that,” he says. “These are the 10 members, and if one of them can’t make a show or a jam, they are missed.
With the lineup solidified and a recent western Canadian tour under their belts — not to mention an award for Favourite Band in this year’s M Awards (Monday Magazine) — Rocky Mountain Rebel Music is set to make their Comox Valley debut at the Mex Pub on Canada Day.
Tickets for the 10-piece high-energy dance band cost $10. doors open at 9 p.m.
— Mex Pub
