It’s September and Victoria band Acres of Lions is getting a reaction from fans and others in the music business.
On the homestretch of participation in the Peak Performance Project, the alternative rock quartet is gearing up for some local shows, including the Rifflandia indie music festival later this month.
Before that comes another key show, Saturday night (Sept. 10) at Sugar nightclub, when they’ll release their new CD, Collections, featuring their first single, “Reaction.”
“We spent the last week learning how to be a better band and how to take that show on the road,” said guitarist and keyboard player Tyson Yerex of the Peak project’s summer boot camp. That’s where the 20 finalists in the big-money contest are mentored about everything from recording and marketing themselves to touring and live performance.
“It’s one thing to get up there and play the new single the way you recorded it… the stage is more about creating moments.”
Like many acts involved in the Peak competition, the band has been busy this year juggling live performance and recording schedules with undertaking the tasks and appearances set out under the rules of the contest.
Among those challenges was to create a viral video.
The video for “Reaction,” a pop-infused, toe-tapping tune currently on radio playlists of alternative stations in Victoria and Edmonton, features friends and people the band met along their Canadian tour.
The band used a “clever marketing trick,” as Yerex calls it, by leveraging friendships made over the past four years of touring to create a fast-paced visual presentation of the song.
“It ended up being an amazing video project,” he said.
Where their previous attempt attracted 1,500 views in all, the new song has received close to 2,000 YouTube hits in the first week alone.
With no history before their first album, the band toured Canada with the material for four months in a van, making friends wherever they landed, Yerex said. Getting their music out there has helped boost their exposure, he added.
“It’s great feeling like (touring) really wasn’t for nothing – that feels really good. The ball is starting to roll … We’ve got to keep kicking it until it turns into an avalanche.”
Showtime at Sugar is 9 p.m., opening acts are Treelines and Mike Edel.
Tickets, available at the door, include a digital download of the new CD.
editor@oakbaynews.com
