To quote the title of one of the songs on his feverishly anticipated new record, Tom Cochrane is now “back in the game.”
About to embark on a Canadian tour with his band Red Rider, Cochrane will be at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Feb. 23.
The Canadian rock icon has never stopped creating or performing, however, he hasn’t released an album of new material since 2006’s No Stranger.
Take it Home will be released via Universal Music Feb. 10 and reveals Cochrane is still at the top of his game, exploring new lyrical and sonic terrain while remaining grounded in the values that have made him one of Canada’s most beloved rock ’n rollers.
Cochrane is already thinking about which of his new tunes from Take it Home will best fit a set list already challenged by the amount of great material from which he can draw.
“I wanted to make sure there’s at least three or four songs off the album that’ll stand the test of time and we can pull off live, either to make people tap their feet and dance or have ones that hit home,” he said.
“I see this record as a real retrospective on the essence of the troubadour. From the bands of the middle ages into the blues guys like Leadbelly and Lightnin’ Hopkins into Woody Guthrie, who inspired Dylan and Lightfoot, as well as artists who inspired another generation. Look at Dylan and Willie Nelson, staying on the tour bus, moving to the next city to play for people. It’s like the boy inside the man, they’re going back to their youth. To me, some of the songs on this new record explore that.”
In a career which has now spanned more than 40 years, Cochrane is an Order of Canada recipient and Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee and has won eight Juno awards and numerous other industry honours, including the 2013 Allan Waters Humanitarian Award and a coveted Grammy nomination.
As fans are well aware, Cochrane became the driving force in adventurous rockers Red Rider prior to achieving massive international success (more than six million copies sold worldwide and diamond-sales status at home) with his breakthrough 1991 album Mad Mad World and its anthemic hit Life is A Highway.
Tickets to see Cochrane at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m., go on sale Friday and will be available at Ticket Seller box office or by calling 250-549-7469 or online at www.ticketseller.ca.
