Independent West Coast roots artist Jack Garton and his band the Demon Squadron have embarked on their debut album release tour through B.C. and Alberta.
The tour includes a Nov. 15 date at Record City in Vernon as well as clubs, halls, house concerts and even a benefit concert at the Unis’tot’en Healing Centre on the unceded Wet’suwet’en yintah (territory), which extends from Burns Lake to the Coastal Mountains.
While spreading the sounds of their new album, the band will be raising awareness and funds for the Unis’tot’en Land Defenders, currently fighting seven proposed tar sands and LNG pipelines attempting to cross their traditional territories.
After successful festival appearances in 2015 and 2016 (Mission Folk Fest, Artswells, Robson Valley Music Fest) and multiple tours through B.C., Garton and the Demon Squadron released their debut album, Move the Mess Around, in September with a headlining performance at the ninth annual Accordion Noir Festival in Vancouver.
Produced by Steven Drake (The Odds, Tragically Hip) and Garton, the album features the front-man on accordion, trumpet and vocals and is described as a mix of rockabilly, rock-steady reggae, country and Cajun.
It has been called “a brilliant album that is arguably the most appropriate and honest soundtrack for our current generation,” by Maddy Cristall, with the CBC.
After 10 years of touring Canada, the U.S. and Europe with B.C.-beloved bands Maria in the Shower, Petunia and the Vipers and Blackberry Wood, Garton formed the Demon Squadron, named after his grandfather’s special operations flight squadron in the Second World War, in 2013 as an engine for his solo original work.
The band has since opened for Canadian iconoclast Art Bergmann, Serbian master trumpet player Boban Markovic, and American veteran songsmith Dan Bern (who has continued to mentor Garton), and has previously played at local venues/events including Caravan Farm Theatre, Lorenzo’s Café in Ashton Creek, and this past summer’s BX Soul Dance.
Opening for Garton and the Demon Squadron, Tuesday, Nov. 15 at Record City, is Chicken-Like Birds and Mice in the Honey Bucket. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
“Anyone with advanced tickets will receive a free Jack Garton and the Demon Squadron EP at the show,” said show promoter Steve Gosselin.
Limited quantities are available at Record City and the Bean Scene.
