A spacecraft launches.
Fighting its way free of Earth’s gravity.
The United States is flying forward, striving to be the first nation in the world to put a man on the moon.
Hopes are assembled and thrust upon the men who take the first steps on the orbiting satellite.
Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon, followed closely by his companion Buzz Aldrin on the Apollo 11 mission.
The space race, moon landing and the pressure on the astronauts that followed was the inspiration for the Tourist Company’s latest album Apollo, released this fall.
Apollo is the sister record of the EP Mercy, which was released in April and builds on the space theme established in the EP Space Race, released in 2014.
The majority of the songs started in the mind of lead singer and songwriter for the band Taylor Swindells.
“It mostly stems from Taylor’s brain. He does more than the rest of us. He writes really great songs and melodies,” said drummer Brenon Parry.
Once Swindells has an idea, Parry said, he brings it to the band. The song ends up quite different from where it started.
Songs such as Pedestals, currently in the Top 20 on CBC Radio 2’s playlist, describes the pressure the astronauts faced once they came back to Earth because they represented a new-found hope for humanity’s future, said Parry.
The Tourist Company doesn’t restrict itself to one genre or sound.
“A lot of it comes from us having very diverse musical influences. We all like to work with different styles as artists … and this is what contributes to our unique sound,” said Parry.
The Tourist Company performs with special guest Maverick Cinema at White Sails Brewing on Thursday (Nov. 24). Doors open at 8 p.m. Maverick Cinema takes the stage at 9 p.m. The Tourist Company performs at 10 p.m.
Admission is by donation.
For more information about the Tourist Company, please go to www.thetouristcompany.ca.
