SUBMITTED PHOTO ROB BLACKMAN The Glorious Sons will be on stage Nov. 8 at the Canalta Centre.
Stan Ashbee
Special to the News
It’s been a banner year for The Glorious Sons, as the Kingston, Ont., band won a Juno Award for rock album of the year and a group of the year award at the 2018 Indies. Their latest release “Young Beauties and Fools” also landed the band its first No. 1 hit on the alternative radio charts with “Everything is Alright” and the band has logged nine consecutive top-six rock radio singles in Canada.
The Glorious Sons, with special guests The Beaches, will perform Nov. 8 at the Canalta Centre. Show time is 7 p.m.
“It’s the next logical step, really,” said singer and songwriter Brett Emmons. “We’ve toured the country so many times over the last five years. We’ve grabbed the momentum again and it seems as though we just keep going. It’s a good feeling. It’s definitely exactly where we want to be right now.”
It’s also been a wild ride for the band, which won’t return home until Dec. 7.
“We’ve been on the road since, I think, Sept. 12. We’re three months straight and then we get Christmas off. I think in January we’re going to go in and try our luck at a little recording and then we’re back out on the road again in February. It’s a constant grind.”
Emmons The Glorious Sons are trying to seize on the momentum built up. “You can really feel it when it’s there and you can feel it when it’s not. Once you stop working and once you get stale, that’s when you’re going to lose the momentum you have.”
“We’re just trying to strike while the iron is hot and hold on for the ride. It’s been a lot of work, but I don’t think I’m more tired today than I was two years ago. I’m getting better at it. I think everybody in the band is getting better at this life,” he added.
Emmons said the band is also making traction in the U.S. and winning over people. “Things just keep on getting better for us.”
“It’s a much bigger country and a lot more bands and probably a thousand cities the size of Kingston. It’s just a matter of keeping at it,” he said.
Thanks to the radio, Emmons noted, the band has found continued success in the U.S. “It would never happen before. We’ve seen the numbers change drastically with that.”
“It’s also live. We’re the kind of band that when you see our show we’re going to get a lot of return from the shows we play. We’re not going to get everybody as a loyal lifelong fan, but we get a lot of really loyal fans that want to keep coming back.”
Emmons said The Glorious Sons have toured in the U.S. as long as they’ve been touring in Canada. “We make all our money in Canada and then we spend it all in the United States,” he said with a laugh.
A live Glorious Sons show has highs and lows, Emmons said. “It’s exciting, it’s pretty, it’s dirty and it’s fun. It’s rock and roll. With a set like that on a stage like that — we have the ability to take it so many different places and provide so many unique moments you couldn’t do with less time on a smaller stage.”
Emmons said he doesn’t want to put any pressure on the band regarding new material. “We’ve got a lot of songs kicking around. I know there’s some really good ones and there’s probably some pretty (bad) ones too,” he joked.
“I think what I learned on the last album is when it hits you know and that’s when you really go and turn it out and decide to finish the album. We went in and tried to record ‘Young Beauties and Fools’ three or four times and we came out empty handed a few times and it scared us. When we finally got on the trail, it was easy as pie,” he said.
Emmons learned when an album is coming together the way it needs to come together, it’s a natural progression.
“I’m not really going to force anything until that happens. I know we’ll always have the songs and the writing. It’s just about allowing everything to come together naturally and breathe the way it should.”
Tickets for show are on sale now at theglorioussons.com, ticketmaster.ca, by phone at 1-855-985-5000 or in-person at the Canalta Centre Box Office.
