Mariana’s Trench coming back to the Hat, this time on the big stage
By ANNA SMITH
Local Journalism Initiative on November 20, 2024.
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
On the heels of the American section of their Force of Nature tour, Mariana’s Trench is working their way West.
The Canadian leg of the journey is just getting started, says bass guitarist, vocalist and trumpet player Mike Ayley. So far, they’ve played three shows in Canada, with a fourth today in Montreal. From there, the tour continues westward before ending back in their hometown of Vancouver.
After the U.S. leg of the tour, where Ayley noted they enjoyed consistently large shows, the band welcomed a short break before returning refreshed and ready to hit the road.
“It was a really good three weeks, even though it wasn’t that long,” Ayley told the News.
The band hits the Co-op Place stage on Dec. 9. This is not the first time that Mariana’s Trench has played Medicine Hat, with Ayley vividly recalling their first encounter with the Gas City during an earlier tour.
“I think the first time we ever played there, we were on tour and we played at a bar, ” said Ayley. “We thought it was all ages but it wasn’t, and these kids, they came and wanted to see us play. They actually got to watch the show through, like, a glass door on the other side, because that’s what was legal. The bar owner said they could watch us from there, it was so funny.”
Overall, says Ayley, the group is excited to be back in town, and to be back on tour.
“The last time we did a national tour was pre-pandemic,” said Ayley. “So it’s been a long time. We’ve done one-off shows here and there for the last couple of years, but man, I sure love getting on the tour bus again and just playing shows four or five days a week, rather than four or five times in a season.”
He explained there is a completely different energy to playing with the whole band so often, which he feels keeps him sharp and continuously improving at every single show. While he could practise on his own, he remarked that “it all feels so natural by show five or six, and I just love that feeling.”
The tour, of course, comes with a showcase of their latest album, Haven, which is its own kind of nerve-wracking, said Ayley.
“The beginning of a tour, but with a new album, is like the most nerve-wracking and challenging handful of shows,” said Ayley. “There’s so much information that’s not like – you can’t autopilot any of it, you have to concentrate on so many different things, and how it all weaves together with the rest of the band, too.”
There was an additional challenge, said Ayley, when lead vocalist Josh Ramsay fell ill at the beginning of the tour, and they had to sing some additional parts to help preserve his voice, and Haven is a technically demanding album in of itself.
“Skill wise, this is the most independence we’ve ever had and the highest vocal parts to sing. But that being said, it’s pretty awesome because when you get it right, you feel pretty accomplished for putting in all that work and reaching the goals,” said Ayley. “We’re never bored.”
The new music as well as the older pieces have been well received by fans, said Ayley, to the point they have been setting up quicker changeovers to try to get an additional song into the setlist for the unique experience they’ve created for their fans.
“The show is different from the ones we’ve done before. It’s funny because with the whole sort of cinematic sort of feeling of the album, the show itself that we’re taking on the road is a little bit more like a play, aesthetically,” said Ayley. “It’s really three dimensional.”
Tickets are still available for the Dec. 9 show, which starts at 7:30 p.m. at Co-op Place. In the meantime, Ayley encourages fans to listen to the next single off the Album, Down To You, as they wait for the concert date.
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