Edmonton-based singer/songwriter Ayla Brook and his band The Sound Men are looking forward to performing at Rogers Hometown Hockey on the main stage Sunday.
“I’d been wanting to write a really happy rock-and-roll record, but at the time was going through a really hard time and a break-up,” Brook said about the album.
(I Don’t Want to Hear Your) Break Up Songs was released independently in 2016.
“The title track has an unreliable narrator,” he said. The song is about being at an open mic event where everyone is singing their sob stories and he doesn’t want to hear them.
The irony being that is exactly what the narrator himself is doing.
Brook said it was his way of telling himself to not be whiny about the situation and keep his chin up.
“We try to keep it pretty danceable, good-time music, even if we’re singing about sad things,” he said
Brook describes their sound as ‘New Vintage’ but said lots of people classify them as Canadiana, or traditional Canadian country-rock.
The group is made up of Brook on lead vocals and playing electric guitar and The Sound Men, made up of Johnny Blerot playing keyboard and accordion, Sean Brewer on acoustic guitar, Chris Sturwold on drums and Brent Oliver on bass.
They met working together as sound technicians, which is how the band got its name.
But the name has a double meaning, too.
“The reason we’re called the sound men is that we are all sound techs, and that they are all good fellas and that was something that I wanted to get across,” Brook said.
They have been playing together under this name for about nine years, but several of the members played together in the AA Sound System previously and released an album about 10 years ago.
Brook said they’re looking forward to performing in Lacombe because usually they just pass through on their way to shows in Calgary and it’s been a while since they’ve had the chance to perform in the area.
“We’re big fans of the local brewery there, Blindman Brewing, so we’re going to slip in a little tour while we’re in town,” he said.
Ayla Brook & The Sound Men will be onstage at Rogers Hometown Hockey Sunday afternoon at 4:15 p.m.
michelle.falk@reddeerexpress.com