Canyon Rose to play Morinville Saturday night

Canyon Rose frontman Christan Maslyk plays guitar Wednesday afternoon, in preparation for Saturday night's concert at the Community Cultural Centre.

By Stephen Dafoe

Morinville – The volume will be cranked to 11 Saturday night when the doors to the Morinville Community Cultural Centre open for its first concert. Local crowd pleasers Canyon Rose will have the distinction of being the first band to perform in the new facility; an opportunity frontman Christan Maslyk and his band are looking forward to.

The local music teacher and former Morinville Jet said four members of the band have been playing together in different combinations for close to a decade, but the current configuration has been together for the past seven years. But while the foursome have an established track record of entertaining audiences in the area, Maslyk said Saturday night’s gig will be the first time the group plays with all seven members. The band has recently added trumpet, keyboard and additional guitars and percussion to their sound. But just what type of music Canyon Rose’s wall of sound will offer up is a little harder to describe.

“We find the cool thing about it is it’s unique,” Maslyk said of his bands style. “Everybody says it’s hard to describe. I think it’s because we’ve spent so much time hiding out in Morinville that we had no idea what was going on, what young bands were sounding like. But now we’re starting to find that nobody sounds like us. It’s hard to find people to play with, but it’s kind of cool to have your own sound in the midst of a scene.”

Maslyk said while the band’s sound has influences from southern rock there is a lot of in-your-face guitar sound combined with layered harmonies. “There’s lots of twin leads on guitar, lots of harmonies, and a lot of jamming and improvisation – on live shows, anyway,” he said.

Saturday night’s show, while bringing Canyon Rose fans what they’ve come to expect from the band, will also be a new departure for the band. The concert will be recorded as a live album and concert DVD.

“There’s been a lot leading up to this,” Maslyk said of his band’s next big step. “We see this as turning a new leaf. We’ve just had a ton of new songs that we’ve been writing, and a lot of new ideas in general with lyrics and arrangements.”
The Canyon Rose frontman said in addition to the live album and DVD, the band will be going on tour this summer, playing gigs in Calgary and through the mountains – Jasper and Banff. But Morinville is the first leg of the band’s new seven-member footing and the band is hoping to make some new converts Saturday night.

“We like to play really loud,” Maslyk said. “We hear that there’s a real positive energy that happens on stage that people are kind of attracted to when we play. And I think there’s going to be a lot of good vibes Saturday with us knowing all of our friends. It’s just going to be such a blast for us.”

Smith Music owner Paul Smith, who is promoting the show and running sound for Saturday night’s gig, said Morinvillians who have yet to hear Canyon Rose are in for a treat.

“Christan is one of the most talented people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing,” Smith said. “We’re giving Canyon Rose, who are all talented musicians, an opportunity to join the big boys.”

Smith said the presence of the recording equipment and video crews will only add to the experience for band and audience. “It’s about raw. It’s about real,” Smith said.

Saturday night’s Canyon Rose concert is being brought to the Morinville Community Cultural Centre by Art of Conversation, the publishers of Morinville’s Monday Morning News.

Tickets are $15 and available at Smith Music and Bumper-to-Bumper.