Apollo Suns returned to the Slice, Sept.27 to kick off another  tour with a raucous, loud, sweaty and horn fuelled set of  instrumental jazz  influenced rock.

 They had a decent crowd for a Wednesday, who were getting just as sweaty at  the Winnipeg band, who were playing as a sextet for this show.

I caught the end of an incendiary set and tasty repast of throbbing bass and unstoppable rhythm that got the audience dancing, with ear-splitting horns providing  the tasty flavourings  . I  recognized a few of the songs from their new album “ Departures.”

 The band channelled the brassy energy of ’70s soul and R and B groups like Earth Wind and Fire, but instrumental, though the obvious comparison  was to Five Alarm Funk. A Strong ’70s feel could have been the soundtrack for any  mid ’70s/ early ’80s police show.

 Frontman/ guitarist Ed Durocher observed mid set that this was going to be the last song of the set, but they decided to play though with a hot, horn powered version of Jimi Hendrix’s “ Voo Doo Chile (Slight Return) though  Durocher did get to show off his best Hendrix licks.

 A  keytar came out for the “last ” song of the show. They were called back for an encore as bassist Bryn  Herperger stood behind a second set of keyboards.

 I missed Static Shift’s opening set, but they will be  back to play the Slice’s Halloween howler, Oct. 28  with Decadent Phase and Vancouver’s Brass Camel. Tickets are $22. 63 from Eventbrite.

—By Richard Amery, L.A. beat Editor

It’s like it’s May all over again, though it is the end of September.

 This week a couple of bands who last played Lethbridge in May, return this week.

 Winnipeg based jazz rock instrumental band Apollo Suns begin another  tour in Lethbridge on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at the Slice. Apollo Suns kicked off their last tour at the Slice in May. This time they return in support of their brand new album “Departures” which was released on Sept. 22.

A little later, on Friday, Sept. 29,  Edmonton based progressive metal band Fall of Earth return to Lethbridge to play the Slice in support of their new album “From the Ashes.” They played the Studio last time, but return to Lethbridge in the midst of a massive eight week tour. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Medicine Hat punk band Total Wolf and  Lethbridge’s Switched off will be sharing the bill with them.

 Friday will be a big night for rock and roll and metal fans as hardcore surf punk icons Ten Foot Pole will be playing the Owl Acoustic lounge with Vancouver based melodic hardcore band Selfist,  Alec Arms and Berserker. Tickets are $18 through Eventbrite. 

But first, Luke James Bruce returns to Mojos to host an open mic on Monday, Sept. 25. He also hosts Honkers Pub’s open mic on  Friday, Sept. 29. Scott Davidson is Honkers’ host on Saturday, Sept. 30.

 Prophet Gabriel hosts a blues jam at the Slice on Tuesday, Sept. 26, while down the street, the Owl Acoustic lounge features their weekly open mic.

 Juno award winning singer songwriter Dan Mangan kicks off a busy fall for the Geomatic Attic as he returns to Lethbridge to play the Yates Theatre on Wednesday, Sept. 27. The show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $48.50.

Winnipeg based instrumental jazz rock band Apollo Sons never stop.

The band, Ed Durocher - guitars ; Bryn Herperger - bass ; Anatol Rennie - piano, keyboards and synths ; Aaron Bartel - bari sax, alto sax ; Benjamin James Hill - trombone ; Garrett Malenko - trumpet ; Niall Cade - tenor sax ; Erika Einarson - percussion ; drummer Glenn Radley,  finished a tour that began in Lethbridge in May, released their first full length album “ Departures,”  Friday, Sept. 22 and are getting ready to depart on another tour that begins in Lethbridge on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at the Slice with blues rock band The Static Shift.

“We’ll go to Calgary and Edmonton and Lethbridge with them,” said guitarist Ed Durocher, who is already planning Apollo Suns’ next album for a tentative release in 2025.

“We’ve been back for five weeks, but we’re beginning the next tour in Lethbridge. Lethbridge has  always been good to us. We’ll play a nice mid-week show that will get you through to the weekend,” Durocher continued, adding the next tour will include  35 or 36 tour dates that will take them into December.

 They enjoyed their foray into  the United States.

“It was good. We we’re playing the Pacific Northwest. Sacramento was sold out and we finished the tour with some festivals,” he said.

“The volunteers were great and the crew were great and we had a couple thousand people,” he said.

Durocher is pleased with how ‘Departures’ turned out, especially because they didn’t have a chance to road test the new songs like they usually do and because they wrote it over the  pandemic over Zoom.

“We wrote it over Zoom. We had to use instrumental patches. We were  sending each other ideas. Then we recorded 12 songs over 10 days straight in 2022 with Ben Kaplan ( who has produced Mother Mother, Five Alarm Funk, Brass Camel and Snoop Dogg) The process was so much fun,” he said adding they got feedback from trusted friends and  people in the music business before recording.

Edmonton based progressive metal metal band Fall of Earth are ready to rock Lethbridge again in support of their second album “From the Ashes”  at the Slice, Friday, Sept. 29.

The band, including Brody Bauer – lead guitar, vocals; Myles Packer – bass, vocals; Alex Rye – lead vocals; Brendan Meilleur – drums, vocals and Matthew Lindholm – rhythm guitar, vocals​ , played the Studio for their last visit in May, but stop by the Slice this time, two weeks into a mammoth eight week tour.

“Some of us quit our jobs to do this. And it was the right move, because I love doing this ,” said lead guitarist / vocalist Brody Bauer from a tour stop in Kamloops, where he is already starting to lose track of time and locations.

“It’s been a ton of fun. People seem to like the sound of the band,” Bauer said.

“We don’t know what 10 week tour looks like yet. But we’ve done six week tours before. It’s fun to travel and see new places. This tour we‘re going to a lot of places we‘ve never been before which is really awesome,” Bauer said.

 They took advantage of a few days off in Kamloops to film a music video for the second single off the album, “The Dead and Soon To Be.”

“We went to Party Central and bought hospital gowns and acted like we just escaped from an asylum. We filmed ourselves doing ordinary things. It was fun and very interesting. But somebody called the RCMP because five guys running around in hospital gowns is suspicious behaviour,” he chuckled, adding this will be their third music video. They don’t have a release  date for this video.