It’s been an amazing year for The Meds.
First, the group recorded its six-song self-titled debut CD.
Then members of the band took to the road in October when they were the opening act for rocker Matt Mays during his six-week, 22-show tour of Canada, ending up in every province except for P.E.I.
“It was an amazing experience. As a band, it was a great opportunity to show our stuff,” says Patrick MacDonald, a member of the group that will play its first show of the year tonight at Hunter’s Ale House in Charlottetown.
Not only was it an unbelievable opportunity to showcase The Meds (made up of MacDonald, Kyle Drake, lead vocals and guitar, Danny Miles, percussion and vocals, and Iain McCarvill, bass and vocals)and the debut EP to national audiences, the tour gave the band the good fortune of playing sold-out shows in top Canadian venues, including the Commodore Ballroom (Vancouver), the Starlite Room (Edmonton), the Pyramid (Winnipeg) and the Phoenix Concert Theatre (Toronto).
“We were pretty excited. It’s a great experience to have under our belts,” says Drake.
In between gigs, it was also a chance to make some lifetime friends.
“Looking back (at the tour) we realize how special it was travelling across the country in close quarters with some good buddies,” says MacDonald.
Specifically, Drake liked working with Mays, a seasoned musician and an exceptional role model.
“He’s a great guy to look up to and learn from. Watching his band on stage was powerful,” says Drake.
The band plans to take that same energy to the stage during tonight’s show in Charlottetown.
“We’re pretty excited. It’s nice to finally have some new material to share with our P.E.I. audience. It will be great to finally have a CD release party on P.E.I.,” says Drake.
“We’ll play most of the songs from the EP plus some new ones,” says MacDonald, adding they will be available for sale at the event.
Produced by Matt Mays, the six-track EP was recorded during dozens of studio sessions in San Francisco and various locations in Nova Scotia.
The first single is Master Planet, a joyous pop song filled with harmonies that lends itself to the dance floor.
“In addition to our recorded songs, we’ll be performing a new song, Running The Edge. It’s written about our time on the road (with Matt Mays). It’s about things like learning to cope with very little sleep, burning the candle at both ends, falling into the stream of things and actually starting to like touring.
“It was quite the experience,” says Drake.
Sally Cole is a features writer with The Guardian. She welcomes comments about her column as well as suggestions for future columns from readers. She may be reached at scole@theguardian.pe.ca or by phone at 629-6000, ext. 6054.
