By Stan Ashbee
Special to The Morning Star
After two years of frustration, contemplation, self-reflection and an abundance of creative juices flowing, The Glorious Sons - one of Canada’s hardest working and touring rock and roll bands - return to the road with their Canada-wide Unfinished Business Tour.
In 2020, the Juno Award-winning band from Ontario had plans to embark on a multi-date sold-out North American headlining tour before the world shut down due to the global pandemic.
Finally back on the road, The Glorious Sons are live in Vernon at the Performing Arts Centre Sunday, June 26 with special guest J.J. Wilde, winner of the 2021 Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year.
“I’m just happy to be on the road,” said lead singer Brett Emmons.
“I think the band is super prepared. With COVID and what not, we really worked hard to tighten ourselves up and just try to be the band we always wanted to be. Mixing up the shows every night, being spontaneous and just having a lot of fun. It’s all smiles on stage. I think everybody is really excited to be on the road right now - having it taken away from us for two years.”
In 2022, The Glorious Sons’ rock radio, streaming and download dominance continues with the band’s rowdy, rambunctious, soulful and always infectious hits, including S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun), White Noise, Lightning, Mama, Everything is Alright, The Contender, Josie, Heavy, Panic Attack, Daylight, Hold Steady and Sometimes on a Sunday.
With the recent resurgence and resurrection of the live rock and roll scene, fans are no doubt nervous but stoked to once again rejoin the world and rejoice in the name of rock and roll.
“Everybody is really energized. It obviously makes for better shows,” added Emmons.
“Through my perception, it doesn’t seem like a lot of people missed any steps through COVID. I think people were in the same boat just waiting for the break to end, so we could all get out and celebrate. It doesn’t seem like anything’s really changed - which is the wild thing about taking two years off.”
Emmons noted the band spent the two years off creating constantly but there was a lot of time off though, too. “It’s all kind of a blur,” Emmons joked.
According to Emmons, there were some really good things to come out of the pandemic. “It was a nice reminder - life isn’t just about one thing. That was a good thing, I think, for myself to learn. There’s a life beyond the crazy circus act of being a touring musician.”
“It was hard too, really hard in another sense of trying to find purpose every day when things aren’t exactly good for your professional life, which you base a lot on your personality. It kind of forces you to do a little bit of work on yourself.”
Emmons admits he has nothing really against the past two years. “It was a real learning experience. There were some really good times in there too. I got to spend more time with my family and friends. I recalibrated my life a little bit.”
New music, Emmons teased, is also on the horizon, as the band has been writing and recording “a ton.” But, it’s definitely not going to be released tomorrow. “We are still trying to refine some things on the music and we are also just trying to get back into the motion of things.”
One of the hardest things Emmons has learned over the past three years is - “You can do as much writing as you want but there’s a sense of what do you want to say right now, as a writer? For myself, it took a long time to find that voice.”
Aside from the current Canadian tour, Emmons said the band will head into the studio to record in July and in August, the band will have some time off. “As these things go with a schedule, you look at it one day and then you’re half-way around the world.”
“I’m also the type of guy - I like to know what my life is going to look like but I don’t like to plan too much. For some reason, it feels better not seeing what my entire year looks like right now,” Emmons added.
Currently, The Glorious Sons are “just excited to get back out” on the road in 2022, especially with a stint of upcoming Western Canadian dates on tap.
“All those small towns out West were on board really early for us and they mean a lot to us.”
We were a small band touring the first four or five years of our career and a lot of our success had been built away from the city,” said Emmons.
“It feels like we owe it to ya and not in a bad way. It feels like we are probably going to do it for the rest of our lives. We definitely have a lot of gratitude.”
Don’t miss The Glorious Sons and J.J. Wilde June 26. Tickets at ticketseller.ca.
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