It’s likely that Yukon Blonde, the three piece rock ensemble based out of Vancouver, would never have been if it weren’t for a car crash.
This isn’t some sort of weird Marvel Comics-esque origin story, nor is it anywhere as hardcore as what happened to Metallica when their bus flipped on Cliff Williams, ushering an even darker sound to the speed metal giants. It just kind of signaled the culmination for a new beginning.
“At the time we were a five piece and two of our members disbanded and didn’t want to tour anymore,” says Brandon Scott, guitarist for Yukon Blonde. “At the end of that tour we ended up crashing our van, so we were forced to not tour around for awhile. So we just decided to get a new start and refresh ourselves.”
Originally called Alphababy, the band changed their name to Yukon Blonde and have been on the uphill ever since.
The band’s sun-baked debut album appeared in early 2010 and has garnered critical attention for their brand of Canadian roots rock that recalls the guitar-based swagger of the 1970s.
And for some reason, people are really interested in this idea. Maybe it’s because photos of the band circling the internet show members with ponchos, long hair, leather jackets and tight jeans. But it’s not like they’re the first band to look like they’ve been transplanted from the 1970s into modern day times (they also wear flannel occasionally, but I’m pretty certain they aren’t a band of lumberjacks by day).
On top of that, the main influence for their sound wasn’t even consciously based around the stylings of the 1970s (sorry, lazy music critics who compare them to the Eagles).
“I think Jeff (Innes, guitarist and vocalist for Yukon Blonde) and I got kind of obsessed with overdubbing a lot of the acoustics. We were kind of going for a like, I don’t know, Roy Orbison and all those guys—The Traveling Wilburys,” Scott laughs. “We were kind of going for that and all of a sudden when it came out it was like, ‘Oh, maybe this is a bit too clean.’”
But that clean production attracted critics and fans because quite frankly, those guitars sound fucking killer on tracks like “Blood Cops” and “Brides Song.” Sounding like a Rickenbacker 12-string plugged through an amp made of butter, the creamy guitar tones and angelic harmonies perfectly captured the band’s west coast rock.
But as Scott explains, that wasn’t what they were trying to accomplish. “The thing with that record is it came out a little lighter than we wanted. I find the guitars are almost too clean, a little too crisp. So when we play live we’re a way heavier band, and we get that a lot. Just like, ‘Wow, you really kick it to the next level live.’ Which is good, it’s kind of what we wanted. So I think with this next record, if we do one soon, it’s going to be a little more balls out. Not so safe.”
And as they swing their balls-out-rock towards the east coast on their cross-Canada tour, which they’ll be smacking in the face of Halifax at the Seahorse on March 19, the band comes with a fistful of new tunes that they’ve been testing live while touring with Plants and Animals and Toronto’s The Paint Movement.
“It’s kind of cool to see the reaction of the songs, and so far there has been really good feedback,” says Scott. “Every single city it seems to just be getting way better, which is awesome, because that is kind of the goal of touring anyways. To see our hard work pay off is a great feeling.”
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