BreakOut West at the King Eddy

BreakOut West and the Western Canadian Music Awards are celebrating 20 years of being western Canada’s largest music industry event! This is your chance to discover your next favourite band.

Stop by the King Eddy on Thursday, September 29 to see Gunner & Smith, Shred Kelly, Shuffalo, Madeleine Roger, The North Sound, and Sierra Noble all performing on one legendary stage.

The festival wristbands are $15 each and will get you into BreakOut West shows featuring 60 bands at 12 venues across the city from September 29 to October 1.

8:30 pm – Gunner & Smith

Geoff Smith, who records as Gunner & Smith, unleashes a triumphantly clear voice that weds elements of his prairies upbringing. Despite the fiery effects – the intense, dusky melodies and wistful urgency – the singer/songwriter possesses something else entirely: tales that are strikingly familiar. Combining the telltale gravel crunch of a grid road with the soaring expanse of skies, it’s this voice, both lush and literate, that carries forth his stories of connection and shared experiences marked with an uncanny fluency in Americana folk and roots rock.

9:15 pm – Shred Kelly

Shred Kelly is a five piece, alternative folk rock band that emerged from the heart of the Canadian Rockies in 2009. Over the past decade the band have taken their highly energetic live show from humble beginnings on the Canadian ski-town circuit to the international stage. The band’s striking and energy-packed sound has evolved from their eclectic musical influences and their unique experiences as individuals. Their progressive pairing of acoustic instrumentation with electric counterparts, harmonies, and driving rhythm, continues to develop and reach new heights.

10:00 pm – Shuffalo

Formed in early 2018, Shuffalo has quickly gained their footing as band formed by Brayden Bell (guitarist/lead singer), Steve MacDonald (keys/synth/vocals), Mac Bennett (drums), Nick Jarvis (lead guitar), and bassist Bailey Clarke (bass/vocals/synth). With a variety of influences ranging from City and Colour, to Kings of Leon; they strive to make lyrical connections with the audience, and get them moving too. Layered harmonies accompany the booming and mesmerizing voice of Brayden Bell. Underneath it all is synth blanketed choruses and guitar driven melodies.

10:45 pm – Madeleine Roger

Madeleine Roger is a singer-songwriter from Winnipeg, Canada. While skillfully accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, it is her artistry as a songwriter and storyteller that can silence a room, uniting her lyrical prowess with breathtaking melodies that linger long after they are sung. Her critically-acclaimed debut album Cottonwood combines the elegant storytelling of folk traditions with the grounded vibe of roots music. It is a collection of songs that reflect on femininity and equality, the majesty of the wilderness, and the beautiful awkwardness of trying to love another person.

11:30 pm – The North Sound

The North Sound is cold like a Saskatchewan winter, humid like a summer day in the streets of Montreal, and is unpredictable like the weather on a singular day in Calgary. The North Sound is ever-changing with lyrics spanning across haunting metaphors and a sound balanced between today’s modern production and the era of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris blazing the highways. Formed in 2014 by Forrest Eaglespeaker supported by his partner Nevada Freistadt, The North Sound was created as a way to share stories in keeping true to Forrest’s Blackfoot identity and traditions from Treaty 7 Territory.

12:15 am – Sierra Noble

Winnipeg singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Sierra Noble released their first album of traditional Métis fiddle music as a teenager, followed by the well-received Possibilities, and later, City of Ghosts. “Let Me Out of Here” is the first single from the new Sierra Noble. In its crystalline melodies and epic poise, Noble sings of smiling through teeth in response to the unwelcomed opinions and judgments of others. But they know what they need – freedom to follow their path and be released from all that’s kept them down – and the song’s title is their powerful declaration of that.

Sound production equipment for the King Eddy provided by PK Sound.