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Bandit Queen 3:030:00/3:03
Riverthieves Headline Sunday at the 2024 Almonte Celtfest
Sunday, July 7th, 5 PM • Gemmill Park, Almonte, ON
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hugh McMillan takes the ‘Thieves into the studio in 2024
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Photo: Mario De Meo
Perth, Ontario (01 March, 2024) - Eastern Ontario’s progressive-folk band, the Riverthieves, are excited to announce that they are working on a new recording project with Spirit of the West’s multi-instrumentalist, Hugh McMillan, to produce a full-length album in 2024.
“Hugh has been mentoring us for about a year now,” says Chris Knowles, one of the band’s three lead vocalists. “He started by coaching us back to ‘performance readiness’ for our shows last spring. We hadn’t played in front of a live audience since the lockdown and he really got us up to speed. We were sounding very good last year.”
“I was helping them tweak their live sound and stage show,” says McMillan, “and I had a good listen to their last CD, which was largely self-recorded. I was intrigued by some of the compositions, especially Tarin Kowt. It is an avant-garde piece – not at all like their other stuff. There’s a lot going on there so I dove into the original tracks, trying to make sense of it, and ended up circulating some ideas for a re-mix.”
“We loved how Hugh re-imagined Tarin Kowt,” says Sal De Meo, one of the song’s co-writers. “And we started plotting how we could coax Hugh into doing a more elaborate project with us.”
“Hugh has us back to basics,” laughs, Knowles. “He’s making us practice with a metronome! But he’s got us writing new material and we have about a dozen new songs in the works at the moment.”
“I haven’t really started to push them yet,” says McMillan, ominously. “We’ll see how they do in Fallbrook.”
Hugh is referring to a restored 19th-century barn in the Lanark Highlands where the band will be sequestered for a few weekends in April. They will work on their new material and arrangements of their established repertoire.
“We are hoping to have something ready to go in 2024,” says De Meo, “and find some opportunities to present a new show later in the year.”
The Riverthieves’ current line up consists of Sal De Meo (bass), Dave Hebert (percussion), Chris Knowles (guitar and vocals), Evan Lewis (fiddle), Finley Mullally (mandolin and vocals) and Javier Mullally (fiddle and vocals). Visit them at www.riverthieves.com.
Contact: Finley Mullally, info@riverthieves.com
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