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The Capitals, no longer playing musical chairs

Vancouver band brings classic rock and roll, high-energy show to Boot Pub

Nicole@piquenewsmagazine.com

What: The Capitals

Where: The Boot Pub

When: Monday, Oct. 17

Put Tragically Hip producer Steven Drake and ex-Grapes of Wrath star Kevin Kane in a recording studio with four B.C. boys who grew up in a classic-rock household where the Rolling Stones and Beatles were served up three meals a day and it is no wonder critics likened aspects of The Capital's sound to legends like the Beatles.

"They offer good songs and a beguiling demeanour with subtle Beatles references and a zeal for experimentation. B +," cooed Tom Harrison in a critique for The Province.

"A lot of (classic rock ’n’ roll bands like the Beatles) shows through," said Patrick Jacobson, vocalist and guitarist for The Capitals. "There is a definite sense of melody to the rock music. Not power chords, but lots of guitar riffs and harmonies to keep it interesting."

Whistler will be the last stop on The Capitals’ Alberta-B.C. tour with a concert Monday, Oct. 17 at The Boot Pub.

Although the band has been together for four years, the lineup was in a constant state of musical chairs until this March when the present team made up of Jacobson, bass player Andrew Fuller, drummer Chris Warunki and lead guitarist Dan Newton finally gelled together on a Yukon, B.C., Alberta tour.

"It feels like with the new lineup, there has been a rebirth of the band," Jacobson said. "Before it was temporary. It was always my project with whoever was around me to work on it at the time. This band is going to last a long time. I feel like we are just getting started."

The band first began as Casey and Finnegan, however, a generation gap and the fact the beloved children's show was only seen in Canada changed the band's direction to The Capitals. The band’s first EP included drummer Danielle Adair, who later moved on to become the drummer for Nickelback.

"It's weird now to be walking downtown and seeing him on Nickelback banners staring at me and saying he was my old boss," Jacobson said of Adair, who was also his manager at Long and McQuade.

Band members came and went along the hard road of touring, with Jacobson always staying true to his course.

"I wanted to be on the road and play every city we could and continue making records, and the only way you can continue to make records is if people know who you are, and the only way to do that is to tour," Jacobson said.

Touring has led to many unexpected tangents of success. The Capitals' song The Other Girl was used during a sex scene on the lesbian soap opera The L-Word . The band also played on A Channel in Calgary.

"We've gotten some full page spreads in papers and we are starting to get a lot of media attention with television and film," he said. "It's been really good."

However, Jacobson chose to use the word "great" to describe The Capitals' touring experience.

"We played in Tongue and Groove in Lethbridge, Alberta and the band that was supposed to open for us couldn't get across the (U.S.) boarder, so we took the whole night for ourselves. We were trying to play things we've never played before and then shortly before two, the bar owner, a bit of a modern hippie, shut things down and him and his musician friends jammed until 5 a.m. with us. There were drum circles, people dancing all over the place. It was a great feeling. Every time you come around, it gets better and better."