Amos bringing new sound to Bluesfest.
Kanata’s Amos The Transparent wowed the crowd at Bluesfest last year. This year, the band will be playing on the National Bank stage at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, July 16.
Jamie Kronick
Kanata’s Amos The Transparent is set to rock Bluesfest this Saturday, July 16.
Playing on the National Bank stage, the timeslot of Amos’ performance has been moved to 6:30 p.m., from the scheduled 3:30 p.m. As of July 12, Bluesfest organizers had not updated the website with the new time for the band.
The band’s manager confirmed the time change, said Amos guitarist Dan Hay.
“We’re on at 6:30 now.”
Veterans of the major Ottawa music festival the band is excited about adding extra instruments to their set, even with the time change.
“We’re feeling great,” said Hay. “We’ve played the last two years and I didn’t really want to do the same show this year so we were thinking of ways to switch it up.”
The band added a cello, violin, trumpet, extra keyboard and extra vocals to their standard five-piece ensemble, bringing the total up to 10 musicians.
“The songs just sound pretty different,” said Hay. “It was really fun for us to hear the songs in a new way.
“It really fills up the sound and makes the songs seem a lot bigger.”
As usual, the band is set to play its “usual super-secret cover song,” said Hay. “It’ll blow the cover off the Elton John cover we did last year.
“The only hint is I’ll say it’s a pretty killer cover.”
With an hour and a half set, Amos The Transparent, which includes Jonathan Chandler, Christopher Wilson, James Nicol and Mark Hyne, along with Hay, is planning on performing some of the band’s new songs from its upcoming album.
“We have a new album coming out in October,” said Hay. “So we’ll play a bunch of new songs too.”
The record includes the new instruments that will be showcased at Bluesfest, lending a new sound to the rock-indie-folk band.
“The new record is going to be pretty cool,” said Hay.
LAST SUMMER SHOW
Hay said the Bluesfest performance will likely be the band’s last for the summer as the members are celebrating a new addition.
Chandler and his wife welcomed a new baby to the family on July 11 so the band is planning on taking a break to give the new dad time to celebrate.
“Because with our schedules and the baby being born, we want to give John some time to relax,” said Hay. “This will be, I think, our last show of the summer at this point.”
However, the band is planning on going out with a bang.
“The whole idea was to do something a little bigger than we've ever done before,” said Hay. “We do plan on making this a huge show and one that will keep us satisfied for the summer so that John can have his new daddy time.”
Amos The Transparent will be playing Bluesfest on the National Bank stage at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, July 16.
jessica.cunha@metroland.com