Leeroy Stagger

Thursday, Jan 26, 2022
Doors 6:00 show 7:30
Tickets $ 25.00
Tickets on sale now at Bozzini’s or call 604 792 0744 to reserve by phone

We are glad to welcome back one on of Canada’s great songwriters, Leeroy Stagger (“Canada’s Steve Earle” – Terry David Mulligan)

What to expect

If you’d like to know Leeroy intimately Interview with TDM about the new album below

EP 162 | Leeroy Stagger

It’s said the cells in your body replace themselves every decade or so. After 11 albums, two EPs and 17 years as a singer-songwriter, Leeroy Stagger has been wondering if maybe the soul works the same way. Ten years sober, with two kids, a home in Lethbridge and a world class recording studio to go with it, he’s far removed from the hard-living twenty-something who started on this musical path. As far as Stagger can see, they aren’t even the same person.

Recorded at the famous Afterlife Studios in Vancouver accidentally during the kickoff of a global pandemic, Dystopian Weekends is the serum of truth with a slice of light and darkness that we all need right now.

I’m very proud of the last couple records I’ve made but had tried very hard to reach as many people as possible with the production of those records, this record I made for my myself and instead of referencing what was on the radio at the time, I went back to vintage Bob Dylan records and records like 421 Ocean Blvd as well as The Silver-Tongued Devil to plant some production seeds. I wanted the songs to speak for themselves and definitely followed some more traditional guideposts.

Since first making his mark on the Canadian independent music scene at the turn of this century, Leeroy Stagger has toured the world, both on his own and with the likes of Steve Earle, Pixies, Modest Mouse and Evan Dando. Among his achievements are winning 102.7 The Peak’s highly competitive Performance Project in 2015, working with legendary U.S. industry mogul Danny Goldberg, and having his songs appear in such television shows as Grey’s Anatomy and Sons Of Anarchy.

Although Stagger’s sound has most often been tagged Americana, in reality it’s always been much broader than that description might suggest. Learning to ignore the urge to try to fit into any genre has been another crucial change Stagger has made over the last couple of years, and it has paid off magnificently with ‘Love Versus’.

“I just go where the songs take me,” he surmises. “I’m not afraid of commercial rock or pop, but my feeling is you have to be clever in writing catchy music while somehow laying out a framework to include intelligent lyrics. Just being able to get this album made in the way it was, and with this incredible group of people, was extremely vindicating.”

 After 4 years of relentless touring, my band, The Rebeltone Sound needed a break. I decided to go to Vancouver and put together a group of friends that I’ve always wanted to record with. I’d always wanted to work with John Raham (Frazey Ford, Destroyer) and it happened that everybody was available that week. Little did we know that a global pandemic was sitting at our doorstep, it all started going down while we were recording. We were getting all these updates from our phones whilst we’re sitting in this big black bunker of a studio while our phones are exploding with all this terrible news and we’re sitting there trying to make a record.

I think you can feel the nervous energy in the playing and the vocal delivery which actually makes for a beautiful record.

Songs of environmental degradation, greedy land developers inspired by a character Buffy Sainte-Marie had told me about, Christmas songs about junkies and alcoholics, songs about race wars in America, modern day dustbowl songs of fleeing political ideology, break up songs and songs honouring my dead friends. It all seems a bit much on paper, but I think I’ve honoured it all in a very beautiful, relevant and artistic way.

INDIE88: Singer-songwriter artist of the year nominee. (2018)

WESTERN CANADIAN MUSIC AWARDS: Recording of the year nominee. (2018)

WESTERN CANADIAN MUSIC AWARDS: Roots solo artist of the year WINNER. (2018)

WESTERN CANADIAN MUSIC AWARDS: Recording of the year nominee. (2018)

CANADIAN FOLK MUSIC AWARDS: Solo artist of the year WINNER. (2017)

ALBERTA’S 95.3 PEAK FM: Peak Performance Project WINNER. (2015)

CALGARY FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL: Pros and Prose contest WINNER. (2014)

WEST COAST MUSIC AWARDS: Roots solo recording of the year nominee. (2013)