Paperboys deliver a mix of news. The Paperboys delivers a mind-blowing mix of musical styles. And they’ll be delivering it in the opening concert in Coquitlam’s Music on the Grill summer series.
The indie Vancouver band that has been getting audiences up and dancing around for more than a quarter of a century will appear at the Evergreen Cultural Centre (1205 Pinetree Way) Saturday. It is the first of three presentations in the series, which is celebrating its 10th year.
Generically The Paperboys are billed as a folk-rock band. But the band’s blend is much more than a fusion of folk and rock. There are strong Celtic and Mexican influences since lead singer and guitarist Tom Landa was born in Mexico of a Mexican father and Irish mother. The family moved to Thunder Bay when he was 15 and then he headed to Vancouver a few years later.
But the music of the Paperboys, formed in 1992, is not limited to those cultural genres: there’s country, Cajun and bluegrass. There’s even flavourful pinches of West Africa, Eastern European, Caribbean, soul, funk and zydeco that are thrown into the musical melting pot.
Landa, in the city’s press release on the event, says “What means more to me than anything else is to receive letters, emails, or hear stories form people who tell me that our songs helped them through a tough time, or that they used one of our songs for their wedding, or that an album of ours was the soundtrack of their summer. At the end of the day, accolades are nice, but they are nothing compared to connecting with people.”
Along with Landa, the rest of the lineup includes original member flautist Geoffrey Kelly, who is also a founding member of Spirit of the West. Landa’s wife Kalissa sings and plays vocals. Brad Gillard (bass/banjo), drummer Sam Esecson and trombonist Nick La Riviere.
The Paperboys have won one Juno award and were nominated for two more along with two West Coast Music awards. The band has released nine albums and is a festival favourite in the Vancouver area, the Pacific Northwest and other areas of Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
• The Music on the Grill summer series’ barbecue (6:30 p.m.) has already been sold out. Concert only tickets are $35. The theatre doors open at 7:30 p.m. with the concert at 8 p.m. More information is available at evergreenculturalcentre.ca/schedule. The dinner musicians are Caden Knudson and Aaron Connaughton, an accountant and trucker who make up an acoustic folk duo.
