Long Range Hustle brings its Town tour back to Kingston on Oct. 4 to perform at the Mansion fresh off the heels of their first West Coast tour.
The five-piece Toronto band released Town, their latest album, in February of this year. Since its release, they’ve been performing for music fans across Canada.
This is the band’s second time touring Town in Kingston, with their October show date following up their earlier performance in April of this year.
Paul Brogee, who performs vocals, guitar, and violin in Long Range Hustle, describes the band’s homecoming concert at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern as “one of the best shows [they’ve] ever played.”
At the end, several of their friends joined them on stage to play a cover of Canadian-American roots rock group The Band’s “The Weight.”
“It was this full-circle career moment of having spent so much time and energy working on the record and on the road, and then to come home and have everyone in our hometown city show up and sing along was pretty wonderful,” said Brogee.
With their alternative folk-rock style, Long Range Hustle reached back in time for musical inspiration while producing Town, with musical inspirations ranging from The Beatles and The Band to Neil Young and Carole King.
With Town, they strived to make an album that reflected the artists that impacted them growing up.
“I think subconsciously what we wanted to do was pay homage to where we came from musically. When we listen to [Town] we can hear all of the little things that we love about our favourite bands and our favourite albums,” said Brogee.
When it comes to songwriting, Brogee and bandmate Jay Foster generally take the lead, though the contributions of each band member can’t be understated.
“As a writing team, we drive in the same songwriting car together. On any given trip, one person might be in the driver’s seat and the other person is sitting in the passenger seat with Google Maps on their phone, just letting them know if it seems like they’re about to take a wrong turn somewhere,” said Brogee.
The month-long recording process for Town took place just outside of Kingston at The Bathouse Studio, the Tragically Hip’s former studio. The band recorded 12 songs during that time, nine of which are featured on the album. The band cut songs because they wanted Town to be released on vinyl as well, which set its running time at 44 minutes.
The band members are no strangers to Kingston and have been playing shows here since their start in Waterloo. Brogee remembers the long drives to Kingston to play at the Mansion or Clark Hall Pub, driving all night afterward to return home.
“We had the 1:00 a.m. slot. The show finished and we drove back through the night and I had an 8:30 a.m. midterm,” said Foster.
As for upcoming plans, though a few shows and wedding performances are in the works, the band is slowing down after months of grinding out their tour. The main focus now is on writing, as they look to shorten the gap between the release of their album and their next project.
But first, they’ll stop back in Kingston to show off their tunes from Town.
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