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Tougher than leather
Canadian Country superstar Julian Austin joins the roster at Rockies Fest 2024
By Ferdy Belland
“We’re all looking forward to returning to Cranbrook,” said Canada’s rough-and-tumble country-rocker Julian Austin. ” I remember the first time I played there – 20 years ago, back when Shotgun Willy’s was still a country bar! Me and the band don’t get nearly as many chances to play the Kootenays as we would like. It’s always so fun! There are so many good people out there, so we’re stoked to come on back and rock the house and give it our all.”
Julian Austin and his hotshot band stand ready to give it their all onstage at Western Financial Place on the evening of Friday, June 14 as part of the talent-packed first night of the upcoming 2024 Rockiesfest.
“I still love doing all this,” said Austin with authentic enthusiasm. “I’m not the new kid on the block anymore! And I’m still happy to be playing and writing and recording – all of it – and people are still coming out in droves to the shows, so I’ve got absolutely nothing to complain about.”
Austin was born and raised in New Brunswick and spent many long, hard years of slogging it out in the bars before signing his (well-deserved) first recording / management contract.
His impressive 1997 debut album What My Heart Already Knows was an instant hit, being certified a Gold Record for selling over 50,000 copies nationwide and featuring his first number one country-radio hit “Little Ol’ Kisses.”
Austin’s follow-up albums were equally successful and established him as one of Canada’s leading 21st-Century country artists, gaining a large audience who adores his winning Teddy bear-meets-Grizzly bear persona as much as they love his energetic onstage performances. Currently residing in Airdrie, Alberta and loving it, Austin is excited to have his boots hit the boards and launch into the imminent summer season.
“We’ll be playing some rock for this show,” said Austin. “I’m from a rock-music background. When I was growing up, it was all the late classic rock of the 1970s and the rock and pop and metal of the 1980s for me! These days I throw that into my shows, and everyone loves it. So as well as my songs, that most people remember me for, I’ll throw in some stuff that everyone knows and loves.”
Austin has been busy in the studio as of late. “We recorded “Still Over There” for a special Remembrance Day 2023 single release, and filmed the video at the Field of Crosses in Calgary,” said Austin, who is well-known for his heartfelt support of the Canadian Armed Forces and Canada’s heroic veterans.
“I’m getting ready to release some more new stuff, with videos as well. I just recently signed with a new agent after my longtime agent retired, and this new fellow is doing a great job with gathering up lots of shows and keeping us very busy. This year’s shaping up to be a great year. We’ve nailed down a growing bunch of festival appearances, a string of good casino performances, and other stuff. Last year we played a lot of rodeos! I’m hoping we get to play a few rodeos this year.”
Austin’s love of the rodeo life is well-known, but after recovering from serious injuries received in a 1999 bull-riding mishap (which interrupted work on his second album), one hopes that he (who takes the bull by the horns literally as well as figuratively) will proceed with caution, one rodeo gig at a time. But the live concerts, whether they’re at a rodeo or not, won’t happen unless he has songs to sing.
“My smart phone’s currently got about a billion fragments, starts, finishes, all these snippets recorded for posterity,” says Austin about the ongoing creative approach to his songwriting style. “There’s scads and scads of melodies and hook-lines. I’ll be driving along, and then an idea pops into my head, so I’ll grab my phone and sing it into the recorder. And I practice every day, guitar and voice. Moreso the electric guitar these days, but I’m always coming up with different ideas, or lyrical lines, or stuff that I’ll sketch out until it forms into a song. More often than not I’ll cross over into a few different genres, which keeps things interesting.
“Lately I’ve been writing with Ron McNeil, and he’s a great songwriter who’s had good success as well. We’ve written a few really cool tunes, and I think there’s one that we’re going to do together in the studio right away. Most days I just grab the guitar in the upstairs music room, start noodling away, stare out the window a bit, and the good ideas still come to me all the time. You just need to win the lottery in order to get into the expensive high-tech studios to record all the songs! With all the songs I keep stacking up, I’d have to release them as a 100-song box set or something.”
Julian’s musical creativity is not one-dimensional or monochromatic; his sincere love of roots-rock shines clearly throughout all of his recorded output, and he took the time to gush about his love for the Boss – the one and only Bruce Springsteen.
“Me and my buddy Grant are putting together a salute to the Boss! We’re really excited about that project. It’s something we’ve wanted to create for a long time. We’d been approached before about presenting the Salute show, but life got in the way and now we’ve got the opportunity to get it all together.
“We’ve been rehearsing for two months now and everything’s falling into place really well. So far we’ve recruited an 8-piece band, but I’m sure if we’re going to do the E Street Band any justice our group will expand to a 12-piece once it’s all said and done. We’re studying Springsteen’s live concert footage – and there’s a LOT of it – as a template to build our show, and I didn’t realize just how many songs by the Boss I wasn’t familiar with!
“When I was growing up, Springsteen was everywhere, first on FM radio and then all around the planet when MTV took off, so there was already a long string of hits everybody knew…but, man – he’s got hundreds of songs! So we’ll sit down with YouTube and check out his concerts in Barcelona or London or somewhere in Germany or France, and it’s always a lot of fun.
“Springsteen’s whole show has changed over the years, and the E Street Band’s gotten much bigger, so we’re excited to piece it all together. We’re calling the project Born To Run. And yeah, I know there’s a billion other Springsteen tributes out there named Born To Run, but we’re not a ‘Tribute Band’ per se, where we’re trying to look like Springsteen and the E Street guys…we’re a Salute to the Boss! So keep an eye out for that band once we’re ready to play, ’cause that’s going to be so much fun, for sure!
“But in the meantime, we’ll see you all at Rockies Fest!”
For more information, please visit www.julianaustin.com and www.rockiesfest.ca.
Photos submitted
e-KNOW
