The Old Soul + The Alan Parsons Project = Rock Odyssey?

When Luca Maoloni's band, White Star Line, ceased to exist, he decided to just give it a go on his own and make his own record. With the help of producer Andy Magoffin, he laboured for more than a year-and-a-half, playing all the instruments himself, to put out what would become the debut album from The Old Soul.

"I pressed up 1,000 albums myself, under my own little label, and it was pretty much for friends and stuff like that," explains a bemused Maoloni, who still sounds like he's not quite sure what's just happened to him. "But Universal got a copy of it and loved it, which was odd because I wasn't expecting something like that, and they wanted to put it out.

"Universal gave me some cash to re-record the album — there was a lot of stuff after a couple of years that I wasn't happy with. So I put some new songs on there, I took some off, I redid the whole thing with Paul [Aucoin], and voila."

The result is a musically complex, eclectic, melodic and, frankly, beautiful record that belies Maoloni's numerous influences and inspirations. But it's the sonic resemblance to The Flaming Lips and Brian Wilson's Beach Boys that jumps out the most. It could be argued that the band's cover of "Vegetables" is better than the original.

Maoloni says that Van Dyke Parks, the famed lyricist who penned the lyrics for Wilson's Smile album, apparently digs the cover a lot.

"His son goes to school in Montreal. So the guy who mastered the record, his brother went to school with him, and he just handed it along to him, and he gave it to his father. And he loves new music. He loves The Heavy Blinkers — Van Dyke Parks is a fan. For these old guys to like new music is great. They probably think everything's been done."

Although Maoloni wrote and recorded everything himself, he's gathered a large band of musical friends to take The Old Soul out on the road. There are usually at least 10 people on stage, but Maoloni claims they can set up in five minutes.

"We play a song and it's got 1,000 different emotions and parts," he says of the band's live show. "It's a tough one to take in.

"You have to drink a lot of tequila when you watch us. We're a fun band and we play nice songs, and that's what I want people to take from it."

The Old Soul are getting ready to hit the road opening for Cuff The Duke on a bunch of Ontario dates. When talking to Maoloni about what his dream gig would be, he has a confession to make.

"I'm the biggest Alan Parsons fan in the world — of his solo stuff. We asked Alan Parsons if he could play with us at Canadian Music Week — we're playing with Cuff The Duke at the Mod Club. We used to cover 'Don't Answer Me,' that was the first song we played live. And he's going to be a keynote speaker [for CMW]. He's going to be in town and I'm like, 'You gotta hook it up, we gotta play with Alan Parsons. He's gotta play keyboards.' I don't think it's gonna happen."

Maoloni has already begun work on the follow-up to The Old Soul's debut, but he's also taking time to enjoy the moment.

"I really appreciate everybody — like, I don't know how I've done it. I can be the biggest bullshitter in the world and people are just like fucking going with me. I'm not, it's a very genuine thing, but in hindsight you look at it and it's like, 'What the fuck?'"

Here are The Old Soul's tour dates:

Feb. 17 Toronto, ON @ Berkeley Church
Feb. 22 Waterloo, ON @ Starlight w/Cuff The Duke
Feb. 24 Ottawa, ON @ Barrymore's w/Cuff The Duke
Feb. 25 Montreal, ON @ The Main Hall w/Cuff The Duke and Shoot The Moon
March 2 Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club w/Cuff The Duke
March 4 Brantford, ON @ Ford Plant
March 6 Guelph, ON @ Club Vinyl w/Cuff The Duke
March 10 Hamilton, ON @ The Casbah
March 23 Kingston, ON @ Elixir w/Lederhosen Lucil and The Big One
March 25 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern w/Bicycles and Detective Kalita