Sylvie Live For The Road

03/03/06 7:30pm

by Shawn Despres (CHARTattack)

For many touring musicians, the best thing about finishing a string of live dates is looking forward to hitting the road again.

Regina's Sylvie will wrap up their six-week cross-Canada tour on Saturday night in Toronto at the Horseshoe as part of Chart's Canadian Music Week showcase. Although guitarist Joel Passmore is excited about heading home and spending some quality time with his bed and dog, he can't wait to get out and play again. Luckily for him, that seems to be the main thing on the band's radar right now.

"The next few months we'll be touring, and hopefully touring," says Passmore.

Aside from a few bouts of bad driving conditions and having to miss a show in Kamloops, B.C. because of the weather, the last few weeks have gone great. Crowds have been extremely receptive and the quartet have had their fair share of excitement both on and off the stage, Passmore says.

"The shows have been better than we expected. Audiences have been energetic and excited. I didn't think we had a fan base, but people seem to know the words to songs, which is pretty neat.

"There are so many good stories that would be so boring to read about. I saw a raccoon in Toronto, I got a robot massage on the ferry from Nanaimo, I got bitten by bed bugs in Winnipeg, my cell phone took a bath in a Vancouver gutter, and we almost got sprayed by a skunk on a Toronto patio. Touring always ends up being bad inside jokes that get worse when you try to explain them to people after the fact."

Sylvie have been playing steadily for the last few months in support of their sophomore disc, An Electric Trace. The album, released last October by Smallman Records, has deservedly received accolades from media outlets across the country. A brilliant mix of post-punk and indie rock, its intricate, infectious rhythms are definitely raising the act's profile.

Although they were confident that those who enjoyed 2003's I Wish I Was Driving would like the record, Passmore had no idea what was coming next.

"I Wish I Was Driving didn't receive as much press, but we didn't tour that album very much. We are pretty surprised at the media's response to the [new] album. We are proud of An Electric Trace and knew existing fans of the band would enjoy it, but never expected it to receive the praise it has. When we were making and writing the album we were too focused on being happy with the outcome to worry about what others thought."

Based on the reaction in Canada to An Electric Trace, Sylvie are anxious to release the album in other countries as well. It may soon be available in Europe and the band might be making their way overseas to tour in late spring.

They're constantly writing and have completed a handful of songs for the follow-up to An Electric Trace that are starting to be worked into their set each night. They recently recorded three new songs for CBC Radio 3 and Passmore thinks that they should have enough tracks for the next record by the end of the year.

Here are Sylvie's upcoming tour dates:

March 3 Peterborough, ON @ Red Dog
March 4 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe (Chart CMW Showcase)