ZZ Top Dig Flash Lightnin'

"This is where it all began," says Flash Lightnin's Darren Glover, gesturing at the inside of Toronto watering hole The Communist's Daughter.

The much-loved west-end haunt was one of Glover's first stops when he visited Toronto a number of years ago. Upon discovering a ZZ Top live album in the jukebox, he vowed to move to the neighbourhood — and later made good on his promise. It was there that he and his drummer bandmate, Chris Henry, met bassist Darcy Yates. Flash Lightnin' were born.

The Dakota Tavern opened nearby a short time later, and the trio unexpectedly found themselves with a regular and welcoming venue.

"The Dakota was like the ground in which we planted our seed," Glover explains. "They opened right when our band started.

"They gave us a place to get our craft down. If you look at all of the biggest bands in the world, they started because of a venue. You can't think of The Beatles without thinking of The Cavern. The Cavern Club made The Beatles… all the best bands had a weekly place they played at, where they built it.

"I always knew that that was why I moved to Toronto. You've got to find a place where you can mold what you're doing — learn to play to the people that are in the room and not worry about the rest of the world."

With a year's residency now behind them, the classic rockers are ready to move on to bigger and better things. The first step was the release of the debut Flash Lightnin' disc, Destello, a six-song EP that does its best to capture the magic of their rollicking live act. The second was to sneak backstage at a ZZ Top show and play an impromptu (and unsolicited) set for their rock 'n' roll idols.

The trio were invited to ZZ Top's tour bus afterwards to hang out and hand out CDs, where, says Glover, ZZ Top singer/guitarist Billy Gibbons held up a copy of Destello and remarked, "We're gonna need more of these."

As far as Glover is concerned, Flash Lightnin's attempt to revive classic rock couldn't be coming at a better time.

"It's a weird generation thing. Every 20 or 30 years — it used to be 10 years — the era when you were born kind of booms again and it resurfaces. We've been so saturated with pop culture and media and this throwaway music thing that we're realizing that rock 'n' roll was designed as a celebration.

"Our band started with that as the vibe. We wanted people to come down, forget about us trying to sell anything, and just sell the music as a good time."

Flash Lightnin' plan to take their good times on the road in the near future, but details are still being worked out. For now, you can catch them in Toronto as part of the Virgin Festival on Sept. 6 and at their CD release party at the Horseshoe Tavern on Sept. 13.