Toronto indie-folk favourites plan first East Coast tour.
The Toronto quartet Wild Rivers are about to embark on their first formal visit to the East Coast, a tour that will take them to stages throughout New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in March.
“It’s our first time out East,” said guitarist/vocalist Khalid Yassein. “We’ve been talking about going out east for a long time and we’re beyond excited that we’re finally in a position to do it. Live music is such an important part of the culture of the Maritimes, especially folk music. We’d love to become a part of that and share our songs to a new audience.”
Yassein got his start performing alongside bandmate Devan Glover as the duo, Devan and Khalid. Fueled by their growing popularity on the Toronto folk circuit and success as contestant in CBC’s 2015 Searchlight contest, the pair decided to put a sharper focus on their music careers and round out their sound adding bassist Andrew Oliver and drummer Ben Labenski to the group last fall. Wild Rivers was born.
“It was only in October that we went from an acoustic duo to a full indie-folk band,” said Yassein. “As a duo, we started playing together at Queen’s University in Kingston. After graduating, we moved back to Toronto and that summer we were voted Toronto’s best new artist in the CBC Searchlight contest. Our sound has grown bigger as the shows have gotten bigger, so it was a natural step and we’re really proud of the new act.”
The band have spent the past few months working on their debut album at Catherine North Studios, where some of the country’s biggest indie-folk artists have recorded, including City and Colour and Whitehorse.
Although their debut album has yet to be released, the band has dropped a pair of singles that hint towards an exciting full-length release. Already Gone is a straight ahead folk rock gem that serves as a great introduction to the group, and Wandering Child highlights the group’s strong vocal foundation that helped win the attention of the Toronto scene.
Working with producer Dan Hosh who worked on Rose Cousin’s award-winning 2009 album, The Send Off, Wild Rivers’ acoustic driven, harmony laden sound fits perfectly alongside some of the country’s most established contemporary folk performers.
Wild Rivers’ debut self titled album comes out April 15th. Catch the band on tour in March.
Tour Dates:
March 9 – Grad Club – Kingston, ON
March 10 – Petit Campus – Montreal, PQ
March 15 – Grimross Brewing Co – Fredericton, NB
March 16 – Plan B – Moncton, NB
March 18 – Golden X Inn – Antigonish, NS
March 19 – Rockbottom Brew Pub – Halifax, NS
