Jesse Roper w/The Bankes Brothers May 10 @Mills Hardware

JESSE ROPER
with guests The Bankes Brothers
Wednesday May 10, 2023 • 7pm door, 8pm show
Mills Hardware (95 King St. E., Hamilton)
GA 19+ • $20 (+SC/HST) advance

Tickets: https://jesseroper-millshardware.eventbrite.ca/?aff=fb

With a famously raucous live show, a diverse history of international touring, burgeoning streaming numbers, sync placements in major TV shows, and an ever-expanding fanbase, Canadian rocker Jesse Roper is back with his new album, Horizons. In the time between Roper’s last record, Access to Infinity (2018) and this year’s Horizons, much has changed. Previously, Roper’s sound was still searching for a quality that he’d yet to fully realize, and has since discovered through melding a pool of influences unlike ever before — from ’70s Motown, soul, acoustic rock, and funk-laden blues. Working closely with famed, Juno-nominated producer, Gus van Go, (Metric, The Stills, Arkells, The Trews, Sam Roberts) on this new collection of songs has pushed Roper into creating some of his best work. There’s a depth and a confidence to this new body of work that hasn’t necessarily been at the forefront of Roper’s previous offerings; one that expresses his maturity as both a songwriter and artist. Like contemporaries Nathaniel Rateliff, Michael Kiwanuka and Jack White, Roper tells his story with heart, and a growl to match; conjuring music a heartfelt story, without pulling any punches Roper’s return is buoyed by an all-star band of drummer Josh Dion (John Scofield, Paris Monster), saxophonist Tony Jarvis (Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Charles Bradley, Phish), and bass by Horizons’ producer, Gus Van Go himself. No stranger to gig crowds and life on the road, Roper’s live shows are a tour de force. Backed by the Pretty Good Band, his magnetic stage presence is renowned across Canada and beyond. A maverick figure, he’s equal parts charismatic, mischievous and talented in spades. Roper has opened for Canadian legends, Colin James, Burton Cummings, and many more high-profile artists and contemporaries., He’s toured North America with Canadian-American rockers, Big Wreck, while cultivating his own teeming audience base. From selling thousands of tickets a show in his home province of BC to selling out shows in far-reaching territories, Jesse Roper’s steady transformation into a Canadian rock luminary is clear. Look out for Jesse Roper, a rising star burning brightly upon the horizon.

Victoria, BC four-piece The Bankes Brothers (brothers Nelson and Morgan Bankes on vocals and guitar, lead guitarist Carson Cleaver, and drummer Gray Oxley) formed in a pool hall one Friday night in 2017. Less than a week later, they played their first gig. Delivering a dynamic set list ranging from Otis Redding to Talking Heads, the former high school classmates were overwhelmed by an undeniable musical chemistry. Within three days of the first show, they had written a handful of original songs, including an early version of "See Me Run", the EP’s soulful, swelling closing track. The result is In Waves, a six-track shot of dopamine spilling over with irresistibly catchy melodies, exhilarating vocals, and joyous indie-rock instrumentation. Produced and recorded by indie legend Steve Bays (Hot Hot Heat, The Zolas, Mounties), the EP is the culmination of the band's wide-ranging influences--from Elvis to The Strokes, Paul Simon to The Pixies—coming together in a way that defies sonic parallels, yet remains welcomingly familiar. The first release has the pretty grittiness of The Lumineers, the free-wheeling energy of the late-aughts indie bands, and the powerhouse belting of blues-rock contemporaries like Marcus King. Yet the sum of these parts is something fresh, exciting, and uniquely vibrant within the current sea of sleepy vocals and sedated guitar tones. The Bankes Brothers sound like the youthful high of a late-night romance and the blissful stagger home the next morning.