Nearly a decade after their last major release, Canadian alternative rock band Bedouin Soundclash are preparing to release their fifth studio album.
According to the band, the new record, titled +MASS-, will be released in October. It will be their first since the release of 2010’s Light The Horizon.
Between 2011 and 2017, the members of the group took some time off from playing to focus on their personal lives and new projects. They remained in contact the entire time, and started working on new music two years ago.
“We’ve added a lot of new elements with this album . . . People have responded very well to it, so we’re excited to get the full album out so people can take it in context,” bassist Eon Sinclair said.
Sinclair reminisced about some of the band’s origins, particularly how he formed the band with lead singer and guitarist Jay Malinowski. In 2000, the two met on their first day in residence at Queen’s University. Sinclair said that their mothers met that day as well, and knew that they would become good friends. Weeks later, they started jamming together.
“We’d been talking and getting to know each other before that anyways, so the music thing sort of accelerated that relationship,” Sinclair said.
Throughout the 2000s, Bedouin Soundclash became well known for their distinct reggae and ska-inspired sound. Sinclair said he was influenced by the reggae music that was popular in his parents’ home country, Guyana, while Malinowski was inspired by British ska and punk bands, such as the Clash and the Specials.
In 2005, their song “When The Night Feels My Song” became a major hit and was one of their most played songs on Canadian radio at the time. They’ve participated in the Vans Warped Tour on multiple occasions, received several Juno Award nominations and performed at several other major festivals and tours around the world.
Their latest work involved collaboration and influence from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, a world-renowned jazz band from New Orleans. Sinclair said working with them brought a sense of “American roots” to Bedouin Soundclash’s new work, but also presented an exciting opportunity to work with a group whose history dates back to the 1960s.
“We learned a lot just technically in terms of songwriting and how to work some veterans that have a lot more history than we do,” he said.
Following some summer festival dates across Canada last year, Bedouin Soundclash played a tour in the American Southwest opening for the Interrupters: a relatively new female-led ska punk band from Los Angeles who have found success recently on the Billboard charts.
“It was really optimistic for us . . . to see that there’s a young band doing something similar–taking reggae, punk, ska and blending it with other forms whether it’s been done before or not–in a way that is getting success and hitting the charts,” he said.
In addition to releasing the album, Bedouin Soundclash is looking forward to playing more festivals and coming back to Ottawa. Overall, the group is happy to still be playing together and maintaining a loyal fanbase.
“People seem to be really excited about the fact that we’re still playing and the fact that we’re also making new music,” Sinclair said.
Image by Jeff Pelletier
