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Wailers can’t wait to return to the West Coast

The 24th Street Wailers bring unbridled enthusiasm to their original songs fronted by Beaver’s straight-from-the-soul vocals
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The 24th Street Wailers perform in concert at the Tidemark Theatre on Oct. 25. From left are bassist Mike Archer

It’s understandable bassist Mike Archer is thinking about the West Coast and sunny Texas too.

It’s Wednesday and The 24th Street Wailers are still trying to make it out of endless of monotony of thick bush, streams, swamp and moose otherwise known as Northern Ontario.

On this night the Wailers play Thunder Bay and then Thursday the band makes another long drive northwest in their 1996 Vandura to Kenora where a gig at the Bijou Steakhouse awaits them.

But it all gets better a week from now when the Toronto-based band arrives in Vancouver to play the Railway Club and then it’s on to Vancouver Island and Campbell River for a concert at the Tidemark Theatre on Friday, Oct. 25.

“We had a great time out there this summer,” says Archer during a telephone interview.

In July, The 24th Street Wailers were one of the crowd favourites at Vancouver Island Musicfest in Courtenay. Fans digged the blues/rockabilly sound led by drummer and lead singer Lindsay Beaver – who’s also married to Archer – guitarist Emily Burgess and saxophonist Jon Wong.

This is not some slow-footed, blues-roots shuffle bands. Nope. The 24th Street Wailers bring unbridled enthusiasm to their original songs fronted by Beaver’s straight-from-the-soul vocals and punctuated by Wong’s blazing riffs on tenor sax.

It’s a sound that has kept the quartet going virtually non-stop since January 2011 after releasing their first album Dirty Little Young’uns. Their May 2012 release, Unshakeable, caught the attention of even more fans and last February the Wailers released Live in Halifax.

They’ve been touring straight since April, although they did get a summer break.

“Ten days off in August. That was it,” Archer says with a chuckle. “But after this tour we’re heading to Wildwood, Texas, to record our fourth album…I’m looking forward to it.”

n The 24th Street Wailers perform at the Tidemark Theatre on Friday, Oct. 25, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $17. This is a licensed event so you need to be age 19 or over.