It’d be a crime to miss the sweet sounds of Sweet Alibi.
The three-piece Winnipeg-based roots group plays the Elk & Oarsman in Banff on Sunday (April 14), where they’ll also be joined by a keyboardist.
Consisting of Jessica Rae Ayre, Amber Nielsen and Michelle Anderson, the Outlook spoke with Anderson about the upcoming performance.
“We played the Elk & Oarsman last year, and now we’re coming back,” she said. “The owner is so nice and he treated us really well. The crowd was great, they were really rowdy, but it was fun. We’re looking forward to it.”
The band formed about four years ago, said Anderson.
“I knew Jessica from junior high, and we’d always sing together and make music, just for fun,” she said. “And then after high school, we had a different band – which was really terrible – and then Jessica was in another band, and the drummer was dating Amber, and that’s how we met.”
Their first album, the eponymous Sweet Alibi, was released in late 2011.
“The album is really low key, it sounds like our live show – we’re the only ones on the album,” she said. “There’s a lot of different influences – bits of country, roots blues, soul, a bit of reggae – they’re mostly songs about relationships. One of my favourites is one Amber wrote, about her bird, that passed away.”
When it comes to songwriting, it tends to be a group effort, she explained.
“Sometimes one of us will come with the better part of a song, or even just a bit, and then we’ll get together and make something out of it,” said Anderson. “We’ll arrange it, we’ll tear it apart and put it back together.
“I like writing songs and recording, but I think Jess and Amber like playing more. For me the fun part of the music is the creation of it and getting your ideas out and seeing what happens with it.”
With the current tour, the band began in Winnipeg and first headed west to Vancouver, and will now play Canmore on the way back.
“It’s pretty good – it’s a lot of driving – but usually two of us will be sleeping during the car ride, so it’s pretty relaxed,” she said. “We will be playing songs from the new album – songs that you can’t hear unless you come see us play live.
“There’s little communities in each city with the venues, and we’re starting to become part of that in some cities, and that’s nice. And we know a lot of people who go on the road who mention our names, and we mention theirs, so we’re growing that way.”
The band’s next album is in the works, she said.
“We’re just starting talks about our next album,” she said. We have all the songs written, but we’re just working it out. We should have it ready in November.”
An upcoming highlight for the group will be to play the Winnipeg Jazz Festival.
“We’re not really jazz, but the festival has a roots day and blues day, and in that way we fit,” said Anderson. “We have some songs that people might call jazzier, like Nora Jones jazz.”
For more information on the band, visit sweetalibi.com
