BANFF – True to its name, All The Time Everywhere isn’t slowing down its grind just because a global pandemic is wreaking havoc on the music industry’s live shows.
With singles being released from its upcoming album and its social media taking off, the Banff-based skate punk band is flipping off the killer virus and doing things on its terms.
“A lot of bands I follow on Facebook and Instagram, I’m not seeing very much going on with them,” said Aaron Lavigueur, lead vocals of All The Time Everywhere. “It makes it feel like we’re doing something wrong.”
With no live gigs on the horizon, spry jam sessions have thundered from the band’s jam space in Banff’s compound area. Every moment counts for the new four-piece band consisting of Lavigueur (guitar, vocals), Chris Cushman (bass, vocals), Terry Blanchard (drums), and Ryan Piontek (guitar), as they’ve kept busy building a brand and fan base and sharpening its fast-paced, hard-hitting sound.
“It seems like every week we’ve got something going on,” said Lavigueur. “Not being able to tour – yes, that sucks, but we are trying to keep a positive mind frame and doing everything we can to still be a band, basically.”
What started as an art project in Kingston, Ont., Lavigueur and friends created All The Time Everywhere before its leader migrated out west last September.
Fed up with a lousy living situation and in a rut musically, Lavigueur had an epiphany immediately after booking a trip to Banff to visit longtime friends from Ontario and new band mates, Cushman and Piontek.
“I walked out my side door and viewed three drug addicts, no shirts on, fighting on the front lawn and I was just like, ‘I need to get out of this town and I just made a really good decision getting that ticket,’ ” he said.
“Pretty much ever since this plane has landed, things are just happening and it’s f-----g sweet.”
With a revitalized mind and passion for music, Lavigueur started recruiting and the band began taking shape. Cushman, a friend of 20 years, was a no-brainer to join as the seasoned bassist. Calgary’s Blanchard has basically become a part-time resident of Banff with all the time he spends in the mountains. And just recently, Piontek joined as the fourth member and lead guitarist.
“Our friendship is based around music,” Lavigueur said. “When we had our different bands, we all toured together and when this came up, we were always super into [being in a band together].”
Expected to be released this fall, two singles from The Long Con, “Sale” and “Partition (Party’s Over),” have been released on all streaming platforms and have garnered thousands of listens. A lyric music video is out for the latter and a music video is coming out for it in August.
For Lavigueur, who wrote "Partition," he says the lyrics eerily follow current headlines in today's world with the pandemic and reignited Black Lives Matter movement. The lyrics, however, were written about eight months ago before the events really broke ground.
The Long Con was set to come out this summer as part of a three-week tour to Quebec and back, but the tour went south when COVID-19 hit and then lingered, severely hurting the live music scene.
“We didn’t want to release an album without being able to support it with live shows,” said Blanchard.
Although, the drummer said the COVID-19-inspired spare time has made them better musicians.
“I think the music sells itself, almost,” said Cushman. “If you put it in front of people they seem to react to it.”
When live music does return in the COVID-19 landscape, things might be different with how promoters go about business and regulate shows. Particularly with close encounters and what will become of the revered mosh pit where bodies are tossed and thrashed against each other?
It’s a question All The Time Everywhere has thought about for when they're standing on stage.
“My suggestion is we’ll just tell them when the last song is and if they get kicked out [while moshing], it’s the last song, anyway,” Lavigueur said.
