Westlock County isn’t known for the wealth of big-name musicians coming out of its hamlets, but three artists from Fawcett are hoping to change all that.
Jeremy Pudlowski, along with brother Colton and friend Greg Tkach, are three of the five members of Death By Robot, an up-and-coming band in the Western Canadian music scene.
And after just two years of playing together as a band, along with bandmates Nathan Woodward and Raine Radtke, they have been featured this month as the Edmonton radio station Sonic 102.9 as the band of the month.
This has meant daily radio play, culminating with a live showcase Nov. 29 at the Starlite Room in Edmonton.
For the three local boys, this recent success follows 10 or more years of playing together since they were in junior high school — and they all agree they’ve come a long way.
“We used to be terrible,” Jeremy said.
“We still might be,” Greg added. “We kind of coast on our good looks.”
False humility aside, the music speaks for itself.
The single getting all the radio play is Blue Skies, which is immediately reminiscent of System of a Down’s driving guitars and harmonized vocals.
Before settling into their current sound, however, they went through many different phases, beginning with a comedy rock outfit in their very early years — which they say may or may not have been immortalized on in an early camcorder recording of a 60-song album.
“We’ve gone through so many different genres, starting with that comedy band,” Colton said.
“Jeremy and I were also in a metal band, and Greg was in a folk band, then we kind of went progressive then went back to folk… Now we’re kind of just a mash of genres.”
Woodward joined the band after a previous bass player had to leave because of other commitments, and the Grant MacEwan music program graduate has been a good fit.
“He’s one of those people that you always feel bad when you’re sitting by him playing music; he’s more talented than us,” Jeremy said.
Radtke, who plays trumpet and does backup vocals, also raises the overall skill level in the band’s work.
“She’s also from the Grant Mac music program and she’s very talented,” Colton said.
At it’s core, however, Death by Robot it a band driven by Jeremy’s creative talents — it began as a backup band to play the songs he wrote. After playing together for a few months, though, they gave themselves a name and haven’t looked back.
They have been playing one or two shows per month steady for about two years now, and those shows have included some big-ticket events and festivals.
Furthermore, the band isn’t just about musical performances, but also incorporates some impressive multimedia elements as well — such as a video game feature on their website, deathbyrobot.ca.
“Our first show we did where we knew we were doing pretty good was we opened for an international band called Neon Tree,” Jeremy said. “They have a huge following, and that was really cool because we were still pretty green.”
They’ve also toured around much of Western Canada, and this summer hope to take their show east to Toronto and Montreal — after taking some time off in the spring to write a new album.
But even as their talent develops and they earn more renown, the three Fawcett natives still remember their roots and their early influences in the Westlock area.
All three credit their parents with exposing them to a variety of music when they were young.
Jeremy and Colton both say their first guitar teacher, the late Bob MacClachlan, taught them the fundamentals they have built on over the years — not to mention the importance of jamming.
For Greg, drum teacher Jeremy Seatter was a great mentor and taught him much of what he knows about proper technique.
Anyone interested in seeing the band perform can head to the Starlite Room this Friday.
Tickets for the 18-plus show are $10, and are available at www.ticketfly.com.
