Guitarist Brandon Scott has seen a lot of changes to his band Yukon Blonde over the years.
A name change, a revolving door of different bandmates, a location change and a change in labels.
But despite it all, Scott’s two founding bandmates, Jeff Innes and Graham Jones, have always been by his side.
“They are really dedicated people,” Scott said about his bandmates.
On May 31, the Juno-nominated trio will be performing alongside We Hunt Buffalo and Tokyo Police Club at the Wastelands as part of Rockstar Motofest 2014.
“I think we are an energetic band. I am sure we can bring some fun to the table,” Scott said about the upcoming performance. “I actually saw We Hunt Buffalo not too long ago at the Biltmore and they have a lot of energy as well.”
Yukon Blonde began in 2005 as a small Kelowna-based band known as Alphababy, but changed their name in 2008.
“It just wasn’t really a well-received name I guess,” Scott said. “We were touring with a guy named John Rae Fletcher, who is kind of a living legend in the Okanagan ... and he said ‘You know, guys, you should really think about maybe changing that name.’ At that point we had lost two band members, they just were not interested anymore ... so we just kind of reworked things.”
Yukon Blonde’s most recent album, Tiger Talk, was released to Dine Alone Records in 2012. The Vancouver-based band is currently working towards a new album, which it hopes to have out later this year.
“That’s kind of what we’ve been doing in between shows and festivals, is hunkering down and writing and going through a lot of material that we haven’t touched on,” Scott said. “I am excited to get something fresh because we are at the end of our album cycle now. We’ve toured that record to death,” he said. “When you’re playing the same songs every night it gets kind of old, so it’s going to be nice to get some new and refreshing material on the go here.”
Last year, Yukon Blonde picked up its first-ever Juno nomination for Breakthrough Group of the Year and said it’s nice to finally be recognized for their hard work.
Although Yukon Blonde didn’t win, Scott said the nomination is vindication for years enduring plenty of challenges and changes. “It means a lot,” Scott said. “It was cool ... to get recognized is a huge accomplishment.”
Yukon Blonde performs at Motofest in Nanaimo on May 31.