The latest song by a Revelstoke alternative rock band has quickly made the airwaves across Canada at multiple NHL games, as the group finalizes their second EP and prepares for tour.
Pickle Juice’s five-man crew got a big surprise recently when they heard their new track, Halfway, playing on air during an Edmonton Oilers match.
“I was just sitting at home rewatching Game of Thrones with my girlfriend,” lead singer Tim van der Krogt recounted from the moment he recognized his own vocals during the hockey game stream. “I still have friends who don’t believe it’s real. They’re like, ‘that’s AI.’”
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After the initial excitement of the song getting 30 seconds of fame in the hockey action, the band was contacted by Sportsnet in advance about playing Halfway at a Toronto Maple Leafs game — this time for one-and-a-half minutes.
There was just one ask: They’d need to censor some swearing in the lyrics.
“We were scrambling with the producer in Vancouver,” Van der Krogt joked, describing quite the ordeal to mute just one F-bomb.
But thanks to the new marketing team Pickle Juice is working with, he said the band is already seeing wider reach of this sort. Van der Krogt credited the early success of Halfway in particular to its musical drive.
“It’s a big chorus and a catchy melody — enough to make a sports banger,” he said, noting the song is packed with layers.
He explained how the band hadn’t yet considered how the song would sit and sound for wider audiences outside the studio, and was happy to see some early traction. For them, it’s cool now to listen back and hear how it’s evolved for radio from the initial recording sessions, in some ways almost unrecognizable from the original.
“It’s funny because it’s quite different,” Van der Krogt said. “You can tell that it was half-baked.”
While on one hand Pickle Juice recognizes that this banger might not resurface at any more major events, for drummer Pete Lavery, “his dream would be to see it in pro bull riding,” Van der Krogt said. “Who knows? We’ll just have to wait and see.”
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The band releases its next single sometime in May, followed by its new five-track EP on June 12. Its title, The Whiteroom, captures the experience of snowboarding while so much powder blows in front of you, your surroundings and immediate reality become blurred.
“We all think it’s a step up from our last one,” Van der Krogt reflected on the EP. “Musically, it’s more dynamic.”
Recording with Echoplant Recording Studios in Port Coquitlam last fall, Pickle Juice’s members have felt greater confidence song-writing since their first extended-play record, Cheeky EP With The Boys, came out last year. With The Whiteroom, the theme remains the band’s familiar sound but takes on a “darker” style.
Van der Krogt, who often writes the melodies, chord progressions and lyrics for Pickle Juice’s tracks, found inspiration for Halfway back while working on the first EP. As Lavery drummed away in their shed, Van der Krogt began messing around on guitar, though unable to clearly hear his notes, and liked the product.
“It may be why the chorus is so big, because I had to scream to hear myself,” he noted.
With the band now finishing up mixing and mastering for The Whiteroom, Van der Krogt said fans and Revelstokians can anticipate a free local show happening outdoors sometime this summer, with more details to be revealed.
For now, Pickle Juice is booked to hit the road between April 29 and Aug. 1 in 10 different towns across B.C., along with gigs in Calgary and possibly even Saskatchewan. The band looks forward to making fresh impressions for new audiences, along with returning to familiar faces.
“Definitely keen to hit the road,” Van der Krogt said, adding his band has tons of other songs on the backburner too and may be looking at producing a full album in the future.
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As executive director for Revelstoke’s community radio, Stoke FM, he added that the station is seeking a new home in town as it’s forced to vacate its current residence off Second Street East come October.
The Stoke FM team is hoping for any local space that can offer 300 square feet with 24-7 access, and will be holding a doughnut run fundraiser for its music shows and other programming on May 16.
“We’re trying to be more present in the community — being a space for artists,” Van der Krogt said.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source similkameenspotlight.com ’
