Peterborough and Belleville, ON’s outfit Bentwood Rocker have unveiled the first installments of their new visual album.
Fans of the five-piece were treated to the first taste with the double release of “I’m Not Taken” and “Give Her An Inch” this month. They have five additional songs to follow, all professionally captured via Empire Theatre’s Music City Mondays series — a pandemic-related initiative by the Belleville-based venue.
“This is the first time in our over 40 years together that the band has been recorded live!” they marvel.
It’s yet another milestone for members Dan Thompson, Eric Baragar, Mike Goettler, Barry Haggarty, and Steve Smith.
“Over forty years…” they say. “Over forty years of recording and performing together as a group, with all original members.
“That’s what sets us apart in the world of popular music.”
Check out “I’m Not Taken” and “Give Her An Inch” below, and find out more about the band via our mini interview.
First off, care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Bentwood Rocker is a rather unique recording musical entity that has survived with the same lineup for over 40 years. With 8 albums and numerous including many European releases, we are an entity that never stops.
Tell us about the recording process behind the video album?
The Video Album was shot at the Empire Theatre in Belleville as part of their efforts to keep music alive. Staging, sound, and lighting are all top drawer and the end product looks and sounds great. In our 40 years, we have never had a professionally create live performance video.
What was the highlight of 2020?
2020 had many good things happen for us, surprisingly. We did our live concert online performance plus during the earlier lockdown, I wrote a song that had a really good reception online. We took that positive reaction to creating remotely a finished recording. Several radio stations have picked it up on the strength of the online release. We had created a compilation of single releases called SINGLES which is scheduled to be released now. In hindsight, it was pretty good.
What do you hope to accomplish in your career in 2021?
The release of our Video Album plus the new single Hold On plus our SINGLES album will keep us busy. We are a band that’s strength comes from our songwriting and studio experience
Is there anyone out there you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
That’s a tough one but in Canada, I think a collaboration with Burton Cummings would be cool.