Mike Van Eyes’ Soul-Blues Rock Statement, Ain’t That Loving You, Baby
Mike Van Eyes’ Ain’t That Loving You, Baby arrives February 11, 2026, marking a new chapter for one of Vancouver’s longest-running underground musical voices. The album balances brass-led soul, late-night rock grit and widescreen arrangements that feel built for smoky rooms and festivals alike. Arranged by saxophonist Bill Runge and engineered by Juno-winning producer Erik P.H. Nielsen across Mushroom and Afterlife Studios, the record was crafted with a careful ear for space, warmth and punch. It provides a sound that feels both earned and intentional.
Van Eyes has always moved quietly through big moments and that subtlety is part of his appeal. From early years on Vancouver’s festival and club stages to decades spent lending his sax, arrangements and musical instincts to artists and bands that helped shape the city’s scene, his fingerprints are woven into the sound of the coast’s musical ecosystem. This album captures that same spirit. Collaborative at heart, singular in voice and never overstated.
His legacy deserves mention. Over five decades, Van Eyes has contributed to seminal Vancouver acts, toured adjacent to genre-defining movements and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with musicians whose careers intersected the global rise of punk, blues and soul. His work alongside Herald Nix and countless soul and rock innovators helped build a sound identity for Vancouver that rarely shouts about its architects. Ain’t That Loving You, Baby is the rare moment where he steps forward bringing his legacy into focus.
The Mike Van Eyes Big Band was forged in the late ’80s on festival bills and the Commodore Ballroom floor, shaped by the tight interplay of musicians who have built Canadian rock and R&B from the inside out. On the album Ain’t That Loving You, Baby, that collective fluency drives every arrangement, a sound built to swing in wide arcs and land with live-room confidence. The band features Juno-linked and nationally recognized collaborators including electric-guitar standout Tim Porter, powerhouse saxophonist Jerry Cook and Vancouver jazz-rock fixture Chris Nordquist on drums.
“This album is just us doing what we’ve always done,” Van Eyes says. “Play it like you mean it, capture the take where everyone feels it lock in, and trust the song to do the rest.”
Ain’t That Loving You, Baby plays like a record built by storytellers who’ve earned their vocabulary on real stages and historic festival bills. Horns, piano, vibraphone, guitars and drums form a wide, live-room sound that carries the shared fluency of a band forged at venues like the Commodore and events including the Vancouver Du Maurier and Fort Langley Jazz Festivals.
“These songs know how to carry themselves,” Van Eyes says. “We just make sure we don’t get in the way of the take that feels true.”