T.S. Giilck
The Ted Brownlow band might be taking a hiatus, but it’s not prepared to say good-bye just yet.
The local band, comprised of students from Meaford and Thornbury, were the opening act on August 12 at the Market Square lot in Meaford as part of latest instalment of the Meaford Summer Concert Series.
The concert happened to coincide with International Youth Day, and featured local bands and performers such as Cry for Ophelia, The Ted Brownlow Band, and Max Breadner.
The Honeyrunners from Toronto headlined the event, which drew a decent-sized audience of about 100 people at peak to enjoy the free music.
In an interview after they performed, lead singer Kailum Mackenzie and Ted Brownlow said the band was parting ways for the moment to attend college. The four members have all just graduated from Georgian Bay Secondary School, they said, and are heading in different directions.
“We never really had the ambitions of gaining any fame,” Mackenzie said. “We were always aware we were a high school band, and we did this for the love of music. We were all very realistic about it.
“We don’t want to go our separate ways forever,” he said. “I’m sure when we get back from college in the summers we’ll still do things together. It’s temporary, I suppose.”
“We play indie and alternative rock,” Mackenzie said. “They (the three other members) had all met in grades 7 and 8, and were starting to play together. I went to school in Thornbury, and met them in Grade 9 when they were looking for a vocalist. They asked me to temporarily be a part of the band, but we all enjoyed playing together.”
They play mostly covers, but are expanding their repertoire to include more original material. Mackenzie said their first efforts, in Grade 9, were “laugh-worthy” but they’ve improved since then.
The band is working on finishing an extended play CD at the moment, “so we can have some originals in our set” and hopes to have that finished shortly. That’s the reason why the band hasn’t been particularly visible together this summer doing gigs.
They were happy, though to have the opportunity to perform at the youth day concert.
