A local high school band continues to bring recognition and honour to their school, their community and to Northern Ontario. Confederation Secondary School’s Evolutionary Band is getting ready to head south to Toronto in response to an invitation to record several of their songs in the same studio used by Billy Talent, The Canadian Tenors, Keshia Chante, Classified and Ron Sexsmith among many others.
During one of their performances on their recent 4-day Southern Ontario tour, the band was visited by film industry professional, Praveen Amirtharaj. Evolutionary has been on Amirtharaj’s radar for several years now. In reaction to seeing this year’s band, he states, “Although it has been 5 years since we saw the band last, it was an instant reminder of the reason we initially became fascinated and engaged with your whole music program and its legacy. Evolutionary, as usual, was amazing and sounded great. And I think, even better than the group we recorded back in 2012 at the Glenn Gould Studios.”
As a result of seeing the band perform, Amirtharaj added, “In fact, I think that this edition is definitely worth professionally recording. To that end, I have taken the liberty to find a recording facility for us to record at. I have been able to arrange a one day recording session for the band at DNA Studios in Vaughan, Ontario (just north of Toronto). This will include a professionally engineered, edited, mixed and mastered recording of up to 7 songs.”
Confederation’s music teacher, Norm McIntosh, is justifiably very proud of his students. “This is such an awesome opportunity for our young people in our community to get this recognition and to experience what only happens to professional quality bands - being recorded in a prestigious studio of this calibre. Evolutionary continues to excel and to set the bar high for music performance.”
This recording may just be the start of great things happening for Evolutionary. Amirtharaj has shared the following with McIntosh, “My partners (Jason and John) are also hoping to bring to the recording session a couple of television executives whom we have been talking to with regards to an EVO documentary. There is no better opportunity to showcase to these executives, the talent, power and the enormous impact this program has on these students.”
Evolutionary is a 23-piece rock band that includes four vocalists, a nine-piece rhythm section, a 10-piece rock horn section, and an 11-member stage crew. As Action Sudbury’s “No Drinking and Driving” Band, Evolutionary has earned a sold reputation for its dynamic performances. They are just finishing a gruelling 13 gig touring season with a final performance scheduled for June 24th at Confederation Secondary’s 50th anniversary celebrations at 1 pm.