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Maritime rockers Haywire return to Halifax for Family Days 2017
By Ryan Melanson,
Trident Staff
The opening night of Family Days 2017 will once again feature a rocking concert under the big tent at HMC Dockyard on Friday, June 16, and this year, one of the East Coast’s most well-known classic rock bands will hit the stage for their first Nova Scotia show in years.
Music fans who came of age in the 80s will no doubt remember Haywire as a presence on rock radio stations and in the early days of TV music videos, with three platinum albums and a number of top-40 radio singles.
Concertgoers can expect to hear the old favourites, as well as a few new tunes from the rockers, who have been working over the last several years on a new album which has now reached the final production stages and should be available later this year. Their sound has changed and evolved over time, but keyboardist/backup singer David Rashed said fans of the band will still recognize the sound as distinctly Haywire, with lead singer Paul MacAusland’s top-notch vocals and the unique guitar tones of Marvin Birt.
The band will likely preview a few of the new tunes at the Family Days show, and they have plans for a wider tour to support the new music once it’s released. But fans who remember Haywire’s hits from the late 80s shouldn’t be concerned. Classic tracks like Bad Bad Boy, Dance Desire and Black and Blue will definitely be on the setlist.
Fans in the Maritimes always react strongly to those radio hits, and during a recent string of shows on the West Coast, Rashed said the band realized that fans all across the country still have a soft spot for those songs.
“As soon as you start those old songs, people just get it. At one show, Paul let the audience take over and sing a whole song. I can’t remember which one it was, but that was a first for me and we were all quite taken aback by it.”
Rashed hopes the band can put on a great show for the Family Days audience under the PSP Entertainment Tent, and said Haywire was honoured to be asked to perform for CAF members and the DND community. They’ve previously played the old Fleet Club Atlantic in their heyday, and have played for troops at Gagetown in the past as well.
“We haven’t played for a military crowd that often, but they’ve always been great experiences and we’re definitely looking forward to the show in Halifax in June,” Rashed said.
The opening act for the evening will be TJ King, a young country rocker from Mount Uniacke, Nova Scotia, and the winner of the 2016 Music Nova Scotia Country Recording of the Year award for his debut full-length album Feels Right. King was also nominated for the 2017 East Coast Music Award for Country Recording of the Year for the same album. The rising star will be touring Ontario this summer with his talented band of East Coast musicians, and then coming back East in June to take the stage at Family Days. His album is available on iTunes or at http://tjkingmusic.com.
Tickets for the Family Days Concert are $12, available at any PSP Fitness, Sports and Recreation Centre, and the doors open at 7:30 p.m. on June 16. For more information, visit http://cafconnection.ca/halifax or call 902-721-8335.
