Wise, Young & King at Sound Academy

July 2 – Just two weeks after Ottawa’s Wise Young & King rocked The Hideout as part of the 2012 North By Northeast Festival, they were invited back to Toronto on Friday night to play the Sound Academy opening for Chilliwack.

Wise Young & King first played Sound Academy last September when they opened for Saga. While most of Saga’s audience has been following them since the 80’s, Chilliwack’s fans go back a decade further to the 70’s so the demographics of the crowd really weren’t exactly WY&K’s target market. But the band went out and rocked the Sound Academy to a very enthusiastic reception.

Wise Young & King has been putting the final touches on their new album and they performed some incredible new material with Bell playing some smokin’ Santana-esque guitar licks on a song called Keep On Running. The new album is expected to be released in the next couple months. A few other now familiar songs like Plastic World and Lost Control will also be on the new album.

For the Sound Academy gig, the core WY&K line-up of Alan Charlton on vocals, Myles Bell on guitar, Colin Wolfson on bass and Alex Scott on drums was augmented by Steve Foley as it was last September. Foley is the band’s producer and recording engineer. The addition of a second guitar helped fill out the rhythm for the big venue and freed up Bell to cut loose on a number of solos.

This was an unexpected bonus show by Wise Young & King. After a six month absence prior to their show at Rancho Relaxo in March, we’re loving their increased presence in Toronto and hope it continues!

Review by Steve Mallinson, Photos by John Dash, Video by Michael Litt