UPDATE: The September 10 show at Char’s Landing has been cancelled due to an illness.
Winnipeg-based rock band Kakagi will be bringing their adventurous folk-rock to Vancouver Island for the first time.
The upcoming Western Canada tour is the band’s “furthest quest,” says songwriter Jacob Brodovsky, and the four-piece folk-rock band will be stopping at Char’s Landing on Monday, Sept. 10.
Kakagi consists of Brodovsky on lead vocals and guitar, Jonathan Corobow on bass guitar, Jesse Popeski on lead guitar and Brodovsky’s brother, Max, on drums. Although the band hails from Winnipeg, the name “Kakagi” comes from a lake in Northwestern Ontario, close to the summer camp where the band first met and played together.
Their Western Canada tour will feature a number of stripped-down sessions in smaller, intimate venues. Brodovsky admitted this these “really, really quiet” sessions are somewhat new for them.
“We never used to,” he said. “But now we kind of prefer it. It’s easier to hear each other.”
Brodovsky said the group sought out Char’s based on a recommendation from another group of Winnipeg musicians who had recently performed at the old converted church.
“The Winnipeg music community is pretty small,” he laughed. “We all know each other.”
Kakagi made their debut in 2016 with the appropriately titled Pronounced: Ke-Ka-Gi. The band’s sophomore EP, Stay Up Late, was released earlier this year. The album is lyrically-focused, telling earnest stories about people and places. The first song on the album, said Brodovsky, is actually about a job that he lost.
“There are things that happen that you know you’re going to write about,” he said. “You end up writing six different songs trying to figure out how you want to frame it.”
Brodovsky is the band’s composer, writing the lyrics, melody and chords.
“We definitely are super lyric-focused with our stuff,” he said. “The best songs can be dressed up and dressed down and still work. We want to get to the skeleton of the song, and give the listeners something to bite into.”
Listeners at their upcoming show can expect plenty of stories, harmonies and self-deprecating jokes.
“It’ll be a good time,” said Brodovsky.
Tickets are available online at www.brownpapertickets.com, at Char’s Landing or at the Rollin Art Centre. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m.