Local indie folk band, The Ebbs, is releasing their latest single Pound of Flesh today.
This single is from their upcoming album Volume One, set for release on Thursday, Nov. 18.
The Ebbs are singer-songwriters William Kuklis and Joe Shea who have joined forces with fiddle virtuoso Finn Scott-Neff to rediscover their original songs in a collaborate way.
The trio brings years of experience to the stage creating and performing music while blending a range of instruments and vocal harmonies for a new sound geared for the Canadian music scene.
“The Ebbs met in 2018 and started playing music in 2019,” Kuklis said.
“Yes, that’s when they began their Ebbic journey - spelled with two Bs.”
(Pause for laughter.)
“Yeah, so since then we’ve been putting songs together and recording and this is our first album called Volume One,” Kuklis said.
“It’s kind of important because it’s bringing together two different song-writing careers because both Willie and I create,” Shea said. “So this first album is a bit of a mash up of our own stuff. There are some songs we have definitely written together and worked on together but about half the album is interpreting each other’s songs and putting them into the new Ebbs framework.”
As for the latest release, Pound of Flesh, it’s an old track of Shea’s dating back to about 2003.
An old friend of his started covering the song during live performances and when Shea heard the new version he liked it so much he decided to use it as the final cut.
“It’s gone through a bit of a process and it’s an old track that’s found new life,” Shea said.
As with anything these days it was a struggle to get things done during the pandemic, but with safety protocols in place the trio was able to create the album in Kuklis’ professional studio called Vinyl Deck Studios that happens to be in his home.
Shea said to stay creatively in tune with each other was one of the bigger challenges.
It seems when they play together that’s when things start to flow for the Ebbs.
That was pretty hard to do during the pandemic when during rehearsals they couldn’t even be in the same room at times, Shea added.
Some tracks were recorded before the pandemic, the rest during.
Ordinarily, a release of a new album is supported with live shows to introduce the new songs but despite restrictions, the Ebbs believed they could successfully release their new album Nov. 18.
“I think there might have to be a second release party once things are opened up again,” Shea said.
“We’ll get the album out there - try to do a show or two as conditions permit but we’ll see what happens.”
They do have plans for a release party in town on Nov. 18 with details to be set closer to the date.
Volume One combines the multi-instrumented talents of Kuklis, Scott-Neff, and Shea and captures the harmonic live experience of The Ebbs.
he new 10-track album explores the genres of folk, rock and traditional music that makes The Ebbs sounds truly unique.
Volume One will be available for download, hard copy purchase, as well as on most streaming services.
Pound of Flesh and the pre-purchase of the full album is available right now at theebbs.bandcamp.com.
