The Sufferin' Bastards will be accompanying Ross Neilsen for a bit of Redemption at Nancy O's.
The Redemption Tour will see the band travel from Halifax to Tofino and back, making a stop in P.G. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.
Ross Neilsen, nominated twice as rising star by CBC, said he decided to give it all up one day. About three years ago he quit his day job, broke up with this girlfriend and moved out of his house all within a couple of days so he could do what he loved to do. Play music.
He wrote She Ain't You, which is about women and relationships, he said.
"The song was written during a period of massive change in my life and when you make big decisions you never know if you're making the right decision until much later," said Neilsen. "So at the time I thought I had made a mistake - as it turns out I did not."
Bold and Beaten is also about that time in his life.
"For many, many years I think I was lying to myself and just avoiding what I knew and what I wanted to do or what I was supposed to be doing," said Neilsen, who was nominated for best new artist at The Maple Blues Awards.
During this tour the group performs in smaller venues, like the 50 seats at Nancy O's and there are bigger audiences to be found during events like the All Day Atlantic Fest.
"In some venues we'll put on a prettier show than we normally would - depends on the crowd," said Neilsen. "If it's a good listening crowd, I will tell more stories but some places we play are tiny and still kind of a rock 'n roll room so you still get to crank it up and sweat it out and that's all about the rock and less chatting. So if it's a good venue and people are there because there's music and not there because there's beer then we tend to involve the audience quite a bit more."
Neilsen said he's used to tuning the show to what people are expecting.
"We're pretty good at controlling our volume and our attack," said Neilsen. "We can do pretty much any tune in any environment and it'll work. Obviously some of our heavier stuff is a little more fun to play when you can cut loose volume wise."
Neilsen and the Sufferin' Bastards, Shawn Worden on bass and Karl Gans on drums, have not been to Prince George before.
"Not new to British Columbia but new to Prince George and beyond - I'm a virgin there," Neilsen said. "Our favourite thing to do is to play places we haven't played before and play in front of people who have never heard us, so we're really looking forward to coming to Prince George."
The new Redemption CD drops into stores May 25 and is available on iTunes right now. For more information about Ross Neilsen and the Sufferin' Bastards visit www.rossneilsen. ca.
Tickets are $20+GST in advance at Nancy O's, 1261 Third Avenue, $25+GST at the door.
