Kat Harlton
East Coast Rock Band Andre Pettipas and The Giants recently released their new double live album Andre Pettipas and The Giants Live at The ElMo, on June 17th via all streaming platforms.
The 22-track album was recorded at the legendary El Mocambo in Toronto, ON last September and includes tracks from their sophomore album No Fools No Fun, and 5 brand new songs capturing the no holds barred, kick-ass ethic the band brings to everything they do.
The new album was put together with the help of live studio engineer Doug McClement (Blue Rodeo, Moxy Fruvous), live engineer Kirstan Moore, lead technician Jamie Howieson, and mastering engineer João Carvalho. Brian Moncar, the album’s mixing engineer (Alice Cooper, Our Lady Peace, The Tea Party) produced tracks 1-13 on the album, along with some other heavy hitters including Max Kerman of The Arkells (Saint John String Quartet) who arranged “Dark Times,” John-Angus MacDonald of The Trews (Glorious Sons, Dave Rave) producer of “Sympathy Card,” and Jason Jenkyns (The Stanfields, The Town Heroes) and Jon Landry (The Stanfields, The Town Heroes) who co-produced “The Swedish Motel”.
The No Fools No Fun album released in 2021 received national recognition with the track “Sympathy Card” hitting #27 on Billboard’s Active Rock Chart and top 50 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Chart in Canada, and “Overtime” was used in a montage during game 4 of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Most recently, No Fools No Fun was nominated for the 2022 ECMAS for Rock Recording of The Year.
The Nova Scotia natives continue to grow in the industry with multiple singles on th nationally syndicated show, “East Coast Countdown” and they have showcased internationally at Live at Heart (Orebro, Sweden), ASEAN Music Showcase festival, Bangkok Music City festival and Canadian Music Week.
They were also named Arkells “Leather Jacket” cover contest winners, were Casino NS Artist in Residence Finalists from 2016-2018, Q104 Homegrown Champions out of 120 bands in 2017, and Jim Beam National Talent Search Regional Winners (Halifax) in 2019.
In addition to releasing new music, Andre Pettipas and The Giants are currently on the road, making stops at Canadian stages in Montreal, Ontario, PEI, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. For more details on the tour, visit andrepettipasandthegiants.com/shows.
I had the opportunity to chat with the band (referred to as AP beside their answers) about their album, their creative process and what’s next.
Kat: Can you talk about the inspiration behind your new album Andre Pettipas and The Giants Live at The ElMo?
AP: As a band who has a great love for performing live we felt like recording a live album only made sense with the direction we are delivering our band’s image. The Rolling Stones iconic surprise shows in ‘77 as the Cockroaches were a huge inspiration for us to want to do this album at the same venue almost 45 years later.
Kat: What do you hope fans take from the new album?
AP: We want people to hear the human element in creating an album; no overdubs/autotune or anything along those lines. We wanted them to feel the excitement in our performances from those shows at The ElMo and give those people not in the room the opportunity to hear what went on. We wanted to give our fans something to help segue from our second studio album (No Fools No Fun) to the third which we are now in the process of recording this spring.The live album which consists of 22 songs included 5 unreleased tracks.
Kat: What do you find is the most challenging part of your creative process?
AP: Honestly the creative process comes easy to us and is the best part of all of this. The only thing that can (we always seem to find a way) halt plans is FUNDING. This seems to continuously be the elephant in the room. To have a successful release you have to invest in your product; this includes PR, radio, merchandise, equipment etc. There are grants out there that can help with a portion of this but they aren’t necessarily the easiest to get approved for. We are fortunate to have such a great fanbase who are always willing to help us out along the way. Before each tour we usually do a crowd fund to assist in some of the fees on the tour (accomodations, fuel, food).
Kat: What has been a career highlight for you so far? What have you learned along the way?
AP: Recording the “Live At The Elmo” album especially after the long delays/rescheduling due to covid is way up there for top career highlights. Others include showcasing in Sweden (Live At Heart), charting in the top 30 for active rock on Billboard (Sympathy Card) having our song “Overtime” featured on the NHL Stanley Cup Finals and our sophomore album, No Fools No Fun being nominated for rock album of the year at the latest East Coast Music Awards.
Kat: What can we expect from you for the balance of 2022?
AP: The remainder of 2022 sees us recording our third studio album at The Tragically Hip’s studio, The Bathouse this spring while performing live throughout the summer on the East Coast of Canada. We will be using the rest of the year to begin building new markets to tour in while revisiting ones we haven’t done in a few years this fall. We’re excited to get a bunch of new material out in the world and are looking forward to hearing the response from the live album.
Connect With The Band
Website: https://andrepettipasandthegiants.com
Twitter: @APandTheGiants
Facebook: /andrepettipasandthegiants
Instagram: @apandthegiants