If you’re a fan on Facebook of local pop-rock outfit Blue Sky Addicts, it’s quite possible that you found out their drummer quit before the band’s other members did.

That’s because instead of informing his bandmates directly when he decided to quit early last month, Landon Hildebrandt chose the more dramatic route of posting a message on the ubiquitous social networking site, using the wall of the BSA fan page as his forum.

“I was speechless and I was upset,” frontman Dan Barkman said during a recent interview with his fellow vocalist/guitarist, Jordan Wiebe. “I didn’t know people were capable of that.”

Making matters worse was the fact that Hildebrandt chose to make his exit before two key gigs.

The band, rounded out by cellist/vocalist Lauren Partridge and bassist Aaron Schwab, was scheduled to play at a friend’s wedding reception in Grande Prairie, Alta. just days after Hildebrandt quit. Plus, the band had already booked its CD release party for the beginning of this month.

The usually lighthearted and jovial Barkman and Wiebe are clearly hurt when they talk about the matter.

But they’re also optimistic about their future without Hildebrandt.

With The Details’ Shaun Gibson filling in behind the drum kit, Blue Sky Addicts will release its debut full-length, Hide Your Love, tonight (Thursday, Sept. 3) at the West End Cultural Centre.

It’s been a long time coming. The group had been hoping to make a full-fledged studio recording of its emo-tinged orchestral pop-rock since it formed in 2005.

They finally began recording in April 2008 with Jack Shapira (The Nods, The Details) at Unison Studios. After being mastered in Arizona by Roger Seibel (Death Cab for Cutie, Jimmy Eat World), the disc was finished this past June.

The 10-song album begins with a triple threat of upbeat, piano-driven songs (Hide Your Love, Count on Me and Dreamer’s Theme) before slowing down with the ballad Hidefight, a long-time staple of the band’s catalogue.

The group channels Patrick Watson on the dreamy Most Typical, and reveals the influence of Death Cab on Life Lessons and the nine-minute opus Collide. Find My Way Home concludes an album that is surprisingly consistent front to back.

“We had a very strong idea of what we wanted when we went into the studio,” Wiebe said. “We had almost entirely figured out how the songs should sound.”

Barkman adds that he enjoyed the recording process.

“It made me want to do more of it,” he said. “I would love to have a band studio, or own a studio with a few other bands as sort of a collective—play on each other’s records and things like that.”

The dream stems from Barkman’s recent thinking on the theme of family.

“The more you have people you actually love and want to be with, the more fun it is,” he said of making music. “It takes away any element of stress.”

The band is looking forward to touring in support of Hide Your Love and hopes to follow the album up with two EPs. Another full-length is also in the works.“It’s been a long haul,” Barkman said. “But I feel like we’re actually just getting into the first real chapter of this band.”

Read Aaron Epp’s blog entry about BSA’s drummer drama—including Landon Hildebrandt’s response.

Published in Volume 64, Number 1 of The Uniter (September 3, 2009)