Taking things up a notch

Local pop project Tin Can Bandits releases a fleshed out EP

Ian Gilhuly puts the plural in one-man-band with Tin Can Bandits. Supplied

There are plenty of solo projects with band names that morph into full bands, but few, with the exception of maybe Bright Eyes, rock a pluralised moniker.

Winnipeg’s Ian Gilhuly goes by Tin Can Bandits and he likes it just fine.

“I’ve had a few people come and go, and I kept the name because I kinda like it,” says Gilhuly, 28.

Though performances have been sparse, this bandit has been writing songs for about four years and is looking to take the Winnipeg music scene by storm with a new EP captured at legendary local studio Private Ear with noted producer John Paul Peters (Comeback Kid, Sons of York).

“My cousin’s cousin is also doing the music thing and he’s in a band (The Treble) and he kind of recommended (Peters) to me,” Gilhuly says.

“I started the process in April of trying to get grant money to record and then that didn’t really happen so I had to spend my own money. You kind of need some professional recording to really get anything done.”

Recorded sporadically over October and November of last year, the five-song disc took about two weeks to assemble.

As Gilhuly was working without a backing band, Peters stepped in, along with Matt Peters (Royal Canoe) and Ryan Voth (Imaginary Cities).

“The timing and all this other stuff was kind of foreign to me so it was a bit of a learning process from there,” he says. “Peters was really good and I think I came a long way with these guys by the end of it.”

Though there is a fleshed-out sound on the disc, Gilhuly is still going to take the stage solo for the time being, at least for his upcoming CD release show at the Park Theatre, which he plans to record - and not just for posterity.

“I’m going to record it and use it to get festival gigs,” he says. “If it’s going to be just me I don’t want to misrepresent who I am at this point with my music.”

Being represented properly is key for Gilhuly, who is deeply personal and serious about his music.

With these five songs, Tin Can Bandits follows up the home-recorded debut EP, and the sounds jump out of the speakers and into your guts.

With pure pop perfection ranging from punk to retro rock, the influences are clear but not blatant.

“I definitely think that everything I listen to has influence on me,” he says. “This one especially was the Beatles and Paul McCartney. A bit of Bob Dylan.”

With influences so successful, Tin Can Bandits has only the highest of ambitions in turning this once part-time project into something more tangible.

“Hopefully it’s a full-time project,” Gilhuly says. “I did spend a decent amount of money on this.”

Published in Volume 67, Number 15 of The Uniter (January 10, 2013)

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