On Tuesday night my buddy Buzzard and I ventured to Southbound Brewing to catch Ayla Brook & The Sound Men. This Edmonton brewery is a place I have always wanted to checkout, so this was the perfect time to do so. This is a very cool brewery that has been putting on quite a few shows and having open mic nights. They also have a patio that they open up, weather permitting of course, and on this evening with a weather forecast of a chance of rain which has been what the whole month of June has been like. There was talk of releasing more tickets for this sold out show, but didn't happen because of rain. Although it didn't rain that night, it was raining before the show. Great beer and atmosphere here with a Thin Lizzy theme from the name of the place to the Thin Lizzy albums displayed behind the bar and a Phil Lynott painting hung in bar.
Opening the show was Nadine Kellman. She is a local singer/songwriter playing folk style of music. I'll be honest and say I didn't pay a lot of attention to her as I was filling my face with grilled cheese sandwiches as Cheese Louise YEG were on hand slinging their awesome grilled cheese sandwiches.
Next up was Edmonton roots rockers Ayla Brook & The Sound Men. It was good to see the band playing again, it had been four years since I had last seen them perform. And this would be my 3rd time seeing them live. This show also marked the 18th anniversary of them being a band. Also making this show a special occasion was bass player Brent Oliver's last show with the band.
The Sound Men are made up of Ayla on guitar and vocals, Brent on bass, Chris Sturwold on drums, Sean Brewer on acoustic guitar and vocals and Johnny Blerot on accordion and keyboard.
The guys sounded great on this evening, Ayla was rocking out and his vocals were great, Chris on drums was an animal, way more animated than I recall him being, looked like he had the spirit of Keith Moon in him on this night. The band was a little rough admitting they had only rehearsed a few times before this show. They had to restart a few songs over with a count in after Chris would miss his count in. The band played for over an hour playing tunes from their two albums 2020's Desolation Sounds and (I Don't Want To Hear Your) Break Up Songs from 2016.
