Authentic and raw – emotionally.
This is how the local folk-rock brother-duo Greg and Andrew Tkach of The Gear Sebastian describe their first full album, Paint, which will be released Dec. 1.
“Everyone’s born with a blank canvas and as we grow up and as we develop, we have all these life experiences,” said Greg, who also works as a music teacher at Landing Trail Intermediate School. “That album acknowledges all these experiences – good, bad, amazing and horrible.”
For Greg, the songs he wrote and sings vocals on include personal anecdotes of grappling with the loss of his grandmother to Alzheimer’s disease, figuring out his direction in life and taking care of oneself mentally.
“For my songs, I know I wanted to paint a picture of how it’s important to have conversations about mental health,” he said. “We don’t want to be in a dark place all the time; we’re always in this together. There’s always someone you can turn to and talk to.”
He said the album was fully produced by The Gear Sebastian, from song-writing to recording, with influences such as The Beatles, The Who and the Rolling Stones.
In March of 2015, The Gear Sebastian released their first extended play (EP), Hopeful Horizon, which was recorded in Morinville. Andrew said with their first full-length album, he and his brother really tried to push themselves “technically and to become better song writers.”
“It was a challenge to ourselves. It’s always a risk producing yourself, and you always kind of want other ears to hear it too, but we kind of just wanted to prove it to ourselves we could do it,” Greg added.
While recording their EP in Morinville, Andrew learned from the audio engineer, and afterwards decided to invest in more equipment so the band could do their own recording. The folk-duo began working on the album in late 2015, and when they were ready to put the songs to digital, they put some panels up in the basement of their dad’s farm in Fawcett and began recording.
By the end of August, The Gear Sebastian sent off their tracks for mastering, and then waited for the product of their imagination to arrive in the mail.
“It just felt complete, and like I accomplished something incredible,” Greg said, about holding his first album in his hands. “It was a very prideful moment, to put your heart and soul and all this effort, and to see, I don’t want to say product, but it is a final product.”
Paint will be available on iTunes, Band Camp and most streaming services by Dec. 1, and the CDs will be released after that date.
Andrew said he looks forward to touring the album, and the band is doing a live show at the Mercury Room in Edmonton Dec. 1, and are planning to do some local shows after the new year.
“For me, it’s not the end of any journey; it’s kind of the beginning of another journey,” Greg said. “I’m just excited to share it with everyone, and share these messages that I’ve been saying and talking about.”
