By Victoria Perras
Pics by Dustin Hassard
In November of 2021 local Regina band Coherency performed their long overdue album release show for their most recent record released back in May titled Zero Sum. The band played The Exchange in Regina and they did not disappoint.
When asked how the release show went, lead vocalist Brenden Claypool said “It was awesome. The Exchange is a great venue with great sound and they provide a lot of support for the local music scene and musicians. We were also able to reconnect with a band that we got to play with many years ago named Shadow in the Mirror and share a long overdue release party for our latest album Zero Sum”.
It has been a long time since Coherency played a live show so they were very excited and happy to be performing again in front of a live audience. Bassist Justin Mrazek explains, “It felt really good to play a live show, in a real venue, in front of people. Jamming in a basement is fun and all, but it doesn’t compare to a pro stage like The Exchange with lots of room to move around, have fun, and showcase our new tunes in front of a live audience. It’s something we’ve missed for sure and probably took for granted in the past”.
After not being able to perform in front of a live audience for so long the band was able to have a fun album release show and made many new memories that night. I asked the band what moment from the evening stood out the most and drummer Chris Sawcyn started it off by saying “There were a lot of particular moments that stood out, but there were a few times while we were playing where we were looking and smiling at each other. That made me reflect on the fact that I was playing a badass show with my best friends”.
Claypool and Mrazek both added that they enjoyed changing instruments midway through the set to play some covers. Mrazek said “This lets the audience in on how we jam as a band in the basement. We usually switch it up a bit and explore new tunes. That often helps us develop new material and ideas”.
The band plans to release some new things in 2022 and they have some minor tweaks to figure out moving forward. When asked about 2022 plans Claypool said “We have some things to release in 2022 and we continue to write and work on new material regularly. There is still a lot of uncertainty out there so I’m not sure how many shows we will be able to play. We have a lot of ideas for different things for recording and releasing new material”.
Mrazek added “Eric, our rhythm guitarist, moved away for work so we’ll have to figure out where we are headed there. One thing Covid taught us is how to do things effectively from a distance, so hopefully we can continue as a 4 piece or at least have him involved for the odd show here and there. Other than that we are always writing and working on new material. Expect Coherency to consistently put out new tunes in the coming years. 2022 will feature another new Coherency release.”
