Two years ago, guitarist Kevin Morningstar was a musical outcast at a Bible college in Surrey. The metalhead couldn’t find many likeminded classmates who were into the same hard and heavy bands like Disturbed and Opeth.
“There wasn’t a lot of people into the heavy music scene,” he said, recalling his first semester at the post-secondary institution. “There were a lot of hipsters and singer-songwriters. I’m doing my rock thing and everyone’s like, ‘Who’s that rock guy? That’s weird.’”
Morningstar had moved to B.C. from Edmonton to study music, and after some time at the college, he met bassist Josh Hughes, connecting over the same types of bands. A few months later, they found guitarist Chris Friesen and drummer Mike Groome, who were already performing together as a two-piece on campus.
“Me and Josh were like, that’d be cool to have those guys in a band,” said Morningstar. “We said, ‘You’ve got drums and guitar, we’ve got guitar and bass – let’s put something together.’”
Thus is the creation of First Light, a progressive hard rock quartet that’s set to headline the Columbia Theatre on Aug. 29. They earned the spot at the historic venue after winning the Columbia’s recent Battle of the Bands contest, though not without a shakeup in the band’s lineup.
“I’m technically the pinch hitter on drums,” said Nigel Briggs, a friend of a friend who replaced Groome behind the kit after he moved home to Rhode Island to get married. “I met Kevin and Josh four days before the gig. We ended up winning the semifinal round and I was like, ‘I guess I’ll keep gigging with you guys.’”
“Mike did a great job, so what Nigel had to take on wasn’t just AC/DC,” added Morningstar. “Nigel had 12 hours to learn just the few songs that we have to play the semis and the finals.”
By definition, progressive rock – pioneered by such legendary groups as Yes, Genesis and Rush – is considered a more technical style of rock ‘n’ roll, often characterized by offbeat time signatures. It wasn’t easy for Briggs to pick up on the unique rhythms and changes in the songs, but he was up for the challenge.
“I really like the mental workout,” he said. “As far as my drumming chops go, I knew I could play the music, but remembering the specific changes, it’s really a mental game. It sort of pushes us as players.”
The hard work evidently paid off as they went to the finals, paving the way for their upcoming performance at the 300-seat theatre.
“It almost feels like our home turf since we’ve played there so many times,” said Briggs with a laugh. “We feel really fortunate to have this gig because everything sort of fell into place.
“It just happened that I was able to do the fill-in gig and it just sort of rolled from there. We’re just going with it and it’s such a fun ride right now.”
Briggs will be pulling double duty, opening the show in his eponymous band, followed by local high-energy hard rock five-piece Dalziel. The guys in First Light also hope to have their five-song demo pressed in time for the concert.
Morningstar is proud of the hard work the band put into the Battle of the Bands and is anxious to perform at the Columbia this Friday.
“We’ve worked this thing from small-time guys in Surrey at a college that no one knows about to be where we’re at now,” he said. “We worked hard, but we’re humble and we’re grateful.
“If this is our last show and a big atom bomb kills everybody in the world, that’s OK because I am jacked to play this show.”
The show is all ages, with doors opening at 7 p.m. and a 7:30 start time. Tickets are $12 at the door or $10 in advance by emailing [email protected]. For more info, check facebook.com/firstlightbc.
