The fellas in Freedom 95 may not be retiring anytime soon, but they’ll be living out a hockey dream this weekend.
The local band, considered to be one of the top cover bands in the Lower Mainland, will be playing a gig at the Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour on Saturday.
“It’s very exciting,” said Queensborough resident Don Doyle.
Since forming seven years ago, Freedom 95 has performed at all sorts of venues, including casinos, pubs, charity events, the City of New Westminster’s Canada Day festivities and the local Terry Fox Run. As “huge” hockey fans, they’re jazzed about playing at this weekend’s Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour in Queen’s Park.
“This is huge,” Doyle said. “Just to be recognized by that level of the NHL, to us that is so cool to have that level of recognition.”
Freedom 95 performs hits from the 1950s to present day, with this weekend’s set list including tunes like I Saw Her Standing There (Beatles), Down on the Corner (CCR) and The House is Rockin.’ Joining Doyle in the band are Grant Woff on bass, lead singer Ted Sular and Jason Mathney on drums.
“They wanted a band that was going to get up there and keep the crowd pumped up, keep the energy happening,” Doyle said. “We are high energy. Playing the pubs and the casinos, all our tunes are dance tunes to keep the dance floor full and keep people in the party mood.”
While Doyle will join his bandmates on stage on Saturday, he’ll take in the action with his family on Sunday.
“I think it’s great. It’s great publicity for the city of New Westminster,” he said. “The Hometown Hockey is broadcast right across Canada. I really think that’s going to bring a lot of attention to New Westminster. They also do some features of the city. I think it’s going to be really great to let the rest of Canada know, ‘Hey, we are New Westminster, we used to be the first capital of British Columbia.’”
