Parliament Hill may be on fire this Canada Day with the performance of headliners and four-time Juno Award winners, Arkells.
After years of bringing the house down across the country, the group will be performing twice on Sunday in the nation’s capital.
“The good news keeps coming! We just played our biggest show last week in Hamilton and now we’re here in Ottawa – so it’s been pretty amazing,” said Arkells front man Max Kerman.
The group also made their Asia debut this year, entertaining Team Canada at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
“We’ve had a really good time in 2018,” Kerman said.
WATCH: Arkells rock Canada Olympic House in Pyeongchang
The band will be performing among the likes of Queen Ka, Lights and Ruth B on Parliament Hill, and say they are thrilled to be a part of such an amazing day of music. Kerman said performing in the nation’s capital is definitely a career highlight.
“It feels like those are coming fast these days, which is a lucky place to be,” added guitarist Mike DeAngelis.
Return to Ottawa
This isn’t the band’s first performance during Canada Day celebrations. Just last year, the five were celebrating in Victoria. And in 2009, the group even played in Ottawa for Live 88.5 in a parking lot around the corner from Parliament Hill.
READ MORE: Where to watch fireworks on Canada Day in Ottawa
DeAngelis laughed, remembering that the fireworks went off when there was around 20 minutes left in the group’s set.
“They [the audience] turned their back to the stage and you know what? You can’t blame them! Fireworks right?”
Performing on Canada Day has become a tradition for the group, but beyond the fireworks and festivities, the band members say they look forward to connecting with their audience across a variety of communities.
“It’s hard work,” DeAngelis said, “And we travel a lot, but it’s all gratifying – the idea that we could work on a song together, record it and see how people react to it … you just don’t get to do that a lot.”
WATCH: Arkells are big fans Of Daniel Caesar
Kerman said looking ahead, the band plans to just continue doing what they’re doing.
“We’re always trying to write things that inspire us and fire us up enough to sit down at a piano and start forking up a tune,” he said.
The majority of their inspiration comes from personal relationships and community, but some of it comes from a more political or social state of affairs.
A message for ‘the Donald’
Arkells have a history of releasing songs that touch on social politics. Examples include Fake Money, Systematic and their recent single, People’s Champ. The latter is definitely a nod to the band’s opposition to current U.S. leadership. They tweeted their enthusiasm to play the song on Canada’s national holiday.
“We wrote the song for the Donald, or we wrote it about the Donald,” Kerman said, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump.
“The song is about a guy parading around as Robin Hood, acting like he is the man of the people but he clearly is anything but.”
He added that he didn’t expect everyone to understand or agree with that message. The audience is free to take it how they like.
“I take extra special joy in being able to write a song with a political meaning and then be able to see ‘bros’ freak out to it at sports games,” he continued. “That’s the beauty of music.”
The band will be releasing a new album this fall, and will tour the United Kingdom shortly after. Their Canada Day performances will happen at noon and 8 p.m.
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