Trews thinking of Canada’s soldiers on Canada Day
Posted Jul 1, 2011 05:55:59 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The co-founder of the Antigonish-based band that will headline a free concert in HRM tonight says the members will be thinking of Canada’s soldiers in Afghanistan on Canada Day.
The Trews will take the stage at Alderney Landing at 8:15 tonight, and amid a mix of new material from their latest album and some old favourites, John-Angus MacDonald tells News 95.7 the crowd may hear the single “Highway of Heroes,” written in honour of Canada’s fallen soldiers.
“These people do so much, and sometimes it gets overlooked or taken for granted,” said MacDonald. “If we could shine even the smallest light on what the people have sacrificed, we’re happy to be part of it.”
“Highway of Heroes” refers to the section of the MacDonald-Cartier freeway in Ontario along which hearses travel when carrying the remains of fallen soldiers from CFB Trenton to Toronto. Canadians line overpasses along the highway with flags to show their respect, a tradition that gave rise to the name.
The Trews wrote the song in honour of Capt. Nichola Goddard, an Antigonish native killed in Afghanistan in 2006. The single is available through iTunes and proceeds from sales benefit the Canadian Hero Fund, an organization that assists the families of Canadian military personnel through academic scholarships.
MacDonald says the song, now the band’s most-viewed YouTube video, clearly struck a nerve with the Canadian public. He says sales of the single online have raised more than $40,000 for the Canadian Hero Fund since it was released in 2010.
“I don’t think we set out to pull heartstrings, but it turned out this song was really doing something to people,” he said. “We’ve gotten an outpouring of correspondence from soldiers abroad and their famlies back home, it was one of those things that just really resonated.”
While the band will be thinking of Canadian soldiers – some of whom are returning home this weekend – MacDonald says tonight’s concert won’t all be so serious. He says fans can look forward to a varied set list that will include lots of material from the band’s latest album, “Hope and Ruin,” released in April.
“We just get off on playing it the most, so it’s very fun for us and I think that kind of enthusiasm transfers onto the audience,” he said. “But there’s stuff from all four records, and then even some stuff from the acoustic record does make it’s way into the set from time to time, so it’s all over the board.”
Joining the Trews at the concert, which begins at 4 p.m., are Kaleb Simmonds, Andrew Hunter & The Gatherers, Town Heroes, Hey Ocean! and The Stanfields.
