It’s official: talented Kelowna rock ‘n’ rollers The Newks are breaking up. The move is prompted by lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Austin Axenty’s imminent move to Victoria. The Newks will say goodbye tomorrow evening when they play their final show at Doc Willoughby’s.
The band consists of Axenty, Charlie Tucker (lead guitar), Jordan Garcha (drums) and Douglas Canning (bass). All four attended Kelowna Secondary School together, graduating in 2012. In fact, the band originally formed for a KSS talent competition - they were known as Studio 43 back then.
In their three years as The Newks, the band have earned themselves many fans, and I know I am not the only one who will be sad to see The Newks say goodbye. When looking back at his time in The Newks, Tucker revealed, “We had fun, tough times, fights, everything you would expect from adding three more brothers to your family. There was never a boring, or terrible time with this band and you'll see that tomorrow…”
Many of you will remember that The Newks only released their debut EP, Grandfathers, back in the fall of 2014, but now they're splitting up. If ever you need some extra motivation to get out and support your favourite local band, let this be it... Your favourite act could split up long before you’re through enjoying their work!
You can listen to Grandfathers here:
On the breakup of the band, Tucker explained, “It’s bittersweet, we're all happy for Austin moving on with his life, but at the same time we had a good thing going and it was tons of fun actually hearing compliments and people jealous of us being in a band!”
Get on out to see this show tomorrow - it’s certain to be a blast! The Newks are performing at Doc Willoughby’s at 9pm tomorrow evening (Friday, January 9th). The Dead Yetis are opening. $10 cover.
Do you want to contact Vince? E-mail him at: vince@kelownanow.com or connect with him on Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn or Instagram. You can also catch Vince as the host of Alt Rock Radio Now, a weekly alternative/indie music podcast.
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