The name of a local Steveston band was inspired by an innocuous question over drinks with friends.
“Our bass player looked at me and he said, ‘Have you heard any good urban myths lately?’ And I pointed at him and I said, ‘There it is. There’s the name of the band: Urban Myth,’” said drummer/vocalist Blaine Booth.
This year, Urban Myth is returning to the main stage at the Salmon Festival, where they will open for 54-40. The show begins at 3:50 p.m.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to showcase the band to a lot of people who haven’t seen us before,” said Booth.
With a set of about 40 minutes the band will play 10 to 12 songs, said Booth, which will demonstrate the band’s flexibility.
“We’re going to give them everything. We’ll probably do everything from Shania Twain to KC and the Sunshine Band to Deep Purple. They’re going to get it all,” Booth said.
Urban Myth formed 13 years ago, after the five band members met each other through their kids, said Booth. Realizing that they each had a musical background, they decided to start playing together.
Their first big show, said Jasmine Bharucha, the band’s vocalist, was in 2008 at the River Rock. Since then, Urban Myth has been playing at festivals and events around the Lower Mainland, with summer being their busiest season. And Salmon Festival is “very special,” said Bharucha.
The band holds Steveston close to their heart, said Bharucha. Most of the members are long-time Stevestonites and have spent much of the last two decades attending the festival.
Bharucha recalls watching her kids in the parade, while Booth remembers pulling his then-infant children in a wagon to watch the parade and having picnics and barbecues on the parade route.
Urban Myth is known for its lively covers of songs spanning anywhere from the 1970s to today. Lately, the band has been challenging itself to take on some more “showpiece” songs, said Booth, exploring tracks like Queen’s Keep Yourself Alive and Deep Purple’s Highway Star.
“There’s some extended solos in there that are not easy for some of the members of the band, guitar solos, bass solos, that are a bit of a challenge and have taken a bit of time to perfect,” said Booth.
Keep Yourself Alive is one of Bharucha’s favourite songs that Urban Myth currently plays, adding that she doesn’t think the band plays enough of Queen.
While the band tries to stay as true to the structure of the original as possible, said Booth, they do add their own spin to the songs – many of which are performed by Bharucha, who takes over vocals originally performed by men.
Sometimes the band will extend the song with additional instrumentation, solos or create their own endings.
They’re also known to perform medleys of two or three songs.
For Bharucha, the songs take on a new identity when they are covered by Urban Myth. “You pick up that song and you just make it your own. It’ll just never be the same. There’s only one of you on this planet anyways, right? So you always bring your own spark to whatever it is that you do.”
