Tampa have just released their first video, of their first single, from an album we don’t have a name for yet. What we do know is that ‘Wait’ is going to be one of the catchier songs of the summer.
A little over a year and a half ago – just before they were about to take the stage at Pepper’s Pub in Saint John, but just shortly after an interview – Danger Cat left me with a curtailing statement: this was to be one of their final shows. That was it.
Three shows and a season of getting repeatedly lost in their EP and it was over. One of the most promising bands to have come out of New Brunswick lately, and I’m there just long enough to catch the tail end of it. One more devastating cover of the Talking Head’s ‘Psycho Killer’ and they were gone.
But not entirely. There would be more, they promised. Something. Nothing specific. Just something.
It didn’t take long, or much. One night, some concert, walking through the crowd, the band grabbed me by the ear and shook me. The recognition was immediate. It was less of a termination and more of a transfiguration. Where Danger Cat left off, Tampa began again.
Now we’re getting the first taste of this reincarnation, at least in a digital medium. Their first video digs in on New Brunswick, for better or worse, and some of the challenges of staying put.
“It’s a fictional story of a small town girl from small town New Brunswick with lots of potential and ambition,” says Nicholas Leblanc (guitar, vocals).
“She’s fighting a pull of getting tied down to a place and settling down before pushing herself and seeing what she’s got. It’s also a way to show the huge difference in the newer generation and how things are less about doing things the traditional way.”
Leblanc also notes that the video is all about us having a blast on a 1983 Honda Trike, not to mention enjoying the sights of Memramcook. It epitomizes summer for much of the Maritimes.
It’s an upbeat tune that we’re hoping will take the band far. We just hope they keep coming back.
Leblanc says that an album can be expected in the near future and will include ‘Wait’ on the tracklist, but was unable to provide any exact dates.
“All we have right now is a music video (which is the first thing we’ve released since Danger Cat three years ago so we’re insanely stoked.”
In the meantime we can look forward to catching Tampa perform on the Canada 150 Stage at Area 506 on August 6th, 2017.