An interview with members of the Canadian band, who combine classic rock sounds with elements of blues and country, and performed in October at Spodek in Katowice during Rawa Blues 2024. Songs of The Commoners are influenced by both American and British bands, giving their work an international character. They captivated Polish fans with their authenticity and energetic performance: emotional vocals and guitar riffs that recall the golden age of rock.
Have you got any favourite Canadian musicians?
Of course! It’s a long list but a few notables would be the obvious ones like Neil Young, The Guess Who, Rush, Joni Mitchell, The Tragically Hip, etc. Other personal favourites that are well known in Canada are Sam Roberts, Coulter Wall, The Trews. Have to give a special shout out to The Sheepdogs who we are currently touring with as well.
What are the beginnings of your band? How long have you existed, how did you meet?
Ben, Ross and Chris are the founding members of the band, and met each other through the Toronto recording studio scene in the early 2010’s. Adam met Ross through a mutual friend and eventually came into the fold in 2018. Miles became our full time keyboard player during the recording of our album „Find A Better Way”.
Who composes your music and writes the lyrics? Who is the leader in your band?
Writing is a group effort within the band. Chris writes most of the lyrics, but Ben also contributes a lot especially with the songs he brings to the table. Ross being the producer of the band also has a big input on the final product, whether that be lyrically or otherwise.
Musically, it really varies depending on the song. Sometimes Chris will have a verse and chorus and the rest of us will help shape it into a complete song. Sometimes Ben will bring in a mostly completed song. Other times Ross will have a guitar riff that we’ll jam on and see where it takes us. We don’t have a specific formula, but we all contribute in different ways.
Could you introduce yourself individually, as the band members? Have you got friendly relationship? What had you done before creating the Commoners? Did you do jobs not connected with art?
Chris Medhurst – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Ross Hayes Citrullo – Lead Guitar, Ben Spiller – Bass, Backing Vocals, Adam Cannon – Drums, Backing Vocals, Miles Evans-Branagh – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
We definitely have a friendly relationship! It’d be pretty hard to be in a touring band if you didn’t get along! We of course have our squabbles and arguments like any group, but for the most part we all love and support each other like brothers.
Ross and Ben have always been involved/worked in the audio industry even prior to the band existing. It’s one of the factors that brought them together in the first place. Chris has been a songwriter since his early teenage years, and met Ross through the recording of some of his first songs. Miles and Adam have done a lot of session work as „hired guns” over the years, which also lead them to being in the same circle as the other three.
We’ve all had to do jobs we didn’t necessarily love to get to the point where we’re at now. Whether it be retail, contracting, service, you name it, we’ve probably done it!
Is your image your own choice or who creates it?
Our image is definitely our own choice. We wouldn’t ever posture as being something inauthentic to ourselves or our fans.
Which album are you most proud of?
Our newest record „Restless” is something we’re all very proud of. Whether it be the songwriting, sonically, or instrumentally, we think it’s our finest work to date and seems to be very well received by our fans.
You give concerts so often who organises them for you? I think you like European fans, is it true? Why?
We’re fortunate to have an amazing team of people working with us across the world that have helped spread the word about the band. Whether it’s our management/label, PR, agent, everyone we’re working with has played a big part in providing us the opportunities to tour and play so much, which we’re super grateful for.
We love Europe and our fans there are the best! Folks there seem to love Rock N Roll and what we do in general. It’s their excitement and enthusiasm for the music that we really connect with and inspires us to keep coming back. We’ve played our biggest gigs in Europe, e.g. in Poland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Great Britain, so we must be doing something right over there!
How do you load batteries when you have got free time? Is it difficult to join your career with your private life? How do you deal with tiredness after concerts and travels?
Being in a touring band is a heavy commitment and lifestyle in which every day life can get away from you at times, especially while being on the road. Thankfully we have an amazing support network of family, friends and loved ones that are encouraging and want us to keep pushing to pursue our goals. It can take a lot out of you, but the joy of being able to perform our music night in and night out is such a jolt of positive energy, you tend to forget how tired you might be in that moment.
What are your plans?
Our plans going forward are to keep touring and playing as much as we can. We have The Sheepdogs tour to round off what’s been a busy 2024 for us. We’ve got some dates in Europe/UK already booked for the spring as well. We’ll also look into getting some new music together in 2025, although we have no concrete plans for that yet. We’re always writing, trying to stockpile ideas, so that we’re ready for the opportunity if it arises to record some new material.
In that case, I wish you further self-fulfillment, a lot of satisfaction from what you do musically and professional success. The most important thing is that you continue to captivate your fans with your music and give them so much joy.
Thank you 🙂
Beata Sekuła
