While star status is still on the horizon for San Felix for now, band members Ian Kopp, Brett Frankson, Mark Bell and Nick Tassell, know how to stretch a penny. In fact, they fundraised for months to record their new EP, Fire Island.
“We fundraised almost all of it through bottle drives,” says guitarist Kopp. “We made hundreds and hundreds of dollars off bottle drives. It definitely made the album more affordable for us.”
The enthusiastic group of young musicians, all Claremont secondary grads except Frankson, who is a Stelly’s grad, recorded the six-song EP with Victoria musician Sam Webber (also a Stelly’s grad) last fall.
“We recorded it at a series of places, Infiniti Studios and an undisclosed carpentry shop that Sam set up,” says Kopp.
The culmination of 18 months of hard work practicing and playing the festival circuit resulted in an impressive album that is “the best possible representation of our band currently,” Kopp adds.
Kopp, Bell and Tassell have been friends since Grade 1 and first jammed together at age 15. The group still practices in Bell’s parents’ Saanich garage.
“The garage is lined with egg cartons, and some of them are going moldy because the egg wasn’t cleaned off,” jokes Kopp.
San Felix’s EP Fire Island is now streaming at mondaymag.com and they’re celebrating with a release party, 7pm, April 5 which also features Winston Wolfe, Bodies and 222 at Intrepid Theatre Club, 1609 Blanshard. Tickets are $10 at the door. sanfelixband.com.
More about the band in the links below: