When Mitchell Brady formed The Static Shift, he remembers struggling to get shows, but after winning CTV’s ‘The Launch,’ they are now planning to tour Alberta.
CTV’s ‘The Launch’ is a competitive music show where five emerging artists compete in front of a panel of judges. The winner gets a debut single released commercially.
The Static Shift, a Calgary-based rock and roll trio, formed after Keone Friesen and Brady started playing together at the age of 12. Isaiah Stonehouse joined the band shortly after at age 14.
Brady recalls the struggles of playing at an early age.
“I mean we were very young at the time, 14, 15-year-old kids that can’t play all the venues here because of some age restrictions. So, we learned that you take every gig that’s offered to you,” said Brady.
On January 24th, 2018, The Static Shift was featured on CTV’s ‘The Launch’ and won the competition, which put a spotlight on the band for all Canadians to see.
“That was a very cool experience for us, it opened a lot of doors and that was our first national exposure of any sort,” said Brady.
Not only did ‘The Launch’ bring national exposure, but the band got to keep the guitars used on the show. ‘The Launch’ also benefited the band in other ways.
“We got a booking agent from it after being launched and met a lot of folks that are heavily involved in the music industry. So even just to build those connections and know that people know who you are, in some sense, was really good for us,” said Brady.
Being featured on ‘The Launch’ made 2018 a busy year for Brady. The Static Shift went on tour across Canada, opening for Kansas at the CNE in Toronto and playing at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver.
Keone Friesen, the bass player for The Static Shift, said, “Now that we’ve done things like ‘The Launch’ and touring with Collective Soul, we kinda have for the first-time fans all across Canada and in the States.”
Greg Brady, the manager of the band and father to Mitchell Brady, states the band has the potential to do well in Europe, partly thanks to exposure from the show. ’
“What ‘The Launch’ did was they took us from a bar band, it was really just becoming a bar band, and allowed us to skip being the bar band,” said Greg Brady.
For Mitchell Brady, the win shifted his views on being a musician. Nowadays, Brady sees more opportunity in his role in the band and sees it as a way to express himself.
“We see a road in front of us and we really wanna take it not just at a hobby level, you know? It’s a path that you can really make work,” Brady said.
Although 2018 was a big year for the band, the band is hoping 2020 will be even bigger. The band has plans to play live around Alberta in the near future, including shows in Red Deer and Edmonton. Their next Calgary show is at The Gateway at SAIT on January 18th.
“It’s been a while since we’ve played a hometown show so we’re really excited, we want to get everybody out,” Friesen said.
Editor: Casey Richardson | Crichardson@cjournal.ca