Raincity's Canadian tour

Keeping it loose while staying grounded

Raincity's Canadian tour
L-R: Clare Twiddy on vocals and Kaylar Chan on saxophone perform with Raincity

Meet Raincity: a five-piece funk rock band who dropped their first album, A Proper Latte, in April 2022. They're heading out for a tour this May long weekend.

Band lineup

  • Clare Twiddy on vocals
  • Kaylar Chan on tenor saxophone
  • Ryley Kirkpatrick on guitar
  • Carson Webber on bass
  • Sheldon D'Eith on drums
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Spotify monthly listeners today: 16,169
Tour dates in the next month-and-a-half: 14
Provinces in the tour: 6

What I like about them

The band never take themselves too seriously. Three parts of their performance – costuming, attitude, and the arrangements themselves – combine to keep it loose.

I've seen Clare walk off-stage (during a breakdown section) into the crowd to dance with the audience multiple times. Who else does that? It stands out.

Interviewing Raincity

First, I asked the band about my favourite track from A Proper Latte: "Diamonds".

Raincity performing "Diamonds". L-R: Sheldon D'Eith, Clare Twiddy, Ginger Pimentel, Kaylar Chan, Ryley Kirkpatrick

Despite what I just said about keeping it loose, Clare and Kaylar told me that "Diamonds" kept them seriously grounded:

CLARE: "We took a long time to record it, we were waiting for it to make sense for us, and it's a message that was really important to us."

KAYLAR : "We needed the message of that song the most during the time between now and then [before 2020]: being thankful for what we have and the hand that you're dealt. it's all about rolling with it.

Changing the bass player

Did you check out the band lineup, watch that video, and then wonder what's up?

Good eye: Raincity have changed their bassist – Carson Webber joined while Ginger Pimentel, who appears in that video, left on tour with a band called Rare Americans.

Kaylar, Ryley, and Clare explained:

KAYLAR: "The four of us are very dedicated to the point where we live and breathe this band, and it is a big ask for any potential person who wants to join this pirate ship of ours. There's a lot of give-and-take with the opportunities coming up, but it does take a lot of commitment. Finding [Carson] has been a top thing because it's a big ask."

RYLEY: "It's a gray zone... it's not going to work this year [with Ginger]. Ginger got a really awesome opportunity! There's no hard feelings."

CLARE: "We want to make sure it's a good fit for him and for us as well. And we're still good friends with Ginger, so we want to make sure it all works out. Carson's given so much time and presence. I think this is his eighth tour across Canada! I'm glad that he's more experienced. no matter what happens he'll be like, 'It's cool.'"

That's the perspective you need to make a member change work.

A Proper Latte isn't on Bandcamp for my usual link-out, but how about another track highlight? "Don't" is their most epic arrangement.