It has been awhile for Greg Torwalt but the Humboldt original made a return to his hometown for an Arts Humboldt show at the Humboldt Golf Club on Aug. 9.
Torwalt is one half of the Saskatoon based duo Too Soon Monsoon with drummer, Nathaniel Henry, which formed after Torwalt put out an ad on Kijiji looking for bandmates.
It has been a busy summer for the duo with plenty of shows in Saskatoon. Starting in October, Torwalt says they are going to try to get out into Alberta and Saskatchewan for more touring to go along with the release of their second EP.
With the power of social media, Torwalt and Henry both say that there is no point in leaving the strong Saskatchewan music scene to try to make it in Toronto or Vancouver.
Saskatoon has been treating the pair very well, says Torwalt.
“Saskatchewan has so many great artists coming out of Saskatoon especially. Since we play there a lot we get to see a lot of good musicians and bands. Really supportive,” he says.
There is the nature of competition when booking space, says Torwalt, but it is not really competitive in Saskatoon since everyone wants everyone else to do well.
“Everybody seems to be happy for each other when people are doing well instead of knocking them down,” he says.
With the level of community support in Humboldt, Torwalt was eager to come back. While the pair did play a short set back in December for Grizzmas, their own show meant they were able to play two sets for the Humboldt crowd.
Growing up in Humboldt, it was nice to see what other people were bringing to the stage, says Torwalt. Now that he is bringing his own sound back home, he wants to show everyone that wanting to be a musician can be more than just a dream.
“Hopefully we can inspire people to pursue music as well and just have a good time.”
Just like Monsoon’s mixture of Henry and Torwalt, their sound is a mixture of their two favourite kinds of music, with Torwalt liking the Pop/Alternative sounds while Henry likes to rock, as well as some other styles thrown in here and there.
“Based on (Henry) and I listening to music, he has his style of music; he comes from a heavier rock background, while I listen to not heavy rock,” laughs Torwalt.
“It’s fun to be able to mix our styles and create something we think sounds new and fresh.”
It may seem like an odd pairing with Henry on drums and Torwalt on keyboard and Torwalt says they do feel like their sound is limited sometimes but Torwalt and Henry are working on adding different tracks in order to expand on their sounds, says Torwalt.
“I’m sure we’ll build it up slowly,” says Henry.
Along with some of their favourite track covers, including some Fleetwood Mac and Nelly Furtado, Too Soon Monsoon performed tracks from their first four track EP that came out at the beginning of July, including the single, Wanderings.
The duo was back in Saskatoon this week to record tracks for their second EP and even gave the crowd at the golf club a taste of what they can look forward to upon its release around October.
If you missed Too Soon Monsoon, be sure to catch them this week at Humboldt Streetfest on the community stage on Aug. 19.
