When a band changes its name after a few years, expect fans to want to know why.
Just ask Matt Begeron, vocalist and guitarist for Squamish's Volume Collective, formerly known as The Jam 'N Tonics - sort of.
"We do get asked that a lot," said Bergeron. "We played around town for two or three years as Jam 'N Tonics, but we've been together as Volume Collective for about a year now, though."
Bergeron's Jam 'N Tonics actually merged with another local musical project - The Revolvers - and added a couple more musicians to evolve into the Volume Collective.
Bergeron said the new expanded act, and its new sound, demanded a brand new name as well.
"Jam 'N Tonics was all about the dynamic between singer Myriam Robert and myself," he said. "But that changed with the addition of so many new players. We had a new sound so we felt we needed a new name."
Volume Collective plays a multicultural and bilingual m茅lange of danceable and feel-good roots/rock.
It's the bilingual aspect, though, that has the band set to play the second edition of Squamish's St. Jean Baptiste celebrations next Friday (June 24).
St. John the Baptist Day is traditionally celebrated as Quebec's national holiday (La F锚te nationale du Qu茅bec).
Bergeron - originally from Trois Rivi猫res, Que. - said the group is anxious to showcase its original, multi-lingual songs.
"I feel like we're at our best and tightest right now," he said. "So we are ready to showcase the French side as well as the English side. I think it's a great that we are able to play our music to people who are excited about Canada's French side."
Bergeron writes most of Volume Collective's lyrics, but he said he isn't always sure in which language they'll come out.
"The songs write themselves," he said. "Some days you think in English, and other days I start singing in French. It's a bit schizophrenic."
Volume Collective also shares its bilingual songs with Francophiles at Vancouver's Summer Francophone Festival on June 17.
"That show could be a shortcut for us to play a larger gig in Quebec," said Bergeron, who was also chosen as laureate for Vancouver's Pacific en Chanson this month.
"I didn't win," he said of the competition for French performers. "But it was a lot of fun."
As well, after Squamish's St. Jean celebrations, Volume Collective plays the first Whistler Multicultural Celebration on June 27.
"Like any band, we just like to play," Bergeron said. "We're just focusing on getting that much tighter, working the material and eventually recording an album."
The lineup for this year's Squamish St. Jean Baptiste celebrations include Le Deux Plumes, the children's choir from Les Aiglons school, Jean-Pierre Makosso, St-Pierre, Hugo Paquin et les Mecs du Qu茅bec, the Jocelyn Pettit Band and Sasha Cecile's Healing Drums, as well as Volume Collective
All the festivities kick off at 4 p.m. at the corner of Cleveland Avenue and Vancouver Street.
For more information on Volume Collective go to volumecollective.com, and for more on the events go to facebook.com/stjeanbaptiste.squamish or facebook.com/WhistlerMulticulturalCelebration.
