Zeus puts their heart on display with Busting Visions

There’s a storm rolling through Amigos Cantina on April 4, and Zeus is behind it.

Based in Toronto, Zeus is part of the recent resurgence of the classic rock sound that dominated the airwaves in the 1970s. While the group’s songs may remind you of riffs, keys and vocal harmonies made famous by the likes of The Who, The Beatles and more recently Sloan, band member Mike O’Brien says Zeus never set out to mimic any particular style.

“It’s just the type of music that we’ve always been interested in and it’s what comes out when we play,” O’Brien said. “I think it’s largely just what we listened to as we grew up.”

Unlike many bands, Zeus takes a very loose approach to performance, which involves a heavy amount of instrument—and role—switching.

“There’s three lead vocalists, three songwriters, three singers and we trade off on instruments,” O’Brien said. “We kind of switch around a lot.”

The group has been making waves recently in the wake of their sophomore record, Busting Visions. While the album’s lead single, “Are You Gonna Waste My Time?” has been gaining popularity since its release in March of last year, O’Brien says the group keeps its focus on the music.

“It’s hard for us to gauge what other people are saying about the band. We just keep our heads down and keep doing what we do,” O’Brien said. “At the end of the day, you just want to make sure you’re having fun and enjoying making music.”

But that doesn’t mean Zeus will miss an opportunity to capitalize on Busting Visions’ success. The record is scheduled for a deluxe edition re-release on April 2. It will come packaged with the band’s latest EP, Cover Me — which is also available separately.

As the title implies, the new material is made up entirely of songs borrowed from a wide range of artists like R. Kelly, Genesis and former touring partners the Sam Roberts Band.

“The song selections were really haphazard,” O’Brien said. “We wanted to reflect some of the other influences that you might not necessarily associate with the band. For the most part, it blossomed into something kinda cool.”

O’Brien says that the eclectic mix of covers has helped to fuel the group as they look forward to their next album.

“The songs were quite different from what our own music is. It was nice to do a little diversion like [Cover Me] and then come back to our own music with that experience in mind.”

Fans shouldn’t get too excited just yet. O’Brien says that plans for a new LP are still in the early stages.

“We’re just starting to scratch the surface of what songs we want to start working on. We haven’t really talked much about what we want to do other than that there’s a few songs floating around.”

After performing at Panama City’s Festival Abierto on March 23, the band is scheduled to set out on a cross-Canada tour from Thunder Bay to Vancouver, with a gig in Saskatoon along the way.

“Saskatoon is honestly one of our favourite towns in Canada to play, if not our favourite,” O’Brien said. “It’s always a really fun time and the crowd is really into ass kickin’ unlike anywhere else in Canada. The crowd is always a little crazy and off the hook, and that’s the kind of energy we feed off of to play a good show. When the audience is ready to rock, the band gives it back.

“We always look forward to playing Saskatoon.”

Zeus takes the stage at Amigos Cantina with tourmates Yukon Blonde and special guests Grounders on April 4. Tickets are available in advance online.

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Photo: Derek Branscombe