CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — David Cyrus MacDonald remembers getting a call from songwriter John MacPhee in 2004, asking him to join a band for the summer.
MacDonald, a UPEI music student at the time, recalls being impressed with his pitch.
“John said, 'there’s only four shows, so we’ll hardly have to practise, and we’ll make lots of money,' ” says MacDonald.
However, things didn’t go exactly as planned.
“We made no money and we ended up playing more than four shows,” laughs MacDonald, who became the full-time drummer for the Chucky Danger Band, which later became Paper Lions.
Fast-forward 15 years, he’s happy he made that decision.
“It was pretty surprising how quickly things happened for us,” says MacDonald, a member of the band that also includes Colin Buchanan, guitar, keys, vocals, and Rob MacPhee, bass, vocals and keys.
In 2007, while working with producer Danny Blume, the band released an album containing the song, “Traveling”, which racked up eight point five views on YouTube. The music video was picked up by Much Music, which used it in a national advertising campaign in the U.K. and covered by bands around the world in places like Korea where the band was signed to a record deal. It was around that time they changed their name to Paper Lions.
“We’ve achieved some success….A lot of good has come out of this,” says John MacPhee, frontman for the ECMA award-winning band that is celebrating its 15th anniversary this month.
To mark this milestone and celebrate their latest recording, “Stay Together”, band members will perform a Super Show concert at the Homburg Theatre of Confederation Centre of the Arts on Saturday, Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m.
Fast facts
- Paper Lions’ new album, “Stay Together” is available on all music platforms.
- For tickets to their Super Show on Oct. 19 at the Homburg Theatre of the Confederation Centre of the Arts call the box office at 902-566-1267 or go to www.confederationcentre.com
- For more information, check out the band’s website http://paperlions.com/
“Every Islander dreams of performing at the Confederation Centre – the Carnegie Hall of Prince Edward Island – and we’re very excited to be at a point in our career where we can take on this stage. And we hope to be worthy of its legacy,” says Buchanan.
The show will unfold with band members performing selections from their new album including their first single, “Rhythm and Gold”. They will also perform songs from their catalogue.
What’s special is the band will use the concert as a way to shine a light on some new, upcoming talent in Charlottetown.
“We can’t give you any specific names but, we’ll have some special guests,” Buchanan adds.
When the concert is over, the band plans to take a much-needed break before beginning the song-writing process again.
“We’re taking some time off to nurture our families and our lives here on P.E.I.”
After many years of touring, he appreciates being home.
“There are some huge benefits in being at home," said MacDonald. "In addition to being able to tend and nurture our children, I have two games nights with people a week. One night I play board games. The other night I play poker. There’s something about this routine and regularity that we haven’t had for 15 years that I really enjoy.”
