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A fresh blend of Paul Simon and Beck to make you move

Vancouver-based world-pop band Hey Ocean! are getting their tour legs back after a year in the studio working on their new album.
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They dynamic personalities of David Vertesi

Vancouver-based world-pop band Hey Ocean! are getting their tour legs back after a year in the studio working on their new album.

“We just hashing out the details about how it will be released, when it will be released and who will release it,” said Dave Vertesi who does bass, vocals and guitar for Hey Ocean! “We’ve been off the road because we’ve been in the studio for the past year.”

Vertesi said the new album will be a bit different than their past releases.

“It will definitely be a bit more polished and it sounds really big. We did it ourselves. Everything is written by us, and I produced the record. The reactions we’ve had is that people are saying it’s really different, but at the same time it’s really true to Hey Ocean! and who we are,” he said.

Vertesi, and his bandmate Ashleigh Ball, who sings and plays the flute and guitar, were born and raised in Vancouver, and David Beckingham who rounds off the trio is from the U.K.

“We came together the way bands come together,” said Vertesi. “Dave and Ash knew each other when they were younger and kind of reconnected and started playing music together.”

He met Ball through a friend and then the three started creating music together.

Their music has largely been influenced by what they grew up hearing around their parents.

“It was something that kind of came naturally. We really like making positive music, and we all grew up with the classic pop music like Paul Simon, Simon and Garfunkel, The Band and people like that. I think that really comes through, and we try to write great songs,” said Vertesi.

Hey Ocean! entertains crowds with a unique performance, and Vertesi said it was influenced by one of his favourite musicians, Beck.

“Ashleigh and I had a great experience where we went and saw Beck. We really loved the fact that he can be a great artist and at the same time really put on a great show, one that’s really fun for the crowd. There were lots of little bits of flair, like a percussion jam on a dining room table while they were all eating dinner,” he said.

Hey Ocean! incorporated what they saw by embracing the performance aspect of a live show.

Vertesi said one of the highlights of playing with Hey Ocean! so far was doing a show at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, his hometown.

Hey Ocean! will be taking the stage at Spiritbar on August 1.