Five years ago four friends: Scott, Matt, Luke, and Steve, decided to form a band. They named it The Dust Collectors and they sat down and wrote out their ultimate band goals. Goal one: “to get anything played on CKUA,” says Luke Giblin, guitar player and lead singer.
Check! Since November, they’ve released two singles, an EP and now in June, their full-length album Outside In. All have had many spins on CKUA.
“That was a huge achievement in itself for us,” Luke says. “It’s amazing to turn on the radio and accidentally come across your song.”
Next goal: record a professionally mixed and mastered album in a proper studio.
Check! Outside In was recorded at Public Lunch Studios in Calgary and released with a near-sold-out show at the King Eddy.
Next goal, have the album pressed to vinyl. Check! They had three hundred records pressed by Edmonton company Flashback Records.
It’s been a big year. “We’re super proud of it all,” says Luke.
The band hit another milestone this summer when they donated to CKUA in The Dust Collectors’ name.
CKUA hosts had been good to the band leading up to their album release show, Luke says, playing their music and plugging the concert. “We got a ton of support. It was really important to us as a band to give something back.”
At their concert, a table of 10 people were there solely because they’d heard the band on CKUA. Tickets for the show were $20. “And we thought, ‘that money is going right back to CKUA’,” Luke says. They donated $200. “For future shows if we can afford to donate five, ten percent of the door to CKUA we want to do that,” he says.
For, even with amidst the goals and ambition, the whole point of the band is bringing a bit more goodness into the atmosphere.
“That was the whole intention for the band,” Luke says. “Before we ever recorded a song, we said, ‘this is all for positive things.’ Not that all the music is happy and cheerful. But we’re trying as hard as we can to inject positivity into the world.”
Now, though they just released an album, they’re gearing up to record another one. And it may be time to start working on a new goals list.
