By Elijah O’Donnell
Nu Engineers, a nu-jazz style band that formed last April in Edmonton, has a unique sound that stands out among a crowd. Kaleb Belcourt is on guitar, along with Izaac Middleton and Eamon Vandenburg switching from drums to bass synth throughout the show.
“We figured it’d just be easier to learn a new instrument than find a new friend,” says Belcourt, explaining why his bandmates switch instruments throughout songs. “We also just wanted bass synth. I think that would be sick instrumentation.”
“We’re gonna have this really cool synth part, and then there’s gonna be a guitar solo,” says Kaleb Belcourt when asked about the bands sound.
Nu Engineers explosive sound could be summed up as a punk, electronic and jazz meshed together and all high energy. Since the band doesn’t have any recorded materials posted, they are still relatively underground. The group is thinking about putting some work together, but for now, the best way to hear their sound is live.
The three high school friends say the band started after hanging out and deciding to start jamming, calling themselves ‘The Engineers’.
“I think I was in the shower,” Vandenburg said, when asked where the ‘Nu’ part of Nu Engineers came from. “And I just texted them.”
They recalled how in the first few weeks their rehearsals really sucked. One night, sitting on a hill looking at the stars, they said to each other, “we kinda suck.” At the next mornings rehearsal, something clicked. They were already working their way towards crazier solos, tighter drums and all-around better jam seshes.
“It was good, but we were kinda hard on ourselves because we had only really been a band for three or four weeks, but we were like ‘our rehearsals f**king suck!’”
All of their work is instrumentals right now, but they have plans to collaborate with other artists to add in rap or different vocals to the mix, further evolving their already unpinnable style.
If you were lucky enough to catch Nu Engineers at they show they put on at The Aviary Saturday September 21, you would have also heard other local YEG artists like St.Arnaud, Dirty Dev, RAI, Sweatercuff and PLEASEBENiCE.
To find out where to catch a show, head over to their Instagram page @nuengineers.
