The Lethbridge and Area Firefigters Pipe Band centre around their bass drummer as they play a set at Average Joe’s Sports Bar on Sunday night.
A group of local firefighters put down their hoses and ladders and picked up drums and bagpipes to help celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
The Lethbridge and Area Firefighters Pipe Band played to a nearly-full crowd at Average Joe’s Sports Bar on Sunday night.
Nearly a dozen off-duty firefighters opened the entertainment for the evening, which also featured high-energy Maritime band The Novascotiables.
It was a homecoming of sorts for the pipe band, as they practice twice a week in Joe’s Garage or the green room in the basement.
Juggling shift work and band practice can be a challenge at times for the members of the pipe band, according to Pipe Major Michael Miller.
“We schedule two practices a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We do it so the guys on night shift are able to make at least one practice a week.”
The band formed in 2008 and Miller has been participating since 2014. Most of the members have been in the band for several years and they are always recruiting new members.
“We have younger blood coming up all the time… We make them think it’s a good idea at the time,” Miller laughed.
Though the band fit the bill perfectly for St. Patrick’s Day, the group’s shows vary between fun-filled gigs and memorial services.
About half of the band’s approximately 50 shows a year are memorial services, honouring fellow firefighters that have died in the line of duty.
“When you put on the tartan and you’re playing for a comrade you worked with… It’s hard to describe. It’s an incredible honour. You feel humbled and you do the best you possibly can for them,” said Miller.
The band has previously played at the International Association of Fire Fighters memorial service in Colorado, honouring fallen Lethbridge firefighters.
St. Patrick’s Day also provided the new management team at Average Joe’s with a chance to showcase some of the new genres of talent coming into their venue in the future.
The nearly 20-year-old venue is looking to try different things out in the next few months when it comes to live entertainment.
“We’re looking to break the mould a little bit compared to what this place has done in the past,” said Dustin Church, General Manager of Average Joe’s. “We’re going to try a little bit of everything out and see what else is out there in the market.”
Some upcoming events for the bar include a hip-hop show in the spring and Church mentioned his team will be putting an emphasis on live sports as well.
He also added tonight was a great start.
“Getting (the pipe band) attached to tonight’s show was pretty special because we hadn’t seen them outside of practice yet,” explained Church. “Both acts really fit the bill for this theme.”
No matter the seriousness of the event, Miller says his band has a lot of fun preparing and performing.
