Laura Power
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 7, 2008

FORT SMITH - Last week, Fort Smith metal band State of the Art went to a few NWT towns on a mini-tour promoting their new single, Old Money.

The single is a five-track CD they are releasing while the finishing touches are put on their new album, which will be released in months to come with a larger tour.

Jamie Chabun plays drums for Fort Smith metal band State of the Art. - Dez Loreen/NNSL photo

The mini-tour started in Yellowknife on Dec. 28, where the band played at the Top Knight Pub for a smaller audience than the band is used to.

"The sound in there was pretty good," said Brandon Kikoak, guitarist and singer for the band. "Usually when we play a place we play a place more than one night."

He said when they do that, word of mouth helps draw in a bigger crowd on the second and third nights.

"I think that's what we're going to have to do next time we come to Yellowknife is play more than one night," he said.

On New Year's Eve, the guys played for a much larger crowd at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex in Inuvik, where three of the band members - Kikoak, Jamie Chabun and Aaron Kikoak - are from.

"This place is a pretty big place to fill up and we had it pretty close," said Brandon, who was glad to get back to Inuvik and see some old friends. "We had a good turnout. It was a good crowd and we played three long sets."

"It's really cool coming back here, all our old friends are grown up," he said.

After the Inuvik show, Brandon said he was pleased with the turnout so far, including the CD sales.

"We're selling about what we projected we would be," he said. "We generated a lot of buzz and everybody's talking about us."

While in Inuvik, the band made some business connections and were asked to come back and play Friday night at the Mad Trapper. But first, the band had planned a show for Thursday night at Kitti Hall in Tuktoyaktuk.

The band planned to capture each of the shows on film to be used for a documentary.

Now that it's all over, they will return to Fort Smith to finish up the album and plan their next move - a longer tour that will bring them to a wider audience.

The band's next shows will be in Fort Smith at Lacie's Lounge this Friday and Saturday nights.