When thinking of a one man band, it’s hard to shake the image of a street performer with bells on their ankles and a drum strapped to their back.
Kyle Anderson will play every instrument heard at his Nov. 8 performance at the Opus Bistro Cafe, though not all at the same time.
Anderson will be playing songs off an album that was initially conceived as a Christmas present for his family.
A Family Original, the first solo album produced by Anderson of fully original music, was well received by family and friends, leading Anderson to release it at a show put on last May.
The release show was a solo singer/songwriter guitar set and now Anderson has returned to play the songs in their full glory.
“What I wanted to do this time was to really show off the whole song the way I arranged it. The way I recorded it,” Anderson said. “This time around I wanted to give them the full-meal deal.”
He will be playing his songs to backing tracks, all of which Anderson recorded in his home studio.
“It’s me playing to me,” Anderson said.
No stranger to playing with background music, which Anderson calls “beds”. He has been practicing with backing tracks since he first picked up the guitar at the age of 10.
“I didn’t have anyone to play with. So the first song I ever learned was playing along with the record,” Anderson said. “All of my background bands throughout the years were Credence (Clearwater Revival), The Beatles, Santana, The Who, all of these bands because I played along with the records.”
For the upcoming show, Anderson has removed the vocals from the songs on A Family Original and remastered the tracks.
Despite writing the songs himself and producing the album, Anderson has had to go back and do some homework before playing the songs live some for the first time.
“I realized when I went back and started working on my last show in May that I had to learn the songs over again,” Anderson said. “It’s a really interesting experiment to go back and listen to what you did.”
Anderson is a full-time musician running his home studio and working on various projects with artists in Penticton.
“I’m not the richest musician in town, but at the same time I feel so fulfilled with the fact that I can stand on my own two feet as a singer, a songwriter, a musician and an entertainer,” Anderson said.
Showtime is at 8 p.m. and tickets are $15, available through the Opus Cafe Bistro at 778-476-5856.