Seven Story Redhead understands the importance of patience and determination in building a band from the ground up. The quartet has been performing within and around Calgary for over four years now, with two home-recorded EPs. Finally, after earning some radio play on X92 and gigging steadily, the band has put aside time to record an LP, slated for release this month. It’s been a long time coming, but as bassist Frank Gallant explains, the wait was necessary. “This is the first of our recordings that we feel really capture our sound,” he says. “For the first time in our career, we feel like this is what we are. Take it or leave it.”

The eponymous full-length has not come without its struggles, however. Last year, the quartet’s vocalist and founding member Ian Ward left the band. The band had to abandon much of its repertoire, and to scrap a number of songs that were in development. This delayed the recording process further, forcing the band to rethink their strategy.

“Our second EP got us a lot of recognition, which was inspiring,” says Sutherland, “but with the retooling of the band, a lot of the material became sort of moot when Ian left about a year ago. So, as we thought of it, focusing on this release became one where we would take two steps forward [for] one step back.”

The final product is the defining statement Seven Story Redhead was hoping for. Each song is a flurry of blaring guitars, scowling vocals and heavy rhythmic accompaniments akin to current British post-punks The Cribs and Arctic Monkeys. It’s quick, mature music, a sort of academic punk for those enamoured with ’70s rock.

“We did rethink certain elements on the record, but what remained is our deep fascination with all things British when it comes to music,” Sutherland continues. “There tends to be an inherently melodic sensibility throughout, and it really does it for me. Those influences are within the debut, as we tried to ensure each melody and line was there for a reason, as some sort of statement.”

Following the album’s release, the band will finally leave Calgary to perform for audiences across Western Canada and beyond. “We haven’t spent enough time and energy getting ourselves out to other parts of the country or the world,” says Gallant. “The plan now is to start getting outside of Calgary and explore places out of our physical comfort zone. We don’t really know yet what that means or where it will take us, but we feel as though we’ve done what we can here and there has to be more markets like this that would be receptive to what we do. Simply, we want to find them, exploit them and nick their women.”