While many people consider the blues to be a dying art form these days, there are encouraging indications that a revival may be just around the corner. The raw emotion and superior musicianship the genre demands of its practitioners is drawing an increasing number of up-and-comers — musicians who were previously earmarked for rock ’n’ roll are being seduced by the blues. This is certainly the case for Steve Rozitis, the lead singer and guitarist behind Calgary blues-funk outfit The Firm Handshake. Formed in 2003, the five-piece has undergone several significant lineup changes, with Rozitis and longtime friend and bassist John Groenen remaining constant cornerstones throughout. Determined to make his living through music one way or another, Rozitis runs the self-explanatory Steve’s Guitar Repair, and by fortuitous geographic coincidence his place of business just happened to be located across the street from a blues joint.

“I was working across from The Red Onion and I saw a sign out front that said ‘Blues Jam,’” recalls Rozitis. “Basically, you’d show up with your guitar, and the host Johnny V would throw you up onstage with a drummer and a bassist. They’d call the keys and the switches in like 30 seconds, and you were off. I was elated when I managed to muscle through five songs. Then Johnny V came up to me and said, ‘I give guitar lessons, you know.’

“I was totally deflated but, unlike a lot of the young guys who went through there, I didn’t get scared off by him,” he continues. “I never got those guitar lessons, but I sure took advantage of having a Juno-winning guitarist around to learn from.”

Humbled by the best and armed with an uncanny sense of timing, Rozitis and his band are now poised to release their debut EP, recorded with the help of students at the local Beach Studios. Rozitis is quick to attribute the self-made band’s surprising success to taking a strictly “Communist” approach when it comes to finances.

“Nobody in this band gets paid,” he says. “Except Jae, our [interim] drummer, who is both amazing and ageless. Everything else we earn performing together is put into a communal band account which we then use to buy things like dry walling supplies to build our own jam space and studio, and to purchase new recording gear. We recently invested in matching blue two-button suits — they’ve already paid for themselves by getting us new gigs, including an upcoming wedding.”

While the communal approach may not be the most profitable one, the band is more than satisfied. According to Rozitis, money’s not really the point, anyway.

“We’ve worked very hard to embody everything the name The Firm Handshake implies; tight, reliable and built on friendship. As far as I’m concerned, we’ve already made it as a band.”