Lunch At Allen’s should perhaps be renamed Dessert At Allen’s because the show put on by the quartet of Murray McLauchlan, Cindy Church, Marc Jordan and Ian Thomas is oh so sweet.
Described as “Canadian song writing royalty who will take you on a journey with humour and stories playing their familiar hits and new songs as well to create an evening of music for the heart and music for your soul,” Lunch At Allen’s will be the perfect after dinner treat starting at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre.
All wildly successful artists as individuals, all having written for or performed on more than 25 million CDs and writing for the likes of Chicago, Josh Groban, Santana, Rod Stewart, Cher, Bonnie Raitt and more, there’s just something special when the foursome gets together on stage. And it all started with what was supposed to be a one-off show.
The band formed roughly 20 years ago when McLauchlan was asked to do a song writers circle for a SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) or JUNOs event, Jordan can’t remember which.
“He doesn’t like doing those so he said he’d do it if he could pick who he did it with,” Jordan explained.
“It was just supposed to be one show but there was an agent in the audience where we played and he asked if we wanted to play a few more shows, and we said sure, and it just kept going,” Jordan explained.
Their chemistry that night has ultimately resulted in four full albums, dating back to 2004 as well as a long list of tour stops ever since.
“Ian and Murray are very funny, Ian especially is hilarious. He’s like a comedian,” Jordan said.
Thomas is the younger brother of well known Canadian comedian Dave Thomas so humour must run in the family.
“We play our hits. I play the stuff that I wrote for Rod Stewart and Murray plays all his radio hits,” Jordan said adding that they play Church and Thomas’s popular songs, too.
“We have new stuff that we’re putting together and we’ll play some stuff people haven’t heard yet,” Jordan added.
Prioritization makes having both individual and a group career possible.
“We just have to prioritize certain things,” Jordan said. “I’m actually in the middle of making another record. I just take time off and we go out for a couple of weeks then we’re back. And Shantero Productions books us a long time in advance so we can plan.”
Jordan is happy their plan means a to return to the west coast.
“I live in Toronto now but I lived in L.A. for years,” he said. “I know what the West Coast is like and I’ve spent quite a bit of time in B.C. as well. I love the West Coast and to tell you the truth I wish we could play there more.”
Prior to their Nov. 7 show in Duncan, Lunch At Allen’s plays Victoria’s McPherson Playhouse and Nanaimo’s Port Theatre Nov. 5 and Nov. 6 respectively.
Tickets to the show are $55. Get them by calling the Cowichan Ticket Centre at 250-748-7529.
For more visit www.lunchatallens.ca or www.shantero.com
sarah.simpson@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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