Poor Angus eliminated from Searchlight, says thank you to fans

Poor Angus's ride is over. The band was eliminated from the CBC Music Searchlight competition on Monday, losing out to Sherman Downey and the Ambiguous Case from Newfoundland.

While the band might be done with Searchlight, they're hardly staying stagnant. As Poor Angus's Brian LeBlanc puts it, it isn't "the end" — just the end of this particular ride.

"We were pretty certain we couldn't beat Sherman Downey, but we sure gave it one hell of a good fight," LeBlanc said.

Even though they didn't make it to the final round, LeBlanc says the band is feeling immense pride for both what their music achieved and for the strength of their fan base. "There are so many people to thank that I can't even name them all," Leblanc said.

Now, the band members can totally focus on their new album, called Gathering, which is due out in the next couple of months. Final mixes are just about done, and soon the record can be sent away for mastering. "This album is going to have something for everyone," LeBlanc said.

He means it, too. While Poor Angus's first two records both won Hamilton Music Awards for folk/traditional album of the year, the forthcoming third album is a much more expansive affair, LeBlanc says. While their earlier work was very focused on the traditional Celtic idiom, the new album is much broader stylistically, as it's the first to feature vocalist and songwriter Joel Guenther, LeBlanc says.

The band wrote nine of Gathering's 11 tracks, but "there are songs on there that people are going to think were written in Ireland in the 1800s," LeBlanc said.

"We always said our demographic was age two to age 102," LeBlanc said. "We want teenagers and little old ladies to both buy this album and love it."

For more on Poor Angus, visit their website.