Next week, Roots Roundup will be returning to the region to perform for the first time in eight years. The “hardrocking world beat dance” band, based in Vancouver,  is set to perform March 3 at the Quadra Legion.

CKTZ asked the band if they have plans to land on "the rock" soon, and founding member Greg Hathaway responded with excitement for the band to return to Cortes: they have taken the stage at the Gorge Hall numerous times since the band's fruition in 1985.

“We haven't been up there for quite a few years now and like I say, we do really love playing there, so hopefully we can make that happen.”

Hathaway and his brother, another member of Roots Roundup, summered on Cortes in their childhood and are even distantly related to a former Cortes fire and police chief named "Bert." 

Hathaway is enthusiastic about returning to the stage after years of pause during the pandemic.

“It was literally the longest I've gone without playing a show since I was 14 years old. When you play that regularly, to suddenly not play for two years was bizarre… when we finally all got back together in the rehearsal room, I felt such a surge of relief. I was like, wow, this is what I've been missing in my life.”

To hear more tales of Roots Roundup performing on Cortes, listen to the CKTZ News Update below: