Local musician celebrates evenings and weekends on new record

Crescentwood

Wolseley

There’s something appealing about a clean slate.

Musician Alex Kozub, who sings and plays bass and keyboards in local indie rock outfit Colour by Numbers, recently released a solo record titled Evenings & Weekends. Originally recorded in 2019 as a means of getting all the 37-year-old’s back catalogue on tape, Kozub released an EP of the same name in 2020. Now, the rest of the piano-centric rock tunes are out.

“It’s a bit of a back catalogue, an idea dump, to put everything out that I’ve been working on,” the Crescentwood resident explained. “The first EP was a little more upbeat and poppy. This one is a little more eclectic, mostly piano-rock, genre-wise. I’ve described some of the songs as Broadway-esque, with a musical theatre element to it.”

Still, the record isn’t just a collection of odds and ends. The tunes were all recorded in 2019 and features contributions from notable locals such as Liam Duncan (a.k.a. Boy Golden), Jesse Millar, Micah Erenberg, Matt Filopoulos, John Paul Peters, and Jamie Buckboro, among others.

“Thematically, it’s kind of a coming-of-age thing,” Kozub said. “Trying to find out who I am, and realizing it’s really not that important … It’s been really fun to listen back and to continue living in some of those moments. Like any creative form, they capture a time in one’s life.”

The album closer, Summer on the Shoreline, for example, documents a “really formative” summer in Kozub’s life.

“It’s nice to have it out there and then to be able to move into the next phase,” he said. “I think I’m changing, and the kind of music I want to make is continuing to shift. I’m looking forward to trying some new things.”

One of those new things on the horizon is the next record from Colour by Numbers, the second volume in an ambitious rock opera that follows the adventures of local rocker Thaddeus. The first volume, a six-track EP, was released in March.

“We’re going into Paintbox Studio, with Aaron Bartel again,” Kozub said. “Thaddeus is taking it on the road, heading west to try to make it out there. We’re excited, too. We’ve got eight songs, this time, and I think they’re tightly written rock ‘n’ roll, but continuing the Canadiana focus.”

The band hopes to release the record sometime in 2026. In the meantime, Kozub is taking things as they come.

“Ultimately, I hope people hear (the new record),” he said, adding that a record release show may come together in the coming months.

In the meantime, stream the record at alexkozub.bandcamp.com