Over the several years that Porter Sound has overseen the sound and lighting requirements of visiting Peterborough Musicfest headliners, it’s a pretty safe bet that the technical skills and patience of Bill Porter et al have been put to the test.
From the outside looking in, that’s OK. It’s their job and they do it well.
However, just when it seemed every concert presentation challenge that could been met had been met, along comes a band with up to 14 members that will push those skills to the limit. All those required microphones, amps, and cords come on top of the fact that there’s only so much real estate available on the already cramped Del Crary Park stage.
But the show does go on, and on it will go Saturday (July 25) when My Son The Hurricane kicks off the second half of the annual summer music festival. As always, admission to the 8 p.m. concert is free, thanks to the support of multiple sponsors.
While the brass funk band’s website lays claim to having 14 members, the version coming to Peterborough may have a few less due to stage limitations. Still, this concert promises to be as much of a visual spectacle as it is a display of top-rate musicianship. Then there’s the choreography when all is set in motion.
Founded in 2010 and hailing from the Niagara region, My Son The Hurricane is billed as “a multi-horn, multi-drummer, multi-singer brass funk band” that dares its audience not to dance. Instrument-wise, there are trumpets, saxophones, trombones, drums, guitars, keyboards and percussion — everything but the kitchen sink, but don’t completely rule that out.
VIDEO: “Does Your Mama Know” – My Son The Hurricane (2025)
Fronting that formidable wall of sound is singer and rapper Sarah Faz, whose joining the band was rooted in misfortune that befell former lead singer Sylvie Kindree.
In late 2022, Kindree was struck by a car while jogging. Following a period of healing, she stepped away in fall 2024, but not before making the time to work with Faz to help her adapt to the band’s frenetic sound and over-the-top stage show, making the transition easier for all.
Musically, My Son The Hurricane has recorded three albums. The band’s debut album, Is This What You Want, was released in 2016, followed in 2019 by Ride the Bullet! and, just last year, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Prior to the latest album, the single “Mr. Holland’s Locust” introduced the band to a worldwide audience in 2023, when a video clip of band members dancing to the tune — notably pink-shirted and eccentric frontwoman Kindree — went viral as a social media meme.
With Faz replacing Kindree as the focal point on a stage where there’s much to take in, My Son The Hurricane undertook a 2025 tour of Canada, the United States, and Europe that saw it play more than 70 dates. This year, the band is staying closer to home, with their show schedule including a September 10 gig at Lindsay’s Academy Theatre.
While it’s difficult to define My Son The Hurricane’s sound, co-founder and drummer Danno O’Shea did his level best during a 2024 interview with Louie Botko of CHCH News.
“I like to call it voltage-enhanced Lawrence Welk,” said O’Shea. “It’s a full-on show. It’s full of salt the whole show. There’s choreography, there’s dancing, there’s some rapping, there’s singing — there’s all sorts of everything. We’re all about creating the big circus show.”
VIDEO: Viral clip of “Mr. Holland’s Locust”
VIDEO: Viral clip of “Mr. Holland’s Locust” @mysonthehurricane
In a 2024 YouTube video by musical website Dirty Sunbeams, O’Shea was asked whether he preferred “to laugh or to love.”
“If you got the chance to hang out with us after or before the show, you’d understand that they are the same thing for us,” he said. “This is a band that laughs a lot. We poke a lot of fun at each other, but it’s all in good fun. That’s how we show our love.”
As for the band’s unusual moniker, it comes from the name of an upbeat jazz-funk instrumental tune originally released by the Charlie Hunter Trio on their 2004 album Friends Seen and Unseen.
Prior to My Son The Hurricane taking the stage, the Cogeco-sponsored Future Sound Series will see Whitby country singer-songwriter Alycia Hebert perform from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., near the food trucks at the George Street entrance to Del Crary Park.
Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 16 free-admission concerts during its 39th season, staged in Del Crary Park on Wednesday and Saturday nights until August 19.
Overseen by executive director Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission remains “to provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”
For more information on this concert or the 2026 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or call the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a headline sponsor of Peterborough Musicfest’s 2026 season.
