In the second-last stop of a 50-show tour with Boy Golden as the opening band for The Sheepdogs, Selkirk College Contemporary Music & Technology Program alumnus Austin Parachoniak returned to Nelson for a sold-out concert at the Capitol Theatre.
A proud member of the Class of 2017, the 26-year-old crisscrossed the Canada and the United States with Boy Golden over a four-month period where he immersed himself the longest tour of his budding career.
“It feels awesome to be back in Nelson, I love it here,” Parachoniak said before taking the stage on January 18. “Getting a chance to play professionally at the Capitol Theatre is pretty cool.”
A Winnipeg-based guitarist who has been adding his riffs and solos to an eclectic mix of artists since graduation, Parachoniak is now traveling the world as a professional musician with a number of a different bands. Shortly after concluding the tour with Boy Golden and The Sheepdogs, he hopped on a plane and crossed the Atlantic to play a two-week tour with Del Barber in the United Kingdom.
Though he writes his own music, at this stage of his career Parachoniak has been making a living as a session and touring guitarist. Heavily influenced by country & western music, he transcends his favored genre playing blues, jazz, R&B and anything else that inspires him.
“I don’t know how to really do anything else, so this is the thing for me,” he said. “It’s also been pretty great traveling and meeting new people.”
As he was starting to make headway on his career, a worldwide pandemic struck and threw a serious wrench into the industry he loves. Undaunted, the guitarist spent time writing and recording amongst the deep music-scene talents in the Winnipeg area. One of those friends is Liam Duncan (aka Boy Golden) who Parachoniak provided his skills on the album Church of Better Daze which spawned the catchy hit “KD and Lunch Meat.”
Austin’s older brother Brodie—also a Selkirk College alumnus and touring musician—was on the drums for the sold-out Capitol Theatre show.
The only music program of its kind in Canada, Parachoniak said the education he received in the Kootenays is serving him well.
“There were lots of good times when I was at Selkirk College,” he said. “I spent that time getting better at music obviously, speaking the language and learning to become a professional. But the friendships that I made and the teachers that I had, that’s what I remember the most.”