Although this year will be the first performance at the Niverville Fair for local band Last Call, most of the band’s members have played at the fair before. In fact, most of them have been attending the fair for 20 years now.
“I’ve been going to the fair since its modest beginnings,” recalls keyboardist Will Neufeld. “We’ve all had the privilege of playing at the fair throughout the years with a variety of bands, including cover acts, country/blues bands, and so on.”
This year, Last Call will be taking the stage at 11:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 9 to play what Neufeld describes as “a really fun batch of songs, old and new, rockin’ and funky.”
Formed in early 2017, the band is comprised of five Nivervillers and one Winnipegger. Nick Rempel and Matt Klippenstein play guitars, James Neufeld is on drums, Justin Kroeker handles bass, and Will Neufeld mans the keyboard. The one Winnipegger, Elsaida Alerta, is the lead vocalist. The band focuses entirely on cover songs—and they cover a wide variety of styles and genres, from oldies to recent hits.
“The band excels at classic rock, like the Eagles, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, etc.,” Neufeld says. “But we’ve also had a lot of fun putting unique twists on songs by modern artists such as Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, Daft Punk, and more.”
As long as they’re filling up the dance floor, the musicians are happy.
In fact, the six members of Last Call had the chance to fill up a Niverville dance floor earlier this year. On February 24, they hosted an evening of live music and dancing at Whitetail Meadow, the event venue at the corner of Highways 311 and 200.
“It was a huge success,” says Neufeld. “Attendance was great, the drinks were flowing, the music was pumping, and there were dozens of people on the dance floor all evening long.”
It was such a success that the band plans to host another such event in the fall.
So what is it about covers that appeals to six talented musicians, all of whom have experience writing and playing original material?
“As rewarding as the creative process is, performing songs people already love is so satisfying,” Neufeld explains. “It’s a great challenge to do justice to the original by putting our own spin on a tune. We take pride and joy in playing what people want to hear, whether it’s a sentimental classic or a funky number with a great beat. We’re eager to play and get people out on the dance floor!”
Singing songs written by other people is nothing new to vocalist Elsaida Alerta, at least. Alerta has been singing karaoke for years, but on a different level than most people: in 2015, she won the Karaoke World Championships in Singapore.
When Alerta’s partner, Peter Dueck, happened to casually mention this fact to some of his musician friends, their ears perked up. Neufeld was one of them, and he had already been trying to assemble a new cover band. He invited her to join the group for a rehearsal session.
“Elsaida came down to our rehearsal space in Winnipeg, and it was definitely love at first jam,” Neufeld remembers. The band played their first gig in October 2017, at a wedding in Niverville, and they haven’t looked back since.
For now, the band is putting a lot of work into perfecting their set for Saturday night at the fair. After that? Neufeld has big dreams.
“We hope Last Call will be a household name for anybody that wants to put on an unforgettable event in friendly Manitoba,” he says. He believes that the group’s dedication to audience satisfaction is their key to success. “When the dance floor is bumpin’, we feed off that vibe and get a huge boost from the positivity of the crowd! That’s the whole point of what we do—to make people happy!”
