CitiZen Folk: indie pop rock band blends Canadian rock with British edge

While countless youngsters interested in athletics have support systems of all kinds in local, regional, and national sports organizations, where do those with a passion for music look for opportunities to advance their learning, develop their skills, and give expression to their talent?

While music departments in schools fortunate enough to have them (unfortunately, quite a rarity, these days), may be helpful in some ways, the teachers and students have far too many challenges to surmount. So unless a particular school offers a music concentration program (such as at Laval Liberty High School), with the necessary financial and human resources to go with it, young people with musical ability have few options open to them.

And that’s where creative and innovative groups like CitZen Folk come in, not necessarily as purveyors of opportunities for other younger musicians, but as example of what it takes to make music and as models of dedication and hard work which eventually leads to success.

Described by group spokesperson Vince Lentini as an indie pop-rock band, CitiZen Folk performs “an interesting blend of Canadian rock and British edge.” The tunes are catchy, and when the music is infused with the high energy Vince and the other members of the trio – Victor Lentini and Nick Penteris – bring to the stage, audiences are guaranteed to be both entertained and inescapably drawn into the excitement of the performance.

"Each of brings to the band a vast and varied musical background," says songwriter Vince Lentini, front-man for the trio and an experienced guitarist, composer and singer.

"I was with Fuel Dogs, later known as Fuel, when the group put together its full-length independent CD - Sleeping Awake. The CD got generous airplay on local Greater Montreal radio stations. I also toured with the band throughout the region," says the musician who went on to complete a Master's Degree in guitar at McGill University when the members of Fuel went their separate ways.

Among several other artistic pursuits, Vince Lentini presently teaches guitar at Heritage Piano in Chomedey, an avocation and passion through which he conveys his love of music and his devotion to his favourite instrument to people of all ages, but especially the young. (Some as fresh as six years of age, as was the case with my own son, Andrew, who learned to pluck, in more ways than just on a guitar, from the generous attention and teaching he got from Vince.)

He's no stranger to playing with groups, according to Vince Lentini, who says that Victor has played with several different bands and musicians, and counts extensive studio-session-drumming as part of his vast musical background and current repertoire.