Burns Lake rock band prepares to record first album
Published 5:30 am Monday, September 14, 2026
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Burns Lake’s Dead Horse Hill is heading down to Vancouver to record its very first album this October, and, to help cover the costs of studio time, the band is hosting a concert to fundraise at the Key Oh Pub this Saturday Sept 19.
Nineteen years in the making, the album will feature Dead Horse Hill’s best – including standout song “Summer Dress” – and will feature roughly seven to nine tracks.
“I’m ecstatic about this. I mean, when we opened up for Chilliwack about two months ago, that was the highlight of my musical career, if you will, but this is now the most exciting thing in front of us,” said lead singer Matt Mathews.
After winning 99.3 Rewind Radio’s inaugural Rock Off competition earlier this year – which landed the band the opening performance slot for Chilliwack and Doug and the Slugs at the CN Centre in Prince George – the band is coasting on a high.
“I just never thought we’d play a gig like that, and then, all of a sudden, it happened,” Mathews said.
Advertised as Chilliwack’s final Prince George show, the victory gave Dead Horse Hill the opportunity to perform to thousands in one of northern B.C.’s premier entertainment venues.
The next step is recording the album, Mathews said, and ticket sales from the band’s concert at the Key Oh Pub on Sept. 19 will go straight to making it happen.
When it comes to the album, “we’re picking the best that we’ve got,” he said.
Dead Horse Hill isn’t a one-trick pony, and listeners can expect a variety of genres featured on the album and a diverse selection of songs – a cover of Alannah Myles’s iconic song Black Velvet may even make the cut.
“Of course it’s rooted in our Dead Horse Hill sound, but … it’s not just all the same kind of vibe. We’ve got one song that’s got a ’90s grunge vibe, one that has a blues country vibe, but also a little hard rock, one that borders on heavier rock.”
The album will be recorded at Rain City Recorders in Vancouver, where hundreds of bands from across the globe have made records, the band states.
“We’re flying to Vancouver on Oct. 1, and we start recording on the second. We’re gonna try and do seven to nine songs in a week, so we’ll be done on the eighth.”
A fast and furious schedule, it will help reduce recording costs, he said.
The idea to fundraise with a concert was put forward by Dead Horse Hill’s drummer Dustin Gagnon, who runs the regional promotion company Dusty Trails Promotions which took on planning and marketing for the event.
Once recorded, the plan is to put the album up on streaming services to broaden the band’s listener base.