Texas Flood hitting Taber stage this Saturday

By Al Beeber
Southern Alberta Newspapers

Casino Lethbridge patrons saw a Texas Flood sized aural experience this past weekend as the band played at the venue for two nights.

Paul Kype and Texas Flood took the casino by storm as they brought their brand of the blues and rock to a hometown stage.

The band features Kype and Steven Keenan on duelling guitars and vocals as well as bassist Kurt Ciesla and drummer Brady Valgardson.

Not only does the band have a strong live following, its own YouTube channel also has a huge fan base and its music is “heavily featured” on podcasts called Soulshine and Nightshine, with Dave Frisina, a veteran of American radio. The shows air Sunday mornings and evenings on Mix-cloud.com/live/SoulshineDave.

Based in Lethbridge since 2003, Paul Kype and Texas Flood started in 1993 as a tribute to the late Stevie Ray Vaughn but in the years since has expanded its repertoire to a wide range of blues and rock classics. In the late 1990s, Texas Flood started adding original music to their setlist and released their first album in 2003.

A native of Abbotsford, B.C., Kype started playing guitar at the young age of 10 and joined his first band at 16, playing bass. After several years, Kype relocated to northern Canada and rededicated himself to guitar.

He first formed Texas Flood with Jerry Adolphe who drummed for Chilliwack and Jim Byrnes and club musician Simon Hardman. After years of relentless touring, Texas Flood earned the Monday night house band slot at Vancouver’s The Yale Hotel in 2000.

Texas Flood is one of several musical endeavours Kype has going, one being a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughn he does occasionally with musicians from Vancouver.

But Texas Flood with his local crew is where Kype’s main focus is. He and Keenan “have great, great chemistry,” he said in a recent phone interview.

Ciesla and Valgardson played years ago with Corb Lund and Kype says the chemistry those two have from their time together “is just awesome.”

Audiences who missed the band this weekend can catch them at the Cactus Club in Picture Butte on Friday, Nov. 22 and at The Pin in Taber on Nov. 23.

While Kype moved here because the Vancouver live music scene was drying up, much of the band’s performances now are on the road elsewhere in Alberta and B.C. With several members having day jobs, the band can’t tour on long jaunts but Kype is looking at European dates in 2025.

Texas Flood has been enjoying the interest generated in the band thanks to YouTube with a video that was uploaded from a performance at Calgary’s Blues Can last year. That video prompted a flood of views of Texas Flood’s performances – three million views in fact. Now Kype films performances whereever the band plays.

Texas Flood’s latest album called “Hard Roads and High Water” will be released sometime in 2025.