It’s around 9 p.m. on Sept. 25, and the members of Lucky Keith are walking around The Dive Bar, chatting with patrons and greeting arriving attendees. Lucky Keith is about to perform their debut album, Glückszoo, for the first time.
The Dive Bar isn’t packed, but the energy of anticipation and support fills the venue. The audience excitedly smiled as a band member said hello or gave a hug. Multiple attendees wandered the venue adorned with band tees purchased from Lucky Keith’s first-ever merch stand. It felt obvious that every attendee in the bar were supporters of Lucky Keith, through relationships, family, or fandom.
From the moment the four-piece stepped on stage and the first notes of “Fishin’” started, the dance floor in front of the stage became packed. Attendees were rushing to the front and creating pockets of space to dance in.
This was not a random bar hosting an unknown band for people who happened to walk by. This was a real connection; a true display of fandom and support for a local Edmonton band.
The release of Glückszoo on Sept. 25 was a long time coming. Asher McColman, Lucky Keith’s drummer, says he began renting equipment for the record in the spring of 2025. The final takes weren’t done until May 2026.
The tracklist features four animal-related songs, and the band were trying to play off “Lucky Zoo” for the title.
A few of the band members presented “Zuqqiloo” (pronounced Zucky Loo) as a potential name.
“I was not on board with the Zuqqiloo from the get-go,” said Jack-Simon Kadatz, band member and lyricist for Glückszoo.
“The other guys really liked it, and I just felt like it was something we were going to come to regret not too long after.” Said Kadatz
Glückszoo is a direct translation of Lucky Zoo in German that Kadatz found after playing around with Google Translate. He thought it sounded cool, and it stuck around.
One of the four animal-related songs is track five, “The Cow”, which was also Glückszoo’s lead single. The song features the best chorus and pre-chorus on the entire album, along with a beautifully smooth saxophone solo by Dylan Lindsay.
The brass instrument rolls beautifully with the instrumentation and makes “The Cow” stand out on the album.
Cole Morton, the band’s bass player, put on a cow hat and wore it throughout the track. By the time “The Cow” finished, I was floored by the level of support I was witnessing for a local band. The cheering did not stop, and neither did the dancing. Headbanging was the unspoken theme of the night.
After “The Cow”, someone from the crowd yelled out for Lucky Keith to play “San Francisco”.
“San Francisco” was originally released on their EP What I Need in 2024 as an acoustic track. When Lucky Keith were playing gigs, they wanted to play all their songs and felt the acoustic version of “San Francisco” wouldn’t work. So they’d formulated an electric version and played that instead.
“People started really giving us some positive feedback,” said Joe Ethier, the band’s lead vocalist. “We loved playing it, and kind of grew to like it, maybe even more than the original.”
The electric version of “San Francisco” on Glückszoo reflects the way they had been playing it live.
At the album release show, it was evident that it was a fan favourite. The screaming and bass were so strong that the feeling reverberated through the crowd. Someone even crowdsurfed.
The end of Glückszoo’s playthrough was met with mass chants of “one more song!” then “two more songs!” and “four more songs!” The crowd seemed to be connected to Lucky Keith by something they felt but I couldn’t see.
The band eventually subdued the crowd, playing a few classic rock covers. Another person crowdsurfed before the band closed the show.
Lucky Keith said their goodbyes and thanked the crowd, with chants of “Lu-cky Keith! Lu-ky Keith!” yelled back at them.
They formed a group hug on stage — “Lu-cky Keith! Lu-ky Keith!” — and met in the middle with a kiss.
