Kalle and coffee, happening tonight

Tonight, Live at Cafe Natura presents the Sault's own Kalle Mattson with special guest Animal Parts.

The brainchild of Jackson Reed, Live at Cafe Natura strives to bring quality Canadian entertainment to an all-ages audience, and tonight's performance is no exception.

"I'm excited. We haven't played an all-ages show since Arcadia [Coffee House]," Mattson told SooToday.com in a recent interview.

"Playing Arcadia was the greatest thing in the world then - to be able to open for bands like the Wooden Sky," he continued. "One of our first shows ever, we opened for them. Gavin [Gardiner] watched our entire set and he said he wanted to make a record with us. Now, three years later, we made a record with him."

"Through our experience at Arcadia and opening for a bunch of other great bands, we were able to figure a lot of stuff out relatively quickly and make a lot of great connections."

That Gavin Gardiner-produced album, Mattson told us, is expected to be officially released in February 2014.

Since 2009, Mattson has released two full-length albums and an EP, the band relocated to our nation's capitol, and the boys have hit the road on some pretty exciting tours, including those with The Sunparlour Players, Jeremy Fisher, Cuff the Duke, Jim Bryson, Blue Rodeo and The Wooden Sky.

He's also been signed to labels in both Canada (Parliament of Trees) and Europe (Trickser Tonträger), and plans to embark on a European tour in the very near future.

"Canada is great and it is what it is, and it's getting better every time, but it's not exponential growth like expanding into a new market. Hopefully that will happen [in Europe]," Mattson told us.

Although he still has strong connections to the Sault, Mattson told us the band's move to Ottawa had a profound impact on his productivity as a songwriter as well as the band dynamic as a whole.

"New people coming in and the sound of the band drastically changing, that is all because we've left [the Sault]," he said. "Writing-wise, I get perspective when I write about the Sault. Writing about small hometowns is so universal."

Mattson returns to his hometown tonight with bandmates Rory Lewis (guitar), Kyle Woods (drums), and JF Beauchamp (trumpet, flugelhorn) to play at Cafe Natura, 75 Elgin Street.

Doors open at 8 p.m. and tickets are $5 in advance, or $10 at the door.

This is an all ages event.

For more information about Kalle Mattson, please click here