Sweetsalt is looking forward to returning to Regina for this weekend's Flatland Music Festival.

While their faith is still first and foremost in the minds of the three individuals that make up Sweetsalt, religion is no longer the first thing to roll off the tongues of a growing legion of fans and listeners.

With two albums and hundreds of live shows already under its collective belt, the Caronport trio is all about the rock.

"The focus seems to have moved on to our abilities as musicians and performers," drummer Sam Dufour says with a chuckle. "I think it's just a matter of us sort of being validated as a band -- not just in the province, but throughout Canada."

Which stands to reason. After all, for Dufour, singer-guitarist Ben Reynolds, and bassist Jared Robinson, faith, hope, love and religion were never on the table as a "gimmick." These are things that were just always there.

And although the group is never preachy with respect to its beliefs, Dufour is finding more and more listeners interested in the message within the music.

"There certainly seems to be a heightened sense of spiritual awareness in the world right now -- especially the post-September 11th mentality, where people are looking for more positive things.

"There's still plenty of aggression and negativity (in popular music), but I just get the feeling that people are more open to something positive. They won't necessarily focus their attention on it or talk about it openly, but, rather, they just accept it and allow it to become part of the general mentality."

Dufour points to acts such as Creed, U2 and especially P.O.D. to support his argument.

Meanwhile, after establishing the band as one of Canada's foremost independent acts with the 1999 self-titled debut, Sweetsalt set out to top its own expectations with Radio Soldier.

Dufour says the band made the album he knew it was capable of, and it includes tunes such as "Sugarplanet," "Beautiful Lie," "Long Year," "Heroin," "Hope," "Daffodil Sunrise" and the first single, "April."

"I think working with a producer (Olaf Pyttlik) for the first time played a key role," Dufour says. "The album really reflects our exploration of where the songs could go. We had this fourth perspective that challenged our approach a lot of the time, and that made all of the difference.

"The other thing was pushing ourselves, as far as what we could accomplish. As a drummer, part of it was accepting arrangements that were a little simpler. I guess there's some sort of maturity in musicians who are able to accept the arrangement by playing what the song needs as opposed to playing what you know you can play."

Dufour also considers Radio Soldier a better representation of Sweetsalt as a live band.

"We wanted it to sound just like the three of us playing onstage," he says. "We added some keyboards and strings and loops and all kinds of stuff -- but one of the essential elements was that we maintain that trio feel. A lot of the songs evolved to a great extent out of that three-piece arrangement."

After road-testing the new tunes for the past several months, Dufour says the material stands up well on a concert stage. And he looks forward to getting back to the Flatland Music Festival and Victoria Park this weekend.

"Our approach to the live show is generally good rock-and-roll music and a very lively performance," he says.

"I think we bring a good vibe and a lot of enthusiasm. Especially when you're playing Flatland, which is a gathering for indie music in Saskatchewan, you're playing for the people that you feel the closest to.

"Playing for the other musicians and the folks from (the Saskatchewan Recording Industry Association) that are there, it's like playing for your family and saying, 'Look -- we've gotten better!' "

For more information on Sweetsalt, please log on to www.sweetsalt.com

Originally published: Gerry Krochak, Regina Leader Post, July 4th 2002