Local drummer excited to sit behind the kit at 2023 Juno Awards

A local musician is coming off a world tour and heading straight to the stage in his hometown.

Riley Chernoff, a 25-year-old drummer from St. Albert, will be performing at the Juno Awards Monday night with rapper AP-Dhillon.

"When I found out we were playing the Junos, I was just stoked about it," Chernoff said. "And then I asked, 'Well, where is it this year?' And they said it’s in Edmonton.

"And then it was like, might as well just drop the phone there."

The pair recently played the 2023 Lollapalooza Festival in India in late January, and Chernoff said returning to play such an important event in Canadian music history is what he calls a "proper homecoming."

"It’s been pretty crazy,"' he said. "I hope I’m making my city and all my friends and colleagues and best friends proud."

Growing up in St. Albert, Chernoff grew up on hockey but decided when he was around 10 that he wanted to try something new. So, he traded in one stick for two sticks and never looked back.

"I just feel cool behind the kit," he explained. "Any venue I ever play, it’s the best seat in the house."

What started out as fun has now taken Chernoff around the world to play some of the same stages as musicians he grew up listening to and loving. It's a future neither he or his family saw coming.

"When we had the drum kit first come into the house, we didn’t know where it would take him," said his dad, Terry Evans. "Now, being able to play the big barn at home is a big deal."

Evans said when Chernoff was 14 he decided he wanted to pursue music full time and his parents said OK.

"From that moment on, realizing that the support was going to be there, he just took off and went a thousand miles an hour," he added.

The first time Chernoff went to the Junos he was six-years-old, riding along with his dad who was covering the event for work the last time it was in Edmonton in 2004. Evans said seeing his son on the stage, rather than in the stands, will be an emotional moment.

"If you had asked me back then if my son would be playing the Junos in 19 years, I probably would have thought it was a pretty far-fetched idea," Evans, who will be in the crowd Monday, said.

"I'll probably be blubbering like a six-year-old," he added.

It will be a full-circle moment for the father and son and a chance to show the rest of Canada and the world what Edmonton's music scene has to offer. Chernoff said he hopes seeing some local talent behind to kit will inspire others to find what they love and work at it.

"If I can do this, literally anyone can," Chernoff said. "Love what you do and be obsessed with your craft – that’s kind of the blueprint to be honest with you."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti