Victoria, British Columbia’s Acres of Lions works on so many levels. Not only is Working the title of the melodic rock band’s full-length debut on Cordova Bay Entertainment, but it’s also the guys’ work ethic and modus operandi. They play the title track in every live set they do, kind of like an anthem.

“That’s the whole theme of the album, working hard and working towards something no matter what it is — a relationship or your job or just trying to get something done,” explains lead singer/guitarist Jeffrey Kalesnikoff, who just goes by Jeffrey K for obvious reasons. “There’s one line in the song ‘work hard/make your body sting/make something out of nothing’ and that’s the overall message we’re trying to deliver.”

On “Let’s Get Sentimental,” which begins with the line “this is awkward,” Jeffrey writes about that first meeting between a male and female as they suss each other out as a potential love interest. “Entertainment” is a made-up story about two people who toured as a duet, but split up and one went on to fame. And “December” is culled from a poem about a special friend who shared a love of winter and Christmas.

The members of Acres of Lions, Jeffrey, bassist Dan Ball, drummer Lewis Carter and guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Tyson Yerex all come from a punk/punk-pop background, which has its own rules of independence and all-for-one-ness.

Jeffrey and Dan started playing together as Accident Scene when they lived in the tiny towns of Castlegar and Nelson BC and toured constantly, going as far east as Winnipeg, and even released a full album in 2004, however, the rhythm section was not as committed. “Me and Dan, we had to move to a big city,” says Jeffrey. They chose Victoria, where they knew a lot of people in the music community.

Lewis joined the pair and in the summer of 2007 Acres of Lions cut a three-song demo with local producer Adam Sutherland that consisted of “Let’s Get Sentimental,” “Dance Sequence” and Knowing Your Own End,” all songs now on Working. They applied for radio station 91.3 The Zone’s band of the month and were selected for February of 2008. “Let’s Get Sentimental” received airplay; the band did interviews, and there was a showcase at the end of the month at a local club.

Eventually, Cordova Bay Records’ president Michael Burke got wind of Acres of Lions and signed them. By then, the band had cut a full-length album (Working) with Adam, who Jeffrey calls “a very particular” producer. “He doesn’t let anything go. Nothing is good enough. He’s a perfectionist. It was very very painstaking, but very worth it in the end.” Cordova Bay then stepped in to have the whole thing mixed and mastered by transplanted Briton Warne Livesey (Matthew Good, Midnight Oil, The The).

Acres of Lions are set to take 2009 by storm with the release of Working in both Canada and the U.K. (Fierce Panda) and the band is eager to tour tirelessly in support of the album.