Summer is here and our album has arrived in the mail the day before our first show for the 39 Days of July Music Festival. What an unbelievable feeling to finally hold in our hands a dream made reality. Our first day in the studio was Oct. 1, 2014,  and we received our creation nine months later to the day. There is a lot of excitement around the Hardware Store today.                        

Tomorrow we play the first of five shows for the Cowichan Summer Festival’s 39 Days of July. There are 333 shows over 39 days from June 26th until August 3rd, with free music in the Charles Hoey Memorial Park at the train station in Duncan from noon until 8pm every day. What an unbelievable feat! Longevity John Falkner created this beast and steers it every year as president and artistic director. We are thrilled to have our first show with CD in hand be in the park for Canada Day. And our producer, Ray Materick is going to be playing immediately following!

After our Canada Day “CD Release” show, we’ll be playing once a week for the rest of the festival. That is July 1, 8, 13, 22 and 30th. Check out our Events page for times, or go to the 39 Days of July website for the schedule,  and information on all of the wonderful and varied musicians, artists and entertainers participating in this event. www.cowichanfestival.com

Welcome to summer in the Cowichan Valley!    “A rather fun place to be”

Whew!! What a ride it has been. We have finished our debut album “Dance Up The Power”. We’ve spent the last week getting the finishing touches on the CD cover and booklet, and so enjoyed being able to incorporate our artistic sensibilities and love of photography into the 16 page booklet we put together, and now it is off to be pressed! From the first days with our producer Ray helping us select the songs from a large accumulated catalog, to finding the perfect studio, musicians to play on the album, recording, editing, mastering, to the CD art and cover, it has been a blast.

A big thank you and shout out to Todd and Anthony at Risque Disque Records. www.risquedisque.com

Brock McFarlane at CPS Mastering

cpsmastering.com

and Chris Saracino at Standard Media Services

www.standardmedia.ca

Our album is underway! We have settled into the castle keep at the Risque Disque Records studio in Ladysmith, B.C. Todd Dunsmore and Anthony Sharkey operate this unique looking studio in Yellowpoint. “Nestled among the rolling hills and groves of evergreen trees in the rural Vancouver Island community of Yellowpoint, Risque Disque Records is an independent record label and fully-equipped recording studio in a quiet, natural environment. Built inside a three-storey stone barn, and designed by world-renowned studio designer and sound engineer Fred Gilpin.”

We have had some very busy but extremely fun-filled days working in the studio with our producer, Ray Materick, and the talented players who have joined us on this project.

When we first started to talk to Ray about who we would get to play on this recording, he had one percussionist in mind, and when he mentioned Dave Tolley, we burst out laughing. Years ago we had seen Dave play, first with Xavier Rudd on Jimmy Kimmel Live and then at the Duncan Garage Showroom and the Vancouver Island Folk Festival with his band Nine Mile. We were so impressed with Dave’s playing we actually said to each other that if we were making up a dream band, Dave Tolley would be our drummer. We couldn’t believe that he was now living in the area and would love to join us on our album!

Our favorite memory of recording the drums came when it was time to record “Circles Around You”. We were outside catching a breath of fresh air between songs and Dave asked Jess what she wanted for the feel of this song. She said, I don’t know how this translates to drumming, but imagine the ocean crashing against the rocks on the beach in a storm. Dave smiled and said that he understood. We went inside and tracked the song and when Dave was done the whole room burst into spontaneous applause. It was so moving, so powerful. The waves hitting the rocks on a beach on a stormy day…

We have known multi-instrumentalist Martyn Jones for years, as he is everywhere on the Cowichan Valley music scene, and when it came time to find someone to play the bass parts Marty’s name came up repeatedly. He is experienced, competent and versatile, not to mention groovy. We worked Marty hard, promising him sandwiches and treats as a reward. Dance Up The Power was a particularly rigorous part that Ray had formulated. Marty only had to rest a few times when his hand would start to cramp! We are so fortunate to know Marty.

Glen Foster has known and played with Ray Materick since the early 70’s and they both ended up on Vancouver Island. What a bonus for us! Glen’s diverse guitar skills play out on this recording. From country acoustic guitar solos on Deliver Me to soulful Stratocaster on Circles Around You to rock and roll with his Gretsch White Falcon on Dance Up The Power, Glen gave us everything. The consummate professional.

We had always imagined some of these songs we are recording on this album with strings, and Ray went out and found the man for the job. Blaine Dunaway walked into the studio, sat down in the booth, and began to track Circles Around You. By the time he was through the first verse and into the chorus we three girls were huddled together on the couch with tears streaming down our faces. We were so moved by his hauntingly beautiful interpretation of this song.

And now it is our turn! We have tracked the piano and acoustic rhythm guitar parts, and now it is time for the vocals. Barb and Jade have their harmony parts down and Jess is ready to take on those leads… Let’s have some fun!!

Hello friends! Welcome to our little corner of the World Wide Web. We are very pleased to announce that we have been in pre-production for our first album, with Ray Materick producing. Ray has been working with us for a few months now, and after listening to our large catalog of original material, he has done a wonderful job of narrowing the tunes down to twelve songs that flow together as an album. We are busy writing harmony parts and lining up guest musicians who will help us to bring our dream into reality.