Welcome, West of Indie

Hi Hi Hi!

Okay so as you know if you’re one of my loyal subjects wonderful readers, I have been insanely busy lately. I’m employed by five different people right now and if that isn’t busy enough I have been spending a lot of time lately in the STUH-HUDIO working on an exciting project!

I know my blog focuses a lot on health and fitness but it’s important to me that you all know about the things that make me ME. You know? It’s great that you’re getting muscles with Meags, but whats the point if you have no idea who Meags is?! This will give you an idea....

I told you multiple times that my first love was and remains to be music. I haven’t mentioned We Sisters Three TOO much, but it has been a close project to my heart for several years now. When I was 17 my little sister Emilie and I wrote our first decent song together, an edgey pop track called “Don’t Turn Out the Lights.” Before then we had written a few songs together but this was the song that we arranged well enough to feel confident to perform live and get critiqued. And thus, We Sisters Three, our indie-pop duo was born. 

We performed our songs to our sister and two best friends, Mary and Julia. Our first true and honest audience.  We continued to write songs together, recorded a few raw songs, recorded a few more raw songs, played as many shows as we could for free just to gain exposure, tried to build an audience on YouTube with a fangirl based channel called LivesOfBW, oh the lengths we went to just to make this duo work and be successful, just at a local level. 

Recording Raw demos

After our very first show, I still remember the day – Free Times Café in Toronto, opening for our friend and successful songwriter Paul Grady, we knew that we needed to do our very best to work on our live show. 

First Gig, Free Times Cafe, June 9, 2010

For the next two years we tried to play around town as much as possible, and experiment with our sound. We knew we were kind of nomads (as usual) on the genre spectrum. People would try to set us up for gigs at different places, but defining our sound was always kind of difficult because people saw us differently. Pop. Indie. Indie Pop. Folk. Indie Folk. Singer-songwriter. A few months ago we played a gig with some wicked musicians, and one of them finally SORT of described our sound to us in a way that we were happy with.  He told us that listening to our set was like listening to “acoustic swagger.” It made sense. I like pop music. When I write, I’ll be the first to admit that most of my songs are structured like pop songs. Growing up listening to soca and reggae, R&B, and soul/Motown, sounds and styles from those genres started to sink in; vocally, thats the kind of music I really enjoy. Studying critical theory pushed me to write songs that were a bit more political and intense lyrically. And ultimately, our songs are unplugged and usually played with limited acoustic instruments, allowing people to define us more as indie/folk. Whatever We Sisters Three was, it was perfect for the time. We were experimenting without becoming tied down, and making discoveries about ourselves and what we were capable of. These discoveries would soon go into overdrive in June 2014, when we reconnected with an old friend our ours.

WS3 in our element. 

  Musically, we still had not been defined at this point. 

I've mentioned before that our Dad is Trinidadian. I can't quite articulate what it is like being from an interracial/cultural family, and the impact that it has on a person's identity and sense of self. On a racial spectrum, you fit no where, while simultaneously fitting everywhere. A drop of colour excludes you from being called white, and yet people still believe that you enjoy the benefits and privileges of a white person, and are denied the hardship that comes with being black in a hegemonic world. Sometimes, you FORGET that there is a difference in appearance between you and ANYONE, because you find elements from multiple different cultures in you at the same time. You feel the same as whoever you may be talking to sometimes. That feel ing quickly disappears when a friend reminds you how lucky you are to be tanned all year round, or another friend reminds you how nice it must be to have the "exotic" look. I had forgotten that people might notice that. It's very strange. I'm sure there are history books on Trinidad and it's people. I'm sure there are history books on Canada and it's people. But what on earth happens when you are both? What on earth happens when you feel connected to Canada, Trinidad, Ireland, Scotland, Ivory Coast, Venezuela, and India all at the same time, but not enough to feel COMPLETE camaraderie with any. When you feel connected to an idealized version Trinidad in your soul, and like a fraud sometimes due to never having stepped foot on it's land.  Who writes down that history? Who writes down ethnic characteristics of MIXED people. And how could you, when there are so many different mixes? You must understand that these thoughts have run through my head. When people have told me that I'm the "whitest half black girl they know" or "not REAAALLLYYYY mixed, just white with a tan," or "not REALLYYY Trini, because you were born here in Canada." Off handed comments after a while make you start to think. I like to think that I am above the oppositional binaries that we have constructed, that every things not black and white (mind the pun), but in a world that has been CONSTRUCTED on binaries it gets tough to be above that all the time. Not that I feel at a disadvantage. I LOVE being interracial. But it HAS made me think about my identity. If it did not, I wouldn't be trying to explain it to you as you read. Have you ever thought about yours? I know this seems a little unrelated, but I really do think it was subconscious thoughts like these that allowed me and Emilie to be completely secure in our musical confusion. 

We've NEVER been defined. Not in music, not in race, and not in life as a whole. That's the paradox - we are defined in our UN-defined-ness. And that is how West of Indie was born. 

In short, we reconnected with a friend of ours to play a shot to benefit the Turn Around Project, an organization that is close to my heart. David is a friend we met when we were young, as we all played in a Steel Band - an effort my parents made to connect us more with Trinidadian Culture. After playing a show with him and having him back up our original songs with the pan, it was like a lightbulb went off.  We always knew that something was missing from our sound and decided to explore our roots further and hone in on the music that we grew up listening to. With that said, we realized soon that we would not be We Sisters Three without the strong influence of Caribbean music; it is an integral part of our souls. West of Indie is now a collaborative project with David, while keeping all the same songs and sounds that we had when we were We Sisters Three. We're EXCITED about this new phase, starting with the name a change -  a play on words representing our spot on the musical spectrum, between pop and indie, in combination with the West Indian influence on our music brought to you by the steel pan. 

I know this blog is going on FOREVER! But I'm glad you took the time to read it! I couldn’t be happier! 

This phase has inspired us to take our music more seriously. A constant setback/observation we have noticed is that our music is NOT accessible to the people that like it! Therefore, my friends, I’m so pleased to announce that I have been crazy busy for the past two weeks for good reason. We are FINALLY currently recording our six song E.P; a goal that I had set for myself (on my vision board!) to be complete by June 2015 – but will likely be finished long before then.

With that said, we have been working with our hyperactive driven and talented friend/professional dancer/producer, Jordan Setacci on this project. 

Fun at the studio with Emilie, David, and Jordan.

Jordan's ability to completely immerse himself in this E.P with us, while single handedly running his own business here at 283 Performing Arts Company is extremely admirable. Save for his  anal compulsive DIVVVVAAAA moments  (haha, keeeeeeding) he has made this entire process very laid back while not lacking motivation, and overall a LOT of fun. He is a delight to work and collaborate with. You can SHOULD check out his resume and his efforts with his 283 PAC in the community if you're a performer or interested in the arts. 

So friends, my long winded explanation of why I've been absent recently - SHITS GETTING BUSY. But it is also getting exciting. I'm so so so excited for this project to be finished, that way you can check out some of the stuff we have been working on in the studio! In the mean time, if you're in the Niagara Region you should definitely check us out at Station 1 Coffee House in Grimsby, ON on October 30th around 8pm. We'll be there to provide you with entertainment and a sweet Thursday night Caribbean connection!

Until next time.