B.C.-based musician Miss Quincy will stop in Canmore as she tours the west.
Playing at the Glue Factory (Whyte Horse Café) June 29, this will be her first performance in Canmore.
“I’m excited to play at the Glue Factory,” said Quincy. “Friends of mine have been playing in Canmore and they’re saying, ‘Oh, there’s this great place to play in Canmore now,’ so we’re always excited when there’s new venues that welcome our kind of music.”
While Quincy has on previous tours played from one end of Canada to the other, for this tour the band is concentrating on British Columbia and Alberta.
“This tour is a small, Western Canada tour, but we have a lot of dates,” she said. “We’re not covering a lot of area because we’re trying to be as sustainable as we can be while still touring and really take our music to the audience.”
Quincy recalled how last year the band drove straight from Calgary to Montreal, and the drive took 54 hours.
“We spent most of our time last year in a van where we did a drive from the middle of the country to the middle of the country,” she said. “We’re playing a lot of smaller venues, house concerts, we’re trying not to make the epic Canadian drive – we want to make a real connection with our audience instead of trying to cover so much ground.”
The music she plays is a mix of blues and roots, she said.
“We play roots music – I like to call it Canadiana – it’s rootsy and bluesy and definitely a little bit dirty,” said Quincy. “It makes you want to dance.”
While Quincy’s bands have had various incarnations in the past, this time around it consists of a trio of women.
“It’s really exciting because it’s three girls and we’re an international band right now,” she said. “The drummer is from the Isle of Man and the bass player, who’s originally from Calgary, has travelled all over the world working and playing bass on cruise ships.”
Quincy writes all the songs, sings lead and plays rhythm guitar.
“I feel like in the past I’ve been telling stories with my music and really drawing on where I grew up, in the far north,” she said. “I’m trying to take that with me into new musical territory and right now we’re playing much more upbeat, danceable music.
“I go back and spend a few months in the wilderness, writing songs. Life is pretty crazy on the road all the time; the Yukon is my antidote to touring.”
That said, touring is what keeps her going, said Quincy.
“Touring is amazingly inspiring, very stimulating,” she said. “And also because I grew up in the wilderness, it keeps me grounded and sane and takes me back to my roots.”
Quincy is a fully independent musician, having traversed Europe twice and Canada several times, booking and organizing the tours herself.
“It’s quite a learning curve and organizational feat,” she said. “As of now I’m definitely a very committed, independent artist. I’d never give up any of my creative control, and I think that’s the attitude of many touring musicians.
“The Canadian touring scene is really quite special right now. Across the country many of us know each other, because we tour a lot, and become friends and help each other out whenever we can. We’re independent for a reason.”
Quincy released her first album, Your Mama Don’t Like Me, last summer.
“My first album is very acoustic,” she said. “I recorded it in my little cabin in the dead of winter way up north. It has a live and joyful feel to it. My next album is going to be a little bit more produced, and will be a continuation of what I started in my first album.
“I am in the process of making a new album which I’m going to release next summer, but it’s not ready yet.”
As Quincy’s debut album’s lead single is “Dead Horse”, the song is perhaps appropriate for a performance at a venue called the Glue Factory.
“I love playing small, intimate venues, they’re my favourite,” she said. “I really like that you can actually make a real connection with the audience. If I can walk away from a show feeling like I know the audience, and they know me, then it’s a successful show.”
