leMeow are excited to launch their debut album this Friday June 24th 2016 at The Rainbow! Tickets are $10 at the door. Expect the music to get going around 10pm.
I recently spoke with James Rooke, bassist for recently formed duo about the upcoming album and the show.
leMeow came together through a twist of fate and little good luck. In James’ words, “Gin and i were in a band like 8 years ago in my York St apartment, in my living room just jamming out. Nothing ever came of it, she moved away. I ran into her at a pub a couple of years ago. She later got a grant and she needed some musicians. Next thing you know we got leMeow.”
An album wasn’t part of the original plan, so the duo kept heading back to the studio at Johnny Hall Productions to work with Ottawa’s Eric Eggleston. James mentioned, “If we knew we were doing an album we would have just done that 2 week approach and it’s all done, but it was sort of unintentional.”
He added, “Gin received a factor grant and it was good for 3 songs, so we were gonna release 3 songs. Then she got a second grant and we were like 6 songs might be weird. Then she got a 3rd grant and so we said lets glue it all together. It was actually a series of 3 different sessions.”
I asked how they kept turning out new material so quickly. James responded, “For the most part it was material already kicking around. Every time we received another grant we needed 3 more songs. So we went through both of our back catalogues, completed each others ideas and sort of found a common style.”
Describing the finished product, James stated, “We did produce the majority of it ourselves. A lot of the tones and the post production ideas were definitely Eric. We wanted it to sound fresh. We’re not trying to hack out motown to make it sound like motown. He was really good at that stuff, making it sound modern.”
When I asked him to describe their sound, he immediately answered “Upbeat soul inspired dance party.”
We started to talk about the band’s upcoming release show and what one could expect. “Every full band gig we do is always with a drummer and a piano player. That’s our main full band group, with me on bass. This Friday we also have a special guest sax player.”
He continued, “We’re doing a big set of originals. Like 1 hour and then we’re just gonna do motown covers and stuff for the rest of the night, blues jams and stuff.”
If you’re unable to get out to The Rainbow this Friday, here are a few more dates the duo already has lined up for the summer:
- July 2 – free jazziest concert at the Rideau Centre
- July 17 – Ottawa Bluesfest
- August 28 – a Sunday matinee at Blacksheep Inn
Finally, keep your eyes peeled for plenty of video content. As James finished, he mentioned, “Our plan for this year is to have 1 video per month. Some of them are professionally recorded live videos.”
It promises to be a busy summer ahead for leMeow. Join them Friday as they kick it off. Get a taste of what’s to come by watching the video for Evening Blues.
[youtube=https://youtu.be/YktKZZS0sLM]