FFWD Weekly
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Street Sounds by Aubrey McInnis "It took them forever to announce it," shudders Lisa German, the good-natured 21-year-old singer/guitarist for Shrinking Violet. "And we were just sitting there and sitting there biting our nails. We had no idea what was going to happen and we were so scared. And then finally when they announced it, all our friends jumped up and went ‘Yeah!’ and the four of us just sat there and went ‘What?’ That was definitely a big thrill for us." While the modest quartet sat in disbelief, the approving crowd cheered and close pals proudly hugged them for winning the grand prize at Java Sharks’ band wars. Lisa says that the victory was a big step in furthering the band as – only a few months later – they are now releasing their debut album, which was produced using part of their winnings. "Every little thing you do is like a big building block towards something bigger. Like every little thing we’ve done, from playing in high school to playing little community centres in Okotoks, things that other people might be embarrassed by – playing Hole and Nirvana covers through all of 1994 – it’s all a part of who we are today, every little bit of it, and I don’t really regret any of it. I’m glad we did all that embarrassing nerdy stuff." What Matters Most is a punkety-pop six-song EP of what Lisa says are their best tracks to date. The album kicks off with one of their reworked high school hits, includes "A Thousand Circles" (a gorgeous song that sounds like it would be perfectly at home on a soundtrack for Party of Five or Felicity), and concludes with an emotional song that Lisa wrote after the death of her father. Because she has been playing music all of her life (graduating from piano to sax to bass to guitar), Lisa and her bandmates bring a variety of knowledge and a lot of different tastes to Shrinking Violet’s material. The quartet is rounded off by Jared Schimnosky (guitar), Brad Pharis (bass) and newcomer Rob Shawcross (drums). The way that the rest of the band’s zeal for emo, punk and metal marries with Lisa’s devotion to Courtney Love, Madonna, Liz Phair and ’80s music is dynamic. "Well, I’ve always wanted to be like Madonna," she says with a laugh. "Ever since I can remember, I wanted to be a rock star. This was just a natural thing for me as I grew up, you know, to start a band, ’cause I’ve been playing music all my life. "I never really focused on, ‘Oh I have to get a record deal,’ it was just something that I needed to do ’cause music is such a big part of me. It’s embedded in you, like, it’s more a part of you than just something you do." They’ve come a long way from when they played at Holy Trinity Academy in Okotoks – getting reprimanded for playing too loud in the school cafeteria. Come see Shrinking Violet celebrate a milestone at their CD release party with Honeyrocket (in their third exciting version) and The Dynamite Spies at Java Shark’s The Red Room. Keep your eye out for www.shrinking-violet.com and their appearance on Aural Pleasures, a local compilation for the Chubby Wubby label.

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